Next weekend brings the inaugural Life if Beautiful Festival to downtown Las Vegas. The two-day music and arts event, which is being put on by Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh’s The Downtown Project, is a spiritual successor to the sorely missed Vegoose music festival in that it looks to the indie rock world to make the bulk of its Coachella-inspired lineup.
Taking things one step further than Vegoose, Life is Beautiful has a strong local presence, taking advantage of the vibrant and talented Vegas indie scene to fill up its earlier time slots, as well as putting two of Vegas’ most successful bands – The Killers and Imagine Dragons – in headlining and prime spots respectively.
But for those whose dream lineup doesn’t resemble the 2004 touring schedule at The O.C.’s Bait Shop, others who were just generally unhappy with the way the festival was being put together, or music fans simply looking for more punk and rock and roll-based offerings comes the alternative – Life is Shit.
Taking place opposite Life is Beautiful’s first night – October 26th – at The Dive, Life is Shit offers a fun and free alternative for those looking to enjoy local music and celebrate our city’s talent in a way that doesn’t require $159 for a two day, general admission pass.
Bands/solo performers appearing at Life is Shit:
Dangerboner, Deadhand, Skorchamenza, The Black Jetts, The Fat Dukes of Fuck, Spotted Dick, The Pluralses, Leather Lungs, Lawn Mower Death Riders, War Called Home, Brock Frabbiele (pictured above), Zabi Naqshband, Lucas Johnson, Nathan Fairbanks & Josh Ellis
Also featuring:
“My Car is Shit” shitty car show. Shittiest car wins a not-so-shitty prize package. There will also be a “Win Some Shitty Shit” raffle for a guitar, tattoos, records and more, with all proceeds going to charity.
We reached out to Life is Shit co-founder Jack Johnson (of Dude City, the Boulder City Review and more) to find out how the festival came to be. Here’s what he had to say:
“There are many folks in Las Vegas who won’t be going to Life is Beautiful, for a number of reasons. Some think it’s mainstream soccer mom garbage, some would like to go but simply can’t afford it, and some, like myself, can afford it and would actually like to see some of the LIB bands (Dawes, for instance, is a great rock and roll band), but were rubbed the wrong way by how LIB organizers asked accomplished local bands to jump through hoops and audition in lame “battle of the bands” try-outs or showcases or whatever. Which, I should add, none of the auditioning bands got paid for and the venues hosting the showcases were making money hand over fist, and LIB was getting loads of free promotion. For a lot of folks like myself, this just didn’t sit right. So we (Nate, Brock Frabbiele and I) decided to take the existing hype of Vegas that weekend and spin it into our own thing.
(I should disclose that I never was asked to play a showcase with my main band Dude City, but I never asked to play one either. I saw what was happening with the other bands and I sat the whole thing out. I did, however, help my cousin Chandelle by playing guitar in her band at a showcase. She drove from California to try out and was not paid and not selected.)
Life is Shit leans toward punk and heavy rock and roll because that’s a scene that was entirely overlooked by LIB. In fact, none of the bands playing Life is Shit were invited to an LIB tryout. Admittedly, that is fine, because LIB is not a punk rock festival and no one expected it to be. However, Life is Shit is not purely a punk show either. The one main theme tying all the performers together is that they are awesome in one way or another need to be recognized. Brendan from Deadhand, for example, is the best rock guitarist and probably frontman in Las Vegas and everyone knows it. Nathan Fairbanks is this crazy solo dude who never plays but is legendary in certain circles in Las Vegas. My buddy Lucas Johnson writes some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, and made a killer album with The Ku but now plays solo. Josh Ellis is the best writer in Las Vegas …. like, a fucking monster essayist. I don’t even know what his music sounds like, but he’s brilliant so I asked him to be a part of this. Haha. Lazer from The Pluralses is an old Vegas punker and runs a recording studio. Roy from The Black Jetts is a kick ass rocker and fixes everyone’s amps over at Cowtown Guitars. Catch my drift? Good bands + good dudes = LIS. Nobody is going to walk out of there feeling ripped off and unappreciated.
As part of this thing we’ll also have a “My Car is Shit” shitty car show, where the person with the shittiest car will win a rad prize package. And we’re going to have a raffle for charity. I’m not ready to announce the charity yet, but we have a ton of stuff that’s being donated, like a guitar, tattoos, records, clothes, car parts, etc. There will be some food trucks too.
We chose The Dive because it supports local music more than any other venue in town at the moment, and owner Nate Bruce was on board from the second the words “Life is Shit Festival” came out of my mouth. That dude is punk as fuck and just gets it, and we’re lucky to have him running a bar in town. We had planned for it to be much bigger, with an alcohol sponsor to pay the bands and an outdoor stage, but when that fell through Nate said he’d pay the bands from the bar. 16 bands.
I don’t know if people should choose this over LIB. Honestly, I think they are two very different things. Most of the people coming to LIS would probably be hanging out at The Dive anyways on Oct. 26, so we might as well make it a party.”
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