Where did the idea come from to put together the first Damnation festival? The Download Festival forums. I got fed up with the likes of Bowling For Soup and Disturbed being booked when I wanted to see Stampin' Ground, Sikth, Napalm Death etc, etc so a group of us said we'd do our own 'wee' show, and we did.
Napalm Death and Pig Destroyer because they are so wildly different. However, I won't duck the question and as Cult of Luna have yet to perform, I'll plump for Amenra.
How do you select the bands that you book? Mostly, we have a pretty good idea of the bands we want so we haggle with agents for months and if it When the festival first started off did you suspect can be done, it's done and if it can't we move on. that it would still be going as long as it has been? Sometimes a great tour lands on our lap as it's I have no idea, now that I think about it. passing through the UK and we grab it or in other The first year was such a rollercoaster ride from cases, agents who are smart enough to want their never having promoted a single show to selling out a band on a 2,200 capacity stage instead of a 500 cap 14-band event with the likes of Entombed and club show, organise their tours to accommodate Raging Speedhorn headlining I didn't have much Damnation. chance to think about future because the present was mental enough. During the past couple of years in particular we have seen a lot of very high profile festivals cancelled but Damnation seems to still be going strong. What has been the key to your longevity? Good line-ups, reasonably priced tickets and being honest with fans. Too many events think they can just bullshit their way to a sell-out but it doesn't work like that, especially with our crowd who want every last penny of their money to be worth it because, realistically, there's plenty more important things to spend your wages on than a metal binge. Over the years you have had a very varied approach with the types of bands playing at the festival with countless genres being represented. What has been your favourite band to appear at the festival? My favourite band to appear at Damnation? That's a tough one. It's hard to say whether I think This Will Destroy You, Maybeshewill or Jesu are better bands than Anaal Nathrakh,
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