Mosswood Mania!

Oaklands' annual punk fest wouldn't be the same without it's colorful emcee, John Waters.

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Punk music is alive and well every July at Mosswood Park in Oakland, California. Since 2013, this two day punk fest has been going loud and proud. At Mosswood, punk bands play just about every hour. With a bit of off beat and absurd comedy sketches in between. It's usually a two stage festival, and I remember there were three stages further back towards the beginning, when it was called Burger Boogaloo. This year it was a single stage but no lack of great bands and friendly enthusiastic attendees. As I mentioned, this festival started as Burger Boogaloo and was renamed Mosswood Meltdown in 2021. The Mosswood Meltdown 2025 lineup included Devo, Osees, and The Exploding Hearts, Bratmobile and Shannon amongst others including Kreayshawn, La Luz, L'Trimm, Bleached, Giuda, Bleached, Twompsax, The Kids, Snooper, Diesel Dudes, NIIS, Gentleman Jesse and Prison Affair.

Devo

Devo headlined on Saturday night. And they were great. Very entertaining. Last time I saw them Fred Armisen was the drummer 7 years ago at the Burger Boogaloo. Armisen gave Devos' music an edgey-er sound than I heard this year with out him. Jeff Friedl is their drummer now. He replaced Josh Freese because Josh Freese moved to the Foo Fighters taking the throne of one of my absolute favourites (and very deeply missed) drummers, Taylor Hawkins. During Devos' set, I was standing in an over packed photo pit and couldn't navigate to the other side of the stage to capture Friedl. It was seriously packed! And for those that may wonder if that's normal for a photo pit-no, it's not.

Before Devo played, the Osees played. They were EPIC!!!! And definitely my best of show on that day. I'm now an Osees fan! They're a five piece band with two drummers playing on full kits side by side in complete sync during most of the show. I imagine thats hard to do and these two were great. I saw them about a decade ago at a tech convention in silicon valley and I don't remember this but perhaps I didn't appreciate them as much a I did at this years' Meltdown. The drummers, Ryan Mountinho and Dan Rincon sounded so cool. I cant say enough about them! The vocalist, John Dwyer was very entertaining to say the least. But my main focus were the two drummers front and center that blew me away! I think I was smiling through the whole set because of them.

The Osees were formed in San Francisco, California in 1997, now based in Los Angeles. The groups' sound is something between old school punk, psychedelia, and rock. They've released twenty-eight studio albums, to date, alongside various EPs, singles and compilations. The visual entertainment from these lads is unusual, fun and pretty great!

These two bands were my faves of the day. Mosswood Meltdown is always a great event. I've been going this festival since the first one in 2013. I've photographed so much great music at Burger Boogaloo/Mosswood Meltdowns since then, such as, Iggy Pop, The Damned, Devo, the B52s and many more. It's always a nice crowd with a demo of mostly 35-70 year olds.

This year had more crowd surfing than I've seen in the past. Perhaps as were are back from the covid days people are diving in again. So many friendly and open people at this festival. It provides all the similar booths and food as most events like this have but my favorite was the booth that was selling the sticker that says, "ABORT UNWANTED PRESIDENCIES". And all the proceeds go directly to Planned Parenthood. If I had to describe Mosswood Meltdown in only a couple words I think they'd be 'colourful and friendly' with a heaping serving of great sounds!

I cannot end this without mentioning my annual favorite Mosswood element, and that's the emcee, John Waters.

He is what made me start to attend and he is definitly one of the highlights for me each and every year. He is comedic, much of the time brash and more than a little dirty. He tells it like it is and he is never boring. Since his films I saw in my teens, mainly the epic "Pink Flamingos," he will always be a stand out for me.

Stay tuned...Day 2 of the Mosswood Meltdown coming soon!

I have posted several videos of this festival on my You Tube channel...please check it out, and subscribe! (More Mosswood Meltdown video footage coming soon). youtube.com/@TheMusicSoupVideo?sub_confirmation=1

©CherylAltermanPhotography 2025