Artist Entry: TDTDE compare and contrast Metalfest experiences

Photo Credit: Mark Jeffries

Greetings fellow metal people, Brandon Bateman here of Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza.

So here I sit in the back of our van, (well not our van, Lina's van,the van she is letting us use for now)trying to decide how I am going to explain our fun time at New England Metal and Hardcore Festival.

The only thing I could think of was to ask each of the other dudes to tell me some things they dug and things they didn't dig so much. After beating it out of them, I have only the following to report:

Layne Meylain - Guitar
Likes -

1. The crowd's response to our set.
2. Hanging out with tons of friends.
3. Slutty goth chicks!
   

Dislikes -

1. Bands that wear kilts.
2. Meshuggah's sound mix during their set.
   
3. Video interviews
   

I'm gonna break pattern here for a moment and share with you an exact quote from Layne, after I asked him what he thought of Meshuggah's set: " All I got to say is...big rooms and low tunings!"

For those readers who may not know, NE Metalfest was held at the Palladium in Worcester, Mass. A venue that one day long ago held a shit load of yuppy ass mothas in their chinchilla cloaks watching the latest showing of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" acted out by men in tights with questionable sexual orientations, and women who look like men with questionable sexual orientations. So if you've seen the flick "The Phantom of the Opera," you probably have a good idea of what the room looked like and sounded like.

Mike Butler - Bass
Likes -

1. Getting to see friends and fans from past tours.
2. Playing a sweet show and seeing Meshuggah......for FREE!!!!!
3. Getting to hug Scott Lee.
   

Dislikes -

1. Interviews
2. Interviews
3. Interviews
   

Jessie Freeland - Vox
Likes -

1. Scott Lee hooking us up with a badass slot.
2. Playing a fest I've always wanted to play.
3. Seeing a lot of friends.
   

Dislikes - NONE?

Paul Simpson - Guitar
Likes -

1. The awesome people of Mass.
2. The Crowd response.
3. Getting to see friends from past tours.
   

Dislikes -

1. Not getting paid to play the show.
2. A ridiculous merch cut.
3. $6.00 sausages.
   

And for my last trick....

Brandon Bateman - Drums
Likes -

1. Seeing the amount of gray in all of Meshuggah's hair.
2. Comparing Vince Bennett's and Ray Chaos' beards for the most comfort (Ray won).
   
3. Doing a photo shoot with Buck Hunter, The Taliban and random acts of public urination.
   

Dislikes -

1. Not getting a single moment of silence ALL FUCKING DAY.
2. Not getting a single moment of silence ALL FUCKING DAY.
3. Not getting a single moment of silence ALL FUCKING DAY.
   

So, I'm falling asleep writing this. I'm gonna take a nap and dream about a new tour van.

Goodbye for now friends.

Artist Entry: Animosity vocalist Leo Miller reflects on Metalfest

He got game.

Leo Miller here, writing from the Canadian border at Niagra Falls.

We just finished up the very deep cleaning of our van before we cross the border -- those immigration people will find anything and we don't want the next blog entry to look like what happened to Brain Drill, if you know what I mean.

If you don't know what I mean, just Google search "I had to life my nutsack..."

Having just finished up our second/third (we played twice last year) New England Metal and Hardcore Festival performance, I thought I would give you all a look into what the festival is all about from our point of view.

This is pretty much the only established heavy music festival we have in these United States, so it definitely makes for an eventful weekend.

To be honest, I can't really say the whole shindig is about the music. Most of the bands are given literally 15 minutes of fame with no sound check whatsoever. Honestly, you gotta just get on stage and rip it as hard as you can and if you aren't having fun, then this is the time to pretend -- if anyone caught our set, that was some grade A pretending.

All musical performances aside, the fest seems to be more of a big publicity stunt and a fun one at that than a concert. Like I said, there is not much done in the way of making the bands sound good or different from each other but rather just to showcase which bands are kicking in 2008.

It's the one time of the year where nearly every touring band in our community is together and in a lot of ways functions as a big family reunion. There is a lot of photo shoots, interviews, handshaking and dude kissing, but by the end of the night, everyone removes their Bluetooth earpieces and things turn into a pretty awesome party with a bunch of friends that you never get
to see.

I actually missed about every band that I wanted to see this year, but I was able to go to the most punk rock show of my life at a near by warehouse to see Disfear and Toxic Holocaust, which was a blast.

For many people involved, Metalfest can mean a lot of stress and a big hangover, but when all is said and done, this event is a 10 year staple in our community that everyone looks forward to each year.

Props to Scott and everyone involved for keeping this thing going.