On Saturday, May 18, 2013 at the Juniata Civic Center in Altoona the band Post Season hosted a release party in which they performed with over a dozen artists and bands from the local music scene.

The festival began in the afternoon with a short performance from a new post-hardcore band called Hollow Bear.  The music began with a soothing sound of music which sounded like a jazz type of music.  However the vocals came in and changed the sound completely.  The combination was not the greatest, but they were not too bad considering that the show was only their second.

Next was an acoustic performance from On the Run’s lead singer R.J. Green.  R.J. invited the audience to come sit around him while he played, making the entire set a very personal experience.  He started out with “Leave Me Alone” and followed it by “Keep It Away”.  He then played “Second Guess” and finally played an unknown to me cover.

Following a soothing acoustic performance, another relatively new band called Up Your Arsenal from Altoona performed.  The band was formed by former Upon the Ashes leader singer Andrew Culp.  Their performance was very energetic with every band member moving constantly.  Their music was a heavy sound that reminded me of To Speak of Wolves.

Next came an Altoona hip hop artist named Sleepy Saint.  Sleepy Saint performed songs off his latest mix entitled All Saints Day such as “My Pride” and “3 High Crew”.  His music was a mix of slow paced raping and singing with some upbeat rapping with tons of bass.  The last two songs he sang were with his partner.  The style of music changed to more of a mid-90’s type of hip hop.

The next band to play was a quiet Altoona native called Lone Wolf.  Lone Wolf played three original songs and one cover of a My Chemical Romance song.  She told the small audience that she had been ill previously so she was not at top performance level.  However, her performance was good.

Ty Ayers was the next person to perform.  Ty was another acoustic solo artist.  He had a forty minute set where he performed all cover songs.  His playing and singing were seamless and covered all songs with perfection.  He interacted with the audience asking them at times what he should play next.  A memorable part of the show was when he played The Proclaimer’s hit song “I Would Walk (500 miles)”.  All of the crowd members sang along in harmony.

Following a masterful acoustic performance came Tyrone’s own post-hardcore band Becoming Friends with Lions.  BFWL as most people know them by is consists of Tyrone graduates Chris Closson, Sean Stringer, Sam Yeaton, and Michael Pasmino.  They performed a blazing set with lead singer Chris Closson owning the stage with his raspy style of screaming and harmonic clean vocals.  The rest of the band jammed along in perfect harmony playing songs such as “Into the Woods” and “Chemical Burns”.

Following a performance from Becoming Friends with Lions came the Pittsburgh death metal outfit called Revelry (formerly known as Where There’s A Will).  Revelry’s performance was loud and heavy from start to finish.  The brutal vocals ranged from deep growls to high pitched screams.  The drums were heart pounding and the F# guitar tuning shredded.  The band did not really move around during their performance, but they made up for it through their intense music.

After an intense performance from Revelry came a quartet of punk rockers from Harrisburg called Wide Open.  They had an easy going set where they cruised through their songs.  Their style of music blended a Seether sound with the typical punk sound.  Their songs were mostly upbeat with only one slower song.

Next up was another punk rock outfit from Lancaster named Dugout.  Their style was more of a classic punk sound that reminded me of Blink 182 in the older days.  Their vocals switched through three different styles.  One person sang with an original punk sound, one used scream vocals, and one used a rock vocal style.  They placed through their set at a fast pace.  They made sure to interact with the crowd a lot and put on an overall great show.

The next artist up was a three piece rap crew named Duville from Altoona.  Their style was a classic rap style like utilized in famous rap group N.W.A.  Their music had a lot of bass intermixed with a pop sounds.  They moved around and interacted with the audience a good bit.  Their overall performance was one of the best of the night.

The co-headliner to the event was Altoona’s own pop-punk band The Big Time.  The Big Time sang songs from their recently released EP. They had a high energy level during their whole set.  The crowd seemed to enjoy the set along with the previous band that had played that day.

The headlining band came, Post Season, had come at last.  They began their set with the first track off of their Restless Nights EP.  During their set the lead singer made sure to get the crowd going by jumping into the crowd and starting a mosh pit at various occasions.  They played through a relatively short set, but made every second a high energy performance.  At the end of the show, I acknowledged how talented the area was at producing great bands.