Signings, DJ sets and one helluva festival

The final plans are in place, the behind-the-scenes work almost complete now's the time to raise your asses off the seat and get yer tickets for Rottfest!

Devildriver, Nevermore, Ten Years, Honey for Christ, Residual Effect, Stand Up Boy and Bad Boat - not exactly Download I grant you, but still a heck of a line-up for Belfast's first ever open air metal fest.

To warm things up Nevermore and Ten Years will be holding a signing session at Belfast's Virgin Megastore at tea-time on the 5th, followed by a DJ set at the Rotterdam Bar.

Then - Rottfest - the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year (cue Satanic laughter from Sid!). Gates open at 2pm, it's an all ages gig, with an onsite bar and a soft drinks bar. Now if you haven't already done so, make a trip to your local Ticketmaster outlet or www.ticketmaster.ie and get yer tickets!

And you'll still have a couple of days to recover before Download!

It's silly, it's American and it's jjust right!

Ok, there are many who will say that The National Day of Slayer, declared by an American fan of the mighty Slayer men, is a silly idea. Some might even see it as cynical, helping a band that barely needs more celebrity. Some say the comments on the website (e.g. "Kill the neighbor's dog and blame it on Slayer. " are insane. Some say this is another example of society's slow degeneration.

Fuck sake guys this Yank may have lost his marbles, but c'mon can we not all treat this as a laugh! It is funny and not half as cynical as Hollywood (the one near LA not the one in County Down!) releasing the remake of The Omen on 6/6/6.

Personally I believe that it is a sacred duty of everyone with a little or a lot of metal coursing through their blood to play Slayer on 6/6/6 - then get their asses down to Rottfest where this freak calendar date can be celebrated with beer, Jagermeister and loud as hell music. See ya at the front for Devildriver!

DJ set on 5th June

It's all Slayer's eve (i.e. the day before Rottfest and the International Day for Slayer) and Nevermore and Ten Years will be in Belfast preparing for the aural assault on our collective metal sanity with Devildriver. Being such top blokes and all round nice people members of Nevermore and Ten Years have tentatively agreed to perform a DJ set at the Rotterdam. Details to follow once it's all confirmed, but here's hoping Ten Years air their own '...Isis' and Nevermore their masterpiece 'Narcosynthesis' to let the uninitiated prepare for Rottfest!

Doom Decks

Realised I haven't offered an update on the decks of doom in Metalheadsreunited Castle. Here goes:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
Def Leppard - Yeah
Celtic Frost - Monotheist
Queensryche - Mindcrime II
Therapy? - One Cure Fits All

Weird thing is that despite the diverse selection they are all good!

Warm-up

Rottfest is turning into a perfect warm-up for the metal week to end all metal weeks! After lapping up for the delights of Download in Dublin where as well as Gunners and 'Tallica there will be Avenged Sevenfold, Funeral for a Friend, Alice in Chains, Stone Sour, Therapy? amongst a host of others.

But they ain't got Devildriver!

Rottfest

Rottfest 666 is a few short weeks away, and if you haven'e got yer tickets yet, get them immediately, support Belfast's first ever open air metal fest! And then maybe more will come next year!

And check back here soon for news of an exclusive Rottfest swag competition!

You know you want to! You know you need to!

Fuckers can fuck off

A big thanks to the three wee fuckers that spoiled my weekend in too many ways to mention by kicking the shit out of me on the way home. Yep, they decided that there was a game played by spides called stick the metalhead. I decided not to play that game and after kicking out at scrote with knife they were most annoyed and decided to kick the metalhead instead. Well, can't say that I gave as good as I got against three...but at least one will be limping for a very long time :) a very long time!

Here's the bake they left me with:

Full Rottfest line-up confirmed

The full line-up for Rottfest has now been confirmed! Four local NI acts will open up proceedings - Honey for Christ; Stand Up Guy; Bad Boat and Residual Effect. Then we welcome Ten Years, followed by Seattle opera metal mentalists Nevermore before the mighty Devildriver take to the stage!

Tickets, priced at an unbelieveably reasonable £20, are available from www.ticketmaster.ie and all usual Ticketmaster outlets.

The Cult for Belfast

The Cult - remember them - are to play Belfast's Ulster Hall on 30th September...tickets on sale already.

Week of rawwwkk 'n' feckin' rooolllll!

Ok, metalheads, scumsuckers, anti-social elements, goths, punks, rock 'n' roll refugees and outlaws, grab yer beer tokens, send your liver out on leave and get ready for the maddest week of rawwwkk 'n' feckin' rooolllll that this wee benighted island has ever seen!

Action kicks off on Sunday June 4th (which means that the well off older element can return from the June 3rd Monsters of Rock with Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, Thunder and others to join in the week of metal mayhem...)

Opening the mad and bad week on the 4th are Therapy?, who bring their industrial might to the Spring & Airbrake. On the Monday night there might be a surprise dj slot at a local metal bar...and then rolls on Tuesday!

The sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year - Rottfest 666. Belfast's first ever open air metal festival sees the metal hordes gather at Barrow Square, Clarendon, Belfast to witness Nevermore and Devildriver wreak a holocaust of metal on us all (and if you haven't got yer ticket yet race on to www.ticketmaster.ie now!)

Recovering from that you may want to head along to the Spring & Airbrake the following the night for US punks 'Sick of it All' hard-edeged attack.

Then pack up your rucksacks and head to Dublin for Guns 'n' Roses at RDS Arena on Friday, June 9th, take a deep breath and get yer shit together for the MIGHTY METALLICA on June 11th at RDS Arena with Korn, Alice in Chains, Stone Sour and Avenged Sevenfold.

Then, two alka seltzer, a neck brace and try to wipe that shit-eating metal grin off yer bake!

The Answer at The Empire

Hard-working blues metal lads from Downpatrick are coming back to Belfast to kick off the European leg of their tour with a night at The Empire.

May 11th, £5 - what better way to spend a Thursday night!

Therapy? acoustic set pix

Therapy?'s acoustic set at HMV, Belfast...

Andy ponders the problems of daylight gigs midst playing Nowhere. No, the song - he wasn't playing nowhere, he was playing the song Nowhere, somewhere called HMV!



One Happy looking bouncer...a closet Therapy? fan or just delighted to be on BelfastMetalheads Reunited? We may never know.







CCTV later confirmed they were a well known Larne rock band, not two badly dressed guitar thiefs...









So Michael this is in 'e'? Are you sure....

National day of Slayer!!!

'National Day Of SLAYER' To Be Held On June 6!

National Day of Slayer, LLC, which is described as "a non-profit corporation in the State of Wyoming," has launched a web site urging as many SLAYER followers as possible to take part in "the National Day of Slayer" on June 6, 2006.

A posting on the site reads in part, "6.6.06 isn't a date that comes around very often (once per century, to be exact), and while plenty of stupid horror movies and terrible albums will be released for the hype value of the day that bears 'the number of the beast,' we here at NDoS decided that this would be a perfect day for Hessians across the country to come together and engage in something upon which we can all agree — listening to SLAYER!

Also, do you really want those evangelicals to have all the fun with their 'National Day of Prayer'?"

For more information, visit www.nationaldayofslayer.org \m/ for slayer day \m/

Pearl Jam for Dublin

They might have arrived with grunge, but Pearl Jam had always more of a classic rock edge than most of the Seattle reprobates - now they're playing in Dublin on 23rd August. Tickets on sale 29th April.

Metal on Nolan show

Metal on the Nolan show! No shit! Rottfest666 caused some Pastor to get his knickers knotted. Listen on the link below (click The Nolan Show) as Dean stays calm, Potty Pastor goes ape and some 38-year-old metal head :) goes toe to toe with Pastor dude.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/ulster.shtml

Missed Glyder :(

Missed Glyder at the Rotterdam last night - family shit :( Apparently it was a good gig.

Therapy? acoustic, signing and Belfast date

Therapy? celebrated the launch of their new album (One Cure Fits All) with an acoustic set at Belfast's HMV and a signing session afterwards.

A fine set it was too, with Nowhere, Die Laughing, Rock You Monkeys, among old faves, with a smattering of tracks from the new album unveiled to about 100 devotees. Andy's normal growl was replaced with, wait for it, a hint of melody. Mind you being Therapy? it was melody with menace :) and Michael's acoustic bass was laying it down 'good and proper'!

Props to the guys for spending so much time signing posters, albums and various other assembled bits and pieces and....for confirming that their next Belfast date is at the Spring and Airbrake on June 4th, and promising to see if it was going to be an all ages gig.

Let's see now...Therapy? June 4th, Rottfest June 6th, Gunners, June 9th, 'Tallica June 11th - shit! IT'S A WEEK OF RAAWWWKKKK 'N' FECKIN' ROLLL!

Potty Pastor

Thanks to the Potty Pastor on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show slagging off Devildriver, Rottfest and all things metal the gig got plenty of free publicity - now to make sure that the gig goes off a storm. This one goes well more to come next year!

On the Doom decks tonight:
Cradle of Filth - Nymphetamine
Iron Maiden - Killers
Def Leppard - Pyromania

Media hysteria boost for Rottfest!

The media hysteria over Rottfest is proving a welcome boost - with all the fuss and furore hopefully more people will get to hear about the festival! So far it's been covered in the Irish News, BBC Radio Ulster News, the Nolan Show and dozens of web sites!

Here's the Irish News article

And the full official press release is below:

For immediate release

Belfast goes metal!

First ever open air heavy metal festival in city

ROTTFEST: 06/06/06

NORTHERN Ireland’s thousands of heavy metal fans are set to flock to Barrow Square, Clarendon, Belfast, on June 6th to witness the city’s first ever open air heavy metal festival.

Six bands will take to the stage in a packed line-up, headlined by leading US metal act, Devildriver.

Festival promoter, Dean Stevens said the one-day festival was a feast of metal for heavy rock fans.

“This is an amazing event for metal fans,” he said. “Devildriver are a top act. And we’re excited that the outrageous US act – Nevermore has joined the bill.

“Everyone involved in Rottfest is ecstatic that the city can now lay claim to its own metal festival.”

Also on the bill are four up and coming local rock and metal acts: Stand-Up Guy, Honey for Christ, Bad Boat and Residual Effect.

The concert is being promoted by the Rotterdam Bar, backed by Laganside and sponsored by the Rotterdam and Jagermeister.

Tickets priced £20 are available now from the usual Ticketmaster outlets or from www.ticketmaster.ie

### Ends ###

June 11th, Dublin

Metallica + Korn + Alice In Chains + Stone Sour + Avenged Sevenfold - full line-up for June 11th now confirmed