A perennial assortment of veterans will accompany newcomers and out-of-town acts who sojourn to Athens in celebration of ACRN’s annual end-of-the-year festival, Lobsterfest. A gaggle of local favorites and groups from across the region kick off the weekend at the Union on Thursday and rage through Saturday on South Beach.

The Kyle Sowashes, a delightful post-rock foursome from Columbus, will return to Athens for the band's second Lobsterfest. The quartet, who combine elements of post-punk and pop rock, departs from their schedules to collaborate, write music and use connections across the nation when planning tours.

“When you get older and have a full-time job and a house, and when you work late, there’s actually less time to practice on your own, so I might actually be digressing in my ability,” Kyle Sowash said with a laugh.

At the end of August, the Sowashes blaze a trail from Kentucky to Texas in a week-long string of dates, to travel and promote their new record, which they plan to release in July 2010. They worked with a friend, John Curley, in his studio in Cincinnati and had the album recorded and mixed in a “world record” of two-and-a-half days.

"Since we’ve been together for so long, we’re a little bit more focused and tighter as a unit,” Sowash said. “The longer you have played with a group of people, the better you’re gonna get."

“We’re always in search of a good barbecue joint,” Sowash joked. “I have lot of friends out in Texas, I used to live in Lubbock for a little bit, so we’re actually traveling all the way there and that’s kind of our turn-around point.

"But it’s funny, when you’ve been doing it for so long you just make friends kind of all over the place, just having shared the stage with so many different bands. So you get these people a show in Columbus when they’re in town and they get you a show in Oklahoma City, or something.”

The Sowashes share the evening with several other bands, including Psychedelic Horseshit and local hybrid punk pop quartet Seascapes. Seascapes shares members with Spooktober, Manor Animals and now-deceased Paper Machetes— and will release their five-track EP on Thursday evening.

The festival continues on Friday at Casa Cantina with Theodore, Duke Junior and the Smokey Boots and Southeast Engine. Local country outfit Graveyard Shift, featuring members of Midwest Kid, will release their new album that evening.

The fest concludes with a day-long show on Saturday, during which over a dozen groups take South Beach. Columbus-based pop-punk wonder Tin Armor plays an early set on Saturday. The sassy foursome began as a trio of singer-guitarist Matt Umland, bassist Matt Golightley and Matt O'Conke and shifted to include Umland’s brother John in 2008. Umland said his brother’s presence has improved the group’s ability to compose material, as he assists in song writing and provides guitar and vocals.

Tin Armor recorded a 14-track EP throughout the summer and fall of 2009 with the help of several friends, and posted the tracks on their blog in February 2010. The band has received positive responses to their previous release and is in the process of recording a full-length record with Eric Cronstein at his new studio, the Tone Shoppe, in Columbus. They aspire to complete the album soon and plan to release it in July 2010.

When Tin Armor received an opportunity to play Radfest, a festival in North Carolina, they subsequently planned a corresponding week-long tour across six states with their friends Dopamines. Planning the tour wasn’t difficult, as the quartet has found many friends in their travels.

“The more we tour places, it encourages us to go back to the same places over and over again,” Umland said. “Because you meet people, and people in that town know about your band. So it escalates…we start to develop friendships and good connections so we just go back more and more.”

Despite their national success, Tin Armor still frequents Columbus, among other Ohio cities. While the group has only recently developed friendships with locals, they enjoy a healthy relationship with Athens and have played several house shows over the past few years. Tin Armor embraces the town’s “party feel” and are “super stoked” to play their first Lobsterfest. They are scheduled to play Berea Fest, an annual Ohio punk rock festival, in July.

After a 9-month break, local indie-pop trio Russenorsk reunites to play South Beach as a final Athens farewell before members relocate to other cities.

When Russenorsk founders Tim Race (guitar, vocals) and Jack Martin (cello) began practicing together in 2006, they didn’t anticipate the tremendous success and support their band would receive.

Once drummer Zach Inscho joined the group in September 2007, the threesome wrote and recorded two records, Comforts and In a Wave of Great Horns, in their three-year culmination to Athens indie stardom. The group garnered attention from multiple publications and received generous audiences at their former shows until their final performance on September 11, 2009.

Martin’s plans did not include Russenorsk and Race felt the group could not exist without their other member.

“This has always been about the three of us— we couldn’t imagine replacing him, even if we did find another cellist,” Race said.

Although the band entertained the idea of writing another album, Race conceded that it was “just not realistic” as he and Inscho focused on forming their fuzzy indie rock incarnate Manor Animals with the help of fellow Bruce Manor residents Josh Landis, Alex Eiler and Mike Jones.

Since Russenorsk’s finale show, members have tossed around the thought of a brief reformation. In April 2010, Race and Inscho considered “a reunion set at the Manor as sort of a secret performance. We weren’t going to announce that Russenorsk was playing—it was going to be a massive benefit for the Nelsonville Festival,” they explain. The band was unable to schedule such a show at the last minute, so Race contacted ACRN Promotions Director Aaron Vilk, and within minutes, Russenorsk was on the bill.

Race said his practice sessions for the show so far have been “very cathartic” in nature and the chance for one last show “offers a lot closure” for the group.

“We’re so excited! When I was just rehearsing with my guitar, it was amazing how quickly all these songs came back,” Race said. “I was certain I had forgotten all of them... then I realized that is was all kind of muscle memory.”

Headliners The Sidekicks close the evening and thus the fest with a set at 9 p.m. The Cleveland-based punk-pop quartet has also snagged a spot on the Berea Fest bill and plans to tour the west coast in July 2010 with Tiger Jaws.

In case you missed the memo, the fun begins Thursday at the Union, continues at Casa on Friday and concludes sometime in the early hours of Sunday (probably). For more information, including a schedule of bands, view the Facebook event here.