Being a strong contestant for ‘gay capital of the world’ you can be forgiven for thinking Brighton is hardly considered the “Mecca” for metal in the UK. Let’s not forget also, metal is a form of art. We do not pray for “demonic resurrections” or wish anyone a “megadeth” even if many of us love the bands.
I see more and more new faces at our events, some of which have only recently got into metal and it poses the question why? While I have my ideas on this, the most important thing to us is that our metal community is growing and it’s wonderful to see. In this, my first article for Brighton Unsigned, I want to briefly explore why…
Brighton has seen various promoters come and go throughout the years and there are some long standing legends (Helbz and Josh @ Family Ents) that continue to bring us events. However, up until 2009 there was no metal festival we could boast of.
In 2009, I announced Mammothfest and held a sold out launch party at Hectors House (Blind Tiger now). This seemed to inject some welcome excitement in to the metal community.
I then held the main event in 2010 with Entombed, Orange Goblin, Sylosis and 25 other bands at Hove town hall. Yeah I know, it was amazing, however, I lost £20,000 because of Ozzfest landing on the same day in London and had to take a necessary hiatus to repay the investors. Consequently many peers informed me how this period was rather dull despite there being the occasional wicked weekend (Fatality – Dying Fetus / JFAC etc) so I knew I had to do something.
[pullquote_left]We both work together to help each other as much as we can and this encourages a better vibe across our town. In fact, the same can be said for all the promoters here:Jackhammer, Black Sunday, Psycho Holiday, Alt Promotions and Oliver Irongiant are all promoters/promotion companies that bring heavy-ass events to us every month.[/pullquote_left]
So, in 2014 we returned and sold out Mammothfest at the Green Door Store. Many people personally showed their support, not just for Mammothfest but rightly for the community because I think everyone understood the consequences could be serious for all.
We also witnessed the launch of Breakout Festival (Skindred) in Brighton last year. At first I feared there was not enough room for 2 festivals in the same town but with Breakout Festival appealing to a different sound/market it became clear there was a far wider metal audience here than any of us had really realised.
We both work together to help each other as much as we can and this encourages a better vibe across our town. In fact, the same can be said for all the promoters here:Jackhammer, Black Sunday, Psycho Holiday, Alt Promotions and Oliver Irongiant are all promoters/promotion companies that bring heavy-ass events to us every month. This mix creates the perfect cauldron of people and energy required to make the Brighton metal scene as buzzing as it is today. There is the Bloodstock metal to the masses, MetalTemples festival and Advanced Promotions have been presenting more and more fantastic big touring bands such as Sikth, Amon Amarth, Snot and more throughout the year, bringing to us the bigger touring bands that often swerved Brighton in the past, much to our “high held horns” approval.
With this hive of activity its clear why Brighton’s metal scene is buzzing and I for one wish to personally salute everyone mentioned (apart from Ozzfest, bastards!), for making it what it is today.
We at Mammothfest have some exciting things going on too now including our own TV show (Mammothfest TV channel on Youtube), our annual magazine soon to be released, a 30 date UK tour seeking out some of the best unsigned acts and of course our main event in October 2015 where we will host the likes of Onslaught, Psycroptic (Australia), Syn:drom (Sweden), Feed the Rhino, Hang the Bastard and in fact over 80 bands so the future is very bright for Brighton!
