ROCKSTAR MAYHEM FEST

COMPLETE COVERAGE

Story & Interviews: Brendan Twist

Photos: Rosa Henriquez 

For the first time in over 10 years, there was no Ozzfest. Well, that’s not exactly true—there was one show, on August 9^th, in Frisco, Texas, dubbed Ozzfest 2008, that featured performances from Metallica, The Sword, and the Ozzman himself. But this summer marked the first in a decade that there was no traveling Ozzfest. Despite outlandish prices for tickets and concessions, Ozzfest has become an annual routine for metalheads longing for a day of moshing and drinking in a parking lot or on a lawn while the sun beats down overhead and the music blares from a couple of stages. What were metal fans to do?

They up and went to the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. In Ozzfest’s absence, the new traveling fest took up the banner of large-scale, summertime metal shenanigans. Main stage performers included Mastodon, Dragonforce, and co-headliners Slipknot and Disturbed. We’ve got interviews with all of them here, except Slipknot—you’ll have to check out the cover story of our Oct./Nov. issue for that. The second stages featured sets from Machine Head, Underoath, Walls of Jericho and many more. By having two second stages, Mayhem Fest essentially avoided downtime—when one band ended, another began on the other stage. Take note, Ozzfest.

The fans aren’t the only ones getting in on the party at Mayhem Fest. Every few nights, a different band has been hosting a barbeque and party, known as a “Metal Mixer,” by their bus after the concert. At the August 6^th stop of the tour on Long Island, we got the dirt on the bands that are tearing up Mayhem Fest, their raucous after-parties, and the one-time (?) performance by the demented supergroup known only as Ladder Up An Ass.

 Q&A: Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor

What is the craziest or most hilarious thing that’s happened on this tour so far? 

There’s been a lot of insanity. It’s pretty cool, some of the bands have hosted barbeques. Ours is tonight. It’s up to the bands to come up with a drink, like Five Finger Death Punch had their punch, Dragonforce had “dragon juice.” We have “wolf urine.” Those are usually a little out of hand because usually it’s before a day off, so people just get out of control. We’re running around naked, dudes running around with thongs on. I think someone picked up a giant cooler with doors and lights and slammed it on the floor last night.  

What’s going into the "wolf urine?"

Nothing too crazy. We need something yellow, so we went with pineapple juice and vodka, and fresh squeezed ginger for a little bite. It’ll be tropical with a little sting so you know its urine. Hopefully it’ll make people feral.  

If there’s one band on this tour other than Mastodon that’s a must see, who is it and why?

Well, I don’t want to be obvious, but Slipknot, because they have a crazy show. There’s fire and there’s like nine crazy clowns running around on stage. They have these giant drums and Joey [Jordison, drums] spins around in circles and it’s just like, you have to see that. On the second stage, some bands that are a little less obvious, I’d have to say the Red Chord and Walls of Jericho, two of my favorites over there. Red Chord is particularly technical and they’re loopy. They play a very interesting brand of grindcore and they’re great guys. Walls of Jericho, I mean, Candace [Kucsulain, vocals] gets the crowd going, and they’re crazy. Really fun to watch.

Mastodon guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, rocking.

You guys played two nights in Brooklyn with Neurosis earlier this year. What was that experience like and how did it come about?

When Mastodon started, that was where we kind of stood as a band: “Hey, we all like Neurosis, we all like the Melvins. Cool, let’s start a band.” So I think if it wasn’t for Neurosis, there wouldn’t be a Mastodon. Any opportunity to play with them, you know, we’re gonna take it. So they just called us, I mean, I talk to Scott [Kelly, vocals and guitars] pretty regularly. He was like, “Are you guys interested in doing that?” I was like, “Fuck yeah, of course.” At a hundred-year-old black Masonic temple in Brooklyn? That’s amazing. That was one of the best musical experiences we’ve had, doing that with them. It was very special.

Brent has an amazing tattoo on his face. Can you tell me what inspired that?

He’s been talking about getting his face tattooed for a long time. I think it had to be the right design. So he was in Hawaii, surfing, and hanging out with some friends that live there and I’m not exactly sure what it means, but it’s got, like, a Hawaiian, kinda tribal, design thing going on. It’s cool. I think he wears it well.

Q&A: Disturbed singer David Draiman

You guys have done Ozzfest before. How does this compare?

It reminds me of the early Ozzfest days. It’s a much more laid back vibe. Very communal. Not quite as corporate feeling. The bands interact with each other on all sides of the spectrum. There isn’t a separation of the stages. They’re allowed to come see us play, we go to see them play. And there’s also a really nice, unspoken sense of competition. Because you go ahead and watch other bands throw down and it just makes you wanna throw down harder. It’s inspiring. Everybody who comes to see the show ends up getting to reap the benefits of it. 

Can you tell me one crazy or hilarious thing that’s happened on the tour?

Crazy or hilarious… well, I can tell you crazy, unfortunately. Our crew got into a really bad accident. Their bus wrecked on the way to Virginia Beach, in South Carolina. Off the road. There are pictures of it on the Internet all over the place. Went into the forest, into trees and just decimated the bus. Our drum tech, Nate, was hospitalized. He had to have some reconstructive surgery on his leg, a plate and a bunch of pins put in. It’s a miracle that nobody actually got hurt worse than that. The rest of the crew, all they really suffered were some bumps and bruises, and actually showed up for the show the next day. Got on another bus and worked the damn show. That’s a real testimony to their dedication and their perseverance and their work ethic, and we’re just so, so grateful that no one died, that nothing extensively tragic happened. We’re very sorry about what happened to Nate, but he’ll eventually come back. He’ll rehabilitate, he will be alright, so it’s good that they all escaped what could have been a very untimely demise. 

Disturbed bassist John Moyer flashes the metal sign. Disturbed played foosball deep in the bowels of Nassau Coliseum earlier in the day. No lie.

If there’s one band on this tour other than Disturbed that’s a must see, who is it and why?

I don’t know that I can only pick one. Y’know, Slipknot is Slipknot. It’s an extravaganza. It’s almost too much stimuli. It’s hard to take it all in sometimes—it batters you. Machine Head is just unbelievably powerful. The Five Finger Death Punch guys have come a long, long way since they opened for us on the warm-up run, and they’re really tearing up the side stage. Airbourne, bringing the straight-up rock, AC/DC-style, and just leaving it all out there onstage. There’s so many great, great bands. Underoath. The Dragonforce guys doing what they do—you gotta love a band with a keytar player. Those guys are just hysterical, and great guys, and unbelievably talented. So you have any number of heavyweights on this bill. Everyone has something very tangible to add and is worth checking out. 

That guy on the cover of Indestructible and Ten Thousand Fists. He’s pretty badass. What’s up with that guy?

He originally just came from a two-dimensional, menacing, grinning face that I’m sure you’ve seen prior to the three-dimensional version of him. That came from way, way back in the day when we were unsigned and still touring the south suburbs of Chicago. We needed a logo, something to put on our t-shirts aside from our faces, which we never really wanted to do. Anyway, I sat down with a buddy of mine and said, “How about just a menacing, grinning face? Like’s he’s got something to hide, something coming.” And he kinda sketched it on his graphics program in almost stick figure fashion, and used some other piece of software to warp it, to kind of distort it, and that became the first image of The Guy. When Fists came along, we wanted to see if [Spawn creator and comic book artist Todd] McFarlane could make a three-dimensional version to make him more of an actual character as opposed to just a symbol. And then with this record, [comic book artist] David Finch took it even further. We wanted it more brutal, more dark and visceral. And we thought he definitely accomplished that with this one.

 Q&A: Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li

Can you tell me something crazy or hilarious that’s happened on the tour?

Mike [Wengren, drums] from Disturbed, like, smashing stuff up and taking his checkbook out the next day and paying for it. Seems like he enjoys that. That’s cool. That’s pretty crazy—smash everything up, pay for it later when he’s sobered up. 

Can I expect to see trampolines on stage with you tonight?

We’re not doing trampolines on this tour on purpose. Can’t do the same trick all the time. All the jumping is from our own leg power [now]. We’ve done it so much that we can do it without a trampoline and spin and do 360s without falling over. 

Ultra Beatdown is coming out in a few weeks. What can we expect and how does it differ from Inhuman Rampage?

Well, to be honest, does anything I say really matter to anyone? I think people are sick of hearing musicians say, “Our new album is this and that, better than the last one,” and this and that. Does anyone really believe it? 

If you wanna be technical, we can get into it. Compared to Inhuman Rampage, this has got lots of tempo changes, much more dynamic—it changes. Inhuman Rampage is definitely a darker album—fast all the way through, shredding all the way. On this album, we really mixed up the tempo quite a bit and it’s more epically triumphant.

Do they believe me? I dunno. They can judge for themselves. 

Dragonforce singer ZP Theart. Those leather pants hug his crotch nicely. Just sayin. 

Can you tell me about the cover art for Ultra Beatdown?

It’s made by the guy who did Metroid—you know, Metroid, the video game for Nintendo. We wanted something futuristic because I think the album sounds very modern and futuristic—the way the guitars sound, the keyboards sound, and the way it all comes together. Obviously there’s ‘80s influence, ‘90s influence, all kinds of influences across the board, but it’s definitely modern sounding. It doesn’t sound like an old power metal album, like Helloween.

Do you play the modern videogame systems? Any favorite games? 

I have all of them. No favorite games. Just before the tour I was playing Ninja Gaiden 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. Didn’t really have time to finish them, unfortunately.

 Q&A: Machine Head singer/guitarist Robb Flynn

Can you tell me one crazy or hilarious thing that’s happened on this tour?

Probably the craziest thing is Sid [Wilson of Slipknot, DJ] breaking his feet. That happened on the first night. He jumped from 20 feet and when he landed, he broke both of his heels, and he’s still playing. He still plays every night. They put a wheelchair up there and he just does his thing. I don’t think anyone is going to top that story. I mean, we’ve had some good drunken nights. Last night we got all trashed at the party and had Wrestlemania on the bus. I think [guitarist] Phil Demmel was giving our drummer a lap dance. It was ridiculous. It was just… stupidity.

Did you guys host your “Metal Mixer” barbeque yet?

We haven’t done it yet. Ours is in Indianapolis.

I’ve heard that every band has tried to come up with a different drink. Any ideas?

Well, we have our drink, which is the “brown eye.” We got “butt burners.” Dave McClaine [drums] is our resident butt burner maker. Last night the drink was an “oatmeal cookie,” and it had Jagermeister, Goldschlager, butterscotch schnapps and Baileys, which sounds horrendous, but it was so fucking good that I was just like, “Jesus, these are dangerous.” So I did a bunch of those, and you know, it’s like a cavity and a hangover all in one.

What goes into the brown eye?

Brown eye is Grey Goose and Coke. It’s got a secret ingredient, which is a secret, and if I told you, I’d have to kill you.

We got a bar onstage and shit. We call the guitar tech our guitartender. He’s up there doing guitar changes and then passing out brown eye shots.

If there’s one band on this tour other than Machine Head that’s a must see, who is it and why?

There’s a lot of good bands on the side stages. The one band that’s really different and really interesting is Underoath. I really fucking love Underoath, man. Awesome dudes. They’re really heavy, but they’re definitely onto something, a totally different vibe. I was actually ready to hate them cause they’re Christians, I just heard a bunch of shit like prayer circles and I was just thinking, “Oh, god,” cause I’m totally against the whole organized religion thing. [But] I ended up rocking with them. And they fuckin’ rage, like, they totally party like any of the other bands. 

On the main stage, Slipknot’s fuckin’ doing awesome. I love them, their music to me is fuckin’ super rad. They’re playing really obscure stuff, album cuts, B-sides. Shit that’s like a bonus track on their special edition and shit. From a fan’s perspective, I fuckin’ love it. I know all these songs and I love it. A lot of the main people here are just kind of the casual Slipknot fans, and they’re kinda like, “Uhh…what’s this?” Disturbed is just hit after hit after hit and people are going fucking crazy for Disturbed. Seriously, it’s impressive. Everybody in the palm of their hand. I never thought they’d give Slipknot a run for their money, but they are.

Have any of the second stage bands done any collaborations?

Every night we have at least four or five different bands up on stage—the Walls of Jericho dudes, the 36 [Crazy Fists] dudes, the Red Chord dudes, and the Underoath dudes—every night they all come up and they do “Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast” [a lyric from “Davidian,” off their 1994 debut album Burn My Eyes].

Q&A: Walls of Jericho singer Candace Kucsulain

Can you tell me something crazy or hilarious that’s happened on this tour?

Well, Ladder Up An Ass just happened and that was absolutely amazing because that was just a joke band that Gun Face [ie guitarist Mike McKenzie] and Greg [Weeks, bass] from the Red Chord started and then it blossomed into what it became today. What pretty much happened was that last week everybody got together and Corey [Taylor, of Slipknot] and Gun Face and Greg and Chris [Rawson, guitar] from our band and a couple of other people started making music together and recording it because they wanted it all pre-recorded for the live show. Then everyone had to have costumes. Corey ordered like 100 triangles so everybody could bang on triangles. Then I was Elton John, they wanted me to be Elton John, so everyone got costumes and it’s just absolutely ridiculous, it’s just chaos. It was awesome, we had a wonderful time. We threw Peeps, there was Peep throwing and they got thrown back at us, and they’re all over the stage. We got in trouble, but yeah, that’s pretty ridiculous.

You guys have done the Ozzfest before. How does this compare to that? 

Well, the crowds and all that stuff are pretty much the same, the set up is kind of the same, with a couple of different stages. I would have to say that this is a more friendly atmosphere. It’s just family, man. At Ozzfest we really couldn’t go toward the main stage and we were the little people because we were on the second stage. That shit doesn’t exist here because we’re all here for the music. Every single band on this tour is an amazing band, and everybody is bringing their A-game. Everybody comes and watches. Corey watches, he’ll come to the second stage. So does David [Draiman] and half the other bands from the main stage. It’s more like family.

Walls of Jericho guitarist Chris Rawson and Kucsulain rock the second stage in Uniondale, NY.

I heard some of the bands have had themes when they hosted their “Metal Mixer” barbeques. Have you come up with a theme yet? 

We’re thinking, like, total ghetto shit. Like gangster, ghetto. Like Edward 40 hands, shit like that. A little cee-lo. (That’s a dice game, in case you’re wondering –Ed.)

On your new album The American Dream, you guys say “Fuck the American dream.” Can you talk about that a little bit? 

I think we’re actually going to do some kind of press release on our MySpace because we’ve been getting a lot of people with a lot of questions wondering if it’s anti-war, anti-government, that kind of shit, and it’s not at all. It’s just that we’re from Detroit and Detroit is one of those cities where people are slowly losing jobs, it’s slowly just dying. People don’t even want to move there anymore. Like, people just want to get the fuck out of Detroit because it’s going to waste. So we started building a song around that, about how it doesn’t even feel like home anymore. You can’t even support your family in Michigan anymore and I came from a family where my dad broke his back every single day to put food on the table, as do many other families, and I feel that it’s just getting lost. There’s no appreciation for the backbone of this country, which is the working man. And people who have money and power do whatever they want and they’re not paying attention to the little people who are the most important part of the country, I think. That’s pretty much what it’s about, and watching it happen and watching my friends go through it. My friends own businesses, and watching them go under because of the corporate industry and everything. Read the lyrics, you know, it’s pretty self-explanatory. But we will express all of our ideas. We all have different versions of what it means to us.

 Q&A: Underoath guitarist Tim McTague

Can you tell me something crazy or hilarious that has happened on this tour?

Our tour manager and guitar tech got arrested and sent to jail last night because they stole a golf cart. And when house security tried to catch them, they went on a chase and tried to outrun them and then got out of the golf cart and ran—only to find out later that they were real police, not security guards, so they got charged with larceny and both had to post bail, $40 a piece. And tomorrow’s our day off and we have to drive back to Boston because they have a court date. 

If there’s one band on this tour other than Underoath that's a must see, who is it and why?

Machine Head is just awesome. I’ve heard of them all my life, [but] I’ve never listened to them until this tour and they’re like the kind of heavy that you don’t get until you turn 30. Like, you could fake being heavy, but when you hit 30, you kind of know what heavy is, and they’re it. And they’re one of the best bands on the tour if not the best on the tour. Awesome. 

Have you guys hosted your barbeque yet?

We haven’t.  

Any ideas? I heard each band has a different drink that they’ve been serving.

I don’t know what drink we’re gonna serve, but there’s a good chance that there will be a giant slip n’ slide. 

Wow.

Just sayin’. Don’t tell other bands that. I know what you look like, and I know who you work for and I’ll find you. 

They won’t know about the slip n’ slide.  

I don’t want to get people’s hopes up and I also don’t want to give away the surprise. The day that they show up and there’s a big hill with soap and water all over it is the day they’ll know.

You guys have played Warped, you did Taste of Chaos, how does this tour compare and how is it different? 

This tour is very much similar to Warped and Taste of Chaos in the sense that the same people run it. The biggest difference for us is the kids. We’ve done Warped tour every year, and we know the shows are going to be great, we know we’re going to sell this much in merch and it’s probably gonna be a good tour, and it’ll be fun, but it got to the point where we were just playing the same show every year. Now we’re really seeing a difference. People who come to these shows have never seen us before, ever. They may have heard of our band name before, but it’s really cool because you’re playing in front of this new crowd everyday. And we met all of the bands the first day. We didn’t know one member from one band except for Troy from Mastodon—that was the only person we knew from the entire tour aside from the production people. So all the friends that we have on this tour, we just made over the last four weeks, which is sweet.

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray, left, and guitarist Jim Root.