- 3 hours ago
Death Reigns
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🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:18All the radio stations think they rock out, or they're cock out, until they hear about
00:00:23Levistation Radio.
00:01:05The world will go down upon us, the world will fail from our dream
00:01:14You will rule your deception, my face is bent, beat up again
00:01:20I have the shame, you're going to tell me, I have the sound of disgrace
00:01:27Yeah, the fuck is okay, watch, we'll watch, watch this baby's face
00:01:33I do the phone, yeah, we are the unwatching thing, I'm going blood and alcohol
00:01:41We're good and slow, the treasure flow, we'll fade to it
00:01:46You will rule your deception, my face is bent, check it out
00:01:51I have the shame, you're going to tell me, I have the shame, you're going to tell me, I have
00:01:58the shame, you're going to tell me
00:02:14I have the shame, you won't tell me, I have
00:02:36I'll remember as far back as when I was like 12, 13 years old, when we lived in Maryland,
00:02:43there was a really cool college radio station out of there called The Underground, I believe,
00:02:49and they were playing DSI, King Diamond. I used to tape record a lot of those guys,
00:02:54the DJs and stuff, and listen to it and fantasize about that in my room, just being in that
00:03:01world, but I was also very much into music. I did a solo project called Brutal Deathfuck.
00:03:19Right away, I noticed there was all these podcasters or internet radios that were hitting me up,
00:03:25so I started talking with those people and meeting with them and getting to know that world
00:03:29one day. They were like, Zach, you're always here. Why don't you just do it? You know,
00:03:34you should be a DJ. One thing led to another, and then I had a show, and I called it
00:03:41The Metal
00:03:42Devastation Radio Show. You started Metal Devastation Radio in 2013 with this motto,
00:03:48Our main goal is, and always has been, to promote underground music from unsigned bands and bands
00:03:54on small labels. So what it seems like to me is your main motives are to help bands get heard.
00:04:01Is that correct? Totally, man. Totally, dude. Because I'm a musician myself,
00:04:06and that's how I actually got into this whole thing. I wanted to be able to do something for
00:04:11other bands that I wanted to be done for me, if that makes sense.
00:04:15I ended up leaving that station. I was kind of depressed. I was just sitting around,
00:04:19and one day she was like, you know, why don't we just start our own radio station? Why not?
00:04:24We can do it. Holy motherfucking shit, motherfuckers. What the fuck is going on? God damn it. I'm Zach
00:04:29Moonshine. You're listening to the motherfucking Zach Moonshine Show live right here on Metal
00:04:34Devastation motherfucking radio. Actually, you were telling me, she was like, you know,
00:04:38you've got to do interviews. You've got to start talking to some of these bands. I was like,
00:04:43all right, all right, whatever. I'll give it a shot. And I interviewed one of my friend's bands,
00:04:48Rock and Roll Villain Society, Cameron, the drummer, because I already knew him. So I felt
00:04:54comfortable to do that with him. And then right away, as soon as I did that, here comes the promoters
00:05:00and record labels. They're just, as soon as they find out that you do that, they're in your inbox
00:05:05like immediately, man. We got fucking a brand new Pounder, brand new Double Horse, brand new As I
00:05:15like dying, brand new Nightwish, Grand Magus, Rust Bucket. A lot of times on Thursdays, I like to
00:05:22do a throwback Thursday post. And sometimes I'll do that based on some interview that I did back in
00:05:28the day. And I'll go look the room and I'll listen to some of those older ones, especially the ones
00:05:34during the years when I was at the factory working all those hours. And I can hear myself, how tired
00:05:40I
00:05:40sound on a phone with these people, but I'm still fighting through it, trying to get it done.
00:05:45When I'm listening to it, driving down the road, it definitely has, like it's got that rock feel,
00:05:54you know, that groove and shit that makes you, I don't know. At one time, I even had a webcam
00:06:00set up
00:06:01in my studio where it would, it would, it would, you know, so the people listening, they could see
00:06:06me on the, on the, on the website. And there was times where I would pass out, you know, like
00:06:14later on in the show, I'd be getting messages from people that were watching. They'd be like,
00:06:19Raven, the cat would be sitting on the back of the chair, Zach's asleep during the middle of his show
00:06:24because he was, he'd be up at 3am to go to work and then come home and be doing this.
00:06:28And he would
00:06:29just pass out in his chair. And so we did away with the camera.
00:06:33Oh man, whenever the factory would threaten that we would have to go work Saturday or that we'd
00:06:39have to work over on, oh man, I'd be like, you know, I would have to kick it into hyperdrive
00:06:46and
00:06:46do whatever I had to do to get whatever they needed done, like extra, extra fast, just so I could
00:06:52get
00:06:53out of there because I was not missing that shit. All you got to do is reach out, grab that
00:06:57volume knob
00:06:58and crank it to the right. This is brand new shit from corrosive from our buddies at CDN records.
00:07:04Check this out. Crank it the fuck up.
00:07:06It was definitely something to look forward to, you know, like every week, you know, just
00:07:10no matter how, how brutal or hard it was, whatever we had to go through, however many hours we
00:07:17had to work that week, I always knew, you know, on Friday, there's going to be a six pack
00:07:22of beer, some heavy metal, some band I'm going to get to talk to, and it's going to be cool,
00:07:28and we're going to have laughs.
00:07:31It's Friday night, and you guys know it's not just any fucking Friday night, man. This
00:07:36is motherfucking devastating Friday night.
00:07:40Yes, it was a hobby, but always in the back of my mind, there was always the hope and the
00:07:45dream that someday that would become my reality, that that would become my job, that that would
00:07:51somehow have to make that just become what it is now. It wasn't until the quarantine that
00:07:59that that became, that became a reality. Like, that's pretty much what made it happen.
00:08:07And bands were literally emailing me, asking me like, hey, we see how you promote your radio
00:08:13show. Can you promote our album? We've got this tour coming up, you know, like, can you
00:08:18write something about it and send out an email? We like how you do that. I'm like, you're
00:08:23talking about PR. But I was like, well, fuck it, you know, I'll give it a try. You know,
00:08:27like, yes, I do know a shit ton of people. I got insane amount of email contacts. They
00:08:33paid me and I did it. And immediately I was like, God, I hope this works. I really hope
00:08:38that they get something out of this because I don't want to feel like an asshole for, you
00:08:42know, taking somebody's money and doing something like that. So it was just sort of, but immediately
00:08:48fucking all these people, all these magazines and websites and shit, you know, like, yeah,
00:08:53hell yeah, we're posting it here. We're doing this for you.
00:08:58I remember so many nights in the chat room on Metal Devastation Radio, just talking with
00:09:04underground bands and listeners and stuff. And we would be drinking and we'd often just,
00:09:09you know, get into like talking hypothetically, making jokes about, you know, wouldn't it be
00:09:15cool to have our own festival talking about it to the bands that that were playing on the
00:09:20show, you know, that aren't big bands, you know, because they don't get those opportunities
00:09:24a lot or especially not back then. And so for years, it was just something that we just
00:09:30talked about at random times in the chat room. I remember. And it was really weird for it to
00:09:37actually come to fruition. It was bizarre, honestly.
00:10:10So it started when we had this employee, a DJ of ours. He was a promoter in Kentucky. He wanted
00:10:17to help putting together a festival when his venue fell through. So we hooked up with him. We did our
00:10:23best to help him. But about a month into planning, after we'd announced it and everything, he pulled out. We
00:10:29had no idea what to do. So we just said, I guess we're putting on a festival and we just
00:10:34rolled with it.
00:10:40We did our best to help him.
00:11:12We did our best to help him.
00:11:40We did our best to help him.
00:11:49We did our best to help him.
00:12:50Somewhere around the time that we had released our first few songs, our first few singles,
00:12:57one of us had sent them, I want to say, Cosmic Guns.
00:13:01Fast forward a little bit longer, they mentioned the festival.
00:13:04You know, they were just like, yeah, we would love to have y'all.
00:13:06It was a surprise to me because it already looked super professional the first time I was seeing things come
00:13:13out about it.
00:13:14So I was like, man, this is going to be huge.
00:13:17It was just a surprise.
00:13:19You know, the festival itself was a surprise.
00:13:21You didn't know anything like that big was going to happen around here.
00:13:24You know, growing up as kids, you always dream about stuff like that happening.
00:13:27They asked us to come play this festival.
00:13:31Our friends in Summoner Circle were also playing it.
00:13:34We were stoked to make it a stop.
00:13:36We had never been there in Tennessee before.
00:13:38And they just played it up like this huge, like, family underground music festival.
00:13:45The very first year I knew when we were talking about this, I said, I want this festival to be
00:13:51like a curiosities,
00:13:55like we're here for heavy music.
00:13:57The items are going to be weird and obscure and all of that.
00:14:01And I did go seeking that.
00:14:02The very first vendor that I reached out to was Dustin at Smithodities.
00:14:06We connected very early on in the beginning stages of me making Smithodities.
00:14:12She messaged me whenever she first had thoughts of doing the Metal Fest and asked me if I would be
00:14:18interested in being a vendor.
00:14:20I was excited.
00:14:21It was my first time vending any event.
00:14:25I couldn't think of a better event to vend.
00:14:28You know, 12 hours of metal that I get to sit and listen to while I'm sitting there making money.
00:14:32I mean, come on.
00:14:44He was hanging out on the picnic table at Beach Lake one night, and I was from Nashville, but my
00:14:49dad lived in Lexington.
00:14:50So I was in Lexington visiting my dad, and I was in my car.
00:14:54I had a little convertible, and I had some acid and some weed.
00:14:59We were driving around, me and my sister, and we were like, let's just go find some people to hang
00:15:03out with, you know.
00:15:04So we go around the lake, and I see this long-haired guy sitting up on the picnic table smoking
00:15:08a cigarette.
00:15:09And I yelled.
00:15:10I said, hey, you want to go get fucked up?
00:15:14And he's like, yeah.
00:15:17I don't know if that kind of, you know, being on that trippy level the first night kind of brought
00:15:22us, you know, had this special connection or what.
00:15:25But he told his friend that night that he was going to marry me someday.
00:15:31So we decided that Beach Lake would be the perfect venue for this for several reasons.
00:15:36One, because that's where we met years ago.
00:15:39But also, it's a beautiful place.
00:15:41It's a big open field, has an enormous stage with the backdrop of the lake.
00:15:46So we went up there, and we asked him.
00:15:48We were like, you know, could we have a festival here?
00:15:51And he was like, sure, what kind?
00:15:52And we said, well, it's heavy metal.
00:15:55And he was like, oh, yeah, I love heavy metal.
00:15:58Then we started announcing our lineup.
00:16:01The people of Lexington started getting kind of nervous about the heavy metal thing.
00:16:05So they started looking into the artists, looking into the songs, and looking into the lyrics.
00:16:21What first started it was they got a hold of our lyrics from Annabelle's Hell.
00:16:25It was about a doll that came to life, you know, influenced by a movie and everything.
00:16:30But they took those lyrics, and they ran with it, and were just so upset that we're like, all these
00:16:36metalheads are trying to, like, influence the minds of kids and things like that.
00:16:41And, yeah, they kind of took it, and it just kind of snowballed after that.
00:16:44They attacked, I think, almost every single band on the fest.
00:16:48When the pushback started, it was actually from two local churches there in Lexington.
00:16:53They got on the message boards on Facebook, started telling everybody there's this festival, it's demonic, they're trying to open
00:17:00a portal to hell, all kinds of different things.
00:17:03And Zach and I kind of looked at each other, and we were like, you know, that's not a bad
00:17:08marketing, you know, that's pretty good PR.
00:17:11So we ran with it.
00:17:13Some of you may have heard, some of you may have seen, but we made a special merchandise item just
00:17:18for you.
00:17:19What is that?
00:17:21What is that?
00:17:24How do certs work?
00:17:26I don't know.
00:17:28Out there!
00:17:30Go down the portal!
00:17:34After they had announced casket robbery, they were starting to get a lot of hate feedback off of that.
00:17:39And I kind of jokingly made a comment on Facebook saying, oh man, wait until they find Summoner Circle.
00:17:45And it didn't even take 24 hours before they found our content.
00:17:49Yeah, we kind of upped the ante a little bit on that.
00:17:51I will say that I was not expecting the pushback to be as hard as it was in Lexington.
00:17:59I was shocked, actually.
00:18:22We were getting inundated with emails and messages and people talking about our fest on community Facebook, social pages.
00:18:31And then when we spoke with the people at the lake, the girl at the front desk told us, we've
00:18:37been getting hundreds of emails, phone calls, people wanting us to shut this down, wanting to know why we're doing
00:18:42it.
00:18:44And some of the messages that we were getting were kind of threatening, people saying they were going to show
00:18:49up and unplug us, saying that there was no way they were going to allow this to be in their
00:18:53town.
00:18:53We walked across to the venue with one of the bands, there was a whole group, and I'm not quite
00:18:58sure which church they were from, but they were on the stage and around the stage, praying, like putting hands
00:19:04on it.
00:19:05I mean, you could see it on their face that they were terrified, like they honestly thought what we were
00:19:10doing was evil and diabolical.
00:19:13One of the comments was something that we sacrificed live animals on stage, and maybe there was another one that
00:19:20we cut each other before the shows.
00:19:23Someone sent me a message and said, did you hear you have to sacrifice a goat to get in?
00:19:27And I'm like, are you like kidding me? Are you like believing this stuff on social media?
00:19:33We had originally rented our sound equipment through an individual who had the equipment that we needed.
00:19:40Three days before the fest, well, it was the Wednesday and the fest was Saturday.
00:19:43Yeah, we were out there on the field.
00:19:45We were at Beach Lake.
00:19:46Looking at the venue, planning out like where to put the gates and everything like that.
00:19:51Last minute things.
00:19:51And he just calls out of the blue and was saying that, you know, he said, we have a problem.
00:19:57We can't do this.
00:19:58Yeah, he was pretty much like, I didn't know that it was going to be, you know, that kind of
00:20:04music.
00:20:05I don't know your sound engineer.
00:20:07I don't know if he's going to bust my speakers.
00:20:09And I'm just frankly not comfortable with allowing my equipment to be used for your event.
00:20:16So we ended up having to scramble.
00:20:19We had two days before the event.
00:20:21We had no idea what we were going to do.
00:20:23We found a company in Memphis that had about half of what we needed, but not everything.
00:20:28And then we found a company in Nashville that had the other half.
00:20:32So what we ended up the first day, we went to Memphis and back and got the stuff, dropped it
00:20:39off here.
00:20:40This would have been on Friday, I think it was the day before the fest.
00:20:43Then we also drove to Nashville and all the way back.
00:20:46So all in all, that's about eight hours worth of driving just to get the sound equipment.
00:20:52It was extremely stressful.
00:20:55I didn't know what to expect that next morning.
00:20:58I didn't, you know, we didn't know what was going to happen.
00:21:00My insides were turning, turning inside out, man.
00:21:04I was thinking.
00:21:05What if we did that?
00:21:06There's going to be like five people here.
00:21:08There's only five people in Henderson County that like metal.
00:21:12But no, seeing all those cars lined up all the way down the street and all these people,
00:21:17they already had their fest shirts on, they're blasting metal in their cars and they're just
00:21:20ready to go at it.
00:21:22I'm like, wow, this is really real.
00:21:39The first year of the Metal Devastation Fest really blew my mind.
00:21:48Honestly, I thought it was going to be just some joke.
00:21:50It was just a bunch of very untalented bands.
00:21:55I didn't really know of anybody.
00:21:58And it just blew my mind so much that I became so involved.
00:22:04I started playing music again.
00:22:06I've been to hundreds of festivals all over the world pretty much.
00:22:10And I never seen such commitment and just such love that I get at that one.
00:22:17It exceeded all of our expectations.
00:22:19When we showed up, there was already a lot of people there and this was in the morning,
00:22:22you know, and then by the afternoon, the field was full.
00:22:25It was unbelievable, you know, the success of it.
00:22:28I was highly pleased, even in Lexington.
00:22:32Big crowd, big space, amazing sound.
00:22:35I was like, this is showcasing the little guys.
00:22:40And we need this.
00:22:51I thought there'd be a lot more protesters and there was only like one incident.
00:22:54It was wonderful that first year was just all about the music.
00:22:58It was all about community.
00:23:00And it was all about building up these underground bands that not a lot of people have heard of.
00:23:07And bringing heavier music to a scene that doesn't really get a lot of heavy music from outside of Tennessee.
00:23:25There was so much support and so much community and it was so much fun.
00:23:30That was one of the most low-key festivals I've ever done as far as people having fun.
00:23:34It was amazing.
00:23:35No problems whatsoever.
00:23:37We did tremendous.
00:23:39The people were amazing.
00:23:41The crowd was amazing.
00:23:42The bands were amazing.
00:23:43I got to meet so many different people.
00:23:46So it was all around just a great experience.
00:23:49Leviathan, Lord of the Labyrinth.
00:23:57Anybody who knows us knows that we're a metal band for nerds.
00:24:01You guys drew a circle on top of Mercury.
00:24:04Explain that.
00:24:05Tell us in detail.
00:24:07The god who created our planet Mercury was killed in an interplanetary war by the god of war, Raghoth.
00:24:14And when the god was killed, its blood was spilled all over the planet Mercury.
00:24:19Gog and Magog got the bright idea of gathering that blood, putting it into a summoner's circle,
00:24:24and then summoning a god of their own and becoming that god.
00:24:32Everything that we had done had been inspired by Lord of the Rings, H.P. Lovecraft, video games, Dungeons &
00:24:39Dragons.
00:24:40It was meant to be dark horror fantasy.
00:24:48It's even more tame than what you would find in a lot of B-horror movies.
00:24:52So that being said, that first festival was the first time that we introduced the ripping up the Bible on
00:24:59stage.
00:25:06Figure, screw it. Just give them what they want.
00:25:08If that's what they want, let's give it to them.
00:25:09So, I hear, because I can't see, that there were some people who were wanting to stop this from happening
00:25:18tonight.
00:25:24They were afraid that we were going to, what was it, he talked.
00:25:29We were going to open a portal, like, to hell?
00:25:34Oh no! Oh god!
00:25:37But there is already a portal here.
00:25:40In case you didn't see a little Mexican restaurant down the road.
00:25:44Los Portales.
00:25:46Yeah!
00:25:46Who knew that portals to hell could also come with quesadillas?
00:25:51Personally, I'd like to thank the conservative people and the religious folks for protesting and raising a ruckus,
00:25:57because I think it did nothing more than raise interest in the festival and got more people there.
00:26:12So the next day after the festival, we were on such a high.
00:26:16Everything was, you know, it felt like everything just went perfect, nobody got hurt, you know, everybody was happy, and
00:26:24we were just ready to book another show for the next year.
00:26:29The first time they came out with the Metal Devastation Festival, went off without a hitch, one of the things,
00:26:35obviously being involved in politics, I never heard a word about it, which was a positive thing, and obviously there
00:26:41shouldn't have been an issue.
00:26:42The second time around, that's when it started getting a little bit dicey.
00:26:49So, I went up to Beach Lake, ready to book our next date so that we could start booking vans
00:26:54for 2023.
00:26:55So I went in there and I asked to meet with them, and the gentleman who normally does it wasn't
00:27:00there.
00:27:00So, I called numerous emails, numerous phone calls, nobody would call me back.
00:27:07Finally, they got back with me and they said, we're not going to be able to book you, there's been
00:27:12some confusion over who owns the stage.
00:27:16This lake is actually owned by TVA, and it's managed by Beach River Watershed.
00:27:22There was a lot of information that was going around.
00:27:24Our Chamber of Commerce was being said that they were the ones who didn't, because they were trying to take
00:27:30over control of it based on conversations.
00:27:33Well, they never got to that point, and BWRDA actually eventually canceled the whole thing.
00:27:40The taxpayers with the city helped build it.
00:27:43It's on TWRA land, and then Beach Lake also said that a local church had called the building or code
00:27:50people,
00:27:51and that no one was going to be allowed to use the stage anymore because of the handrails.
00:28:11There's an international building code that we actually have adopted here, and we adopt it every year.
00:28:16But if you actually go back in, it's not required to have handrails or lounge stages.
00:28:21So, it was kind of a, pardon my French, a piss poor excuse to keep the Metal Devastation Festival from
00:28:27coming.
00:28:29And there was no problems.
00:28:31There was no problems.
00:28:33There was, you know, the cops were enjoying it.
00:28:35I saw cops out there headbanging the first year, and they were.
00:28:39I was like, holy hell, look at this.
00:28:41This is awesome.
00:28:43You know, everybody's enjoyed it.
00:28:45You know, I didn't see any problems at all.
00:28:48Everybody was like one big family treating each other with respect.
00:28:52There was no reason for them to put an end to it.
00:28:55I think there was a church that didn't like it, complained, this, that, and the other.
00:29:00It's pretty much a small group, but it's a group of power.
00:29:29So, we were forced to find a new venue to move the festival, which was really stressful.
00:29:34We spent months driving around looking at different venues.
00:29:38We did look at the amp first.
00:29:40When we first saw it, we didn't see how we were going to contain it.
00:29:43So, we went on.
00:29:44We visited a farm slash venue in Middle Tennessee, which was great.
00:29:50It had all this acreage, and it was wonderful.
00:29:51But the stage was literally like for wooden pallets in a field.
00:29:57Pallets aren't going to do.
00:29:58So, that one fell through.
00:30:00Then, there was one in West Tennessee near the river.
00:30:03Then, we found this one that was perfect.
00:30:06Like, it had camping.
00:30:07It was out by the water.
00:30:08It was open.
00:30:09It had a stage.
00:30:10It was wonderful.
00:30:11The price was right.
00:30:12I was on the phone with the guy, and everything was great.
00:30:14And then, finally, he says, I only have one stipulation.
00:30:17And that is that nothing satanic, no satanic imagery, no satanic lyrics.
00:30:23And we're like, but this is heavy metal.
00:30:35We were forced to re-look at the amp.
00:30:38I remember that day.
00:30:39We were really feeling down.
00:30:41And I was just like, let's just go back by there one more time.
00:30:45Look at it again with different eyes.
00:30:46Get out and walk around and feel it.
00:30:48And it just seemed like it made sense.
00:30:50And I was like, you know what?
00:30:50Let's just do it.
00:31:12I remember them coming, calling, and saying that they would like to come down here at the
00:31:17amp and host the metal fest, and we said, come on down.
00:31:23And so, from there, it's history.
00:31:33They were so supportive.
00:31:38When we told them it was a heavy metal show, they didn't think anything about it.
00:31:42They were willing to book our date when we needed to go out there all times of the day,
00:31:48even on the weekends.
00:31:49They didn't care.
00:31:50To make this a safe show and to be ticketed, we had to have barriers and boundaries.
00:31:55They helped us with that.
00:31:57And anybody that came down there and tried to push back against us, they stood up for
00:32:01us.
00:32:01And, you know, a big shout out to Ricky and Bruce.
00:32:04They're amazing humans.
00:32:05And they didn't judge us.
00:32:06And it was just a profoundly different and a more supportive experience.
00:32:19Wonderful people to work with.
00:32:21You know, we enjoy working with them and when they come down, we always cutting up and everything.
00:32:26So.
00:32:28They need from this princess now.
00:32:32When she's in the��, they'll stand for my soul.
00:32:36I'm in a torn and we get started.
00:32:40Who we are, you're lost on me
00:32:45I'm a goddess, I'm a goddess, I'm a goddess
00:32:50Tell that you're lost on
00:32:54I'm a goddess, I'm a goddess
00:32:58Who we are, you're lost on me
00:33:11About three months before the fest, Ricky at the AMP gives me a call
00:33:14And he says, Raven, you would not believe the pushback that we're getting the phone calls and whatnot
00:33:19So I had to go down there and I went in the office and spoke with them
00:33:22And he said, you know, just between us, I can't give you any names
00:33:25But I'm having politicians come in here
00:33:27I'm having some of the wealthy, heavy hitters that have Poole and Jackson
00:33:32Everybody coming in here wanting to know about this show
00:33:34And if we're actually letting it happen
00:33:36They were asking them, you know, are they satanic?
00:33:39Do you know if they're satanic?
00:33:42Specifically in the second year, there was pushback against the festival itself
00:33:46The people didn't seem to target the bands as much as they did previously
00:33:50It was really aimed at the festival itself and Zack and Raven specifically
00:33:58In 2023, the first radio interview that I was asked to do
00:34:03As soon as I picked up the phone, the first question they asked me was
00:34:06Do you worship Satan?
00:34:08We are not evil people
00:34:11We just like a certain type of music
00:34:13Are you a Satan worshiper?
00:34:18No, absolutely not
00:34:19I'm actually not religious at all
00:34:22And so to be accused of worshipping something that I don't even believe in is pretty funny
00:34:29Oh, you laugh about it
00:34:30That's because you make me do all the interviews
00:34:38This is the Bible Belt
00:34:39Where we are inundated with religion
00:34:41The moment you step outside your front door
00:34:43You've got billboards
00:34:44You've got giant 300-foot aluminum crosses everywhere
00:34:48So it's always going to be in your face
00:34:51And the moment you step out of the social norms
00:34:54You're going to get backhanded
00:34:57I get a lot of emails too from different magazines and radio stations
00:35:03And different media outlets for metal from around the world
00:35:06For a lot of people around the world, they didn't know that that still existed
00:35:10Yeah
00:35:10A lot of people were shocked at first
00:35:12They were like, what?
00:35:14Like, they're angry because music?
00:35:19Because of a, you know, it's just
00:35:21The Bible Belt's a special place
00:35:23And unless you live in it, you really don't get it, get it
00:35:48We actually started the transition of going to a more anti-religious theme for this album
00:35:53Right before the first Metal Devastation Festival
00:35:56We wrote A Reverence of the Cross as a reaction to that negativity that we all got from it
00:36:04It kind of just kept going from there
00:36:06You know, we decided, you know, let's be a little more blasphemous here
00:36:09Let's have a little fun with this
00:36:10Definitely solidified leaning into that as a theme
00:36:26That's what we are trying to do
00:36:28We're going to get, man
00:36:52I can't Resources
00:36:53On the ground
00:36:57Through the ground
00:37:01Through the ground
00:37:04On the ground
00:37:09And around your mind
00:37:13The danger of your God
00:37:17The ground
00:37:18Through the ground
00:37:20On the ground
00:37:24It holds you down
00:37:26Leave you
00:37:28To drown
00:37:30Through the ground
00:37:32On the ground
00:37:36It holds you down
00:37:39The danger of your God
00:37:42The danger of your God
00:37:44I know me personally
00:37:46As much as I would
00:37:48Love the chance to speak to some of these people
00:37:50And try to figure out what's going on
00:37:53In that head
00:37:54And actually have a conversation with them
00:37:56I have my limit
00:38:06Oh this one's angry
00:38:07No one will take a stand against this junk
00:38:10And then we wonder why kids are the way they are today
00:38:14Someone should stand up and say
00:38:16We are not allowing this garbage in our town
00:38:19We're not going to take it
00:38:22Unreal that this garbage would be had in our community
00:38:25This event is a horrible thing for a Christian county to permit
00:38:30The issue at hand is not about freedom of speech
00:38:34Our city and state laws would consider a heavy metal show to be inappropriate for children
00:38:39And should be held more than 50 feet away from any family event
00:38:42This isn't about Christianity
00:38:44It's about there being a time and a place for all events
00:38:47Just like the drag shows at public parks
00:38:50That have now been banned for this exact reason
00:38:53If my children and I are at the farmers market that day
00:38:56We will be forced to listen to this
00:38:58The bans and their lyrics are clearly demonic
00:39:01Time to call the mayor's office
00:39:03Jackson has always had a hometown identity
00:39:06Where the local church and local businesses were the core of the city
00:39:09We were able to take our kids to the park
00:39:12Without having our children exposed to adult entertainment
00:39:15Jackson is at risk of losing its identity
00:39:18That's Ray Condre
00:39:46That's Ray Condre
00:39:49No
00:40:05The subject of the Metal Devastation Fest is kind of a moot point now.
00:40:10On the mayor campaign, I did speak out against it because it just didn't seem like that that
00:40:15was the type of image that myself and most of my supporters wanted Jackson to be portrayed
00:40:23as.
00:40:52I may not like it, but I don't have to listen to it.
00:40:55You got that right, you son of a bitch.
00:40:56LGBTQ rights are human rights.
00:40:58Metal Devastation forever!
00:41:08I don't like animals, all they shriek on crates, the tiger's bars shall kill the game.
00:41:17The FBI, the clerk, to them we have no name.
00:41:22I won't talk to you, I can't again.
00:41:26It's not a certain point.
00:41:30So can I work with you to live an ordinary life?
00:41:39Let's judge by a great age.
00:41:44So one of the groups that was giving us the most pushback, especially on social media,
00:41:48was the We the People group.
00:41:50And one of their members, she and her whole family go up to the farmer's market on the
00:41:55weekends and they sell their home goods that they make.
00:41:58She was concerned and making comments about not wanting her children up there, that they
00:42:03could hear, you know, various things.
00:42:07And it got pretty heated for a while.
00:42:08And then the day of the fest, at one point when I'm up setting up with the vendors, I look
00:42:13over and this
00:42:14woman that had done all of that and like a group of five or six children and a couple other
00:42:18people
00:42:18stood across the street and like had this staring contest with me.
00:42:23And that's really all they did.
00:42:35As far as I know, nobody within We the People of West Tennessee ever did anything.
00:42:42As far as I know, there were no protesters.
00:42:45There was nobody that was there that was doing anything that would be considered an activist
00:42:54type situation that I know of.
00:42:57Again, there may have been individuals that did, but not under the guise of the group.
00:43:12Our experience playing the second year of the festival where we headlined was so much fun.
00:43:16We were about two weeks into a tour.
00:43:19We just had an absolute blast.
00:43:21We got to see so many people that we saw the year before.
00:43:24Just being welcomed back into open arms was just so great.
00:43:29We love that festival and what they're doing is incredibly important.
00:43:37I think the second year was even bigger and better.
00:43:40Jackson is more centrally located for everybody.
00:43:42So I think it brought a lot of people into town and it helped other businesses
00:43:46as well as the small businesses that she allows to pop up at the festival.
00:43:54The environment felt more at home in Jackson.
00:43:59Even though it was a little bit smaller place, sometimes that doesn't matter.
00:44:04You know, the more intimate you can get.
00:44:06Put your hands together, motherfuckers. Come on. Like this.
00:44:12I really enjoyed it just for the sake that everything was kind of there encapsulated together.
00:44:19You know, the merch was right there on the hill.
00:44:21And then the people were sitting, some were standing, there were a lot moshing.
00:44:28And we're positioned very well. You know, Jackson's right in between Memphis and Nashville.
00:44:32Two tremendous music historical places.
00:44:37And it just makes sense, right? Like Jackson's right there on I-40, right in between the two.
00:44:43To me, it's just a natural progression of Hellraising throughout the decades.
00:44:47You know, just the next phase of it.
00:44:55I had banged so hard when Grave Huffer was on.
00:44:58Cause those guys are just grind like crazy.
00:45:00That I actually, everything turned green and I fell over.
00:45:04And I wasn't drunk or nothing. It was just, I had banged so hard.
00:45:08I'm older man. I just fell over.
00:45:20When we tried to get in the first time, we submitted.
00:45:23And then we got the notification that the, it was too late to get in.
00:45:27I was super bummed.
00:45:29As soon as I saw the registration open for the next year, I was like,
00:45:32let me, let me get this in and see if, see if they'll have us.
00:45:35And then I think it was like a day later, Raven messaged me.
00:45:39And like, we would love to have you guys.
00:45:47I was not expecting the crowd to be as big as it was.
00:45:50And I looked out and it was just a sea of people.
00:45:53And I was like, oh, this is, this is real.
00:45:55This is, this is a real deal here.
00:45:57You know, there's quite a bit of people out there.
00:45:59It was fun.
00:46:00I had a blast, you know.
00:46:05It is to be expected.
00:46:06People, people stay pretty, pretty stoked for us.
00:46:08I heard some people were scared we were going to open up a Hellmouth over here or something like that.
00:46:16What a bunch of scary bitches, bro.
00:46:19What the fuck?
00:46:21There's a long history of the exact same thing happening all the way back from,
00:46:25you know, people didn't want their kids listening to the Stones or the Beatles.
00:46:29Or when Kiss came out, there was all the backlash.
00:46:32Oh, they're knight in Satan's service or whatever, you know.
00:46:34And then Alice Cooper came out and then Marilyn Manson came out.
00:46:37And they do the same thing every time.
00:46:40And they, you know, try to tell, oh, you can't listen to this.
00:46:42Or this is terrible.
00:46:42Or this is the devil's music.
00:46:44But more people showed up just because they wanted to check it out.
00:46:56I don't mean this to sound as insulting as it is going to sound, but after so many decades of
00:47:03using the same tactic and all it doing is just providing more and more press and success for the things
00:47:09that you are rallying against.
00:47:11At some point, you realize that it's a really stupid tactic.
00:47:14But, you know, hey, if they want to be dumb, I will gladly accept all the ticket sales that come
00:47:20from them being that dumb.
00:47:31I mean, it was from start to finish amazing.
00:47:35They pull it off flawlessly every year.
00:47:37They work so hard.
00:47:41So I went down to the amp after the fest to book for 2024 and Ricky took me to the
00:47:48side.
00:47:48He said, Raven, this was just one of the best events that I've ever seen.
00:47:52It's definitely one of the best events we've had here at the amp.
00:47:55I hope that you guys will be able to come here and have your event here for a long time.
00:48:10So I was in local bands back when I was a teenager around the West Tennessee area.
00:48:15There used to be such a vibrant scene.
00:48:18And then when they put this together, it was awesome because like, oh, yes, there, you know, there are still
00:48:23all these metalheads around.
00:48:25You know, they still live here.
00:48:26They're still around.
00:48:27Just because there's no shows going on doesn't mean they all disappeared.
00:48:32And I think you're seeing that now at this festival, you know, you're seeing all these people coming out.
00:48:59We have actually seen a tremendous jump in our fan base online, especially.
00:49:05We've picked up a few people that have continued to comment and follow our page because of the festival, because
00:49:13they saw us there.
00:49:37Going back to growing up and stuff, it's like I've always looked up to people who played festivals and like
00:49:42we're a very young band.
00:49:43Like it's been a year, I think this month since we started this band.
00:49:48And the fact that we already have that, it's just it blows my mind.
00:50:09Improvisation in the band in general is a big part of what we're doing and how we're developing our sound
00:50:15going forward.
00:50:16Not only is, you know, he improvising guitar solos, but I'm improvising on top of a lot of the basics
00:50:22of the bass lines that I'm doing on a lot of those songs too.
00:50:26So improvisation in the band is huge on our sound.
00:50:31It's just a bit more like that.
00:50:32Jackson, it's time to act on your fucking dick!
00:50:34Push somebody!
00:50:36Jackpot!
00:50:46Quiet Subantis is a sci-fi based thrash metal band.
00:50:58We love anything that has to do with like 50s sci-fi.
00:51:02The lore of the band is that we are three scientists that we're trying to open a portal to the
00:51:10next dimension of the Mantises.
00:51:16We get taken over by the Mantis pheromones, by the bug pheromones, open the gates again, and chaos ensues.
00:51:37We never expected it to take off like this.
00:51:40We never expected to fit in, we never expected to play as many shows as we have.
00:51:44We never expected to get offered to play Metal Devastation or anything like that.
00:51:48We just expected to go up on stage, have fun, get off stage, and then party with our friends.
00:52:00Having something like the Metal Devastation Festival, something that these smaller underground bands can really try and actually go for.
00:52:12Something that's more realistic than a lot of these bigger metal festivals that most of us would never even dream
00:52:18of being on.
00:52:19...
00:52:22Get on your knees and pray.
00:52:32Get on your knees, take me!
00:52:39Oh, my God.
00:53:09Oh, my God.
00:53:47Oh, my God.
00:53:50Oh, my God.
00:53:52Oh, my God.
00:53:55Oh, my God.
00:53:57Oh, my God.
00:54:00Oh, my God.
00:54:32I think that the festival promoting the underground is the best thing they can do because that is where the
00:54:39music is.
00:54:40You know, you hear all of these people talk about, oh, there's no good rock and roll these days.
00:54:46You can't find any good music these days.
00:54:49And if you just stopped listening to the radio and looked a little deeper in your own music, something like
00:54:59this bringing a spotlight to that, I think is the best thing.
00:55:24You want to hear all of these people.
00:55:26I want to see you earn it.
00:55:29You gotta fight for it.
00:55:50I almost even feel, I don't know, obligated, I guess would be the wrong word.
00:55:55But it just feels natural to feed back to the community that's been holding me up for so long.
00:56:03Like my show, the radio station, all of that wouldn't even be possible if it wasn't for the underground.
00:56:11The underground bands are the ones that make all that that big.
00:56:15The underground bands, when you put the spotlight on them, they tell everybody, man.
00:56:19And they, you know, all their friends come out and support you.
00:56:43Every band at all of our festivals, they keep 100% merch.
00:56:46And last year, we decided that we were going to make sure that every single band was paid at least
00:56:52enough to make it worth their travel here.
00:56:54One of the bands that we have coming this year, and I won't name them, but when we sent them
00:56:59our offer to play, it almost made me cry because this band has been going for 10 years.
00:57:04And she told me, we have never been paid to play at a festival before.
00:57:10It's always been either pay for free, sell tickets, or a buy-on.
00:57:15I said, are you serious?
00:57:17Because I know for a fact that they have traveled all over the country and out of the country playing
00:57:22festivals.
00:57:22You mean to tell me, our small little festival in Tennessee is the first festival that has ever offered you
00:57:28money, room and board, money for food the day of the festival?
00:57:33That is absurd to me.
00:57:35Yeah, that's crazy.
00:57:36That's why bands can't make a living doing music anymore.
00:57:49We never wanted any band to be able to look at what we do and say, oh, they're cool and
00:57:55all, but they ripped the bands off.
00:57:57That's not what we're about.
00:57:59We would rather go in the red ourselves and make sure that the bands walk away feeling like they didn't
00:58:05go in the red.
00:58:10It's cool.
00:58:11I said to somebody recently that was asking me about it, I was like, these aren't the dead suit and
00:58:16ties trying to get you to sell, you know, a bunch of records or do whatever to make them rich
00:58:22or whatever, anything like that.
00:58:23You know, they really love the underground music.
00:58:28What do you got over here?
00:58:29Just an oddity shop with a bunch of weird, cool shit.
00:58:32An oddity shop.
00:58:33Come this way with me a little bit.
00:58:34I want to get you.
00:58:35So, I don't know if you can hear them.
00:58:37We've got an oddity shop.
00:58:39I quote, this is bullshit.
00:58:41Right?
00:58:42Yeah.
00:58:43Okay.
00:58:43All right.
00:58:44I thought I lost the guy that quick.
00:58:45So, you got, how many years have you been here at the festival?
00:58:49All three years.
00:58:51All three years.
00:58:52That's right.
00:58:52You guys.
00:58:53I think it's been really nice to see some of those vendors that we saw at the first festival coming
00:58:59back for the second festival and being able to follow their journey on social media and catch up with them
00:59:04a year later.
00:59:05A company like Smith Oddities, which during the first festival did not have a brick and mortar store.
00:59:11And now here we are about a year and a half after the first festival.
00:59:15And now they have their own physical brick and mortar store.
00:59:18They're doing really well.
00:59:20And I'm hearing stories like that from so many other businesses that have been affiliated with the festival.
00:59:27There's a couple, couple different things that I take away from reasons of why I was able to open a
00:59:33shop.
00:59:33And I've told Raven, seeing that I could gain a customer base locally, definitely secured a big reason behind why
00:59:42we decided to open up a brick and mortar.
00:59:52The Misfits Market, that was stemmed directly from her with the Metal Fest.
01:00:01Seeing it come together, seeing that it was possible, gave me the drive to try to do something in my
01:00:09own wheelhouse.
01:00:10Hey, hey, come get some dead shit.
01:00:12Come get some dead shit.
01:00:15If you don't buy dead shit, I don't know how I can help you.
01:00:18Like I've said before with the festival, I think so many artists and people like that have felt like they're
01:00:23alone living here.
01:00:25And that they're really struggling to reach their audience.
01:00:28But when you have something like this happen and it pulls all the weirdos that are around here out to
01:00:34one place,
01:00:34then all of a sudden everyone is seen, everyone's building this clientele, everyone is feeling uplifted and inspired.
01:00:41And so I feel like not just us alone, but people like Dustin and other people, we have changed Jackson.
01:00:48If you go to downtown Main Street right now, we've now got Salem and Sage.
01:00:53They have their grand opening next week.
01:00:54You've got Smithodities down there.
01:00:56You've got so much cool shit going in downtown because finally people know there's an audience here for it.
01:01:02And I don't know what we would call this little movement, but I would say that the vendors and stuff
01:01:09have very much flourished.
01:01:12You know, me and Moonshine were texting.
01:01:15He played me some of his brutal death fucks.
01:01:18He said he mixed it himself.
01:01:20I sent him some of my stuff.
01:01:21He's like, man, this is really good.
01:01:23You know, you should let me mix this for you.
01:01:26So I was like, well, how about I just write a whole new song?
01:01:29And I just started writing songs.
01:01:31As soon as he get done mixing, he immediately played it on a station.
01:01:34And then I just started getting all these comments and all these, you know, people are liking this stuff.
01:01:39So I just kept doing it.
01:01:50I think it's growing every day.
01:01:53It's, you know, it's just amazing.
01:01:55I was here for 10 years and I thought I was the only one.
01:02:00I mean, I met a couple people.
01:02:04And so it's fewer and far between.
01:02:06And then now it's like I see him just, it's like crawling out everywhere.
01:02:10I mean, it's really getting, it's getting bigger.
01:02:14Hey!
01:02:16Hey!
01:02:19Hey!
01:02:20Hey, hey!
01:02:21Hey, hey, hey!
01:02:26Hey, man!
01:02:28Right now.
01:02:30Anybody that wants to come on the stage, come up on the stage right now.
01:02:35Let's fuck it down.
01:02:40Walkin' down the street and I guess who will be a bitch motherfucker and he's fucking like me.
01:02:46He's got some eyes on the world in front.
01:02:50The others in the corner where the dance is for a guy to come alone.
01:02:58They love what they love.
01:03:00Come on, motherfucker.
01:03:01Come up on stage.
01:03:02Let's fucking have a party.
01:03:05And I'll take you all again.
01:03:07I said.
01:03:09And a coke can I show you.
01:03:11All the things you love, man, as you've never known.
01:03:14Give me the lies and the time of exposure.
01:03:18There ain't no man, it's just up in front of me.
01:03:21I mean, I think metal has always been a welcoming place for people who didn't fit in, you know?
01:03:28As people who are a little bit different, people who, you know, it kind of united us and it brings
01:03:33us together.
01:03:33Just, you know, we share this music regardless of what our backgrounds are, where we came from.
01:03:37I think a lot of us who got into metal felt we didn't belong.
01:03:45I think it's important for the people who have been othered by the religious right in the Bible Belt to
01:03:54understand that there is more here.
01:03:58You do have allies.
01:03:59You do have supporters.
01:04:01So if you are part of the LGBTQIA community, if you are non-religious, or if you are just simply
01:04:07of a different religion, you have supporters.
01:04:11And we are more than happy to be there for you and be supporters for you.
01:04:21We are more than happy to be there for you and be supporters.
01:04:44We are more than happy to be there for you and be supporters.
01:05:14Metal Devastation Music Festival opens up a place for people to come and go that they've never had before.
01:05:20That they can look forward to this event yearly and they can be comfortable when they go.
01:05:26I mean, it's all walks of life that are there.
01:05:42Just because you're into metal music doesn't mean that you're a bad person or like they talked about in Lexington,
01:05:50we were going to open portals to hell.
01:05:52I said, the only portal to hell I found was the toilet in the bathroom that wouldn't quit flushing that
01:05:56night.
01:05:57And you're higher, and you're higher, and higher, and higher, and higher, and higher.
01:06:03The tables will flip, and the glass will break.
01:06:06All the hell's broken loose, and you're rising in this case that got your keys, and we're coming right.
01:06:12So all the walls are broken loose, and you're rising in this case that got your keys.
01:06:18I said, hey man.
01:06:22What's your drink in my head?
01:06:24The A-A-A-A-S.
01:06:30All the hell we could do this pill in this case, and the music, how did we do this?
01:06:34The B-A-A-A-A-A-S.
01:06:34All the things that I do to every night.
01:06:37Living, driving my keys, going to show you.
01:06:41Three, no, we'll take them in front of it.
01:06:50Yeah you okay?
01:06:53Alright.
01:06:53Y'all ready?
01:06:54We ready.
01:06:55Let's take them on for the game.
01:06:57But just put them on' your knees.
01:06:57Hey, hey, hey, hey
01:07:27Hey, man
01:07:33We love you guys
01:07:36Zach and Ramon, we love you
01:07:42Thank you
01:07:42Good night
01:07:43Thank you, guys
01:08:12We try to take a lot of our cues
01:08:14from the crowd.
01:08:15Which bands do you want to come back?
01:08:16We want a different headliner every year.
01:08:18And when Autumn Lies Buried walked out there last year
01:08:22and you had a whole huge amount of people
01:08:24that had never heard of them before.
01:08:25And the minute that they just started going,
01:08:27that place erupted.
01:08:30Like, I don't even know, like fireworks.
01:08:37But that energy, like they were fearless.
01:08:40They were fearless about what they said.
01:08:42They stood by what they believed in.
01:08:43And the music was heavy.
01:08:45The energy was just, ah.
01:08:46This song is gonna fuck around and find out.
01:08:50And it's about making clansmen
01:08:52for their really redneck chicken fucking gloves.
01:08:56Fuck a race is what it is.
01:08:57So to me, the way the crowd responded
01:09:00and the way that they performed,
01:09:02that was, we immediately,
01:09:04it was right after the fest.
01:09:05I was like, next year, y'all headline.
01:09:08Hey, we got a mattress right here, side stage.
01:09:11You better match yourself, bitch.
01:09:12Bitch, let's go.
01:09:13Bitch, can that'll fast fucking surf that bitch.
01:09:15It's it.
01:09:17We match for something in this bitch.
01:09:19Believe me,
01:09:21if I started murdering people,
01:09:24it'd be none of good.
01:09:25I did not know.
01:09:37It's not much protection.
01:09:41I don't know.
01:09:44You got a mess around what I said.
01:09:55No.
01:09:55i want to make a nation
01:10:14Woo!
01:10:27wait a minute
01:10:50Oh
01:11:11Come here close now, motherfuckers, here to see you real quick
01:11:15I will never close my eyes again
01:11:20I don't want to see
01:11:22I don't want to see
01:11:28I don't want to see
01:11:29I don't want to see
01:11:30I don't want to see
01:11:32I don't want to see
01:11:35I don't want to see
01:11:36I don't want to see
01:11:37I don't want to see
01:11:44I don't want to see
01:11:48I don't want to see
01:11:50I don't want to see
01:11:50I don't want to see
01:11:51I don't want to see
01:12:16Do you have any closing thoughts about anything you're talking about?
01:12:19Yeah. Fuck Nazis. Fuck bigots. Don't come to our shows. We'll beat your ass.
01:12:26Perfectly stated, man.
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