Stompbox and three-eyed cat lovers rejoice, Fuzzstival returns to Somerville’s Armory on Friday and Saturday for its 11th edition of elevated skronk and musical circumstance. Eighteen bands over two nights will plant their flags into the oddball terra firma of a regional rock, punk and art-haus sampler that booker Illegally Blind and its band of volunteers have cultivated lovingly on a more-or-less annual basis since 2013.
Post punk reigns supreme across the 2025 bill, top to bottom. If you’re looking for something like a headliner, look in the general direction of acts such as Rong, Landowner, Robber Robber and Paper Lady, which close out Friday and Saturday nights with heavy sounds for curious souls.
Don’t get too hung up on rank ordering the schedule, though. Fuzzstival has never been known for especially top-heavy lineups. There are gems to be unearthed throughout. Unlike festivals that turn the headliner into a major engine for marketing (and end up selling tickets to people who show up only for the final act), Fuzzstival has more of a community feel to it, like neighbors turning up for a block party. It’s that community feel that’s kept artists, fans and volunteers coming back.
Continuity of this sort is a rare species in live music. There are forces – artistic, economic and act-of-goddish – that militate against building long-lived traditions. In spite of the challenges, Fuzzstival has survived by relying from the start on a special sauce to feed the masses.
What are the active ingredients? Let’s read the label …
First up, 500 percent RDA of psych rock.
Cast your mind back to 2013, the first year of Fuzzstival, a one-day affair at The Middle East, divided into a matinee show and a late show. Bands that can say they were there when it all began: Ghost Modern, Boogie Boy Metal Mouth, Winter, Underwater Bear Ballet, The TeleVibes, Ghost Box Orchestra, The New Highway Hymnal, Creaturos, Guillermo Sexo, Moniker, Fagettes, Nice Guys and Doze.
It was the tail end of what is now sometimes referred to as the “indie sleaze” era. (If any local indie music makers from that era felt particularly sleazy, let me know. The usual Allston-Brighton flophouse lyfe doesn’t count. I have an inkling that the entire concept is a psy-op manufactured to sell nostalgia.)
If there was a thematic center to this inaugural crew, it was psych. Psych of all flavors: the heavy drone of Ghost Box Orchestra or The New Highway Hymnal, the punchier rock of Creaturos or The Televibes, or the proggy drive of a band such as Doze.
Psych and psych-adjacent sounds hung thick in the air in the 2013 Boston underground, and they still form a major staple of Fuzzstival programming of late, with gazey bands such as Gift in 2023, Doug Tuttle making his return in 2024 (he was a 2014-2016 alum) and stoner folk rocker Bong Wish in 2025.
Next up, 750 percent RDA of garage punk.
There’s no bad time to be a punk that makes noise in the music underground. It’s the quickest and cheapest way to make a fun racket. Fuzzstival has never underestimated the pure joys of three or four chords, a red hot amp and a basement. In 2013, Boogie Boy Metal Mouth, Underwater Bear Ballet, the Fagettes (renamed Barbazons in 2015) and Nice Guys (shout out for Most Fuzzstival Appearances) carved out a space for keeping it relatively simple and definitely loud at the festival.
If that’s your cup of tea, 2025 has got you covered (especially Friday night). The posthardcore dabblings of Rong, Space Camp, Warmachine and K.O. Queen makes this one of the loudest Fuzzstivals in years. Bring earplugs or just hang in back – the Armory is spacious enough to hide out if you need to.
Finally, 1,000 percent RDA of “wild card, bitches!”
Fuzzstival loves the experimental, so there’s no one formula for making a Fuzzstival. In 2013, the wild card might have been the straightforward indie pop of Guillermo Sexo or Ghost Modern, which would have lent the fledgling music fest a wider appeal beyond the psych and punk crowds. More recently, there doesn’t seem to be any genre the festival won’t sample. We’ve seen varieties of performance art from the likes of (New England) Patriots and Boston Cream in 2023. Hip-hop from Cliff Notez (2021, 2023), Pink Navel (2023) and Latrell James (2024). Alt-country from GracieHorse (2023) and Francie Medosch (2024). And if I told you this year’s wild card, it would ruin the fun.
Stir all the above ingredients into a pot and you’ve got Fuzzstival. It’s not one thing, but it is something, and that ain’t bad.
Postscript: I reached out to Jason Trefts (Illegally Blind) for an interview. He replied: “I very rarely give any interviews.” And he mentioned that the festival is “a fully volunteer-run celebration of local and regional music and all of the profits go to the bands.” So I asked the natural follow-up: Does talking with the media about rarely giving interviews, etc., constitute, in itself, an interview? Trefts did not reply to the follow-up question as of press time.
Fuzzstival from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday and 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $20 for a one-day pass, $30 for a two-day pass.
A stronger
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