Less than one month ago, you were probably dancing your ass off to these acts at 35 Denton, but were too drunk to remember. Let Leah Gray remind you with these gems from the memory card of Leah Gray.

First, we have Neeks -- a.k.a. Ashley Cromeens, a dancer and pals letting it rip not even a month ago during 35 Denton at Dan's Silverleaf.

And Air Review had its way with Dan's Silverleaf patrons, too.

Mary Walker packed Denton Square Donuts with a colorful crowd.

And Mary Walker played on.

This lineup of the two-time Grammy Award-winning Brave Combo hasn't been seen live for years. So the alumna of Brave Combo, the polka-rock outfit from Denton could bury the hatchet for at least a day.

Dangle-Dixon, a local band, serenaded the crowd at 35 des Refuses.

Sonas, a Denton four-piece Denton rock band, piggy-backed on 35 Denton on March 10 to get a gig at A Creative Art Studio, the host of 35 des Refuses.

Richard Haskins, the screaming, mad frontman of Denton's punk band the Wee Beasties, gave it his all at 35 des Refuses, the unofficial auxiliary festival of 35 Denton earlier this month. Haskins organized the festival, which was planned for two days but was cut short by rain on March 10. The festival ended before Denton's Lovesick Mary went on.

It was art that pawed at the lawn between University of North Texas' Art Building and Curry Hall. It was art than kicked and strutted. It was art with a multitude of heartbeats.

The multi-disciplinary project produced about 15 "soundsuits" in the form of horses.
The project was the brainchild of Cave, a University of North Texas graduate who is now the chair of the fashion design program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sound suits are an invention of Cave's - a hybrid of fiber art, sculpture, puppetry and performance art. Cave has constructed these suits for years, and the fantastic creations are meant to be worn by a performer who moves while wearing them, thus creating the sound each suit is designed to make.

It took months to complete the suits. UNT visual art and fashion design students joined community volunteers to build the suits under Cave's mentorship.

After the performance, Cave appeared to get choked up. He pronounced the project "amazing" and praised UNT dance students, saying they "rocked" in a performance that demanded precision and courage - in addition to the endurance required to dance while wearing the voluminous soundsuits on an 80-degree Texas day.

"I came in last night, and I felt like I was being separated from the world because I was supposed to meet someone today," he said. "That's how it was for me."

The 30 suits include horse heads an armature of metal and hardware cloth covered with raffia, as well as horse bodies covered in raffia. Hundreds of hours went into the project.

In performance, the dancers appeared as horses, trotting onto the lawn. Percussionists in the UNT College of Music played drums and tambourines, affecting hoofbeats - and heartbeats - that intensified and sped up through the performance. The horses tossed their heads, pranced and eventually broke apart. Half of the dancers dipped and shook the horse heads. Dancers appearing as the horse rumps emerged from under raffia covered capes to dance wildly. The performance culminated in a blast of drums and flashes of black, white, red, yellow, pink and blue.

"We saw horses here today," Cave said. "It doesn't how we see them. They're real. We all saw them."

The music department wrote the drum score and dance faculty member Shelley Cushman choreographed the dance, which included some improvisation.

The project is the product of Cave's 2012 fellowship through the UNT Institute for the Advancement of the Arts. The final performance of Nick Cave: Heard will be 1:30 p.m. at the Nasher Sculpture Center, 2001 Flora St. in downtown Dallas. Admission to the Dallas event is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for students. Admission is free for Nasher Sculpture Center members.

There were maybe 30 people milling around the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the world when AV was doing his sound check.

The weather was bad -- a mix of chilly wind and a steady, lazy rain -- and the biggest concerts of the night were hours away. It seemed like a situation meant to dampen the Southwest Denton born and bred rapper's spirits.

But AV -- a.k.a. Chris Avant -- wasn't having any.

"I am so proud to be right here, you know what I'm sayin'?" AV asked the small crowd at the metal barricade. "I work so hard to get here, and I'm blessed to be standing where I am."

AV burned into his set - crisp, forceful tracks from Live From the Struggle, the record he wrote, performed and recorded himself at his home, which is located on the proverbial other side of the tracks in Denton. He started with perhaps the most anthemic song from Live, "Texas." Given AV's amped-up performance of his album's opener, the layabouts nursing Friday night's hangover were going to hear him. That's how much raw energy and sheer will the young artist poured into his set.

"Texas" is a chest-pounding boast - and a heartfelt tribute - to the rap community that's been fomenting in Southeast Denton -- where public housing stands in the same neighborhood as the Martin Luther King Jr. Rec. Center and homes owned by families for years. AV wears his home as a badge of pride and a mark of experience as permanent as the scar above his right eye.

Southeast Denton hip-hop artist AV didn't let the rain get him down. The rapper gave his 35 Denton debut his all on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the World.

As more bodies gathered at the front of the stage, AV slowed his roll to perform "Higher" a kicky, reggae love song to - what else? - smoking weed and chilling out with people you trust, people who have had your back since playground days. AV even yanked a knit cap (bearing the colors of the Jamaican flag and fixed with faux dreadlocks, naturally) for the song. He shared the stage with Denton DJ Yeahdef (a.k.a. Joey Liechty) and hype man TC, who both thrilled and worried the crowd by rocking the lowest sag seen on the main stage.

AV stands as a promising MC in underground hip-hop. The artist wrote some 200 songs for the album that became Live From the Struggle. In performance, the album's song gather a heat and intensity that is palpable. AV strutted, sweated and dropped to his knees, working his songs over like he'd sold out Madison Square Garden. The few hundred souls who eventually showed saw an artist who is clearly willing to be a crucible for his art.

From the nostalgic "Back in 9th Grade," when a young black man hasn't seen his dreams deferred by the persistent haunts of a so-called post-racist America, to "Lifted," the rapper's treatise on a life that can be as deep as it is long, AV's storied album stacks single-worthy tracks one after another. But it also stands as a body of work that is a testament to the artist's skill and incredible desire to make the music he loves. He performed the verse by rapper Bun B, his hero, who would perform the same number just hours later on the same stage.

AV gave 35 Denton a show with intensity, pathos and humor.

If only more had seen it, and heard what this talented young MC has to say.

Denton-based Western Skies has accrued a following seemingly as vast as their namesake.

Be it in the garages and basements of the city's house-show circuit or at venue stages, like that of Sweetwater Grill and Tavern where they kicked off Friday night's sets, Western Skies has a style unlike anything else in the area. Just ask the small and dedicated crowd of fans that clamored into the restaurant to catch their set. At any given point in their show, the front row was vibrating with dancing.

The crowd at Sweetwater Grill & Tavern couldn't help but cut a rug as Western Skies.

That intimate show gave singer-songwriter Michael Mahon, drummer Joel Irwin, and bassist Casey Duncan the kind of environment they thrive in, and Duncan proved it, leaping off the stage at one point to join ranks of groovin' admirers.

Mahon is a wiry, pale-skinned singer with James-Earl-Jones voice. Even the love songs that sent a handful of couples waltzing around the smoky stage area are haunting and melancholy. Those vocals, along with psychedelic guitar rifts, Duncan's stinging base lines and Irwin's locomotive drumming give Western Skies a powerhouse combination at ease in intimate venues and house shows or in a packed house.

Western Skies takes the crowd for a spin. TIM MONZINGO/PHOTOGRAPHER

Western Skies is one of Denton's greatest under-appreciated bands. Catch them at a house show and you'll remember then until your synapses stop firing. That's due, in part, to the way they've blended classic folk, rock, and Americana elements into something that defies any one classification. They're even known to toss in a dash of surf rock once in a while, which sent the crowd at Sweetwater into a shark-meets-steak kind of frenzy.

Before North Carolina's Mountain Goats took the main stage Friday night, District One councilman Kevin Roden took the stage to offer his appreciation to the audience, the festival, musicians and volunteers who make it possible. Already, before the trio ever took the stage, the hundreds of fans pressed front to back at the stage's foot were cheering a hollering.

Mountain Goats front man John Darinelle on the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the World at 35 Denton Conferette.

That only intensified when, in sports coats and nice shoes, the Mountain Goats took their spots. With a relatively simple set up - they're only a bass guitar, a guitar and a drum set - the Mountain Goats pull no punches in any song they perform.

Front man John Darinelle's seemingly ageless voice imparts a sense of youthful playfulness that heavily contrasts some brutally honest, dark and sincere lyrics. While their songs delve into dark places often, it isn't apparent where that comes from, because the goats have a stage presence that lives up to their name. Hardly a song is played where Darinelle or bassist Peter Hughes aren't hopping around like a couple of oreamnos americanuses (that just means mountain goat for those non-Latin speakers out there) - and having a good time doing it. The third member, Jon Wurster can't hop around much, confined as he is behind the drum set, but from all looks, he's having as much fun as the others.

Fans watched in rapt attention as the Mountain Goats on the main stage at 35 Denton on Friday, March 9, 2012. TIM MONZINGO DAVID MINTON/DRC PHOTOGRAPHER

With dulcet guitar picking, compelling base lines and balanced, vigorous rhythms, the Mountain Goats are a fun and provocative group.

And if Darinelle doesn't smoke about a million cigarettes between now and retirement, his voice will continue to hammer home some fantastically composed songs, as he's been doing as the Mountain Goats' core member since the 90s.

Any performance by the Fort Worth's Whiskey Folk Ramblers is a treat in itself, but one member of the band took it upon himself to spice up and already thrilling set.

Tambourine in hand, trumpet player Corey Graves leaped from the stage and vaulted over the metal railing to careen through the audience, never missing a beat as he jangled along. That's the kind of energy the ramblers bring to a show - enough that not even the mammoth main stage can contain them.

Cory Graves blasts his horn and muffles it with his hat during a performance at 35 Denton music festival. TIM MONZINGO/PHOTOGRAPHER.

The quintet offers a kind of folk-blues-rock style steeped in indomitable energy. Though they've already made a name for themselves (obvious in the teeming crowd pressed up against the barriers) there's no limit to what they can do.

Singer Tyler Rougeux' rich baritone is at home whether serenading an audience with mournful tunes, belting out emotionally-tinged yet light-hearted songs or just regaling the audience with the tale behind a piece. Drop that on top of hammering drums, melodic and, at times, rock-like guitar, complimented by a banjo or accordion riff and expertly plucked bass (bassist Jack Daw Russell seemed just as at ease on the fingerboard with a smoke dangling from his lips as not) throw in Richard Lee Davenport on the banjo and accordion, Trey Ownby on drums, and Mark Moncrieff on guitar and BAM!, you've got one hell of a show.

Whiskey Folk Ramblers showed fans a rip-roaring good time. TIM MONZINGO/PHOTOGRAPHER

The ramblers are easy to like, and one almost wishes they stop loading the van and keep the shows at home, so the Metroplex can have their talent all to themselves. Then again, with out their wandering, there wouldn't be tunes like the one about the old woman that made pies in the mountains. If that doesn't pique the curiosity of even the most skeptical fan, nothing will, so take a minute and catch them next time they're out and about.

It's worth it. Easily.

Around 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the fences along Mulberry Street shifted as a rented white Ford Explorer reversed behind the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the World at the 35 Denton music festival.

Bun B, the legendary Houston area rapper, stepped out of the car and made his way toward the stage while talking with a few people. Chants of "Bun B" rang throughout the stands as fans waited in the cold and rain for the final main stage performance of the evening.

Bun B on the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the World at the 35 Denton music festival, Saturday, March 10, 2012, in Denton, Texas. (DAVID MINTON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The rapper slowly climbed up the stairs, pulled the microphone out his back right pocket before the beat dropped and he started his set with "Chuuch." From there, Bun B laughed with the crowd, smoked a little and performed many of his hits in front of a wet but vibrant crowd.

"Whenever I go to markets like Denton, people always think that it's a big deal and that people have to go out of their way to make it down there," Bun B said. "But the reality is, I'm from Port Arthur, Texas, a town of 50,000 people.

"I know what it's like when small towns get somebody that normally doesn't come, to come to their town. And I know what it means, and how much people appreciate that kind of thing, because I know we appreciated when people came to our town."

Bun punted beach balls that were flying around the crowd and stage, gave one fan a hard time about having tea in his red solo cup, and even spoke on the viral Joseph Kony movement.

Bun B on the Dos Equis Most Interesting Stage in the World at the 35 Denton music festival, Saturday, March 10, 2012, in Denton, Texas. (DAVID MINTON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Just a few hours year earlier, Bun was sleeping on a couch in his room at the Industrial Street Townhomes just a few feet away from the stage.

Bun B, nee Bernard Freeman, performed hits like "Big Pimpin'" as well as stuff from the mid 1990s, like "Murder" and "Pocket Full of Stones."

Bun B gained fame as one half of the rap group Underground Kingz. The other half of the group, Chad "Pimp C" Butler, died in December of 2007 from a combination of an overdose and an existing sleep apnea condition.

Since then, Bun B has continued to carry on the legacy of his fallen partner while remaining as a relevant and powerful force among rappers - established and emerging. Bun followed up a performance by fellow Houston rapper and hip-hop legend Devin the Dude, who joined Bun B on stage for a quick smoke, drawing large applause from the fans.

Devin met Bun back in 1993 when Devin was a member of the group Odd Squad. He described the bond between Bun B and Pimp C as a very close one.

Devin the Dude, pictured here at 35 Denton on Saturday, is a peer and an admirer of Bun B. BRITNEY TABOR/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

"They were like brothers," he said. "Like I said, we were like cousins to them but they were like brothers. They were real serious about the music, and hip-hop was our mother and father, pretty much.

"It was a lot of pressure on him then," Devin the Dude said of Bun following Pimp C's death. "It was hard to get him in the studio afterwards. But that's how Pimp would have wanted it, he wouldn't want Bun out of the studio. That's what made it easier for Bun to keep rolling."

Bun B opened a bottle of champagne and poured some out in tribute of Pimp C, 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G. and later Whitney Houston.

When the intro for "Big Pimpin'" blared across the parking lot behind the Wells Fargo Bank building, the crowd swayed fervently and whooped, jamming to the song that UGK and JAY-Z made famous in 2000. The crowd joined Bun on Pimp C's verse, using the call-and-response method toward the end of the song.

"I never really think about myself when the crowd sings it with me, and it gives us a chance to create a moment and opportunity to bond a little tighter than we already have," Bun said of singing Pimp C's lyrics.

"It makes me proud because I was his partner. It makes me proud because I'm his brother. It makes me proud that I'm the one still carrying on his legacy," he said.

The 38-year-old Port Arthur native began rapping in 1990 and has influenced old and young rappers alike. J.Cole has a song named "Bun B for President," while Drake had a UGK tribute on his album Take Care. In the liner notes of his album, Drake said: "Thank you Bun B for being a King."

Bun has worked with Beyonce, Yelawolf and Wale. During the fall, Bun teaches a hip-hop and religion class at Rice University in Houston, where he also does a sports radio show.

He's been married for nine years and has two children in their 20's and a grandchild. Right now, Bun said he's focused on growing his label, 2 Trill Entertainment.

Gladiator Pat, a member of the Trill Gladiators, met Bun in 2009 and said the rapper is good at giving advice about life in general, and is a humble man. Pat also said Bun represents a small piece of what rap used to be.

"He's slowed everybody down, as far as doing the fast life and the way people live," Pat said. "He told a lot of people to be true about themselves and he told a lot of people to speak their mind. A lot of people miss that about rap."

Bun performed the UGK hit "Int'l Players Anthem" before stepping off stage. He waited on the stage stairs as the crowd chanted his name before coming back to perform an encore of songs, including his verses on Yelawolf's "Good To Go" and finished with a remix of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes."

He threw his red fitted hat into the crowd and walked down the stairs with a half-empty bottle of Grey Goose in his hand. He stopped to take a picture with a group of girls that made its way backstage.

Then he climbed back into the white Ford Explorer and rode back down Mulberry Street, leaving the same way he came.

Too many bad puns come to mind when you try explaining what The Boom Bang look and sound like live. The name alone captures the essence of what you can expect from the Oklahoma-based foursome's energetic live performance: booms and bangs. (See?)

Let's back up to the 35 Denton promo show in Norman, Ok. several months ago and start with explaining the band's first rendezvous with 35 Denton. It was a short but powerful set at a bar called Brothers, in Norman's college district, where The Boom Bang got kicked off stage for causing more of a ruckus than the owners were willing to tolerate, including pulling down strands of lights that hung above the stage.

"We've been kicked out of places a few times," lead singer James Smith said. "One time we threw smoke bombs inside of a venue, and the place was like, 'You're going to catch the curtains on fire,' but people had already been throwing lit cigarettes at us."

Although not quite as drastic, The Boom Bang's 35 Denton set at J&J's Pizza on Friday left nothing to be desired for any garage punk music finatic. With a mixture of surf, punk and garage band styles, the band channels sounds akin to Ramones, Misfits and somehow even The Beach Boys.

"This next song is called Denton, Texas," Smith said from the stage. "Not really. I wouldn't lie to you, Denton. You're all too pretty."

The Boom Bang explode out of the basement at J&J's PIzza during the 35 Denton music festival, Saturday, March 10, 2012, in Denton, Texas. (DAVID MINTON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The band's attitude and banter alone were probably enough to keep the 40 or so attendees engaged, but it must have helped that thrashing, climbing around and shoving a guitar through the J&J's basement sheetrock were all present elements.

The band played two new songs tonight apart from tracks off of their previous records, World War Fun and Bummer Camp, and plan to have more to come, contributing to a new album that they say they hope to release by year's end. A tour with an "equally as entertaining" Georgia-based band Turf Wars is in the works as well, says Smith.

"For us it's all about having a good time," he said. "I'm really proud of everything we've put out, but I think this upcoming album is going to turn some heads."

Right...because it was so hard before?

Festival attendees with wristbands will have access to a secured VIP area at the front of the stage and will receive priority entry to the venue at Wednesday night's free show. Wristbands will be sold to the general public, but are in limited supply. They will be available for purchase until all are sold. The Jesus and Mary Chain's Sunday night slot at 35 Denton will be filled with another performer yet to be announced.

Bethan is the creative brainchild of Dallas musician (with Denton roots, not to mention cred) Jessi James. James, who is one-half of the underrated DFW electronic band Novaak, a project she shared with Blake Panter, first met producer Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, The Pierces) at SXSW 2010. When traveling to New York City for a week last October, the two first began to collaborate on a number of songs, the first of which was the song "Vague."

Bethan joined the Spune stable of artists late last year, and the spellbinding debut, Chapter 1: is slated for an April 1 release (the release date has been a big tease, so it wouldn't surprise us if the date is a cruel April Fools joke).

Bethan is a baptism in an unseemly underworld created by dark and enticing songs. Bethan is the brainchild of one-time Denton resident Jessi James.

Why should you catch Bethan? Her music ingratiates itself to the pop music melodies, but fills out the spaces with lyrics that portend and prevoke. She's a confident singer with a distinct voice, and her tracks on Chapter 1: sneak up on you. A doo-wop aesthetic fuzzes out and trails off on minor key suspense, and the stories (though not consciously crafted as a narrative by James) keep you guessing. It's not often that songs seem to radiate character development and plot progression.

In the studio, Bethan is a solo project. Onstage, James re-arranges the songs among musicians Calvin Chynoweth, Jesse Hopkins. Daniel T. Hall and Aaron Haynes.

Make room in your 35 Denton plans for Bethan. You won't regret it.

You have to hand it to a band that sound checks by singing Kermit the Frog's anthem: "The Rainbow Connection."

Holy Fiction (props to the band for the provocative name) is the new project formed by members of Ethan Durelle, Pilot Drift, Hemyah and A Pacific Model. (With Evan Lecker, Matt Giessler, Jordan McCune,Sally Tawfik,and Jordan Brace completing this Houston-Austin project.)

The band played mid-way through the opening night of 35 Denton music festival, and the quintet jammed the small stage at Banter Bistro to a standing-room-only crowd.

The band's acoustic set conjures the likes of U2 and Van Morrison, with wailing, dynamic vocals laid over guitar riffs that jangle an indelible kind of melody. The bands drummer performed with a force not usually associated with folk rock. The lead vocals occasionally lost pitch and focus, and the group played to a polite audience. Banter's crowd was like the music - quiet and reflective.

Houstin folk rockers Holy Fiction played to a respectful crowd at Banter Bistro on Thursday, March 8, 2012 during 35 Denton music festival.

Holy Fiction lives, for the moment, in blessing-curse territory occupied by many a fresh project. The group's musicianship is solid, and this Nile Music outfit commits to its material with palpable sincerity. What Holy Fiction doesn't have just yet is a precision that serves a chamber-style folk-rock well.

We suspect things will get tighter with time. Holy Fiction has a clear and present identity and songwriting chops. The real work lies in mastering its live sound.

The first night of 35 Denton was something of an embarrassment of riches, and Denton's busiest DJ, Yeahdef (nee Joey Liechty) did his part to keep the party going.

Yeahdef held court behind his reliable Macbook and a rig of spastic lights. A senseless loop of movie clips and graphics played across the screen behind him throughout - but it was the music that was the star.

The crowd turned into a screen for Yeahdef's light show during the Denton DJ's set at 35 Denton music festival at Hailey's Club in Denton on March 8.

Thursday night marked Yeahdef's first night back at Hailey's -- where he presided over the dance floor for theme nights at the club until a fallout with management forced him to take his show to Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

Yeahdef is nothing if not clever. His Aphex Twins/Skrillex mashup eased into a lighter, headier session. As the bodies streamed into the club, def kicked it up and soon - men in skinny jeans were swaying, jittering and convulsing on the floor.

For this DJ, music is a game of "sonic Tetris," as he said in a long-ago interview. Songs become blustering wavelengths, curves and angles. He's got this sublime way of matching light to dark, soprano tones to pulsing bass and chime effects with crashes of noise -- all while leading the rhythm through like it was def's personally trained Lipizzaner stallion. It makes the artist a force to be reckoned with, or better yet, surrendered to. Trust us, a lesser musician would make a mess of boring math out of all this noise.

Not Yeahdef. He built a symphonic billow of music, and he even composed an electronic fugue.

Yeahdef looks like a guy who'd rather be hidden in a study cubicle at Willis library than holding court in a smoky bar. But don't let the slight build, the shoulder length hair and great big glasses fool you. Within that t-shirt covered breast lies the heart of a musical monster. It takes a musician to get people to rush the stage to jig and jive.

Yeahdef is a beast behind the laptop. We dare you to try to refrain from shaking your groove thing when he's near the floor.

Denton's Fab Deuce crew members let it be known that they're worthy of 35 Denton.

Pudge and Blaine Brewer, Matt Pole, Juicy the Emissary (nee Jesse Coulton), Burton Taylor and whoever subbed for Yeahdef (the DJ wore a scary chimpanzee mask) started the four day party proper with a set that was equal parts lively, funny and --how do they put it? - ill.

The crew has been making music and packing shows in Little D for years (and is a regular in Denton venues). The time was ripe for the band to get a slot on the 35 Denton stage.

Fortunately for the newly-wristbanded patrons at Andy's, they got what they came for.

Fab Deuce ripped effortlessly through gems -- "Bad Habits," "Shut it Down," "It's A Birthday Party," "Like 'Em Freaky" and "No Good." They followed their tried and true formula, a sort of relay race in which the guys pass verses to one another. Pole paced the stage like an agitated animal, attacking his passes with conviction. The Brewer brothers bobbed and weaved while Taylor jerked and twitched. Juicy kept threatening to throw down a mean robot near the DJ console, but kept control.

Fab Deuce performs during the 35 Denton music festival at Andy's Bar on March 8, 2012.

Fab Deuce is an experienced outfit; It knows how to read a room. The crew steadily turned up the intensity (to the point that Taylor finished a verse by emphatically dousing himself with a bottle of beer) and fed off the crowd.

The Deuce crew is more than an opening act. It's an assembly of poets and beatmakers that respects its audience and its craft. The standout performance of the set was Juicy's "Sick Wid It," a delicious braid of impudent medical references and backtalk that was so tight and so -- well, good -- that it had Andy's grooving and giggling.

Kicking off the first set of Dan's Silverleaf's maxed-out Thursday night was Noonday Morningstar--one of the more overlooked gems of the DFW music scene.
Although Dallas natives, the band said they certainly feel the love when they play Denton venues.

"We were seriously expecting 10 people to show up," lead guitarist and vocalist Ben Painter said. "We were in shock."

Judging by the 80-plus crowd gathered inside, you would have never guessed that Noonday was a recent development. Forming in early 2010 and having yet to release an album, the foursome played tunes they've clearly made familiar to the DFW scene.

Blast from the past: Noonday Morningstar on the roof of Cool Beans during a 35 Denton of the past.

A sea of photographers and head bobbers swarmed the stage as Ben Painter shouted lyrics reminiscent of a darker time in his life, although masked as jaunty, upbeat bar tunes.

"I was really going through a hard time with my divorce and all of it," Painter said, citing the inspiration for many of his "heartbreak-driven" songs, "although I still want people to be able to come out and have a beer and have a good time."

Originally started on a whim, the band is steadily gaining speed as it morphs into new and more solidified sounds. Painter says that this year of the festival seems to be the year everyone is more organized; including both the band and the festival.

Having recently added a new guitarist, Painter says they're having to rethink the entire recording process--a process that they're paying for out-of-pocket.

"This is sort of the uptick of it all," Painter said. "We just added a new member, so we're going to start recording soon and talk about what's to come."

Noonday Morningstar said they hope to have their first album out by fall of this year, although they seem happy enough to just live in the moment.

"A lot of this is just me having a really bad day," Painter says. "But it's awesome when people are receiving the performance and connecting with it."