Mosswood Meltdown, The Best Fest in the World, Coming Back to Oakland July 17 – 19:
It’s long been the contention of this website that Mosswood Meltdown is the most outrageously fun time you can have at a music festival.
The bands, the setting, and the overall vibes are so far removed from the typical festival experience. There is a wonderful irreverence to the scene that is such a breath of fresh air—there aren’t any corporate sponsors or eye-wateringly over-priced merch stands. It’s an experience for outsiders, a fact affirmed every year by the presence of host John Waters, the legendary B-movie auteur who is a living reminder that some art is just not for everyone.
Unsurprisingly, this year’s rendition of Mosswood Meltdown once again reaches those lofty standards. Headlining the two-day gathering, which takes place on July 18 and 19 in Mosswood Park in Oakland, is the chameleonic Iggy Pop, the beloved rock icon whose shapeshifting ways have always placed him on the cutting edge—or outer edge—of contemporary tastes. The other headliner is Bikini Kill, the legendarily defiant riot grrrl outfit who inspired an entire generation of followers and whose influence is still being felt today.
And for the first time, Mosswood Meltdown will feature a pre-festival gathering on Friday, highlighted by slack rock trailblazers Pavement (maybe the greatest band of all time?) and the Vivian Girls, whose DIY sound helped define the Brooklyn indie rock scene of the early 2010s.
But what makes Mosswood Meltdown truly great is the host of utterly entertaining and offbeat acts that make up the festival’s supporting cast. These are the groups that play in their underwear or who have hilarious band names. And of course, there are acts like Peaches Christ, the nom-de-plume of longtime San Francisco mainstay Joshua Grannell.
No good time is complete without an appearance from Peaches Christ, Granell’s drag persona who is also an emcee, actor, performer and all around entertainer. On Sunday at Mosswood, Grannell will produce the Peaches Christ Punk Pride, a tour-de-force collection of drag performers belting out classic punk tunes to the backing of a live band.
“These are drag performers, so they’re not classically trained vocalists or anything,” said Grannell. “But they will blow people’s minds. As soon as they get up there, everyone will think, ‘oh wow, these are rock stars!’ And of course, I’ll be up there doing my regular job bringing that crazy transgressive energy.”
Grannell said the group is still figuring out the set list, but Peaches can be counted on to perform “God Save The Queen,” by the Sex Pistols. (“I can’t ignore a song with god in the title, can I?”)
Grannell grew up in Washington D.C. and was a longtime admirer of Waters, whose hometown of Baltimore is right down Interstate 95. While he was studying film at Penn State, Grannell actually raised funds to have Waters visit the school for a speaking engagement and the two have been close friends since collaborating together on one of the Peaches Christ Midnight Mass parties.
While Grannell said he’s thrilled to connect again with Waters, he said Mosswood Meltdown will also be an opportunity to reconnect with his punk roots, which helped sustain him during a rocky childhood.
“I loved Siouxsie and the Banshees growing up, and while there is a debate about whether they were post-punk or goth, the energy and passion from that project really got me into other punk bands,” said Grannell. “I loved the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and of course the Violent Femmes. The punk community really helped save me as a kid.”
Grannell recalls having a wonderful heart-to-heart conversation with Henry Rollins years ago and also had an equally inspiring talk with Joe Genaro of the Dead Milkmen, whom Grannell recalls as “incredibly sweet.”
In a nice bit of serendipity, Genaro (or Joe Jack Talcum as he goes by onstage) and the Dead Milkmen will also be performing at Mosswood Meltdown on Sunday. One of the more influential punk bands from the creatively fertile mid-80s period, the DNA of the Dead Milkmen is written all over Mosswood Meltdown.
A snotty, hilarious punk group from the Philly, the Dead Milkmen specialize in making catchy tunes laced with impudent commentary that’s never mean-spirited or spiteful. They’re cheeky and sassy and clearly more comfortable with the outcasts—a template that has been dutifully aped by countless other punk outfits, many of whom will be making appearances at Mosswood Meltdown.
“It’s flattering to think that some of the bands playing at Mosswood were inspired by us, but I’m the worst person to ask about that,” said Genaro. “I don’t keep tabs on too many new bands. But I know that we were inspired by John Waters, so if some band got the same inspiration from us that we got from him, I guess that would be really special.”
In many ways, it’s a minor miracle that the Dead Milkmen are playing at Mosswood Meltdown. After a spirited run through the 80s and the early 90s, the group broke up in 1994. They reunited to play at Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest in 2008, and after that triumphant gig, they decided to keep the band going, but only on their own terms.
“After that show, we had a meeting back in Philly, where we voted as a group to keep the band going, but only on the condition that we wrote and recorded new music and that we wouldn’t be going on any crazy world tours,” said Genaro. “We were too old for this to be our main gig, but we still enjoyed making music together.”
Genaro said the band still practices every Friday night (they all live outside of Philadelphia) and that they’re working on new material at the moment. Since reforming, the band has issued three albums, including 2023’s “Quaker City Quiet Pills.”
For a band whose identity is so closely aligned with Mosswood Meltdown, the Dead Milkmen have shockingly never played the event before, although not for a lack of outreach. Genaro said festival organizers have reached out in the past, but due to various band circumstances, they haven’t been able to play until this year.
“I think we’re all really excited to be finally playing this festival,” said Genaro. “From everything we ever heard or seen about Mosswood Meltdown, it should be a great time.”
Show Details:
Mosswood Meltdown
Where: Mosswood Park, Oakland
When: July 17 – 19
Tickets: Various prices, available here.