Daylong memorial events celebrate San Francisco promoter, graphic designer Mikey Madfes
The San Francisco Bay Area music scene salutes beloved concert promoter, graphic artist and club fixture Michael "Mikey" Madfes with a three-part, two-venue memorial in the city's Potrero Hill neighborhood Sunday.
A seemingly ubiquitous presence at rock venues on both sides of the bay dating back to the '90s, Madfes has worked as doorman, bar manager and independent promoter at most of the currently active local clubs in SF and the East Bay -- including the Ivy Room, the Rickshaw Stop, the Bottom of the Hill, the Knockout, the Masonic, the Fillmore, Bender's, the DNA Lounge, Thee Parkside, the Kilowatt, the SF Eagle, the Golden Bull and the Cat Club. He also was a regular sight at numerous defunct spots that are part of San Francisco's storied nightlife history like Slim's, the Covered Wagon Saloon, Annie's Social Club and the Pound.
Born in the city in 1979, he attended George Washington High School and cultivated his interest in music working at Tower Records as a teenager. He went on to graduate from San Francisco State University and started augmenting his jobs in bars and nightclubs with graphic and web design work for local businesses, film festivals and radio stations.
Madfes also started making stickers -- often with a musical and or satirical bent -- that he would slap up around San Francisco. Over the decades to come, that street art project blossomed into his SubliminalSF brand that mixed art, concert promotion (with a focus on underground metal and punk bands) and t-shirt design that showcased his dark sense of humor and gifts as a visual artist. That venture would evolve into his Running With Scissors (RWS) promotion business that revived the Bottom of the Hill's Sunday barbecue matinee shows and presented several editions of the Heavy Psych Sounds Festival. Through his hard work, discerning taste and acerbic yet warm demeanor, Madfes became a vital part of the fabric of Bay Area nightlife.
He died suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 3, 2024, leaving a void in the local music scene that will be next to impossible to fill. Madfes is survived by his father David and sister Sasha along with a huge community of friends, collaborators and colleagues who will come together Sunday, Dec. 8, to celebrate his life in the only appropriate way: with a full day and evening of loud live music at two of the venues where he regularly put on shows.
The memorial events -- dubbed "Madfest" or "WWMMD (What Would Mikey Madfes Do?)" -- will begin with a celebration of life and remembrance at Thee Parkside at 2 p.m. Sunday that will be followed by a four-band bill down 17th St. at the Bottom of the Hill at 5 p.m. featuring some of Mikey's favorite local metal bands, topped by experimental group Sleepbomb. A group that has made a name for itself since 2003 performing live original ambient drone/doom soundtracks to movies like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Conan the Barbarian, Metropolis and Bladerunner, Sleepbomb currently features bassist/synth player Tim Gotch, singer/keyboardist Claire Hamard, guitarist Charlie Hernandez and drummer Rob Johnson.
While the band has been making music in various configurations for two decades, live performances during film screenings were the main way fans could experience their music. However, last year Bill Gould -- bassist for Bay Area band Faith No More who has also collaborated with Mexican grindcore band Brujeria, This Heat drummer Charles Hayward and the late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer -- released the group's soundtrack to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on his Kool Arrow imprint. A collection of music drawn from the band's score for George Romero's Night of the Living Dead entitled The Sleeping Dead is set to be issued next month.
The line-up also includes local metal heroes Molten. The all-star quintet features a murderer's row of scene veterans including guitarists Chris Corona (Floating Goat, Hazzard's Cure, and Wild Eyes among others), Gary Goudreau (East Coast band End-time Illusion), drummer Damon Lockaby (Banquet) and former Hell Fire bassist Herman Bandala playing bass as well as keys and classical guitar (singer Brandon Bristol rounds out the band).
The band quickly gained a following with its brutal mix of thrash and death metal influences, garnering national press coverage just on the strength of their demo. Molten self-released its punishing debut full-length Dystopian Syndrome in 2021 to wide praise. The band's latest acclaimed album Malicide came out on Transylvanian Recordings earlier this year. The Bottom of the Hill show is rounded out by corrosive old-school metal band Gravedodger and San Francisco headbangers Theya. After that show concludes, the third and final event will bring attendees back to Thee Parkside at 9 p.m. for another show that includes the East Bay's self-described "beast metal" outfit Vorlust, Oakland hardcore bands Powerhouse and Party Force and reunited pre-Neurosis punk group Violent Coercion.
