March Music Madness is a music festival put on by The Downstairs, the lower section of Club Millennium. Each show started at 8 p.m. and ended at about midnight. The Downstairs is located at 420 W. 3rd Ave downtown near the Saturday Market grounds. The first night of March Music Madness was Metal/Post Hardcore. It featured Rally Sally, a rather new band to the Anchorage scene fronted by Graham Burrel; Boltactionbeaver, veterans of Alaskan metal; Ready Aim Timber, a hardcore band with metalcore influences; local favorites, To the depths, fronted by Garret Thomas; and The Harlequin State, another new band to the Anchorage scene. The Metal/Post hardcore night had a decent turn out there were about 150 to 200 people at the venue. Tickets were only $10.00 and a beverage station was open inside the venue. The second night was Pop Punk/Indie Rock. This concert featured the pseudo ska band Noise Brigade; the always wonderful P.J. Fanco and the Burnouts, who debuted their new band shirts, a tank-top with the words P.J. Fat-o written in the stomach resembling a tattoo; The Hoons, an old Anchorage band; The Sky is Falling, a brand new band (this was their first show); and my personal favorite Alaskan band Thrown Away Thoughts, a posthardcore band that mixes influences from jazz to Grindcore. This show had the smallest turn out of all the concerts of the festival. There were about 70 to 100 people at the show. By the last band there were about 30 people left. The final night was my favorite of the Festival. Even though my favorite bands, Ready Aim Timber and To the Depths, played on the first night, the energy the final night was amazing. It seemed that everybody was getting involved whether they knew the band or not. No matter what band was playing the hardcore dancers in the pit were throwing down and the bands were interacting with the people standing at the front. This show featured all new bands. The first band was Destroyer, a thrash band with influences of metal and hardcore; Linda Blair Headspin, another rather new band to the scene (the crowd seemed to have the most energy and best reaction to LBH); Giants Make Way, a new band to Alaska who recently lost their vocalist to artistic differences they had to play the show with no vocals; Skies Rain Blood, another new metalcore/deathcore band to Anchorage; and December Never Ends. When asked about the show, Junior Kevin Tyler Kuhn said, “I’m glad to see the Anchorage scene growing like this. I’m looking forward to seeing these bands mature and play more shows with all of the old Anchorage favorites like To the Depths and Ready Aim Timber.” The front-man of Rally Sally, Graham Burrel, said this about the growing Anchorage scene: “It’s fun to know that I’m a part of this new scene here in Anchorage.”