Just yesterday, I posted a story about how the media needs to stop sensationalizing the Black Metal community. However, I feel the need to say that there are exceptions to every rule… For instance, MAYHEM (one of the most controversial bands in the scene’s history) has just revealed some seriously shocking news. The band’s vocalist Attila Csihar (Sunn 0))), Aborym, Keep of Kalessin) recently told Terrorizer Magazine that MAYHEM smuggled actual human remains into France and used it as part of the stage set at Hellfest 2011.
“They were all human remains — skulls and bones — on the stage of MAYHEM’s ‘Liberation By Evil’ performance at Hellfest. It was [done] for spiritual reasons, not for sensation. To stand and sing from the ‘Altar Of Death’ in front of 8,000 people at Hellfest was extreme and important both artistically and personally — that feeling is just indescribable. I am not sure if it’s the best idea to say officially that we used real human bones on our performance. However, it is the simple truth. We are MAYHEM and I am Attila, I always say the truth, nothing more and nothing less. I would like to thank our people and Hellfest for the help to make this great action happen, and also to our fans for the eternal support!”
That’s right! If you happened to see MAYHEM’s performance at Hellfest, you were surrounded by actual human bones! This coming from the same band who notoriously made necklaces out of the skull fragments of a member who committed suicide. If anything, MAYHEM continue to keep things mysterious and interesting in the black metal scene.
Check out footage of MAYHEM performing “Deathcrush” at Hellfest 2011!
In other news, MAYHEM have now added guitarist Teloch (Gorgoroth, Nidingr, Ov Hell) as the replacement for long-time member Blasphemer. Rumor has it, they’ll be touring the US this fall/winter! Wonder if they’ll sneak some bones into the US too???
It seems like this happens all too often with bands but, unfortunately, KATATONIA had two guitars stolen from them following their weekend show in St. Paul, Minnesota. The band is currently embarking on an incredible North American tour with support coming from SWALLOW THE SUN and Israel’s ORPHANED LAND.
The band commented: “Unfortunately tonight’s gig reached an all time low. Two of our guitars got stolen (including our straps with wireless transmitters), obviously causing performance difficulties, frustration and anger. Then, against all odds, further technical problems kept on coming down one after another during the show. Apologies go out to our fans in Minnesota for having to go through this.”
The two Mayones guitars in question were also to be used as grand prizes in contests that were launched around the ‘Night Over North America’ tour and fans are encouraged to check Craigslist, Ebay and other outlets for suspicious and/or related postings regarding the guitars. KATATONIA will continue on across the States and I highly recommend you see them. All of the band’s involved on this trek are monstrous and don’t make it to the US often!
Sept. 21 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Sept. 22 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theater
Sept. 23 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
Sept. 24 – San Francisco, CA @ The Parkside
Sept. 25 – Santa Ana, CA @ Galaxy Theatre
Sept. 26 – West Hollywood, CA @ The Whisky
Sept. 27 – Mesa, AZ @ U.B.´s Bar
Sept. 28 – Tucson, AZ @ Club DV8
Sept. 30 – Dallas, TX @ Trees
Oct. 1 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Alternative Lounging
Oct. 2 – Houston, TX @ Meridian
Oct. 4 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
Oct. 5 – Louisville, KY @ Uncle Pleasants
Oct. 6 – Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11
Oct. 7 – West Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
Adam Foster: A Day To Remember Drum Tech 2009, ‘Sweet Brag Tour’
Minnesota:
It was about halfway through the set with A Day To Remember in Minnesota and this was the break in the set for guitar changes etc. I had noticed halfway through the last song that Alex’s (ADTR drummer) kick pedal kept falling off the bass drum and wouldn’t clamp down properly at all. So during the break I had a go at fixing it but the clamp had literally broken off so it wasn’t going to work at all.
I borrowed Dan (the drummer) from The Devil Wears Prada and began to put it on the bass drum, I had already made eye contact with Kevin (ADTR guitar player) so I just assumed he wouldn’t let the set start again until Alex was back on his kit …. (But) clearly I was wrong.
Alex was talking to his girlfriend behind me as I’m putting the pedal on the bass drum and it’s pitch black so I’m struggling and I hear the dreaded words “this song is called Mr. Highway Is Thinking About The End” and Kevin kicks in with the fucking intro picking!
I’m literally screaming “STOP! STOP! STOP!” but no one heard me. It was an embarrassing silence when the drums were meant to kick in and the band finally realizes what is happening as my head pops up from behind the bass drum.
The Iron Cobra pedal is not biting down on the drum because of the grip tape over the hoop so for the sake of time I run off the riser get the broken pedal and stick it back on. I’m forced to spend 30 minutes on my belly holding the pedal in place with horrific chafing pains from the grid metal drum riser and no ear plugs for the blaring monitor my head was resting on.
This story takes place in Liverpool bloody fucking England! On tour with Eighteen Visions. It was March 23, 2006. (How I remember this; I was flying home from the hospital on my birthday.)
This was my first time to England and I was super stoked to be over there with my friends on tour. It was already a couple days into a 21 day tour, shows are going good, having an awesome time…
We arrived in Liverpool pretty early in the morning and a majority of us got up early (11:00am this is early if you’ve ever been on tour) and went to the City Centre; shopped around and everything, and bought some random shit I didn’t need.
Throughout the tour we were getting shit from a bunch of local shit-heads, all the soccer hooligans, but when we confronted them they had nothing to say, OF COURSE. By this time it was about 2:00PM so were walking back and its pretty crowded. I’m kinda walking in the middle of everyone off to the right side, and all of a sudden I see some kids out of the corner of my eye walking the opposite way – hook shot like 3 cans of soda in our direction! No one really noticed, it was so crowded and none of the sodas hit us… But I seen what went down so I turn around and walk after them, Biggie followed me not knowing what I was doing and another guy from another band that was touring with us followed as well. So I catch up to the kids in front of a store literally in the door way, grab him by the shoulder and turned him around…
Asked him “what is your problem?” What does he do… nothing… but stare at me. Now I’m thinking like really what a fucking piece of shit.. About 5 seconds go by and he is still just starring at me, so I say “whatever” and shrug it off and turn around. I can’t even get about half way turned around and all of a sudden – complete white out…
Finally I come to it was about 3 seconds maybe but that can seem like a long ass time getting sucker punched and then getting beaten on the floor… So I get my eye sight back, stand up and turn around and its complete chaos! 7 different dudes are fighting and local hooligans from the crowds that are watching just jump in throw a couple blows and run out. That was just a split second from what I saw and took in when I got up on my feet, so I’m just sprinting to each fight punch here, punch there, looking for the dude that punched me…the whole fight lasted about 30 second..security came and broke up everyone and separated us and then I noticed the dude that sucker punched me and I just saw RED!! (more…)
Sometimes things go wrong – Check out A COUPLE OF MINOR SET BACKSstory from Dave Schiff tour manager forToxic Holocaust…
The months and days were already were really starting to blur together. Though a Tour Manager should never admit that, it was the truth. In my defense try riding and sleeping in a van for almost a year straight with the Satanic Thermo-Nuclear War Metal-Punk All-Stars that are Toxic Holocaust. This feat would take its toll on even the Goddamned Shit-Eaten Devil himself.
The date was somewhere towards the end of October in the year of our foul lord 2009. We were out in support of The Black Dahlia Murder along with Skeletonwitch and Trap Them. Like all tours you are bound to drive incredible distances in a relatively short amount of time. This tour was sticking straight to the formula and like most tours; you are bound to see some automotive problems. We had already witnessed this 3 nights prior as Trap Them’s van blew it’s rear differential on a snowy and slow moving overnight drive from Denver, CO to Iowa City, IA (800 miles). What would normally be a 12-hour drive was slowly turning into a 20-hour nightmare. We met up with them at 4:30 AM somewhere in the middle of Nebraska but were of no avail to their situation.
Dave Schiff
I don’t remember much of this as I was resting up for my shift but I do recall mumbling to myself in a joking tone “ha-ha suckers”. . I would hope that Trap Them would have said the same to us if they saw our van as it spun out of control on black ice wheel that night. I awoke to our bassist Phil (Gnasst) barking orders at our new drummer Nikolas“T. Rage” (Kindom Of Sorrow) (more…)
Sometimes things go wrong – Check out this Van From Hell story from Joey Hatchey tour manager for Protest The Hero
In Canada last year, I had a one off gig in Ottawa and while chatting with a girl at an after party, she asked me what I did for living. I told her I traveled the world working with bands as a Tour Manager and she replied ‘so you’re a bitch’. For the most part, people think working on the road with metal bands is a wild ride of sex, drugs and rock and roll. For the most part it is, although business comes first and there are times that it can be hell…
While on my way to Denver with Protest the Hero last April, everything was running smooth. We had two days to get to Denver for our first show at the Marquee Theatre. Our first stop on this 14,000 mile tour was a night off in Iowa City and it was gorgeous outside. The next morning we had a 750 Mile run to get to Denver and after bribing the band with some X-rated reading material for an early start, we drove off to get caught in Denver’s worst snow storm of the winter.
We had just arrived in Denver when I noticed the storm warning on the news. They we’re expecting about 15 inches in Denver and a few feet in the mountains. Since we still had a night off before the first show of tour, we decided to wait it out and hope for the best.
The next morning we woke up to a mess of snow falling from the sky and a bright white horizon. Since the show must go on, we slowly made our way to the airport to pick up our sound guy and then continued on to the venue. With a few wrong turns and horrible parallel parking attempt by myself, we successfully made it to the venue and played to a decent size crowd. Ideally, our goal was to head out after the show to make it to Salt Lake City, but with the weather conditions as they were, it was way too dangerous. The band partied late into the night and since the roads we’re closed, we rented a hotel downtown Denver to hope for the best in the morning. (more…)
Sometimes things go wrong – Check out this HEAVY METAL HAZZARD story from the realest Mikey-B drum tech to Chris Adler & Lamb of God.
It was a very cold and dark January night (in Virginia) early 2007. I was a tech for thrashers’ Overkill at the time. The equipment had been loaded-in, set-up and tested. After the sound check our stomachs were completely full from the chicken and noodle pasta that “Jaxx” (The nightclub) serves every band! Everytime! They play there!!!
Anyway “moving right along” the doors were now open and the people were flocking in as the overzealous opening bands played unstoppable sets of god knows what? – I can’t quite
remember who all played that night. But one thing I will remember is that my accident prone body was yet again subjected to another “heavy metal hazard”
During “The NJ Thrash Metal Legends” Overkill!!!!! Headlining set. Unbeknownst to me at the time the security apparently had an issue with a few “metal thrashing mad” kids. That were barreling into the barricade. Now, we all know that this stuff happens all the time at these shows. However, I was told afterwards the security wasn’t paying attention and the pa-system wasn’t properly secured?
Anyway, now (let me explain) I was standing onstage during the incredible thrash metal
mayhem taking place, when all of a sudden!!! (My subconscious mind) said Mikey-B,
“LOOK-OUT!!!” (you accident prone dummy) the PA system I was standing next to during that time came crashing into and down on top of me as I was
falling offstage, almost crushing me like a roach.
I was now injured and trapped underneath the PA-system. I
was really shocked to find I was lying on the floor of the Jaxx.
Now, (listen here kids) this is the place where all great heavy
metal bands come to die. (and fade away into obscurity…)
Major sarcasm here- boys and girls, Okay, after a few good
men pulled me out from the wreckage.
A team of paramedics and an ambulance came to my aid. I was then carried out on a stretcher and the show came to a close. (Then I thought myself) Well that sucks!!!… For all the kids who just paid $20 bucks to see their heavy metal heroes “Overkill” go down in flames. “Oh well…nobody cares”.
As for me…I had to come back the next day (ON CRUTCHES w/ injuries) and work at the same club!!! Ha! Ha! Ha! Needless to say: there are no sick days on tour! Have a nice day
-Written by: Mikey-B (The Realest) Copyright-2010gfy*
for the best.
