Get pumped for Noise Pop this week, one of The Bay’s best music fests

Noise Pop 2014

Going on 22 years strong, Noise Pop will again unpack its annual festival around San Francisco this week, and everyone from hometown indie hero Mark Kozelek to Michigan up-and-comers Lord Huron will be plugging in to play its many stages.

Other notable acts on the bill include Throwing Muses, Com Truise, Majical Cloudz, Ladytron (DJ set), and local (and national) favorites Trails and Ways, Mikal Cronin, and Terry Malts.

The festival will run a full six days, Feb. 25 to March 2 this year (and a pre-party Feb. 24), with gallery headquarters The NWBLK (The New Black) designated as a mingling center and host to the festival bookend ceremonies, the kick off and closing.

Noise Pop has been rounding up the best of new and classic music acts since 1993, when founder Kevin Arnold was offered a single night for his own gig by management at venue The Kennel, now known to show-goers as The Independent. A UC Berkeley alum, Arnold studied architecture before deciding he wanted to stick with hanging out at and working with the SF music scene.

The first Noise Pop lineup consisted of The Overwhelming Colorfast, The Meices, Corduroy, Carlos!, and Bitchcraft.

Like Arnold’s venture in into promoting, the evolution of Noise Pop from its one night stand to a mult-day span at many different venues was spontaneous.

“It was never intended to be what it is today,” Arnold told The Examiner in a 2011 interview.

Arnold continues:

It was really one show. It was called Noise Pop festival and I made a poster for it, and that was really to give it a special event mystique. The next year, a bunch of bands asked; “Hey, can you do it again?” The second year I moved to the Bottom of the Hill…. We did three nights that year. The next year it grew to five shows, at a couple of different venues. Back then we only did one show per night. It was just me doing it myself.

Arnold soon met his creative partner Jordan Kurland, and together they worked to elevate the festival to a multiple shows per night event. And the rest, as we stand now, is history.

“We’ve been the size we are now for about the last five or ten years,” said Arnold.

Noise Pop also set up camp in Chicago for two consecutive years starting in 2000, picking post-punk icons Television to front the Windy City’s 2001 bill.

Though they’ve since kept the festival a Bay Area event, the festival crew are still into trying new ventures, like the aforementioned headquarters. The headquarters this year, a new staple to the fest, will also host its own events every night of the week, including a Q & A, happy hours, a brunch, films, and its own live shows. The full headquarters schedule can be found here.

“We’ve been really happy with the general size and intimacy and scope of the festival,” Arnold said in 2011. “We just keep on looking to surprise people every year, and, like I said, keep ourselves interested.”

We at The B-Side are still interested in 2014, and excited about the festivities this week. Along with the wide variety of bands to choose to see, there’s also a scatter of venues to see them at, from The Fillmore, to Slim’s, to The Roxie Theater, The Regency Ballroom, and others.

To participate, you can purchase a General Badge for $150, a Superfan Badge for $350, or individual tickets for select shows on the Noise Pop website. Some of the shows only require an RSVP, and some have already sold out.

You can keep track of the fest with their Noise Pop 2014 app. And stay tuned for our ongoing coverage of this week’s shows.

The full lineup with RSVP and sold out indicators is listed below.

Monday 02/24

Noise Pop and Ineffable Music Present WATERS, The Tambo Rays, James Supercave
9:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Noise Pop 2014 Pre-Party Courtney Barnett, Fever the Ghost, Kins, Rich Girls
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Rickshaw Stop
SOLD OUT

Tuesday 02/25

Noise Pop HQ Noise Pop Opening Night Party: Punk Rock Fancy
5:30PM – 10:30PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Lord Huron, Superhumanoids
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Fillmore
SOLD OUT

Wednesday 02/26

Noise Pop Happy Hour | GIBBSMO Presents: CCR Headcleaner, Skate Laws, Bicycle Day
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ Bender’s

Noise Pop HQ “Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton” FILM
5:00PM (Doors) – 6:30PM @ The NWBLK
SOLD OUT

Noise Pop and (((FolkYEAH!))) present: Papercuts, Vetiver, The Donkeys, EDJ, Vinyl DJ selections by Britt Govea
7:00PM – 11:00PM @ The Chapel

The Fresh & Onlys, Cool Ghouls, Sandy’s, Luke Sweeney
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Noise Pop HQ and Stones Throw Present: “Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton” LIVE SHOW
8:00PM (Doors) – 12:00AM @ The NWBLK

Strange Vine, French Cassettes, Dante Elephante, Irontom
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Bottom Of The Hill

Matthew Dear Presents Audion Live: Subverticul
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Regency Ballroom

Noise Pop Film Series Mistaken for Strangers
7:00PM – 8:30PM @ Roxie Theater
SOLD OUT

Noise Pop Film Series Swim Little Fish Swim
9:00PM – 10:30PM @ Roxie Theater

Thursday 02/27

Noise Pop Happy Hour | Different Fur Presents: Dude York, A Million Billion Dying Suns, A-1 & Rawdad
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ Bender’s

Noise Pop & SF Station Present: Noise Pop: Shabazz Palaces, with Cities Aviv, Extra Classic, Raw G
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Slim’s

Bob Mould: 25 years of Workbook, Zach Rogue, Jon Ginoli
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Great American Music Hall
SOLD OUT

Jameson Presents: The Limousines, Nova Albion, The Hundred Days, Taxes
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ DNA Lounge

Bottomless Pit, Kinski, Vir, Wild Moth
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Bottom Of The Hill

Social Studies, AAN, Max and The Moon
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The New Parish

Mark Mulcahy, Mark Eitzel, Vikesh Kapoor, Whiskerman
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Mother Falcon, Foxtails Brigade, Kan Wakan, The Airplanes
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Chapel

Noise Pop, SPARC & Grown Kids Radio Present: Jel, Maus Haus, Grown Kids Radio DJs
7:00PM – 10:00PM @ SPARC SF

Noise Pop HQ Noise Pop Badge Appreciation Happy Hour
7:00PM – 10:00PM @ The NWBLK

Noise Pop 2014 The Noise Pop Poster Retrospective
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ Bender’s

Noise Pop Film Series Brothers Hypnotic
7:00PM – 8:30PM @ New People Cinema

MEZZANINE and Noise Pop Present Com Truise, Phantoms, Kauf, DJ Dials
9:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Mezzanine

Noise Pop and Popscene Present: BROODS, ASTR (nyc), DJ Aaron Axelsen
9:30PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Rickshaw Stop
SOLD OUT

Digital Mystikz, DJ Rashad, Paradigm
10:00PM – 2:00AM @ 1015 Folsom

Noise Pop and Z Space Present: Hundred Days
8:00PM @ Z Space

Noise Pop Film Series | Disposable Film Festival Presents: Death Metal Angola
9:00PM – 10:30PM @ New People Cinema

Friday 02/28

Do415, DJ Dials, Noise Pop & 1015 Folsom Present Scene Unseen III with Mr. Carmack, Kelela, Majical Cloudz, Supreme Cuts, Purple
9:00PM – 3:00AM @ 1015 Folsom
RSVP

Noise Pop Happy Hour | Bay Bridged Presents: Future Twin, Cocktails, Blood Sister
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ Bender’s

Real Estate, The Shilohs, Dream Boys
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Independent
SOLD OUT

Noise Pop HQ Funcheap Happy Hour – The Great San Francisco Skeeball Rolldown Throwdown
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Cold Cave, Painted Palms, Dirty Ghosts, Happy Fangs
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Slim’s

Noise Pop and Mission Mission Present: No Age, Hindu Pirates, Dune Rats, Creative Adult
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Bottom Of The Hill

DoLA & The Echo Presents: Bleached, Terry Malts, Mystic Braves, Tropical Popsicle
8:30PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Rickshaw Stop

Noise Pop Festival Happy Hour Presented by AVA 55 Ninth with DJ Dials
6:00PM – 8:00PM @ Hotel Zetta
RSVP

Noise Pop & Jameson Present: The Soft White Sixties, NO (Los Angeles), The She’s, Cannons and Clouds
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Chapel

El Ten Eleven, Mattson 2, Pale Blue Dot
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The New Parish

Throwing Muses, Mark Eitzel
8:00PM – 11:00PM @ Jewish Community Center of San Francisco

Noise Pop HQ Cinematic Labyrinths
9:00PM – 11:00PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Noise Pop and Mezzanine Present: Beardyman, Eat. Sleep. Shave. Repeat. Tour, The Genie, Matt Haze
9:00PM @ Mezzanine

Sonny & The Sunsets, Comedian Sean Keane, Penny Machine
9:00PM – 11:30PM @ Hemlock Tavern

Noise Pop “Women Who Rock” Photography Show
6:00PM – 8:00PM @ San Franpsycho

Noise Pop Film Series Revenge of the Mekons (SF Premiere)
7:00PM – 8:30PM @ Artists’ Television Access

Noise Pop Film Series Bayou Maharajah: the tragic genius of James Booker (SF Premiere)
9:00PM – 10:30PM @ Artists’ Television Access

Saturday 03/01

Noise Pop Happy Hour | Bender’s Presents: Winter Teeth, Tiger Honey Pot, Disastroid
5:00PM – 8:00PM @ Bender’s

Noise Pop HQ | Yours Truly Presents “The Days are Short and the Nights are Yours” – An exhibition of pictures, video.
4:30PM – 6:30PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Noise Pop HQ and Juxtapoz Present: CIDADE CINZA / GREY CITY (San Francisco Premier)
6:00PM –  8:00PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Real Estate, The Shilohs, Dominant Legs
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Independent
SOLD OUT

Noise Pop & BFF.fm Present No Age, Cheatahs, GRMLN, Straight Crimes
8:00PM – 11:00PM @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall

Dr. Dog, Saint Rich, Moses Sumney
Sat. 03/01 | 8:00PM (Doors) – Sat. 03/01 | 11:00PM @ The Warfield

Noise Pop HQ | YPlan Presents: Ladytron (DJ Set) / Jimmy Tamborello (Postal Service, Dntel)
9:00PM – 12:30AM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Mikal Cronin, Blood Sister, Old Light, Vertical Scratchers
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ The Chapel

An Evening with Mark Kozelek (of Sun Kil Moon & Red House Painters)
7:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Great American Music Hall

Free Salamander Exhibit, Black Map, Lasher Keen, Happy Diving
8:00PM (Doors) – 11:00PM @ Bottom Of The Hill

Sunday 03/02

Noise Pop 2014 Rogue Wave
3:00PM (Doors) @ The Chapel

Noise Pop HQ 7×7 Sunday Market
11:00AM – 4:00PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Noise Pop HQ | YPlan Presents: Noise Pop Closing Night Party with Machinedrum (Club Set) / DJ Dials
6:00PM – 11:00PM @ The NWBLK
RSVP

Noise Pop Film Series Kids Like You & Me (SF Premiere)
4:00PM – 5:30PM @ Artists’ Television Access

Noise Pop Film Series OUR VINYL WEIGHS A TON: THIS IS STONES THROW RECORDS
2:00PM – 3:30PM @ Artists’ Television Access

Article by Audrey Gertz