Levitation founders L-R: Christian Bland, Rob Fitzpatrick, James Oswald and Alex Maas.
Before last year’s Austin Psych Fest, Christian Bland, guitarist for Austin psych rock outfit Black Angels and co-founder of the fest, described the act of booking the festival as “a dream.”
“It’s like Christmas for us getting to invite all your favorite bands,” he said. One of the elusive acts Bland said he’d been trying to nail down for years was the Jesus and Mary Chain. In 2015, the festival founders will be able to cross that one off as the Scottish fuzz-pop outfit, touring on the 30th anniversary of their 1985 debut “Psychocandy,” will play the album in its entirety at the festival.
The festival, recently rebranded as Levitation and scheduled to take place at Carson Creek Ranch on May 8-10, 2015 will also feature popular Oklahoma weirdos the Flaming Lips and Australian hypno-groove rockers Tame Impala. Spacey Brit rockers Spiritualized, Scottish alt-rockers Primal Scream, fronted by JAMC founding drummer Bobby Gillespie and host band the Black Angels round out the top tier of today’s announced lineup.
The international makeup of the lineup reflects the character of the festival itself which in recent years has quietly grown into a destination festival to foreigners, while remaining largely under the radar locally. Last year, festival organizers said advance ticket sales were led by Canadians and Australians. This year’s lineup might change that dynamic. The first cut includes appearances from popular touring acts Thee Oh Sees, Mac DeMarco and A Place to Bury Strangers alongside local metal heavyweights the Sword and rapidly rising Austin psych band Holy Wave, all bands with strong local appeal. Add to that the fact that local booking house Transmission Entertainment has signed on to co-produce the fest and it looks like 2015 could be a big breakout year for one of Austin’s strongest side fests.
Weekend passes, camping passes and deluxe passes are all on sale at austinpsychfest.com.
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Partial 2025 lineup
THE FLAMING LIPS
TAME IMPALA
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN (performing Psychocandy)
SPIRITUALIZED
PRIMAL SCREAM
THE BLACK ANGELS
THEE OH SEES
MAC DEMARCO
MELODY’S ECHO CHAMBER
LIGHTNING BOLT
THE SWORD
EARTH
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
FUZZ
THE SOFT MOON
METZ
WHITE FENCE
NIGHT BEATS
FAT WHITE FAMILY
THE BLACK RYDER
INDIAN JEWELRY
NOTHING
THE MYRRORS
MYSTIC BRAVES
ROSE WINDOWS
SPINDRIFT
HOLY WAVE
VAADAT CHARIGIM
THE BLANK TAPES
ZZZs
ETERNAL TAPESTRY
WHITE MANNA
CHUI WAN
KRAKATAU
L.A. WITCH
HEATHERS