Mayhem Festival founder Kevin Lyman made some remarks recently that the majority of metal heads did not take too kindly to, even in the slightest. Mainly that metal is "gray, bald and fat" and that the festival may go away soon due to a lack of headliners and the fact that Lyman feels as though metal bands don't really give a shit about the music.
Now, in a recent interview, Lyman clarifies his statement a little bit.
“There has been a lot of talk on the Internet about an interview that was done by me a few weeks ago — and I said some things to a reporter that I now regret. In a nutshell, the problem is I was never talking about Mayhem — I was talking about metal scene as a whole.
Let me go on record saying that I support heavy metal and producing music events has been my whole career. I do appreciate some of the comments because it presents sentiments, thoughts and ideas from the heart of the metal community and I’m happy to be reminded of the passion that fans have for heavy metal music.
For us, it is our duty to be receptive to your thoughts and opinions because it is our yearly mission to create the greatest festival for you to come out celebrate and herald heavy metal. We do strive to work our hardest to keep this ‘Mayhem‘ train rolling and it only works with the support of all of us and I’m apologizing for conveying my deepest concerns on the record.
The article covers some behind-the-scenes genuine concerns regarding the presentation of an event at this magnitude. It costs lots of money and energy to drive the tour, plus it has been a challenge to work with larger acts who will sell the bulk of tickets to these-sized venues while we still have the responsibility to deliver performances by the up-and-comers, who are the headliners of tomorrow. I pride myself that this is something that Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival has accomplished year after year, assisting in procuring the growth of artists careers such as Five Finger Death Punch, Battlecross, Butcher Babies and many many more…
Our festival has also introduced legendary bands to a new generation of fans, such as Motörhead, Slayer, Anthrax and Rob Zombie. We also have the challenge of timing: which band is on a new album cycle? Or which band hasn’t already booked their touring? Or which bands haven’t played through the same markets too many times? etc. etc.
“Bottom line, we need headliners to put on a production of this magnitude, but in order to fulfill our responsibility to bring fans the up-and-comers. We need the larger bands also so that we can fulfill our responsibility to not only bring you headliners and the up-and-comers (who are the future), but to also continue to maintain our status as the only touring heavy metal amphitheater festival of this size in North America.
Please accept my apology and thanks for all of your support.”
I think Lyman in his original statement made some good points at the heart of what he meant. In terms of the tour being expensive to put on and maybe that some acts demand an insane amount of money, but the whole thing got lost in some of the more inflammatory statements.
What do you think? Is this Lyman backtracking or a logical followup?
