^{Tri-Cities band Staring at the Sun performs at The Emerald of Siam on day two of Battle Vest Fest 2025. Photo by Karlee Van De Venter.}

In 2024, Battle Vest Fest began in response to community need. Callie Denning is one of a handful of people who organized the three-day inaugural festival with limited time, resources, and volunteers.

[See our previous coverage in ‘A tale of two festivals’: https://tumbleweird.org/a-tale-of-two-festivals]. 

For them, it’s always been about the bands. The reason Denning and the other organizers started the event in the first place was to retain gigs for several local and traveling bands that had parted ways with a separate local event last year. Several of those bands shared details from the other event, saying they were asked to split merch costs, agree to restrictive radius clauses, and were otherwise treated poorly by organizers. 

After they backed out from that event, Denning said she refused to leave the bands stuck without a gig. She was prepared to throw a backyard festival, if it came down to it. 

But with the support of Ray’s Golden Lion and numerous other locals, Battle Vest Fest was born. 

The smashing success of year one left many hoping it’d become an annual event. Immediately, Denning began working on the 2025 festival. 

Battle Vest Fest focused on community from the very beginning of year two. 

Kicking off Battle Vest Fest 2025

The festival began at 6pm on Friday, with nine bands playing at Ray’s Golden Lion: Trotting Roux, Stooks, Miramontes, JFKFC, Guillotine Gambit, Rotting in Place, Inverse Oswald, Dysfunctional Society, and EVA. 

While there were plenty of Ray’s regulars in attendance, several noted the host of new faces in attendance. In total, Denning said there were around 400 attendees throughout the festival, not including the additional 100+ bodies from band members and nearly 50 staff, volunteers, and members of the media. 

Special lights lit up the floor of the pit, showcasing the Battle Vest Fest logo and set times. Merch was set up throughout the venue, as well as free portrait photography by Scott Butner and live commissions by Lotte Comics. 

Professional and amateur photographers and videographers also caught footage of each set, sharing it to social media all weekend long. 

Tri-Cities Harm Reduction was on site as well, and gave out around 200 doses of Narcan, so that the scene was more equipped to intervene in the event of potential overdoses. 

Day stages at Battle Vest Fest

The grand spectacle came Saturday. The day began with the Uptown Art Walk held that morning and afternoon. The Uptown Shopping Center was packed by the time sets began at 1pm, and as the day went on, more and more people filtered into the festival. 

The stage at Caterpillar Cafe was free to attend, featuring more acoustic and folk-style sets by The Moray, Alice! The Cheese Sweat, Callisto Cady, and Robber’s Roost. Then, the stage transitioned outside of Thunderhand Tattoo. The alleyway dividing this portion of the Uptown became a makeshift pit, with attendees dancing until the stage closed at sunset. 

Mosh pits emerged throughout the day, inside and out. From punk bands at The Emerald to metal at Ray’s, and every other subgenre represented throughout the day, festivalgoers showed their support with their nonstop frenetic energy, keeping each other engaged with every new sound. 

While it’s probably not possible for anyone to have seen every single band, since sets started at the same time at different stages, attendees could curate their ideal lineup. Some stayed put most of the day, while others bounced between venues. Friends and former strangers passed each other in the Uptown alleyways, calling out greetings, noting where they were headed next. 

The Thunderhand stage also included some fan favorites, including: Antimxb, Swordfish Perfume, Truancy, The/Crush, Hayes Noble, and Jacob and the Velvet Helmets. The stage was managed by Aidan Miller, who also closed out that area’s final set as the drummer for Jacob and the Velvet Helmets. 

Festival staff and volunteers

Denning commended the efforts of event staff at each stage. Aidan Miller was stage manager for the Caterpillar Cafe and Thunderhand Tattoo stages, Callie Denning was the manager for the Ray’s stage, and Cade Bryan and Justin Denning were stage managers at The Emerald of Siam. 

“We were beyond lucky to have two of the best sound teams running sound for this year,” Denning said. Justin Chapman, the sound technician for The Emerald of Siam, ran the sound for that stage. Back2Bass Entertainment’s Luke Schultz, Skye Peterson, and Siris Rivera ran sound for the other three stages. Denning said they are all “a dream to work with.”

Raven Rouse worked the doors at Ray’s Golden Lion, and Steven Morin handled doors at The Emerald of Siam during the festival. Battle Vest Fest also had another 35 volunteers doing merch, security, and working as stage hands. 

Both of the indoor stages — The Emerald of Siam and Ray’s Golden Lion — were operational the entire day. Just like last year, the staff’s ability to keep time was admirable, without a single hitch in scheduling. No one went too far over their time, and some acts were even able to start early. For a festival of this size, operating primarily through volunteers, that was an incredible feat. 

Paid stages at Battle Vest Fest

Attendees needed wristbands for the stages at The Emerald of Siam and Ray’s Golden Lion. Both offered nonstop music all day. Both venues also kept their kitchens open, offering their regular food and drink options to festivalgoers. At Ray’s, the bar and kitchen staff stayed busy all day. Some of the staff even pulled double duty, performing onstage with their own bands before heading right back to work. 

Bands at the Ray’s Golden Lion stage included: Flightless, Post Clarity, Rad Stag, Deaf Icons, Noltē, Word Up!, Dagger Face, Evelyn’s Casket, A Void Dead, Midnight Drive, Lesser Gods, Sunshine Lollipop, Forest of Hate, HiTLiST, Battle Cattle, Vaulderie, and DEATHNUT. 

Bands at The Emerald of Siam stage included: Sugar Bluff, Heel Klick, Play With Fire, The Disorderlies, Bad Habit, The Nightmares, Staring at the Sun, Get ‘Em Tiger, Cherry Dragon, Proleterror, Barnaby Jones, Me Grimlock, Kids On Fire, The Scoffs, and Vicious Cycle. 

Supporting youth in the scene

There are tons of stories all over social media from the hugely successful Battle Vest Fest 2025. But one story in particular stuck out in the minds of many festival attendees. Following the fest, details were shared on social media by several people, including the official Battle Vest Fest account. The comments were flooded with positive feedback. 

From the first set on Friday to the last set on Saturday, a father-son duo maintained their presence right in front of the stage. Welcomed by the bands and the moshers alike, the 14-year-old son’s presence up front was encouraged by all. 

The festival held a battle vest contest at The Emerald of Siam on Saturday.  The crowd’s applause determined winners in four categories: Oldest, Crustiest, Most Unique, and Best in Pit. 

The most popular category by far was Best in Pit. Everyone thought they had the best vest, but it came down to the crowd to decide. The two finalists were one fully decked-out vest covered in studs, and Matthew Honey’s vest. 

When it came down to the final vote, the crowd rallied for Matthew. He took home a prize pack featuring merch from many of the festival’s bands. 

After the final set on Saturday by popular hardcore band DEATHNUT, the band held a giveaway. To close out the festival, they gave out some band merch … and an incredible Epiphone starter guitar pack, complete with a brand new guitar, amp, tuner, picks, and more! 

There was no hesitation — the band had seen Matthew right up front throughout the entire festival, so they asked him if he played guitar. 

The 14-year-old responded, “It’d be cool to.” The band — along with everyone in the venue — unanimously agreed Matthew deserved the guitar. The crowd roared.

Matthew had been one of the first people in the door Saturday, according to Denning. She said that they had to stop Matthew and his dad from leaving too early, as more bands wanted to gift them merch. Under photos of the giveaway on social media, commenters noted just how important it is to encourage youth in our scenes, and how inspiring it was to see the young man showered with gifts. 

“The kids are alright!! Mathew and the kids that show up remind us all of who we were once and why we still do the thing today,” one band commented. “Respect!” 

“I cannot wait to come back around and see him playing Battle Vest Fest with his future band,” Denning said. “That kid made it all worth it for me.” 

Looking to future Battle Vest Fests

Through and through, Battle Vest Fest is a ‘by community, for community’ event. It doesn’t just claim to care about local artists or the Tri-Cities music scene — it exemplifies these principles. There wasn’t a single aspect of the weekend festival that didn’t highlight our amazing local bands and the incredible community surrounding them. 

From gear giveaways by Stooks and DEATHNUT, to raffles and fundraisers for local band Porch Cat — who was originally scheduled to perform but had to back out due to an unexpected surgery — Battle Vest Fest took every opportunity to take care of its scene. 

Denning said the team learned a lot from year two, and planning for year three is already underway. “It’s still a little surreal that this went as well as it did as it’s only year two!” Denning said. “We are positive year three is going to be even better.” 

Karlee Van De Venter is a full-time reporter at the Tri-City Herald who contributes Arts and Entertainment coverage for Tumbleweird. Through a co-publication agreement, this content may also appear in the Herald. For more local music coverage, follow @‌karleevnews on Instagram.