The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page V25

Before Louisville had the Forecastle Festival, the small indie label Initial Records organized a ragtag collection of punk, hardcore and emo bands and called it Krazy Fest. Held for six years at various locations around Louisville, Krazy Fest featured bands ranging underground punk favorites like AFI, Saves the Day and Reggie The Full Effect plus a litany of lesser-known bands from the surrounding region. Until it folded in 2003, the festival drew thousands of kids in Doc Martens and ripped T-shirts to the Belvedere, Waterfront Park, the Water Tower and the Brewery Thunderdome. Last year, however, the reunion shows of the legendary underground bands Endpoint, Cerebellum and Sunspring all sold out Headliners Music Hall. Something clicked for Andy Tin- sley, the soundman at those shows.

"The weekend was so successful," Tinsley recalled. "I was like, you know, I've been touring and I haven't done anything locally in a long time. So I said I'm gong to do it" Tinsley set up a Facebook page for Krazy Fest 20U. Encouraged by the response from both nostalgic older punks and amped up kids in the thriving under-21 scene, Tinsley began to organize a reincarnated Krazy Fest for May 20-22 at Expo Five. "I was truly surprised," Tinsley said.

"It had been eight years. In this economy, I just didn't know how this would go" So far, so good. The festival will feature glam-punks Against Me, hardcore veterans 7 Seconds and Louisville hardcore stalwarts By the Grace of God, among 39 others. Against Me Tinsley said he also tried to bring bands that don't often play Louisville, where the hardcore and punk scenes thrived in the 1990s but have since faded. After Tinsley got the blessing from Initial Records founder Andy Rich, who folded the label in 2003 and decamped for Las Vegas, he began to approach bands about performing.

No one turned him down outright, he said, although he some on his wishlist couldn't play because of scheduling conflicts. The lineup Tinsley has ended up with bears a striking resemblance to the fests in the early 2000s many of the bands played past Krazy Fests, or played Louisville frequently when Krazy Fest was active. Unlike Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza, Krazy Fest appealed mostly to the all-age show demographic and underground punks. Tinsley said he wanted to re-create the essence of the old festivals by recruiting similar bands. "The big thing I wanted to go for is to have the same mindset of bands that were playing eight years ago," he said.

"I didn't want any weird rock star stuff." Recognizing that the teens from a decade ago are adults now, Tinsley also recruited younger bands like Title Fight, This Is Hell and the Louisville experimental hardcore band Straight As in a bid to win over today's younger crowd. Still, drawing inspiration from the success of the Endpoint reunion shows, Tinsley said he expects nostalgia will bring aging punks to Krazy Fest too. 'A lot of these bands, the newer kids never got to see," said Tinsley, a longtime member of the Louisville music scene who once managed Endpoint. "The kids are going to get a sense of how special these sets can be. I wanted it to be old and new.

I really wanted to tie the two together." Three-day passes for Krazy Fest 2011 are $99; single-day tickets are S32-S40. Though all the discounted "early bird" tickets sold briskly, Tinsley said said he still isn't close to recouping his costs. Whether this becomes an annual event again or simply a nostalgic one-off remains to be seen. "I'll tell you on May 23," he said. "I definitely have the hope of making it something that comes back." 4r March 9, 20TI 25.