I hear what Hoyt says loud and clear mainly due to our experience with Warriors Of Metal Fest II this past June.
I can understand some folks who promise to be there to support this band or that band but are from several states away and have to think up an excuse for traveling long distances to be at whatever Fest. Frankly, we wouldn't have traveled 22 hours down to San Antonio from Amelia, Ohio just to see some bands I liked. I have ALL of Seven Witches albums and also have both Jack Frost solo albums and even the SPEEED album he put out which seems to be a rarity but ultimately, I was more than willing to pass it up, why? I had already lost out on seeing bands that I LOVE and listen to ALL THE TIME like BRAINSTORM, FIREWIND, THUNDERSTONE, and any number of ProgPower bands who have played the US just once and Atlanta is only 8 hours away from us. I know I can't drive that long and flying is cost prohibative, so that means my wife, who doesn't even like my kind of Metal would have to do the driving and I can't ask her to do that voluntarily.
So I could pass up Seven Witches and Aska (which at that time I had never seen Live anyway, only had the 9 tongues album from them on an opportunistic buy) although as a DJ a Metal Internet radio station, I promised to help Lance promote his Fest and I did that quite willingly and it was my and indeed all of our pleasures to do it to help him out. But the real reason was that Lance had done me a favor and confirmed our Celtic Power Metal band Lunarium for his Fest which in my mind was a pretty cool break for my tiny Indie Metal label (Farvahar Records) and our band who had only played their first major fastival at Heathen Crusade III in Minneapolis last November. That's why my wife drove all the way the hell down to San Antonio for two days. It was mainly to support our band Lunarium who was the 2nd band of the day on Nightmare's Saturday show! And for those who know us, it'll be too trite to mention the circumstances of our band actually not making it 4 hours out of Ohio before turning back and going home and calling us on Thursday night that they are NOT coming to San Antonio at all! Now I had to also go and appologize to Lance!
But by God, I went and enjoyed the Fest, had Lance autograph every damn album cover I had in which he sang and same thing with Jack Frost. And we met George Call of Aska and the rest is history. Now, will we go to a show that has Aska playing and is within 8 hours? You bet! And since I booked Zephaniah to Pathfinder and as Hoyt said, the first day was "My Fault"
D), we also went to support Zephaniah. Hell I had them crash at our house so they don't have to pay hotel fees on their way down there (that was also an experience having those guys at my house, let me tell you!). But I love those guys and so does my wife, even if she doesn't even LIKE Speed Metal; she likes Zephaniah. And that's why we went all the way to Kansas City, MO to support them at the Kansas City Power Metal Fest II in mid-August. An 11 hour drive for us each way.
But for Nightmare MetalFest II, I was afforded the chance to see my cousin and his family in Corpus Christi, whom we had not seen since our wedding reception 5 years ago and I also got to see my best friend's family in Kansas whom I had not seen in 8 years when we went to the Kansas City area. So I managed to squeeze in some sort of a reunion on each trip which made the journey worth it even more. On our trip to Marietta (and I have no family there), I had to deliver the Pathfinder MetalFest compilation CDs I had just made for Hoyt to the Fest and we were both looking forward to see him finally. There supposed to be others from our station who had "Promised" to be there too which were nowhere to be found, but I suppose they had a legitimate excuse, I'm not one to judge.
But just imagine having put down the crew for another Internet Metal station on your promo cards to pass out and giving them some recognition for helping out with a decently run MetalFest (Mark Gromen's words) and they don't even show up from 1.5 hours away!!!! It's one thing to be just a fan and promise to come and not show up but it's entirely another when you've been given a Sponsor's position (especially one that promotes Metal every freakin day) and not show up to the Fest. What are we to think?
If you've seen me, you KNOW I don't look Metal! I have no tatoos, I don't have long hair and in fact I probably have as much grey as Mark Gromen (well, maybe not since he has more of his head covered than this baldy
!), I wear slacks not jeans, and I look even older than Rob (VOR). But with me the love for Metal burns within. I do all I can to promote underground Metal through my radio show or the Fest compilations I put together and that is how I roll. But for God's sake if I tell someone I'm gonna be at their Fest, I'm gonna do my damnedest to be there because for those of us who put their ass on the line to build or promote the Metal scene, a little appreciation goes a long long way. So even if you can't stay for the whole Fest and need to leave for whatever reason, at least you came and supported the bands by putting up the horns just once and maybe even headbanged a little. Ultimately, we want to show the bands that THEY are appreciated even if we are not. We sure as hell are not doing this for profit. I dare anybody who thinks these are profitable ventures to put on their own Metal Fest and see how they fare. 40 more people through the door may have actually made a difference for Hoyt and I'm saddened to hear that there were that many but maybe now that the word gets around about what a great show they missed, they'll think twice about missing the next one.
Farvahar Records and Warriors Of Metal Fest Crew take our collective hats off to Hoyt for a great 1st Annual Pathfinder Metal Fest. I thought he did great for the 4 months he had to work with and we look forward to more great shows from him in the future and you can bet your bottom dollar, WE WILL BE THERE TO HELP HIM IN WHATEVER WAY WE CAN!
Keep It Metal.
Datis
DJ Metal Daddy (
www.xtrememetalradio.com)
Farvahar Records
All Hallows Eve Metal Fest III Crew
Official Sponsor of Warriors Of Metal Fest III
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?), I know they can make things happen. They both Rule 
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