August is the month for local music festivals. Who's playing when and where?

Also, concert announcements from the Big Fresno Fair, New Rock 104.1.

OK. It’s calendar time and we’ve got a pair of “festivals” happening in August.

We’ll use festival here to describe a single day (or longer) musical happening, in which multiple bands (a dozen or more) are scheduled to perform.

The first is Love the Captive’s annual(ish) ode to Fresno heat, Summer Sweat.

Started in 2015, Summer Sweat was originally series of four block parties in and around down-town Fresno. Over the years, it’s change formats some and coalesced into a single day event at the end of Fulton Street at Tioga-Sequoia’s Beer Garden.

Musically, the festival has always reached across genres, to pull in the city’s younger, post-punk, indie-rock and hip-hop acts (the hip stuff), with an occasional reunion gig thrown in for good measure (Fierce Creatures in 2016, Pinkeye in 2018).

This year’s lineup follow suit: Boha, The Mourning Drive, Sharks of Dance, Sahab, Sleepover Disaster, Nate, Eighteen Hundreds, Nowandformerly, Whoisgene, Macondo, Fistbump, Divine Femme, She Grins, Princess Rose, David Cuevas and A’donis Gray.

Summer Sweat happens 5-11 p.m. Aug. 20. It is free and all ages.

The following weekend, Zodiac Shows hosts Zodiac Fest 22, with 16 ska/punk/reggae/indie/whatever bands playing over two days at La Maison Kabob (the old Fresno Brewing/Peeve’s spot).

The festival serves as an official/unofficial anniversary for Zodiac Shows, which has become a consistent outlet for the punkier shows over the last year. They’ve done a series of free, bar-side showcases at Strummer’s (in conjunction with the Homegrown show NewRock 104.1), while also bringing in some out-of-towners like Kyle Smith, Kepi Ghoulie and Old Cross.

The Zodiac Fest lineup is: *Friday night* A Devil Like Me, Blazed, Blk Sage, Girl Named Pixie, It’ll Grow Back, Judah, MKC and Void Warden. *Saturday* 1335, Beyond California, Crashboat, Iwanaga, J Conquer and The Lions, Mantis Watch, Pansy Party and Stargaze.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the shows are free and all ages.

Pretty Reckless added to Fresno Fair concert lineup

The Big (big, big) Fresno Fair announced a second round of artists to this year’s concert lineup. It includes a classic-rock tribute, a curated night of “souldies,” some contemporary hard rock and a Mexican banda showcase.

You should recall, the fair announced the bulk of its lineup in May. It included Dwight Yoakam, Midland, Phil Wickham, Tower of Power, Ice Cube, Baby Bash and Ashanti, Paul Rodriguez and Dana Carvey.

Added to the lineup are: Queen tribute Queen Nation (Oct. 7); Cruising to the Souldies, featuring Stylistics singer Russell Thompkins Jr. and hosted by Machete himself Danny Trejo (Oct. 8); The Pretty Reckless (Oc. 10); and the Quebradita Time 2022 tour featuring Band Machos, Mi Banda el Mexicano de Casimiro, Banda Maguey and Banda Zeta (Oct. 16).

Ticket presales begins Aug. 2.

New Rock Brew Rock w/ Silversun Pickups

One benefit of having a contemporary rock station in your town is that sometimes they offer up contemporary rock shows. New Rock 104.1 has doing this for awhile, both with its low-key SoundHouse gigs and with larger concerts.

They brought in Third Eye Blind and Dreamers for a Christmas show in 2019 and Cage the Elephant and Foals for a Spring Fling back in 2016.

On Monday, the station announced the return of Silversun Pickups. The LA-based indie-rock plays 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at Tioga-Sequoia’s Beer Gardento coincide with the debut of a new collaborative beer — so, New Rock Brew Rock.

Tickets are on $30 and on sale now.

The show is part of Silversun Pickups’ just announced tour in support of their latest album “Physical Thrills.’ The Butch Vig-produced album is out Aug. 19 on New Machine Recordings. The first single “Scared Together” is out now.

It’s got a kinda Rush vibe to me (which I love).

That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com