So we get to FYF Fest pretty early on- determined not to miss a moment of my third straight consecutive festival weekend.  Apparently we had the same mentality as virtually every other inhabitant of now sweltering sunny SoCal- because the line was endless- and that was just to get in.  There I was battling tooth and nail with every other Cali kid- who was ready willing and able to literally fight for their right to party.  The seemingly endless clusterfuck of kids and I waited for damn near an hour and a half to gain admittance- and after standing in a line that looked as though the entire contents of the latest American Apparel catalogue had exploded around me, the eclectic array of music offered seemed to increasingly be losing its luster.

Determined to never give up, never surrender- we survived Dante’s Inferno and made our way inside after what seemed like an eternity in purgatory, and proceeded to find a spot in the shade to shelter ourselves from the sun- and avoid as much of the chaos as possible.

Ready to talk about rock with Ceremony, and after a little decompression time, Anthony Anzaldo (Ceremony’s guitarist) walked out of the sun and over to the dark side of the 21 and over area, shielded by a bright pink parasol that conveniently coordinated with his perfectly polished neon nails.  We sat ourselves down ready to discuss rock, and let the good times roll…

BNB:  Hey!  So I’m here with Anthony from Ceremony!  You ready to rock out on stage today?

A:  Yes.  Absolutely.

BNB:  Now if YOU had to classify yourselves as one genre- what would you pick?

A:  Punk.

BNB:  For sure hands down no room for a genre hybrid?

A:  For sure!

 

BNB:  Nice- so then who would you say your main influences are musically?

A:  Umm, Black Flags, Stooges, Circle Jerks- you know lately we’ve been really into that kind of proto-punk like Wire and The Stooges all the stuff that kind of influenced our original influences.  Also, The Pixies – huge, HUGE Pixies fan!

BNB:  Definitely a classic of the punk genre I’d say!

A:  Yeah they are totally killer!

 

BNB:  So who besides yourselves are you interested in seeing today?

A:  Well, Best Coast- my cousin sings in the band and so I’m super excited that we got to play a show with them!  And then Unbroken, 7 Seconds, Sleep, Cults.

BNB:  All great choices- we have a really eclectic mix here of artists I’d say.

A:  Yeah, yeah definitely.

 

BNB:  Speaking of mixes- if you could collaborate with one other artist for an upcoming album or show- who would it be?

A:  It would probably be Bethany (Cosentino) from Best Coast- my cousin.  I think it would be cool to work with family- and she’s just like on another level.  She’s amazing, so to tour with her would be incredible.  Yeah, so she would be the one that I would choose.

BNB:  That’s an interesting concept to work with family- I know a lot of people that would veer away from that direction!

A:  Yeah yeah yeah.

 

BNB:  Upcoming tours?

A:  Well, we just released an album June 8 called “Rohnert Park” and as far as tours we’re going to Europe in October.

BNB:  Playing alongside…

A:  a band called Sabertooth Zombie- an up and coming

(Random guy turns around and exclaims “Hey!  You’re the guy from Ceremony!”  Anthony, unphased by this just smiles back)

A:  So they’re like an up and coming- well, not up and coming- they’ve been around for a while.  But they’re just like an amazing hardcore band.  And then we’re going to play a show in L.A. in November- and that’s kind of what we’ve got going on now.  You know, we’ll write a new record sometime- but there’s no like set date.

 

BNB:  So now, word on the street- and correct me if I’m wrong- is that you do not have a MySpace, a Facebook, or a Twitter account.  True or false?!

A:  That IS true!

BNB:  Wow in this digital age where everything revolves around some sort of cyber-stalking scenario I’ve got to ask- what’s up with that?  Creating a little mystery?

A:  Ha, well yeah that- and I feel that people use those outlets for kind of some sort of self-validation, and that’s not really what we’re about.  And I mean, we’ve been around for like a couple of years – and we’re kind of established- so I feel like we can kind of pull it off.  We’re not like a new band- we’re out there, we’re around.

BNB:  So to you, word of mouth is a little more validating.

A:  Yeah definitely- I would rather have that be our outlet as opposed to sites there to have people feel important.

BNB:  Great so note to our readers, there will be no cyber-stalking Ceremony.

A:  Ha!  No, no, no- we DO have a website though!

BNB:  Which is?

A:  It’s Ceremonyhc.com – and it JUST has our shows.

BNB:  Perfect- well as if we needed an excuse to go to another show, we have one now- we’ll have to catch you live!

 

BNB:  So now what festival- given your choice of any- would you want to play either here of overseas?  Glastonbury, lollapalooza?

A:  Whoa!  I think those are a little out of our league right now!

BNB:  Dream big dude- this is your musical fantasy!

A:  Well in that case- Woodstock!

BNB:  Woodstock!?

A:  Woodstock.  I mean- it’s not even going on but I would like to play it!

BNB:  Hey that doesn’t matter- lets bring it back from beyond the musical grave!

 

BNB:  Closing remarks to friends and fans?

A:  umm….No.  Nope I’ve got nothing else to say!

 

Anthony’s performance was in about an hour and he ushered himself into the sun cleverly concealed behind sunglasses and the neon shade apparatus that had me wanting to be under his umbrella- ella-ella.

 

Now, as far as music is concerned- cyber-stalking is not only often times a sport- I find it to be a necessary evil.  The eighth deadly sin that allows me to pass judgment for better or worse on bands looking to make it in the cutthroat industry.  Though I still relish the convenience the horrible hobby has to offer- I have no reservations about siding with Anthony when he proudly exclaimed the importance of seeing his band live rather than via a digital device.  You really need to be in the crowd (or alongside the perimeter for those of you looking to leave sans even one hair out of place) to get the mentality and feel of the show and Ceremony’s loud and proud punk music.

 

Keeping consistent with people of punk’s past the band is roudy, unruly, and able to rile up the crowd with little to no effort based on their music’s general vibe alone.  But hey, you know what they say- if you can’t handle the heat, stay the hell out of the kitchen.  Or FYF fest for that matter.

Since the self-proclaimed Ceremony member refuses to support the cyber-stalking sport, you can head on over to www.ceremonyhc.com to find out where you can catch them next- and though I don’t usually adapt the whole word on the street thing as word of god gospel- this hearsay happens to be more than true.