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Listings are
in the opposite order of appearance: headliner is listed at the top,
next is the support band(s),
and the last band listed is the opener.
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Sunday August 23
2026
2:00PM doors -- music at 3:00PM ••• ALL AGES $20 $25.31 in advance [20 face value + 5.31 service fee] -------on sale 4/10 Speakeasy Studios SF, Oakland Weekender, Slumberland Records, KALX, and BFF.FM present... SF Bay Pop Fest The Umbrellas instagram.com/theumbrellassf indie pop Artsick instagram.com/artsickband indie pop WUT instagram.com/wutband jangle pop Remedy & Wren instagram.com/remedyandwren jangle pop The Umbrellas -from San Francisco, CA -The Umbrellas are a 4-piece jangle-pop group who made their debut into the SF diy pop scene in 2019 with their self-recorded and released tape, the "Maritime E.P." Founding members are songwriters Matt Ferrara (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Morgan Stanley (vocals, guitar) with band members Keith Frerichs (drums, vocals) and Nick Oka (bass). ?The San Francisco bay area has long been an important outpost of the International Pop Underground, from the 90s heyday of The Aislers Set, #Poundsign# and The Fairways to the string of legendary popfests in the early 00s and more recently to a DIY pop resurgence with bands like The Mantles, Flowertown and The Reds, Pinks & Purples. Now we're very happy to welcome into this rich pop tradition The Umbrellas, who, after one well-received tape/single, are sure to dazzle. Classic indiepop influences abound on their self titled debut album, The Umbrellas (Slumberland records), from The Byrds to Orange Juice, The Pastels, Comet Gain and Belle & Sebastian, along with a noticeable garage-pop/Paisley Underground flavor that is a hallmark of San Francisco's best bands. Lead-off single "She Buys Herself Flowers" introduces us to a band that's both intimately conversant with indiepop history but also unburdened by it, a group with the song-crafting chops and spirit to take familiar elements and create for themselves a fresh new sound. The album goes from strength to strength, studded with pop gems like "Near You," "Lonely" and "Pictures" -- tunes that sound like classics from the first listen, as timeless and elemental as all great pop. On their sophomore album "Fairweather Friend," Bay Area indie pop group The Umbrellas grows more sonically sophisticated and emotionally complex without losing any of the eruptive joy that has characterized their sound up until now. The band keeps their baseline of high energy melodic pop with notes cribbed from some of the best and most intentionally obscured acts of the genre, but also expands beyond it with more involved arrangements, increasingly direct lyrical themes, and songs that explore ideas both new to the group and well outside of standard indie templates. It's a collection of ten songs that somehow manage to convey fun, excitement, and expectant hopefulness, but at the same time give equal space to feelings of discouragement and world-weary ennui. It's music that's by no means simple on any level, and represents a bold evolution for the band. Multiple factors play into the changes that have come about following The Umbrellas' early tracks and their self-titled debut album, which was released on Slumberland in 2021. Where the band's first songs had a charming naivety, a few years of steady touring and locking in together on stage have boosted both the confidence and the straightforward[a][b][c] lyricism of the new songs. "Toe the Line" has a blasting, almost punk tempo, but The Umbrellas' inherent sweetness can't help but come through in the form of floating backing vocal harmonies and bouncy quasi-surf guitar leads. This newfound boldness teeters on the edge of aggression in moments like this, and leans more towards internal reflections on frustration and disappointment on tracks like the Verlaines-steeped "When You Find Out." Fairweather Friend was written with live drums, where earlier material was written (and sometimes recorded) with rudimentary drum machine rhythms. This compositional change plays into the more urgent, organic feel of the album as well. While the band's blue-skies jangle is still intact, the edges are a little sharper, and the flow takes new directions; sometimes slowing down contemplatively or wandering down a detour into new territory. This shows up in the moody string arrangements of acid-burned ballad "Say What You Mean" and the disheartened sighing of "Echoes," a song that perfectly captures the feeling of dreams denied. The band worked on the album in a focused span between November of 2022 and April of 2023, allowing themselves to sink into the ideas and refine them over time. A far cry from the D.I.Y. bluster of rushed studio time they were limited to on earlier recordings. Heavy lyrical themes surface in many of the songs, but "Fairweather Friend" isn't a heavy sounding (or feeling) record. Even when singing about departed loved ones, romantic disillusionment, or the burden of societal expectations, unshakeable melodies are at the forefront of everything, and the band's powerfully fizzy pop chemistry has never been more synched-up. There are subtle nods to a mixtape's worth of golden era indie-pop inspirations throughout the album, and attentive listeners might hear refractions of everything from the fuzzy rush of Heavenly or Talulah Gosh to the charged dreaminess of Close Lobsters to the unassuming brilliance of any number of Sarah Records bands. Even with a discerning style informed by obscure heroes of the past, The Umbrellas sound more like themselves than ever before, and the way the band navigates difficult feelings is decidedly rooted in the now. "Fairweather Friend" is tougher and more aware without being jaded, and it's apparent that the band trusts their listeners enough to put these changes on full display. The songs enhance everything that made The Umbrellas so thrilling when they first emerged, and give us brand new reasons to fall in love all over again. Artsick -from Oakland, CA -Formed in 2018, Artsick is an indie pop band from Oakland/Seaside who craft tunes that are as new-sounding as they are timeless, full of melodic twists and sharp, honest lyrics. Riley and Mario formed an easy friendship while playing shows together in the past in their respective bands, Mario (Kids On A Crime Spree) and Riley's now defunct band, Burnt Palms. Their friendship turned into an exciting collaboration which landed them on Slumberland Records with a debut LP in 2022 featuring Donna McKean (Lunchbox) on bass. Their new lineup welcomes the brilliant Kim Baxter (All Girl Summer Fun Band) on backing vocals and bass. Artsick just finished recording a batch of new songs in Mario's all-analog studio and are very excited to share them in the near future. WUT -from Vancouver, BC -WUT are three friends from Vancouver, BC making jangly pop music with a punk rock heart. Being in love with craft and the handmade, they love to create- and have together released a cassette, a full length record, and 12 homemade music videos. Their heart-felt live shows will have you hugging your friend while raising your fist at "The Man". Remedy & Wren -from San Francisco, CA -San Francisco based Remedy & Wren is the new project of producer and songwriter Alicia Vanden Heuvel, founding member of indie pop groups Poundsign and The Aislers Set. Band members feature Vanden Heuvel's long-time collaborators: Tony Molina on guitar, Rebecca Barron (Poundsign, Kids On A Crime Spree) on drums, and Dan Lee (Scrabbel, The Aislers Set) on guitar. Vanden Heuvel sings, plays bass, piano, and records the band in her analog home studio, Speakeasy Studios SF, on Otari 8 track reel to reel tape. Their first release, the self titled Remedy & Wren will be out Summer 2026. Featuring jangle pop songs influenced by birds, trees, a summer day, water, music made by humans and named in honor of two tree sitters "Remedy" and "Wren", who occupied old growth trees for nearly a year, as a peaceful protest in the early 2000's against the catastrophic logging practices of now bankrupt Pacific Lumber Company. |
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