When Thor Moreno talks about the local music scene, his voice reflects his pride, disgust and hope. As the guitarist of the instrumental band Vivid, he has witnessed the best and the worst of Iowa’s blooming scene.

But while there have been some good times (Moreno points towards Slipknot’s recent deal with Roadrunner Records), it’s the bad times that occupy his mind the most.

“There’s been a lot of bitching and moaning between the bands,” he said, “and there’s been a lot of guff. The music scene here is kind of like a weird little soap opera. This big competition has developed between all of the bands and it’s hurting everybody.”

Moreno does believe that a little bit of competition might inspire the groups to try harder and do their best work.

But he also believes that the competition in the Iowa music scene has led many groups to turn their backs on each other.

“If everybody could get along,” he explained, “then we’d all have a much better chance of becoming successful. There’s strength in numbers, and if we can all start networking, there’s no telling what might happen.

“So, I don’t know why there’s so much hostility between the bands,” he continued. “Maybe they’re all trying to race towards success and come in first to take the feast. But personally, I think that there’s enough feast to go around. If we are all willing to work on it.”

Moreno and the other members of Vivid, drummer Damon Moreno (Thor’s brother) and bassist Christian Connett, have certainly been working hard for their share of the feast lately.

For the last three months, they have been preparing for this Saturday’s Budhafest concert.

“We wake up at eight in the morning,” he continued, “and started calling people in the bands, record labels, sponsors, security, radio stations, exhibitors, press, vendors and all other sorts of people.”

Long lines suck

The group, which formed five years ago and has never had a lead singer (and Vivid has no plans on acquiring one any time soon), also spent a considerable amount of time examining this summer’s other musical festivals to see what worked and what didn’t. A lot of the things that Vivid learned from this process are going to make Budhafest participants extremely happy.

“We don’t do the cash cards,” Moreno said. “Everything is cash only. That’s one major thing that we heard people complain about.

Moreno was also disappointed by the lack of vendors at the other summer festivals. There will be 25 vendors at Budhafest, and quite a few of these vendors will have multiple booths.

“All of the booths are spread out like a horseshoe across the beach,” he added, “so everything is accessible and the lines should be spread evenly enough that people won’t have to wait in line very long.

“When I went to these summer festivals,” he concluded, “I hated waiting in line for 45 minutes just to get a beer or a slice of pizza. So, we did away with the wait. We also added a lot of variety, especially when it comes to food.”

Another thing that Vivid noticed about the other summer festivals was that, besides the music, there was nothing else to do. Not at Budhafest.

If somebody doesn’t feel like listening to a band, they can go get a tattoo or a body piercing, take a swim, look at some art and sculptures, watch skateboarders or jugglers, visit Sister Ann the Psychic, or broaden the mind by visiting one of the many informational booths spread across the beach.

One of those informational booths is drawing Budhafest a lot of unwarranted scrutiny. Moreno would like to set the record straight.

“We’ve noticed that a lot of people are making a big deal out of NORML’s participation,” Moreno explained. “These people seem to think that the whole festival is just a big marijuana legalization rally.

“But it’s not, and it couldn’t be further from that,” he continued. “This is not a marijuana thing. This festival is meant to showcase the people who wanted to be a part of it.

“The way that the whole NORML thing is set up is that it’s just one more thing going on at our show. If they don’t want to know about NORML, then they don’t have to walk over to the booth.”

The other annoying thing that keeps popping up about Budhafest is its lack of Slipknot. But Moreno insists that Slipknot did not snub Budhafest and that the festival did not snub them.

“There’s no animosity between us at all,” he said. “Slipknot is going to be heading to Malibu the day after Budhafest. They talked to us about doing it, but decided that it would be best if they got their ducks in a row before they went out to California for the big-time stuff.

“I can appreciate that,” he continued, “but I would have loved for them to have made it. I’ve always enjoyed doing shows with them and they put on a hell of a performance. I wish them the best.”

Beer, records and other Junk

The main emphasis of Budhafest is reconnecting the local music scene. Matt Bieger, vocalist of Junkpoet, fully supports this emphasis. He only hopes that Budhafest is going to be enough to save the scene from itself.

“It’s hard to say how it will affect the music scene,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see. But I’m really hoping for the best with this thing.

“I think that it’s a good idea because I’ve really sensed a lot of camaraderie between the bands since this thing kicked off. There’s a level of kinship that didn’t exist for quite awhile. I’m looking forward to that kinship thing again. It really is good for the entire scene.”

Biegger, who is often described as hard-core by his rugby teammates (“He really gets a lot of satisfaction out of crushing skulls and breaking bones,” one teammate, Eric Dahlquist, said), is a fairly new addition to Junkpoet.

He had been in and out of bands for several years and was in a funk/jazz group when he heard that Junkpoet was looking for a new vocalist. Since he didn’t particularly like playing jazz/funk live, he decided to call up the members of Junkpoet (guitarist Jay Lyon, bassist Joel Grau and drummer Greg Stravers) and asked them to give him a shot. They did and he got the job.

“It’s a good thing too,” Biegger stated, “because I really missed the vibe of playing hard rock.”

Biegger is looking forward to Budhafest because it will give him an opportunity to catch up with a lot of various musicians that he has jammed with throughout the years. Unfortunately, he also has a rugby match early Saturday morning.

“It will either make me really aggressive or really burnt out,” he said, “and right now, I’m not sure which will happen. But I plan on heading over to Budhafest right after the rugby meet. Well, as soon as I’m done drinking beer with the team. We’ll down some kegs and then I’ll go.”

According to Biegger, Junkpoet (scheduled to perform on the main stage sometime around 7 p.m.) will be doing a lot of different things following Budhafest.

The day after the festival, the group will enter a recording studio to begin work on a CD of all new material, which will hopefully be completed and multi-platinum by this time next year.

“We’re also thinking about adding a new member,” he continued, “to help us develop a new sound and take the group to the next level.

“But I don’t want to reveal too much about that,” he concluded. “It’s kind of a surprise. I’d kind of just like to leave it at that. But it will definitely take us to the next level.”

Climbing the hard rock ladder

Another group appearing at Budhafest that will be searching to make it to the next level is 12 Volt Revolver.

The group (vocalist Josh Grant, bassist Paul Woods, guitarist John Ort, guitarist Steve Pettis and drummer Andy Adams) has only been together three months, has only played three gigs (all three at 63rd Street Billiards in West Des Moines) and are already making a big splash by landing a main stage spot at Budhafest and receiving radio play on Lazer 103.3.

“When we first heard of Budhafest,” Pettis said, “we barely knew who Vivid were and we didn’t know what Budhafest was. But we called and inquired about it and Vivid responded by coming over to our house and listening to us jam.”

Vivid was so impressed that they added the group to Budhafest as a second stage act and agreed to come see the group play a couple of gigs.

Vivid ended up opening both of 12 Volt Revolver’s shows and thought the group had promise, so they shuffled them up to the main stage.

As for the airplay the group is getting on Lazer’s Local Licks, it’s all due to persistence.

“I’ve called them a couple of times,” Pettis said, “and we made a demo tape and gave them a copy. But they didn’t take much interest.

“But after Vivid asked us to play Budhafest,” he added, “Lazer took a lot more interest in us. Now they want to play our single on the radio.”

The group is currently preparing to enter Great Plains Recording Studio to put together an E.P.. The first single will be “Searching For Ed.”

Tickets for Budhafest, which is this Saturday, are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. The concert starts at noon.

Bands scheduled to perform are Dimentia, Elsewhere, Spore, Torque, A-Pod, Squidboy, Release, Hunter, 12 Volt Revolver, 6th Floor Fobia, Tripwire, Drip, Salt of Society, Shiloh Church, Vent, Grubby Ernie, Smakdab, Junkpoet, Bocca Saint, Deadfront, Vivid and 35″ Mudder.