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Last Friday was the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at the Susquehanna Bank Center, and it will certainly go down as one of the hardest rocking festivals—if not the hardest—in metal. Mayhem brings together all factions of the metal world from the death metal of The Black Dahlia Murder and Whitechapel to the black metal of Behemoth. Thrash metal was represented with Trivium and, of course, motherf'ing Slayer. (If you haven't already, check out our interview with Slayer's Tom Araya.) There was something for everyone and few people seemed to leave disappointed.
The day started with two outside stages where you could find some of the bands mentioned above, as well as Cannibal Corpse, Job for A Cowboy and a few others. At around 6:00, the main stage opened up inside the Susquehanna Bank Center, and that's where you could find the four "mainstream" metal groups, Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson. The place had a vibe that just seemed to buzz through the air. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing so many metal groups in one arena at the same time, or maybe it was the free Rockstar energy drink that was being handed out all day long. In an interesting twist of irony, the security at Susquehanna made our friend throw her Rockstar out before we were allowed into the venue. Yes, we understand the concept of security, but that was one of those things that made us go "Hmmm."
The crowd was electric all day long, and surprisingly cool. No meatheads, no jerks trying to muscle their way through a mosh pit. Everyone was respectful of each other. It was a kinder, gentler Mayhem. An interesting point to note was that Gwar was on hand, signing autographs in the Jägermeister tent. They took photos with fans, signed breasts...and Phillyist definitely saw one of them pick a wedgie. It's a good day when you see a member of Gwar pick the wedgie of a fur-covered bikini brief. We'll let you sort that imagery out for yourself.
The venue was packed all day long, but Phillyist found it quite interesting that nearly half the venue was empty by the time Marilyn Manson began their set. After Slayer and the church of 666 had finished their service, many fans left, and on their way they made sure the Manson fans knew just what they thought of their androgynous rock star. We thought that was odd...until the set began and we also eventually left, covered in water and insults—an episode that merited a separate post all of its own.
Throughout the course of the day, we were lucky enough to get together with a few of the guys on tour to get their perspective on life on the road, the future of metal, the influences of Guitar Hero/Rock Band and, of course, their take on puppies and kittens. They were some very serious sit-downs, as you'll see after the jump.
With approximately five minutes per group to get our questions in, we felt a little overwhelmed. It was like speed dating with speed metal. Here's what some of the guys had to say:
Ben Savage of Whitechapel
How would you describe Mayhem so far?
Awesome. Awesome and all the synonyms for awesome. Spendiferous. I don't even know if that's a word but I'm making it up right now. It's like summer camp. We're on a bus instead of our small little van hanging out with bands we admire. Just the other day we had a goth paint and chicken wing party with Behemoth. It's pretty awesome.
Any particular bands you're hanging out with?
We're the same age as the guys from Black Dahlia Murder and Job for a Cowboy so we've hung out with them a lot. Since there are only 10 or so bands, everyone gets to know everyone's face. Everyone's really hang-outable.
Have you ever played Philly before and, if so, what's your favorite venue?
Yeah, we've played Philly. I really like the Troc but not so much the alley behind the Troc. I remember it was in Chinatown and sort of smelled like chicken and garbage. The women are sexier in Philadelphia, too.
You're just saying that because you think I'm sexy.
It's true—Philly women are beautiful!
Puppies or kittens, if you had to choose?
Puppies. Definitely puppies.
Shannon Lucas of The Black Dahlia Murder
How has being on tour with such hard-hitting metal acts like Slayer influenced you?
Wow, it's been amazing. I mean, I had a Slayer birthday cake when I was fifteen! I was really influenced by bands like them and Cannibal Corpse. It's been a great tour.
How important was music education when you were growing up?
It was pretty important. I was in marching band for a couple years and played the quads. I wore the uniform. I didn't do so well because I hated the fact that my director wanted me to take out my plugs. I was defiant on purpose, of course. But yeah, I always play to a click track when we're on stage. I have it in my ears. When I reach the peak of my set, I'm capping off at 216 beats per minute. All that rhythmic training was so important.
Puppies or kittens? I bet I can guess...puppies?
Actually, yes. But my girlfriend has two cats. I'd have to get one of each so that we'd both be happy.
Doc Coyle of God Forbid
How have you seen games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band influence metal?
Well obviously it's made it more accessible to people and more people are finding out about us. We have a song on the new Rock Band download pack and that's been awesome. I'd like to see it become a staple to video games, like Super Mario Bros. or Tetris.
[From here, we launched into a rather lengthy discussion, well over our time limit, of how much fun it is to play Mario Bros. on a plasma screen.]
How is this changing the future of music?
It's definitely changing how people receive their music. That's constantly changing and the idea of the album as a concept is really tapering off. We just have to stay ahead of that curve.
Puppies or kittens?
Puppies. I don't like kittens. Kittens claw, and that's just not cool.
Of all the bands we interviewed, there seemed to be a puppy/kitten split. Tomasz Wróblewski of Behemoth prefers puppies because "they're anti-social animals, but they're cute as fuck," laughing almost as if he was afraid to admit it. Bobby Thompson of Job for a Cowboy prefers puppies and wants to get a Chuggle, a pug and chihuahua mix. It was pretty cool to see these guys thrash, scream and pour their hearts out onto the stage and then come talk with Phillyist about baby animals.
We enjoyed our day. We listened to some great metal, met some wonderful people and enjoyed the crowds around us. As far as we know, there was no violence and no problem with anyone acting like a jerk...well, except Manson.
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