Glacially Musical: Please give us some background on Mass Destruction Metal Festival. How long has it been around?
When and where will it take place and what types of bands are in the line-up?
Cody: This will be the inaugural year! Putting on a metal festival has been a goal of mine for about a decade, I’d continually find myself thinking about how I could make it happen, which bands I’d like to see, etc.
It wasn’t until roughly 2 years ago that I approached Amos (who runs A. Rippin’ Production here in Atlanta) about how to put on shows when he asked if I wanted to collaborate with him on doing this.
We envisioned MASS DESTRUCTION being a beacon for Heavy Metal in the Southeastern U.S. I know Amos was tired of seeing touring bands skip over Atlanta; and I wanted us to offer something for the region so folks who couldn’ttravel very far would be able to experience a metal festival right in their backyard.
This year we focused heavily on Black and Death metal—and tried to do what we could to add some diverse sounding bands within the two genres.
Amos: It was truly a challenge confirming bands for a festival with zero reputation outside of my handful of years promoting metal shows locally (under A. Rippin’ Production), as nobody wanted to be the first to say yes to a virtually unknown fest.
Once we had a couple of the bigger dominoes fall into place, it was much easier to attract additional bands that we’d had our eyes on .
I’m still extremely pleased with the overall lineup we’ve managed to put together. Response to the lineup was extremely promising when we finally announced, and we’ve seen a lot of buzz rippling throughout the Southeast since then.
GM: Please tell us about what vendors will be available in regards to merchandise and also food & drink.
Amos: Bringing a bit of local flavor to the vendor table will be Deathgasm Records and Boris Records, both of whom have a long history of giving local extreme metal bands ways to be seen and heard, as well as Forever Street Metal Bitch, who has been turning a ton of heads lately with some really unique takes on older bands’ designs.
Cody: We’re excited to have both Digger’s Leather and Barbed Wire Enterprises on board, as well as a few others still left to be announced, and they’ll both be bringing a myriad of heavy metal goods for festival goers to feast on.
GM: Tell us about Atlanta’s metal scene. Have you heard of any people that plan to travel to the festival from afar?
Cody: It’s been incredibly encouraging to see how far reaching this event seems to be so far, with attendees making plans to travel from surrounding states as well as a few from Connecticut!
I’ve been going to shows in the metro Atlanta area since I moved here back in the early 2000’s. It’s been awesome seeing some of the younger high school kids start bands and keep them going. I’m also thankful that it’s gone largely from one venue getting most of the shows to a whole pile of venues hosting extreme metal.
Seeing Atlanta come out in full support of bands like Absu or Bolzer is a very encouraging sight to see; and we felt there couldn’t be a more appropriate time for MASS DESTRUCTION to come together!
Amos: Atlanta has a pretty fantastic metal scene, as far as I’m concerned. It may not be the biggest city, but there are a ton of people here that are extremely passionate about this music.
With it being centrally located in the Southeast, we’re fortunate enough to see a lot of amazing heavy bands coming through town. There are some incredibly talented local acts that are starting to get a good bit of recognition regionally and even nationally. Boris Records has been instrumental in giving some of these bands (Sadistic Ritual, Mangled, Vimur, Hellgoat, Death of Kings, Spewtilator, to name a few) a chance for their music to reach audiences far beyond the city limits.
With how many friends from ATL we see constantly travelling to support other metal fests around the country; we thought it was time to give these die-hards something they can claim as their own homegrown event.
GM: Has there been a lot of sponsorship and if so, feel free to plug them here.
Amos: We’re thankful to be able to include a handful of local businesses as sponsors for Mass Destruction. Local print house Mindzai Creative has worked with me and A. Rippin’ Production since day one, and they were happy to handle all the printing of posters and handbills for this event.
Our friends at the Atlant Backline Company have deftly handled all of our equipment needs for the festival, and Odditees ATL have been nice enough to print band merchandise locally in
order to save some of the hassle for those coming in from out of town to perform. Local label Boris Records has helped us immensely by spreading the word about the fest and including handbills in all outgoing orders, and local metalhead bar the Highlander has stepped up by providing catered lunches to the performers, as well as hosting a hangover brunch service on Sunday after the festival has concluded.
Additionally, local custom pickup winder Alex Avedissian of Avedissian Pickups has volunteered to be our de facto guitar tech for the weekend, and last but not leas Curtis Dewar from Dewar PR has been instrumental in getting information about the fest in front of those who will most appreciate it.
GM: Which bands are you looking forward to checking out the most?
Cody: While all the bands were curated for MASS DESTRUCTION and guaranteed to be fantastic, there are two that I’ve personally yet to see live that I’m particularly excited about: Brutality and Abazagorath.
Amos: I’m particularly excited about Friday headliner MACABRE, as they’ve been a favorite of mine for quite some time. Also excited to see Tombstalker, one of the only acts whom I know personally, as well as Deceased…they’ve been very active again lately, and I’m excited to be able to host them on our inaugural event.
GM: How much are tickets and where can people obtain them?
Amos: Weekend passes are a steal at only $75, but you can buy single day passes for $50 per day. You can pick them up locally at the Center Stage box office, or online at http://tinyurl.com/mdmf2017 - you can also pick them up from the door on the day of the event, if tickets are still available.
GM: Do you have any more nuggets of information for potential attendees?
Cody: We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Nuclear War Now gave Boris Records permission to sell a LIMITED EDITION LP of MORBOSIDAD’S newest record CORONA DE EPIDEMIA exclusively at MASS DESTRUCTION, don’t forget to visit the Boris table and pick one up!
Amos: The venue is located in Midtown Atlanta, adjacent to the Artmore Hotel, where we’ve recommended both bands and attendees make their accommodations for the weekend. Doors open at 5:00pm on Friday and 4:00pm on Saturday for the show, and on Sunday at noon we’ll begin the Mass
Destruction Hangover Brunch Service, with myself spinning records alongside a number of guest DJs.
Looking forward to seeing y’all on November 3rd & 4th !
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