'It was amazing': 2 Louisville bands help kick off Day 1 of Louder Than Life 2023
Louisville's Guerrilla Warfare played at Louder Than Life Thursday and in doing so fulfilled a lifelong dream of performing at the music festival.
"It was my first time playing a festival and it was the most incredible experience I have ever had in my life," said Garett Hood, drummer for Guerrilla Warfare. "We've worked our entire lives to play a festival this big and it was amazing."
Guerrilla Warfare, a trio from Louisville that includes Hood, Foster Lucas (guitar), and Trevor Neely (bass), may not have cut an album, yet, but judging from the size of the crowd gathered at the Destroyer Stage Thursday at 2:15 p.m., the band could sell an album, easily.
"Looking out into the crowd today, it was amazing to see so many people we know from around here, and faces we've never seen before," Neely told the Courier Journal. "My hope is that by playing Louder Than Life we are an example to other young musicians from Louisville, that you can get here, too."
And for Lucas, who has worked as a stagehand at Louder Than Life for the past three years, Thursday's experience was surreal.
"I've worked behind the scenes at these stages at Louder Than Life," Lucas said. "To come out and perform today was really neat."
Another Louisville entry on stage during the first day of Louder than Life was White Reaper. Lead singer Tony Esposito, guitarist Hunter Thompson and keyboardists Ryan Hater, along with Nick and Sam Wilkerson, have plenty of experience playing festivals.
"We're just back from playing Riot Fest and before that, we did a run with Weezer who is headling tonight," said Hater.
White Reaper has played major festivals in Louisville before including Louder Than Life, Bourbon and Beyond and the Forecastle Festival.
"Whenever we play at home we get a huge crowd of people we know like our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and our friends," said Esposito. "And today they have all been texting at the last minute asking for tickets to the show."
Now that White Reaper is home for a bit, Hater and Esposito plan to "do nothing but eat at Jack Fry's restaurant and watch football on Sunday."
Reach features reporter Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Guerrilla Warfare, White Reaper play at 2023 Louder Than Life festival
