The San Francisco Bay Area music scene will honor beloved concert promoter, graphic artist and club member Michael “Mikey” Madfes on Sunday with a three-part memorial at two locations in the city’s Potrero Hill neighborhood.
Madfes is seemingly ubiquitous at rock locations on both sides of the bay and dates back to the ’90s. He has worked as a 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, Thee Parkside, the Kilowatt, the SF Eagle, the Golden Bull and the Cat Clubje. He was also a regular at numerous defunct spots that are part of San Francisco’s storied nightlife history, such as 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 while working at Tower Records as a teenager. He graduated from San Francisco State University and began expanding his jobs in bars and nightclubs to include graphic and web design work for local businesses, film festivals and radio stations.
The Madfes family
Madfes also started making stickers – often with a musical and/or satirical twist – which he placed in San Francisco. Over the next few decades, that street art project grew into his SubliminalSF brand that combined 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) promotional company that revived Bottom of the Hill’s Sunday barbecue matinee shows and presented several editions of the Heavy Psych Sounds Festival. Through his hard work, sharp taste and sharp but warm attitude, Madfes became an essential part of the Bay Area nightlife.
He died suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep on September 3, 2024, leaving a void in the local music scene that will be virtually impossible to fill. Madfes is survived by his father David and sister Sasha, along with a vast community of friends, associates and colleagues who will come together on Sunday December 8 to celebrate his life in the only appropriate way: with a full day and evening of loud live music on two of the locations where he regularly gave shows.
The commemorative events – called “Madfest” or “WWMMD (What Would Mikey Madfes Do?)” – start on Sunday at 2pm with a celebration of life and remembrance at Thee Parkside, followed by a four-band bill. 17th St. at the Bottom of the Hill at 5pm featuring some of Mikey’s favorite local metal bands, highlighted by experimental group Sleepbomb. A group that has made a name for itself since 2003 with live original ambient drone/doom soundtracks for films such as The cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Conan the Barbarian, Metropolis And BladerunnerSleepbomb currently consists of bassist/synth player Tim Gotch, singer/keyboardist Claire Hamard, guitarist Charlie Hernandez and drummer Rob Johnson.
Although the band has been making music in various configurations for twenty years, live performances at film screenings have been the primary way fans have experienced 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 late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer – released the group’s soundtrack for The cabinet of Dr. Caligari on his Kool Arrow imprint. A collection of music drawn from the band’s score for George Romero Night of the Living Dead entitled The sleeping dead will be released next month.
The line-up also includes local metal heroes Molten. The all-star quintet consists of a line-up of scene killers, 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 plays bass as well as keys and classical guitar (singer Brandon Bristol completes the band).
The band quickly gained a following with its brutal mix of thrash and death metal influences, and received national press attention thanks to their demo alone. Molten released his punishing debut album independently Dystopian syndrome in 2021 to widespread praise. The band’s latest critically acclaimed album Malicide was released earlier this year on Transylvanian Recordings. The Bottom of the Hill show is completed by acerbic 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 featuring East Bay’s self-proclaimed “beast metal” outfit Vorlust, Oakland hardcore bands Powerhouse and Party Force and the reunited pre-Neurosis. punk group Violent Coercion.
