Preview: Grandpa Goes to Timbrrr!
Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival 2020
Jan. 24 – Jan 25, 2020
Leavenworth, WA
By Andy Bookwalter
Continuing in the tradition of sending a confused old man across a treacherous mountain pass in search of music he doesn’t understand by bands he’s never heard of, this old man is going to Timbrrr!, the yearly festival held annually in picturesque Leavenworth, Wash. that’s so good it has an exclamation point right in its name!
The role of Camper Van Bookwalter, the classic RV that has served as both my transportation and lodging at countless Sasquatch Festivals, will be played by a Subaru Outback, considering CVB lacks in heat it makes up for in ants. And I’m not losing another box of doughnuts to festival ants.
Here’s a little taste of what I’m looking forward to or just curious about:
I’m already on record as LOVING Actionesse, who are what happens when the nerdy punks and band geeks get drunk and fall down some stairs. They play early Friday and if I don’t die driving over the pass I’m very excited to see them play in the snow. Or near the snow. In a building adjacent to snow.
To the dismay of many of Nada’s regular contributors, I don’t know Pedro the Lion all that well, but I remember when they were (allegedly) part of the whole Tooth and Nail stable of more or less Christian bands that didn’t suck. As usual there’s a lot more to the story, so I’m ready for whatever confessional, earnest, indie/emo sounds they throw at me. People I trust love these guys.
Bully was awesome when I saw them at Sasquatch a few years ago. Rather than coming up with an original thought, here’s what I wrote about them in 2016: “Bully was up next. The Nashville band, whose ferocious singer/songwriter Alicia Bognanno worked at Steve Albini’s Electrical Studio in Chicago, band sounded EXACTLY like a band with members that worked with Steve Albini.”
Leavenworth itself is kind of like a cold wet Disneyland: It’s 100% fake, the details are spot on, and I challenge even the jaded-est of hipster to not be completely charmed by the place. Nothing about it should be anything less than infuriating, but it’s kind of a beautiful winter wonderland. It’s also REALLY expensive, which is why I’m staying in a crappy hotel two towns down. I’ll be passing the savings on to the local Schweinshaxe vendor. (Schweinshaxe is a crispy roast pork knuckle the size of a baby’s head). It’s the kind of thing Leavenworth goes nuts for.
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