BONNAROO 09 METAL WITH SHADOWS FALL & DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

Shadows Fall and Dillinger Escape Plan talk about their thoughts on being asked to perform at Bonnaroo as one of the few metal bands in 2009.

If Bonnaroo is known for one thing, it’s being arguably the most diverse festival America has to offer. Although it might have started out as a jam band festival, it has quickly grown into a festival that features some of the top musicians from Rock, Jazz, Country, Pop, Blue Grass, Metal, Rap, Electronic and anything in between. At Bonnaroo in 2009, Heavy Metal and Hard Rock were once again on display with sets from stand out Hard Rock bands like Nine Inch Nails and The Mars Volta and Heavy Metal bands like Shadows Fall and Dillinger Escape Plan. One might think fans of Bonnaroo would frown on heavier music during the festivals four day event, but that’s just not the case as fans flocked by the thousands to see the two.

Artisan News caught up with lead vocalist of Shadows Fall, Brian Fair who said they were initially confused by the Bonnaroo booking and explained why they’ll be their hardcore selves, always.

“The first time when I found out we were getting offered Bonnaroo was slightly confused because normally, honestly as you can tell I’m kind of a hippie myself, so I associate it more with Jam Rock and seeing The Dead and Phish but I was stoked because usually kids at festivals like this are so much more open minded than half the other types of festivals as well. So I was stoked to come here and not only see a bunch of bands but get to play for people who actually give a shit about music, you know and aren’t there just to be cool and see cool bands. Really it’s such a diverse bill. When you go Snoop Dogg to Bruce Springsteen to Dillinger Escape Plan you’re covering all the bases. We’re actually planning on bringing it pretty brutal tonight. Why pull out the stops you know. Let people know what we’re really about. To try and change the set based on what kind of audience it is I think takes something away from who you are as a band.

We also caught up with Dillinger Escape Plan who discussed playing for the surprisingly open-minded Bonnaroo audience.

“It was a surprise to be honest with you. We were a little worried because this is the second year that they’ve kind of opened it to different genres, like more diverse genres and stuff. So, we didn’t really know how we were going to go over but we were recieved really well. We were pretty stoked. Yeah it was cool and it’s fun to do these things. There’s a lot of festivals in Europe and stuff like that but there’s nothing in The States that we’ve really done on this level like this.”

Shadows Fall are currently in the studio working on their upcoming new album, which they plan to release this September. The band will also be performing in Alaska for their first time June 25th and 26th. Dillinger Escape Plan are also in the studio working on their 4th studio album, which they plan on releasing in 2010.