Lost In The Mayhem
6 min read
“Hey, you need to interview me.” There was a look of determination in his eyes.
As I sat there in the press area feeling the effects of the heat and, frankly suffering through an afternoon of interviewing everyone at the Mayhem Festival that you could possibly think of; having someone just sit down in front of you really wasn’t as odd as it sounded. I nodded, “What band are you in? And are you on my docket?”
“I’m not on your docket. My band isn’t playing today. But you need to interview me. ” He continued to stare at me. I finally looked up and noticed that there were two of them. Both seated on the opposite side of my table. Not recognizing who they were, now I was curious. Who are these guys? I think.
The morning started similarly with a mad scramble for information as we had a last minute switch with the guys from Five Finger Death Punch suddenly being exchanged for time with a guy from Shadows Fall…and now this.  I looked over at Erick and said, “Crap…I’m not ready for Shadows Fall…my warm up was Five Finger Death Punch and now I have to find notes for Shadows Fall! Crap! How long do we have?”
“Five minutes.” Erick, the Editor-in-Chief, gives me the look saying, get ready, it’s going to be like this all day. And indeed it is. The…entire…day. It’s spent shuffling through notes, but mostly going from my memory of albums, bits of trivia and then my topics. I’m going to have to keep on my toes. If it’s a sign of things to come, I’m glad I at least own some Shadows Fall. I’m glad I at least like Shadows Fall. We sit opposite the bass player and its all business. And it goes fast.
Sitting opposite the biggest names in the industry isn’t as glamorous as it sounds. The artists are ushered in, you get face time and then…boom, boom and then…next. You simply have no time to be star struck. No time to bask in the sunshine of anything but the heat of the Inland Empire itself.
It’s hot.
This guy sitting on the other side of the table starts asking me questions. “Hey who do you write for? Where are you located? Is this a zine then? That’s some cool shit. Like Rolling Stone.” He says with a bit of enthusiasm. “You guys like Rolling Stone?”
“We’re kind of all over the place.” I tell him. And we are. Talking to Ryan from Ryan’s Rock Show during one of my breaks, I explain who we are and what Circle Six is. “We’re not your typical magazine. Frankly, I don’t care what their (the band’s) influences are as much as I am trying to put these guys into the bigger picture.” Ryan got it. In the era of Web 2.0 we can’t afford to be just another voice. We have to figure out who we are and who they are in the mad shuffle of blending art and commerce. It’s a time of deconstruction and reconstruction and this window is going to close when the guys who snuck into this particular show on the pretense that they’re a legitimate part of the media as photographers using iPhones and journalists who don’t remember the name of last album released by the guy who is on the other side of their mic. I know that those guys won’t be around long. And that’s just fine with me. I’m a “What does it all mean?” kind of guy. And as I look around, I’m still processing the new culture in which we all find ourselves.
“These guys at the Mayhem Festival might play metal, but they’re ultimately intellectuals.” The day is proof of that. As I talk to various members from Atreyu, In This Moment, 3 Inches of Blood, Shadows Fall, Norma Jean and the like, not one of them is at a loss for words, material or opinions. But this guy who has stolen some of my face time…has taken a chance and he can’t even give me a website.
“Well…do you have a Myspace then?” I ask.
“Yeah, man. But it’s all fucked up and shit.” He says.
I nod. At least he’s poetic, I think. “So there’s no way to hear your music?” I pretend to jot down notes.
“Well…you know how some sites have virus and get all kinds of pop ups? Our Myspace is broken like that. The music player doesn’t work.”
Now I’m done…and I think he sees that I’m not even interested in playing anymore. In the era of new media, I don’t blame people for not having business cards and the like. Like I told Ryan, “I don’t have business cards because I feel like they’re no longer relevant. If you want to remember me, you will find a way to remember me. The same goes for me. If I hand you a business card there’s no guarantee that my card is going to end up anywhere except on someone’s dresser. So at that point has my card really left a lasting impression?” No. And if you’re not going to contact me, then I’ve failed. In any case, I find out that Ryan is at the festival to interview Korn. Just Korn. It’s the only band on his docket. It’s the one that he finds the most interesting who is playing that day.
Rob Zombie is also playing, but we didn’t get him. I confess. Would have been fun to pick the brain of a guy who constructed his life to resemble a B-Horror movie. But I’m also busy enough. And completely annoyed that I’m wasting my time.
This independent guy with the broken Myspace page offers more information that I don’t care about, like he also helps other independent bands in the area. With what? I wonder. I want to tell him that he’s wasting his time. But I know that he’s not going to understand that he had a chance to make an impression, but now all he can really offer to tell me is how he helps local bands to also…have broken Myspace pages with no music and no way to really get their music out there. I can only shake my head because there’s no excuse for that anymore. Not in this day and age.
Even as I write this, I’m amused. I’m amused because I can still remember the look in his eyes and the desperation in his declaration “You need to write about me.” Yes. Yes I do. But I think he really thought that I wouldn’t. And when I looked down I see his cigarette in my drink. A final declaration, I think. It’s a final, screw you. And in some ways, it’s very metal of him. I have to give him that. But sometimes you also have to say to yourself why must every concert have to have at least one of him…or sometimes two?
So, you see Mr. Indie guy? Even as I write this, I’ll bet you didn’t think you’d turn into a cautionary tale on how NOT to suck. Not that I can in any way, shape or form, turn anyone into a celebrity. I can’t. I don’t have that power. But after a day of exploring the minds of the upper tier of the heavy metal industry – they never blinked. They knew how to control the spin. And they came ready to play giving the magazine weeks of material to sort through. And best of all a soundtrack to work with as I do it.
Stay tuned for upcoming articles in the coming days and weeks including conversations with Atreyu, Norma Jean, Shadows Fall, 3 inches of Blood and In This Moment.
