If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times — metal is for everyone. And thanks to some new information that Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen revealed in a recent interview, a historically popular U.S. festival is flipping the script once again and highlighting the badass women of metal.
During a recent interview with Rock Feed (as transcribed by ThePRP), Avildsen revealed that he’s in the process of rebranding the previously annual Mayhem Festival with a new vision: ‘Miss Mayhem.’ Not only that, but he’s got seven of eight potential acts on board and ready to go.
“I can share that it’s called ‘Miss Mayhem‘, and it’s all-female. [We] basically told one act — I’m looking at the text right now — Yeah, it’s in the rigmarole of like, okay, this production, and this, can we get… You know, again, it’s all kind of at this stage of them trying to find out if everything they have in Live Nation for production is going to make it possible, because it’s so expensive with touring now.
“But hopefully by the time this comes out… We will either have a tour and all the acts will be done, because it’s all set up to be an all female-fronted bill. And we have, you know, seven of the eight acts, but this eighth act is higher up at the bill. We need to make sure that it lands so it’s a co-headline and all this stuff.
“So, yeah, hopefully, hopefully you know, between then and [today, March 07th] we’re supposed to have an answer today.”
You may recall that Avildsen one of a handful of individuals that bought the rights to Mayhem Festival. Last year’s event saw the show go from a yearly traveling summer festival from 2008 to 2015 to a one-off event in 2024. With this new all-female angle, it’s yet another major change to the festival in just two years.
That being said, I can’t stress how fucking cool this is. There are tons of awesome female-fronted bands, including some on Avildsen’s own label (eg. Poppy and Kittie). It’ll be cool to see not only who signs up to participate in the festival, but also if the metal community as a whole embraces this change. I’m really hoping they do.
Source: www.metalsucks.net
