HEATHEN CRUSADE PRE-PARTY ... I need advice!

General Zod said:
Can you give us some idea what size act you're looking for? Do you have some leeway with the style of the act or must if have Heathen/Pagan roots?

Zod

John has given me leeway to book whomever and whatever I wish but obviously I'd like to follow the theme a little bit. I won't be booking Stryper for instance. :lol:

I would like to book bands with Pagan roots or that carry a strong Pagan ideology. Think "Lord of the Rings" metal. :headbang:


Nathan
 
As usual, less than 24 hours from the birth of the post and I have tons of information to go on.

THANK YOU TO EACH ONE OF YOU who has posted so far.

Please keep the suggestions coming and if you like someone else's suggestions, throw out some props. Right now, due to the interest, I will be looking first into Ensiferum and Beyond the Embrace.

Uncle Swordzy
 
Just so you know Ensiferum and Wintersun.. are so close to being the same band. You can look up info on them on wikipedia if you want to know what i mean.
 
On a serious point. If you got Ensiferium to play the PreParty. THat would be great. It would get my ass up there for sure but they are bigger than all three main bands playing the fest. I would love to see them play but I think it may be a tough on to pull out. Wintersun too. Hope you can. I would love to see them play live.

Beyond The Embrace.....is a more likely pick but they suffered from the Into Eternity virus of opening for every tour a few years back and I could go without seeing them for a while now.

It would be great to see a more Pagan/folk band play too keep it true to the fest.

some other great suggestions.....

TROLLFEST - basically a Finntroll copycat band but really great and I think they would put on a hell of a show.

SUMMONING - epic as all hell. Just released a Lord of the Rings album. I am not sure if they even play live or just a studio band.

Orkrist - great epic folk/black metal with female and male singers. Have fantasy and pagan lyrics and I have heard they put on a great live show.

Arkona - great Russian Pagan band with a fantastic female singer who sounds like Angela from Arch Enemy but more manly when she does the growls and has a great clean female voice. Very folky and aggressive. Have a great little montage on "Youtube" if you are interested.

it would be great to get bands like Amon Amarth, FInntroll, Elvenking,Vintersorg, WIntersun, and other bigger bands but you dont want to outshine the Fest. You also have to be careful with some of the Pagan bands, the white power movement has really snuck itself into the folkmetal/pagan scene. I have found out the hard way after I have gotten some CD's.
 
TheGraveDigger said:
Not really a long the lines of Pagan/Viking metal but how bout UK thrashers SABAT who just reunited for some shows

I'd imagine that would be pretty $$ and Sneap and Walkyier are pretty busy with their other stuff....

But sure, why not?:headbang:
 
Nathan... I assume you've all considered the viability of a pre-party? I'm not sure what percentage of the attendees flew to Minn. last year, but a three day festival will have a serious impact on them. For starters, instead of flying in on Friday night and not having to take any vacation days, people travelling to Minn. will now have to take two vacation days. In addition, they'll need to cover the costs of two additional nights of hotel stay and the costs of food etc. for two more days. Personally, I'm not concerned about these costs. But I don't want to see you take a bath on this. Just something to think about. That said, a few recommendations.

Wolves in the Throne Room - this a band that's been talked about a good deal over on the Royal Carnage forum, from which a bunch of people will be in attendance. They're from the Washington (state) area.

http://www.wolvesinthethroneroom.com/menudo2.htm
http://www.myspace.com/wolvesinthethroneroom

If you wanted to get nuts, Drudkh would be a band that would generate a lot of buzz. They're from the Ukraine.

http://myspace.com/drudkhfansite

Of course, you could pull the Heathen Crusade equivalent of Circle II Ciircle or Circus Maximus and just bring back one of last year's HC1 headliners. I'm sure no one would complain.

Zod
 
SwordLord said:
Right now, due to the interest, I will be looking first into Ensiferum and Beyond the Embrace.
I think you should be careful with what constitutes "interest". Is it people posting (for the sake of posting) who didn't go last year and have no intention of going this year? Or are people suggesting bands that they'll actually travel to see?

While I'm not an Ensiferum fan, I have to admit, they'd be an excellent choice. However, Beyond the Embrace would not. I can't see people travelling to see a band that tours the U.S. constantly. Plus, they don't fit the theme. They're a Melodic Death Metal band whose last disc suggests they're going to head towards a more traditional Metal sound. I dig Shawn and the boys, but they would have stuck out at last year's festival like a sore thumb. If you're looking for a band that could some day headline HC IV, they're not it.

Zod
 
bumping this...

SwordLord - General Zod has some seriously valid points, you might want to address them since you've been granted some position of authority here. Several of us are flying in from the east coast so keep us posted.

Beyond the Embrace is NOT a good idea.

Feel free to start this thread at the RC forum, where people have a significantly deeper interest in this genre -- you'll get some enthusiastic responses simply because those folks will actually be in attendance or are self-proclaimed subject matter experts. Or they might just post boobies which would be equally apt. :loco:
 
Good luck with whatever happnes Nathan. I can recommend November's Doom from Chicago for sure (if they're available). They slayed last year. I believe the promoters want to keep things fresh as well so they probably wouldn't have asked ND to return until next year at the earliest. I think they'd be an excellent choice to play at and perhaps headline the Pre-party.

Jason
 
General Zod said:
Wolves in the Throne Room - this a band that's been talked about a good deal over on the Royal Carnage forum, from which a bunch of people will be in attendance. They're from the Washington (state) area.

http://www.wolvesinthethroneroom.com/menudo2.htm
http://www.myspace.com/wolvesinthethroneroom

Nathan, this band is amazing. I second GZ's reccomendation.

Please, please don't get Ensiferum. I would DIE knowing that they're in the US and I can't make it :cry:

In all seriousness though, if you can pull of Ensiferum, I'm sure most of the people attending the festival would make arrangements to see them. I'm not too big into the folk metal scene but from my understanding, in terms of popularity, they're the Blind Guardian or Gamma Ray of that whole scene.