PipemanRadio Interviews Sick Puppies at Aftershock 2025

PipemanRadio Interviews Sick Puppies at Aftershock 2025

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Aftershock 2025 Draws Record-Breaking Crowd Of Over 164,000 Fans, The Largest In The Festival’s History  

The West Coast’s Ultimate Rock, Punk & Metal Destination 115+ Bands • 4 Unforgettable Days • Fans From Every Corner of the Globe

Danny Wimmer Presents’ record-breaking 2025 festival season concluded October 2–5 with the largest Aftershock in history — drawing over 164,000 fans from all 50 states and more than 30 countries to Sacramento’s Discovery Park, generating an estimated $35 million in local economic impact.  

The West Coast’s biggest rock, punk, and metal festival reached new heights in 2025.

Debuting in 2025, Aftershock introduced several new fan-favorite experiences that elevated the  festival weekend to new heights. The Capitol Club offered an all-inclusive oasis with premium amenities and elevated views of the main stage, while Tremors Dive Bar kept the energy high with a pop-up set by  DJ Rock Feed with surprise guests My Darkest Days, and a special Sunday takeover by Sacramento’s own The Jungle Bird. Fans also discovered spontaneous performances at Beatbox and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speakeasy hidden beneath the underpass — each adding to the sense of discovery and excitement that defined this year’s festival.  

To celebrate DWP’s cultural and economic impact to the region, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Senator Angelique Ashby, and Assemblymember Maggy Krell honored Danny Wimmer Presents with official recognitions from the City of Sacramento, the California State Senate, and the California State Assembly. The proclamation and resolutions celebrate Aftershock’s decade-long legacy, recognizing its profound cultural, economic, and charitable contributions to the Sacramento community and beyond, and highlighting how the festival has firmly established the city as a premier destination for live music in California.  

The 2026 dates for Aftershock will be announced in the coming months along with early bird tickets, allowing fans to lock-in lower level pricing and maximum payment plan options. Fans are encouraged to stay tuned to the festival’s official social media channels and AftershockFestival.com.

In addition to music performances, this year’s edition of Aftershock featured various partner onsite activations, award-winning beverages and delectable eats from partners including Animal Place, Astral Tequila, Beatbox Beverages, Black Shades, Blackcraft, Body Art Express, California Army National Guard, Coors Light, Don Julio, Eargasm, Freak On a Leash, Fxck Cancer, Golden State Cider, Hyatt Vacation Club, Jack Daniel's, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Little Rocker Clothing, Mortus Viventi, Nowhere Fast, Parlor Root Beer, Red Bull, Sierra Nevada, Strüng, Take Me Home, The Pretty Cult, Tito's Handmade Vodka, To Write Love on Her Arms, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, and Waterloo Sparkling Water.  

Aftershock is proud to partner with Visit Sacramento and is produced by Los Angeles-based Danny Wimmer Presents, one of the largest independent producers of destination music festivals in America.  

For more information on Aftershock please visit:
Website: www.aftershockfestival.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aftershockfestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aftershockfestival
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, you love them too? Yes, that's true. See why
were you you? This is pipe Man here on the
Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I'm

(00:24):
here with Mark, Emma and Brian. We are sick puppies. Yes,
here at after Shock. Have you guys played After Shock before?
I'll remember they all swirl in my head? When's the
last time.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
They swirl on our head?

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Too?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
No, we were here, we just realized twenty nineteen, so
six years ago.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Wow. Yeah that was pre COVID, before COVID.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, we thought we were gonna be playing a bunch
of more shows and then I know, right, and we
didn't know what hit us.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So yeah, I'll look all of us. I think though,
one if you're gonna pick one good thing that happened
at Lockdown, as it gave artists a chance to like
kind of jump off the hamster wheel and create and
kind of maybe even reevaluate because you're so busy, like
you only didn't stop to think of how you want
to be as a band at that point in time.

(01:12):
Jump off the hamsterre. I like that term. That's exactly
how it was, kind of right, sure was so tell
us about I love your new album that dropped in March.
I already found two songs that I think are like anthems.
Nice which songs. Okay, so you got fuck them all.

(01:33):
That's a total anthem for twenty twenty five for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Okay, yeah, we like it a good point there, Yes,
you're right, right right.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
And then the other one was going places the new video.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
It just came out our first single, and yeah, we
love that song.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Well, here's why I loved I wanted to get right.
So it's the first time ever I put eight notes,
tell my boss go jump in the lake, tell my
boss get the fuck out of my place. I'm like,
that's another there, that's another twenty twenty five and there
you go.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, exactly, yeahs real life, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, totally, we've been there.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
We don't want to go to work.

Speaker 5 (02:10):
We back when you if maybe you have ex's or
relationship I any right, work, relationships, money, you know all
that stuff, and just you just want to you want
to do what you want to do.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Ye, And that's like the whole reason we started music.
We just wanted to go.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Places like whether that's physically like doing that or just metaphorically. Yeah,
you don't want to you don't do with that other
other crap. So that's we just had fun with it.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
And as an artist, you should be saying fuck everybody
because you should be your own creative person. Like I'm
a big believer, let the artist be the creative. Everybody
else in the business can do their job, but don't
tell the artists how to create their music. Amen.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
And that's what we did with that song and some
others certainly fuck them on. That was a fun one. Yeah, yeah,
right on pretty much means exactly what the title is.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
So and it does sound like one of those anthem
songs like forget the words for a second, just the
music itself.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
It has that vibe man.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, yeah, in a minute, I heard it, like in
the first ten seconds.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm like, when you get little kids chanting it too,
that's always fun, all right, So that's fun.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
How about your kids? Did they chant it? Maybe? You
know what's it you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (03:22):
My daughter is almost four now, but she when the
album came out or even before, like we had that
as a demo years ago and a couple of years ago,
and she would sing it.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
She was like two years old and saying fun. We
had to like say she literally would say, funk, I'm
doing what I want to. Fuck, We're like like, can't. Yeah,
it was pretty funny. Well that's kind of like when
my kids were kids and Nirvana came out with rape me.
Oh yeah, yeah. My kids were singing it, but they
thought I said rave me, and I let them believe
that that's a good right, Like, yeah, like word to

(03:54):
go in place of that. That's I guess, right, Zach
rave me. Yeah, they didn't know, so it was except
but it is. Have you seen like on socials the
funny videos of the kids saying curse words like little
babies and todd So that's what I was imagining when
you were talking about that. Yeah, I was like, you

(04:17):
should have created a TikTok of that. Yeah, I know, right. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Our producer at the time it was his kids, who's
two kids and they write it was two of them.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah, a friend so and then he was kind of like, oh,
do you guys want to come do something real quick?
Coming in here, and then he was like, okay, so
this is the only time that you can use this word,
but can you sing this? And so he had him
sing it, but then had to precurse it with like
don't say this outside of this is the right time.
But yeah, it worked out really well.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I want to know if it really worked out
well them not saying it any other time, it's like, yeah,
we don't know. It's like now I have permission, Like
they don't hear it, not only here, it's like I
have permission. Yea. So do you feel after Shocked the
vibe here has changed since you last played here?

Speaker 3 (05:06):
I don't think so. I think it's pretty rocking, just
as much as Zepa.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
It seems like so you know, I mean, Danny Wember
puts on the best festivals there are, so and we
came from an era to where we started playing like
where it was just like Rock on the Range back
in the day was the only one and now there's
like five of them or whatever now and so all
over the country. So we're just lucky enough to be
able to play them all by now in a couple
of times, I guess, and we're just stoked.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, it's great. And since you brought up Wimmer, I
want to find out how he treats you as an arse.
I ask every artists.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
I'm sure they all have the same answer. He treats
everyone with respect and just amazingly.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
Yeah, I don't know, yes, Sam, just we're back at
another festival.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
So that's all you need to know.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
I guess we didn't mess up too bad, I know, right.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
So you have a new part of it.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
He put everything on like on a world class level, really,
you know, because before it was not that it was
bad or anything, but it's just like there's world class
festivals in America now, which we didn't have for a
long time, you know, and we we had those in Europe,
and every band you would talk to you would be like, Oh,
in Europe they have all these festivals, And now there's
these festivals in America and they're on par with everything
in the world.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
So it's amazing. Well it's interesting too. You brought up
Europe because as I go and do those festivals there,
but I found out somebody told me Whimmer went to
hell Fest to use that as a model. That makes sense, Yeah, like,
and that's a great fest to do that way.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, we haven't done that one, but we've heard a
lot of stories.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Oh my god, it's you guys have to do it.
I'm playing it out there right now. I'm like telling
the promoters of hellfests. They need to do it there.
It is. It is a badass festival. But you know
what's wild is that's why Danny Tracy are so well
because the same thing there, Like I was talking to
our sound checks like five minutes and it's perfect. You know,
there's no stress and load in is like no problem,

(06:50):
and that it's not one band ever goes off late,
like that year that after COVID which three hundred and
sixty bands, not one went off late.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
It's a different level. It's just a pro level all around, right,
It's great.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
Yeah, and we have really easy getting in today. Everything
was just smooth, a lot of people to help wherever
we needed to go. I mean sounds simple enough, but
there's a lot of pieces.

Speaker 4 (07:12):
Here and when you got it, you gotta get that mastered.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
So and it's so important for the artists because there's
nothing worse than having stress with load in, stress with
sound check or things that happen on stage, like it
kind of kills the zone to perform at your peak.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Definitely, Yeah, exactly. There's so many little things that can
go wrong and if a few of those, if too
many of those go wrong, as us to sort of
like skew the day, but you're right, like for that reason,
everything is organized, like everything that you could think of
has already been thought of. So it definitely makes things
a lot easier for sure.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
And we have free pizza back here later too, so
you're gonna have to stick around. I'll be here for sure. Right.
It's really good too. And I'm from New York in
New Jersey, so I'm pizza not nice. Okay, well that
must be good. It's really good. And then of course
you got to drip bar as like a line to
Australia like every day really Yeah. The coffee bar is

(08:12):
that is coffee juices, teas smooth. Yeah, we don't have
to get it. They even have health shots, like you
know the shots you get at Let's go do that.
Oh yeah, like I had to wait like an hour
went first open, Like it's just ridiculous. Yeah, So just
another example of Danny Wimmer going above and beyond to

(08:35):
take care of everybody.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Speaking of that, as a woman, the bathroom situation is
a pretty important and also to the bathrooms here are
amazing clean and nice and so as a woman, very
much appreciated.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Seen how since I've never seen the women's one obviously,
but I do know, especially having three daughters, how important
that is and how disgusting it could be has been.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
In outher situations, especially touring too around the world. I
mean we've seen some pretty gnally bathrooms, I'm sure.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I mean it goes back to the Wimmer thing with
the being on world class level, Like that's one thing
you don't really think about as bathrooms, but it's actually
a huge thing for the artists. So like people don't
and people that are in festival goers everyone, so right,
and a nice bathroom is like on tour especially, it's like, right,
the nicest.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Thing ever because sometimes that's the only like that, like
when you brush your teeth and like you know what
I mean, Like you're traveling and you're like, oh, I
need to get wash my face and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
So it's yeah, there's showers here, which never happened the festival.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, see that's pretty cool because like,
especially when it gets hot like here and you're performing,
it'd be nice to be able to take a shower
that's not on the tour bus or some shit like that.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
You know.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Yeah, it's never even on the tour bus.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
It's sometimes you're lucky if it's at the venue, but
when it's at an outdoor festival, that's very rare.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
So it's nice, totally rare gym. As you would say,
which is your favorite Wimmer festival so far? Oh?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Man, Well, probably louder than Life, I mean after up
there too, But I mean they're all, I mean, they're
all pretty great.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
They're all that quality.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
And Life has the best like crowd that people just
there just show up, I mean all of them do.
But there's something different, like in Louisville, there's like feels
like there's like a special vibe there.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I don't know, I think they're kind of like obsessed. No,
Sacramento is a little different area than even most of California, true,
but Louville, like how often do they have stuff like that? There? Too?
Is a thing. And how about this year at lard
in Life they included the amusement park. If you're intendee,

(10:41):
oh really yeah, I mean like if you're attendee, you
had an amusement park too with your festival. Oh that's awesome.
Ye see. Now next time you guys got to perform
from the roller coaster. Yeah, that's that would be a
first probably cool. Right, So what's going to be coming
out later in twenty twenty six that we should look

(11:03):
out for that he want us to know.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
I mean, we're just this festival is probably like we're
winding up the end of the year, so this this
might be one of our last shows, but just probably
hopefully get on some more festivals like this next year.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
We're in talks, so I don't know. It's up in
the air right now a little bit, but well, we're
hopefully coming to come back.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Yeah, And what's your favorite European festival? Since we talked that,
we haven't done a lot. Which ones have we done
with the We haven't done a lot of tour festivals.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Probably we did Never Rocks some years back, and that
was awesome.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
I just heard yesterday because that was on my radar.
It's one I wanted to do that haven't done yet.
I just heard yesterday how badass that festival is, so
now I have to build.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
The other one was Rock for People in check That
was awesome.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah, we just did that one. That's a really good one. Nice. Yeah,
and then the Hurricane that was a cool one. Yeah.
Is there a place you've played in the world that
you didn't get back to be good. Yeah, that was,
or just in general the vibe for you as an artist,
where you liked being at that festival that you didn't expect,

(12:08):
that you would have never thought of.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
It wasn't a festival, but we played a well it
kind of wash.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yes, it didn't have to be.

Speaker 3 (12:13):
It was a place in Estonia, Okay, played like an
American car show. But it was also like on the
backdrop of like a castle. It was so memorable.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
I'll always remember that was the backdrop was like a yeah,
a castle, and and it was ironic kind of because
it was an American and we're like from a meg
Live car.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
So it was like for them it was like very exotic,
but for us.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
It was more like, oh yeah, just like a Ford
like whatever like Mustang Old muscle cars or whatever, and
so it was it was just cool to play in
Estonia in general.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
So that was cool. Yeah, that's why I love about incarceration.
You were talking about the castle, like Shawshank Prison. My
daughter show called me all the time. She's like, before
a festival, So are you excited about this festival? I'm like,
I really love it, but I don't know I've been
covering the festival for fifteen years and I'm on one
every weekend, so I don't know if excited as the work.

(13:05):
But then the first time I did inc, I called
her from the prison yard. I'm like, I'm calling you
from Shawshank prison yard. Now I'm excited. It's so cool.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
That's like my favorite movie as long as with a
lot of people, it's tell the best movie all the time.
And just to play there and see the prison where
they shot it and everything, like this is so cool.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
It is wild. Did you get to do the tour
and the did you do the blood prison? No? We
did a small tour.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
We didn't really get a full tour, were we Yeah,
Like we got a small tour of like where the
hole was, Yeah, but like and some of the prison sales,
but not like some of the band's got like full tours.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
But if you had time to do it, but we
didn't have time that day. Side. It was fun though,
But it's cool too. There's a new prison right next door,
so while you guys are playing there or any band.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Like an actual like working prison now yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
It's right. I've seen inmates out in the yard while
the festival's going on. I'm like, man, this is like
Johnny Cash. Oh wow, yeah and fulsom I know, right.
Anything else you want to tell listeners we haven't covered
already and tell them your socials and where they can
get your merch and all that.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Sure, yeah, asidcopies dot com for merch and just Instagram,
Facebook x and anything. Any of your socials were on there,
so yeah, just drop us in a comment and say hi.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
And new album it's called Wave the Bullet came out
in March, so just go stream it or wherever you
it is the platforms.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
So yeah, thanks. I think it's one of your best
works ever, So everybody has to listen to it or
they can't listen to my show. Nice. Thank you, Thank
you for being on you betch you some man. Thank
you very much. Thank you for listening to the Adventures
of plate Man. I'm w for CUI Radio.