
MidWest Friends Fest 2026 Pre-Fest Party
Thu, 28 May, 7:00 PM EDT
Doors open
6:30 PM EDT
The Southgate House Revival - Revival Room
111 E Sixth Street , Newport, KY 41071
Event Information
Age Limit
All Ages

Alternative
Nervous Verbs
Nervous Verbs
Alternative
Nervous Verbs is the solo project of artist, songwriter, and audio engineer Mike Montgomery.
Mike owns and operates Candyland Recording Studio in Dayton, KY and plays in the groups R.
Ring and Ampline.

Alternative
Nice Device
Nice Device
Alternative

Punk
Alex Kasznel & the Board of Directors
Alex Kasznel & the Board of Directors
Punk
Since they started making music in 2023, Cincinnati-based trio Alex Kasznel & The Board of Directors have developed a sound some call “surprisingly un-whiny,” a style they affectionately refer to as “pop punk for grownups.”
Their debut album, Everything Is Important & Nothing Matters was released in May of 2023, and was followed up by their 4-Song EP, Parachute, in December of that year.

Indie Rock
Lo, The Loyal Conscripts
Lo, The Loyal Conscripts
Indie Rock
‘Lo, the Loyal Conscripts' is an instrumental post rock band that aims to express lengthier ideas that touch the intimate and somber parts of the soul, while maintaining an aggressive nature that simmers beneath the surface. Taking cues from giants like This Will Destroy You, Circa Survive and Russian Circles , Lo creates emotive passages that communicate a feeling of struggle and triumph. The Conscripts have shared the stage with the likes of Stolas, Hail the Sun and Icarus the Owl. Their last Ep, In the Shell of the Old presents their signature combination of aggressive hardcore leanings with delicate post-rock styles.
“If you’re someone who feels the need for something with a different kind of energy and approach but don’t want to relinquish the post-rock feels, Lo, the Loyal Conscripts is definitely a band that should be on your radar, yet another recent American instrumental band stepping up and delivering in a big way.” -Heavy Blog is Heavy
"Orchestrating a sound that dramatically maneuvers between a shimmer and a roar, Lo, The Loyal Conscripts’ music brings together cerebral intricacy, wild-eyed exploration and feverish intensity, exploiting and balancing the tension and harmony of its arrangements.” -Citybeat

Alternative
Red Bud Trio
Red Bud Trio
Alternative
When former bandmates Chris Mueller and Andy Hittle reunited to develop a new musical project,
they envisioned a big band: lots of moving pieces, perhaps even a Voltron-like collective that could
size up or down as needed. After casting about for bass players, the two found NYC transplant Nate
Stevens, who immediately convinced them to scuttle their outsized plans and close the circle into an
unanticipated configuration: a multi-hyphenated instrumental power trio that braids post-rock,
psych, Americana, prog, ambient, and jazz into a restless and radiant soundtrack. The new group
would indeed be big, but with minimum instrumentation—guitar, bass, drums—and a lot of joyful
work.
As the three veteran musicians jelled in their Dayton, Kentucky, practice space with no particular
pressure or timetables, the Red Bud sound began to take shape. The trio experimented with odd
time signatures, hypnotic drones, jagged riffs, dubby pulses, harmonic complexity, and
unpredictable arrangements, sometimes stitching a few songs together into byzantine suites. As
much as they wanted to surprise eventual listeners, Chris, Andy, and Nate kept deconstructing their
quickly accumulating pool of songs for the sheer thrill of bending and breaking the music until
something enigmatic and compelling emerged.
