NEPA Scene Staff

Fuzz Fest becomes ALTitude, returning to Montage Mountain in Scranton with Bleachers and Andrew McMahon on Aug. 27

Fuzz Fest becomes ALTitude, returning to Montage Mountain in Scranton with Bleachers and Andrew McMahon on Aug. 27
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From a press release:

After Scranton radio station Fuzz 92.1 rebranded as Alt 92.1 in February, it was only a matter of time before their annual music festival, Fuzz Fest, also had a name change.

Following four years as Fuzz Fest, culminating in a co-headlining performance last year by Weezer and Panic! at the Disco, the new ALTitude Music Festival is bringing the event back to its alternative rock roots on Sunday, Aug. 27 by featuring Fuzz Fest staples Bleachers and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness while adding Scranton’s own world-famous punk rockers The Menzingers, Sir Sly, Beach Slang, and Middle Kids at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain, presented by Coors Light and NET Credit Union.

Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, June 30 at 10 a.m. on livenation.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets. An Alt 92.1 pre-sale will be held Wednesday, June 28 at 10 a.m. through Thursday, June 29 at 10 p.m. using the password ALT921. A Live Nation pre-sale starts on June 29 at 10 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. that night.

The creative force behind Bleachers, Jack Antonoff, is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. After serving as lead guitarist in multi-platinum band fun., Antonoff launched his solo project Bleachers in 2014 with the critically acclaimed debut album “Strange Desire.” The album found him setting emotional meditations on anxiety, depression, and loss against a backdrop of earworm melodies and massive choruses on songs like the gold-certified “I Wanna Get Better” (which topped Billboard’s Alternative chart) and the No. 3 Alternative radio hit “Rollercoaster.” Antonoff toured the world for a year and a half in support of “Strange Desire,” building a cult fan base for his cathartic, suburban-influenced anthems. Antonoff recently released Bleachers’ second album, “Gone Now,” on RCA Records.

Bleachers’ first single off “Gone Now,” entitled “Don’t Take the Money,” is currently in the Top 10 on Alternative Radio. The band performed the song at the outdoor stage on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” most recently on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” and released a music video. Bleachers will also be performing on “Good Morning America’s” Summer Concert Series on Friday, Aug. 11 on ABC.

In addition to his work with Bleachers, Antonoff is an in-demand songwriter and producer for other artists, including Taylor Swift (he co-wrote and co-produced three songs on Swift’s Grammy-winning album “1989,” including “Out of the Woods”), Sara Bareilles (co-writing her Grammy-nominated hit “Brave”), Zayn (co-writing and producing his No. 2 Hot 100 duet with Taylor Swift “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”), Sia, Tegan & Sara, Carly Rae Jepsen, Troye Sivan, Grimes and, most recently, Lorde, having co-written and co-produced her new single “Green Light” and her highly anticipated new album, “Melodrama.”

Antonoff also founded and curated the annual “Shadow of the City” music festival, which takes place in Antonoff’s home state of New Jersey in the parking lot of the Asbury Park Stone Pony. In addition, this year Simon & Schuster will publish Antonoff’s first book, “Record Store,” a heavily illustrated anthology of essays, interviews, photographs, and ephemera that will pay tribute to the cherished and endangered cultural institution.

Antonoff is also a passionate advocate for Planned Parenthood and LGBTQ rights, having recently collected signatures from 142 high-profile artists, writers, and creators to deliver a message to legislators in Texas considering anti-LGBTQ laws. He is a co-founder of The Ally Coalition (TAC), which encourages allies of the LGBTQ community to take action for LGBTQ equality and support its causes. TAC has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last few years for local LGBTQ homeless shelters around the U.S.

See NEPA Scene’s photos of Bleachers and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness playing the 2015 Fuzz Fest here and see photos of Beach Slang opening for Jimmy Eat World in Stroudsburg last month here.

Photo by Jason Riedmiller Photography/NEPA Scene