Area Bands Set for Berkeley Heights' Duckfest

The Duckfest11 live music festival at Berkeley Heights will showcase local bands on June 11. Duckfest11 will be held noon to 4 p.m. June 11 at the Rubber Ducky Festival, Passaic River Park, Berkeley Heights, (rain date June 25). Entrance is free.

Whitehouse-based Easily Confused performs original Rock/Indie/Alternative compositions as well as covers of Kings of Leon, Third-Eye Blind, Red Hot Chili Peppers and classic acts like Led Zeppelin. Technically accomplished and working on their first album, they are destined for big things. 

Easily Confused features 16-year-olds John Gould (Rhythm Guitar/Lead Vocals), Zach Neumann (Lead Guitar), Kyle Phillips (Keyboard/Vocals), Tom Lanzilotta (Bass) and Will Powick on Drums. Free downloads for EasilyConfused are on Facebook or visit www.reverbnation.com/easilyconfused.

 Award-winning Negative IQ comprises high school sophomores Scott Brookes (Lead Guitar), Michael Manganelli (Drums), Kieraj Mumick (Bass) and Lauren Banjo on Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals. Their style is Pop-Punk and list Green Day, The Offspring and Sum 41 amongst their influences, although they add “bacon, fruit snacks, pancakes and root beer” may be as important. This will be the second appearance by the Berkeley Heights band at Duckfest. Visit “negativeiqband” on Facebook for a free download.

The Flies are a fourth-grade rock band that perform like high schoolers. They may be the youngest rock group ever to perform Led Zeppelin’s classic “Stairway to Heaven” live on stage.  The young band already has 3 years of public performances under their belt including Duckfest and the Mount Carmel Festival. Their style is more classic rock with original compositions as well as covers like “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Flies features Sam Lee (lead guitar), Johnny “Bones” Pullara (drums), Sean Pelcher (vocals), Spencer Park (rhythm guitar) and Andrew Vanacore on vocals and violin. Recent performances by the band are on YouTube (“fliesband” channel).

Duckfest11 will benefit from an improved sound system in 2011 provided by Main Stage Productions (mainstagepro.com) owner Rick Clark.  Rick brings over 12 years of entertainment production industry experience, including on the Warped Tour, to the festival.