Archive for Treefort

« Older Entries

Boise Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their 2025 Top 10 Lists

Posted in Lists with tags , , , , , , , , , on 12/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The Bad Penny is rolling out its favorite albums of 2025 in five installments this year, with the first and second batches having already dropped. While the other three will plop down imminently, we’re smashing the self-indulgence and monotony by inviting some of our favorite Boise music-heads to share their own top 10s with us and, by extension, you.

We’re delighted by the picks that the participants received, as they run the genre gamut and include many albums of which The Bad Penny wasn’t even aware.

A boatload of thanks to Travis Abbott of Ealdor Bealu and Shadow & Claw, DJ Joe Black of Dayglow Drip and KRBX Radio Boise, Gus Marsden of Breathing Records, Catherine Merrick of The Record Exchange, Chad Remains of Ghorot, Tyler Squire of Onsetter, Shadrach Tuck of Chief Broom and Mishap Records, and Nathan Walker of Duck Club/ Treefort Music Fest/ MusicIdaho for participating in this team effort.

Without further ado, here are the lists of the top 10 albums released in 2025 that some of The Bad Penny‘s favorite Boise peeps (the kids still say that word, right?) graciously shared with us.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

From the Vault: Deafheaven’s 2017 Tour Setlists and First-Ever Show in Boise – An Analysis

Posted in Concert Reviews, Essays, Reviews with tags , , , , , , on 09/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Deafheaven’s setlist from their show at Mardi Gras in Boise on 3.25.17

When Deafheaven played their first show in Boise on March 25 – at Mardi Gras, a venue typically reserved for wedding functions – they provided the five-day Treefort Music Fest with its only dose of shoe-gazing black metal. Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Flipside Fest’s Fall Festivities Fizzle for 2024

Posted in News with tags , on 04/29/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

In another setback for the struggling music scene in Boise, Idaho, the promoter of Flipside Fest announced today that they have canceled this year’s installment of the event.

The promoters behind the festival, The Duck Club, said the multi-stage, multi-day event will happen again next year. Nevertheless, the cancellation of Flipside Fest 2024 is the latest black eye for concert organizers in Boise, following one of the most lackluster Treefort Fest events in recent memory.

“Don’t worry, Flipside friends: We will be back!” read a post on the website for promoter The Duck Club. “You may be asking, ‘Why is Flipside taking a year off?’ To put it simply: the Duck Club team needs a bit of a summer break.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

A Place To Bury Strangers Keep Treefort Rooted In Radness

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/23/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

Of the 500-plus musical acts performing at this year’s Treefort Music Fest, one stands out as the most rambunctious in the lot: New York’s A Place to Bury Strangers.

Check out my profile of the unpredictable blitzkrieg of a band via New Noise‘s website:

Treefort Pick of the Fest: A Place To Bury Strangers

Leave a comment »

Yes, Mary Timony Is Still On For Boise’s Treefort Music Fest

Posted in News with tags , , , , , on 01/28/2024 by Kurt Orzeck

With Treefort Music Fest less than two months away, indie-rock fans flocking to Boise can breathe a collective sigh of relief: Legendary artist Mary Timony is, indeed, still on the bill.

Best known as the leader of Helium, the dreamy Boston trio that served as a staple of Matador Records’ roster in the ’90s, Timony is one of the main draws at this year’s edition of the five-day event. Treefort will take place from March 20 to 24 at various venues throughout the growing city.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Treefort 2023 Profile: Montreal’s Teke::Teke

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/20/2023 by Kurt Orzeck

What is almost definitely the most highly anticipated edition of Treefort Music Fest kicks off this week, and it is our honor to bring you an interview with one of the bands that music lovers are most excited to see perform, psych-rock luminaries Teke::Teke.

The seven-piece band takes something of a kitchen-sink approach to making tunes. They incorporate distorted guitars, drums, trombone, flute and more instruments to create an idiosyncratic yet thoroughly dynamic mixture of Japanese rock and surf rock.

Hailing from Montreal, they are the 20th band to participate in the Bad Penny’s ongoing series profiling international artists coming to Boise to play the state’s best and brightest music festival, Treefort.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Treefort 2023 Profile: United Kingdom’s Demob Happy

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/19/2023 by Kurt Orzeck

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to hear some music? Are you prepared to witness previously unknown levels of rock-and-roll-induced euphoria? Are you ready to rock?

Then you’re ready to see Demob Happy. Or, we’re apt to believe as much. The U.K. rock band — which originated in Newcastle and now live in Brighton — is one of the more mysterious entries on the bill for this year’s Treefort Music Fest. The trio publicly describe their sound with only four adjectives: “explosive,” “loud,” “melodic” and “sweet-sounding.”

And Boise is lucky to have them back for another concert. As Demob Happy recently told the Bad Penny, they played the worst gig of their career in Idaho. Read below to find out why they’re coming back anyway.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Treefort 2023 Profile: Spain’s Black Maracas

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/18/2023 by Kurt Orzeck

The only band from Spain that is pegged to play this year’s Treefort Music Fest is Black Maracas, a fuzz-drenched trio that segues from garage to psychedelic to straight-up rock music over the course of one set. Black Maracas are also one of the many bands that will perform in the U.S. for the first time thanks to Boise’s five-day music throw down, which starts Wednesday.

Founded less than five years ago, Black Maracas already have an impressive amount of experience playing music festivals. They’ve graced the stage at massive events in their homeland of Spain, as well as other parts of Europe.

But as we all know, Treefort isn’t exactly your typical music festival, given the sheer volume of participating artists staging shows in sometimes-nontraditional venues across much of the city.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Treefort 2023 Profile: British Columbia’s Bridal Party

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/17/2023 by Kurt Orzeck

Next time — or the first time — you see pop posse Bridal Party, be sure to toss them an ice-cold brewski. The British Columbia natives have so much heat going into Treefort Music Fest next week, they’ll need to Cool Down — which just happens to be the title of their newest record. (What a truly non-bizarre coincidence! And what awful puns!)

Recently, the Bad Penny caught up with Bridal Party ahead of their gigs at the Olympic on Friday (start time: 6:30 p.m.) and at Cyclops (start time: 8 p.m.) the following day. As Bridal Party informed us, they’re particularly giddy because Boise was where they delivered one of their best performances on their 2018 tour.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Treefort 2023 Profile: Tokyo’s DYGL 

Posted in Interviews with tags , on 03/16/2023 by Kurt Orzeck

With Treefort Music Fest kicking off in less than a week, we’re thrilled to share one of the most exciting installments in our series profiling international artists participating in the festival. Today we introduce you to Tokyo’s DYGL (pronounced “day-glo”), an indie-rock group that — after years of clamoring — are finally touring the U.S. for the first time.

Treefort will have the honor of hosting one of the group’s performances, taking place Friday, March 24, at the Shredder at 9 p.m. Similar to Big Joanie, the London punk trio we featured yesterday, you won’t wanna miss DYGL’s sole set at Treefort: They’re blowing up big time, and Treefort festival-goers who ghost the gig will be haunted forever by their mistake.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries