ShowListing.RttP{METAL NATION: NORTHERN AGGRESSION FEST 1

the_reverend said:

there are 2 problems with this fest... not aimed at any one band, but all the bands on the list.
1) no collective group of people cares enough about ANY of the bands on this list to go to the bombshelter for these bands

Which means we're going to have to hope to get a good draw out of the locals for the fest to do really well. ;)

2) all the persons that DO care to go see these bands ARE PLAYING IN OTHER BANDS.

This is a common problem with any fest like this. I have the exact same problem when I do the show in NC. On one hand, you need the local support to attract people to the show, but on the other, almost every local scene is comprised mostly of people that are in bands. That is why I try to limit the number of local/regional bands doing a fest like this where there is no big headliner to draw out the masses that don't regularly support local music. The people from the bands that aren't playing that show up to support the fest are noted and those bands get an opportunity to do the next one.

I will be there and I hope that people prove me wrong.

I hope you are proven wrong as well. This is the first fest I am doing outside of NC. I didn't sink a crapload of cash into it for headliners because I wanted to test the waters first.

So far, I have been very impressed with the support and the positive attitude from the bands, fans and club. Even if the show tanks, I will almost certainly do another show here again based solely on what I have seen so far. In particular, Dan and the Shroud ppl have busted their ass on this and I owe them huge thanks for all their efforts. If the show fails, then it wasn't for lack of trying.

A few other comments based on what ppl have said here that will hopefully clear some things up...

First, this show is a SnakeNet Metal Radio Gathering. SnakeNet puts on or sponsors many local shows around the globe. The Metal Nation fests are the larger two or three day fests that we put on so that our members can gather for a weekend of metal and partying. The big annual show is Metal Nation: The Gathering and we'll have 50 or so people come in from all parts of the US, Canada and Europe for the fest, in addition to the local NC Scenesters. Again, this is my first attempt at doing a larger scale, multiple day festival outside of NC for the members to attend. Roughly 20 of the members of SnakeNet have already purchased tickets and people will be coming from as far away as Belgium for the show.

You may ask yourself, why the fuck would someone fly from Belgium to attend a show with this lineup? The answer goes back to what Dan said earlier....because they know when they go to a Metal Nation show, they are going to have one drunken ass great time. It really is like a huge metal brotherhood. The fests have never had multiple monster named headliners, but attendance grows every year because the party is bigger then the show and because the people that attend always come away finding a crap load of great bands that they have never heard before.

For me, that is what it is all about....getting to see great unsigned bands and bands I haven't seen before. Even at bigger fests with monster headliners, I am usually too drunk to care about the headliners and too burnt out on kickass metal to even want to see them. You can always catch the bigger bands on tour. I want to see new talent and expand my metal horizons. I keep the ticket price cheap, so everyone can go and still have plenty of money for beer and travel.

I'm not pretending I wouldn't want to have Motorhead or Opeth do one of my shows, but I don't sweat it when that doesn't work out. Real metalheads will support their scene and come out to hear bands and get drunk. Those are the people that I want at my shows and that is why the vibe of my fests are the way they are. If I can be certain of one thing, it is that everyone will come away having had a great time.

Second, how were the bands picked? Why is [insert band] playing later then my favorite local band?

I put this show together starting with Seven Witches. I decided to do Friday night as mostly power/classic metal and Saturday as the Doom/Death/Thrash/Black stuff. This is the first time I have tried this, but my hopes are two fold. First, people that don't like one style or other can attend one day and not have to pay the $20, thus have more money for beer and have a better time when they are there. Also, having a varied lineup will keep some people away because elitist assholes often won't support shows with varying styles of metal. This is going to be a crap shoot. If I get good attendance both days, I will do it this way again. If not, then I'll go back to mixing it up more. I won't know how it will work until I try. Admittedly, the Friday show is very weak on locals and I fear that attendance will suffer for that reason alone. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of power/classic metal bands from this area.

The bands were hand picked by me. Some of them I picked based on recommendations from people I trust. Some I picked because I know they kick ass even if no one in the Manchester area ever heard of them. Some of them were picked because I know they will draw a crowd.

Setting a lineup is never easy. It never fails that the bands that go on first pitch a fucking bitch. When Shroud was slotted for 7:00pm on Friday for our show in June, Dan wasn't happy about that. And yeah...they played in front of only 40 or 50 people, but very few of those 40 or 50 people had ever seen Shroud and they came away with a crapload of new fans.

It was also the first fest they ever played for me. As I alluded to earlier, I want bands on my show that will bust their ass to promote. I have probably put on 100 shows over the last 3 years. I always take notes of which bands promote the show and which ones get the best crowd response. The ones that work hard and play well are the ones that get asked to do the next one and get the better slots. Someone mentioned 137 and Liquid Violence as being bands they never heard of and wondered why they got later slots then some of the locals that will draw better. Well, I just gave you the answer. They have performed well in the past and have busted their ass for me on their home turf. Now when I am doing a show outside their area, they are invited to play and given a decent slot playing in front of someone else's crowd. Funny how that works, huh?

Also, when you are constructing a lineup, if you care about getting exposure for bands and want to build a scene, putting bands that are unknown or lesser known first means that even fewer people will come out early. I want all of the bands to play in front of a good crowd. I don't want bands having to drive 10 hours to play in front of five people. That defeats the purpose of having them on the show. So again, I give locals that have not played a show for me earlier slots, let them prove themselves and draw a crowd out for the other bands that otherwise wouldn't draw well.

I realize that many people will think that is ass backwards. You should put the bigger drawing bands on later so that more people will come out to see them. And that is a valid point.....if I was some money grubbing whore that only cared about how fat my wallet would be after the show. But that ain't me. I am about metal, the music and scene. I care about the bands and have confidence that they are all worthy of playing the show. The bands that go on earlier should be A) happy to be playing B) happy to give their metal brothers a chance to play for their crowd. This show is about networking....making contacts with new bands, making friends with new fans and meeting new people that share our love of metal. Bands that don't realize the value of meeting bands from outside their area and expanding their contacts are doomed to remain right where they are today.

Because this show is a SnakeNet Gathering, even the locals will be playing to new potential fans. As I said earlier, we have already sold advanced tickets to 20 people from all over the US and Europe. And those are just the people that bought advanced tickets. I know of a few people coming from a good distance that have not purchased tickets. The SnakeNet people come to the fest early and stay until the end. No....we aren't going to be out in numbers quite as great as some of the other shows. The timing just didn't work out well for this one. Many of our regular SnakeNet attendees are tapped out from the Gatherings we did over the summer, but if the opening acts being their crowd and you add in the SnakeNet ppl, everyone will have a good show....even the openers. And to be honest, if you are playing in front of no one, my question will be "where was your crowd?". I'm bringing mine and they are taking days off from work and traveling a lot further then any of the locals. ;) heh heh

The other factor involved in the lineup is Screaming Ferret. Tim Kuokos (the label prez) has been very supportive of the SnakeNet fests. This will be the 5th show he forked out his hard earned cash to help fund. For that reason, if he requests that band X plays, then he is going to get it. He deserves that much because without him, there would be no show. I am proud to be associated with a person like Tim. He is a good man that cares about metal and wants to see this show succeed as much as I do. We are doing this show on his home turf and I expect he'll be an awesome host and he has helped to make this be the show that you will all be glad you attended when its over. So I thank him in advance.

I pride myself on doing a pro show, even when we don't have the biggest names in metal on the bill. I have hired the best stage manager on the metal scene in John Yorke and I wouldn't settle for less then the best in any other aspect of the fest. I owe the bands and the fans that spend their hard earned money to be a part of it that much.

My final words are that I am looking forward to seeing all of you (even you Jonah...and it wasn't 4 years since you were kicked off SnakeNet, it was only two and half. ;) ) Come ready to party and to have a good time. Leave your friends with an attitude home. We don't need a bunch of fucking assholes at the show.....only people that love metal and love to have a good time.

See all y'all in a few days.