TOOL, LINKIN PARK, ALICE IN CHAINS, WOLFMOTHER, ATREYU, DEAD BY SUNRISE AT EPICENTER FESTIVAL

KROQ held their first annual Epicenter Music Festival August 22nd in Pamona, Ca and fans were treated with sets from Tool, Linkin Park, Alice in Chains, Wolfmother, Atreyu and Hollywood Undead to name just a few of the many highlights. Also taking part in the event was an unannounced performance by Dead by Sunrise, which is Linkin Park’s lead vocalist Chester Bennington’s new side project. Dead by Sunrise took the stage at the end of Linkin Park’s set to play a few songs of their upcoming debut album “Out of Ashes.” Just a few of the other memorable moments were one of the first Southern California appearances with Wolfmother’s new band members, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello’s new band Street Sweeper Social Club, Alice in Chains, who commanded the stage as Jerry Cantrell’s guitar perfectly meshed with new vocalist William Duvall as the band performed songs from their upcoming new album “Black Gives Way to Blue” and of course an amazingly heavy set from Tool with lead vocalist Maynard James Keenan on crutches due to “An unforseen injury.”

Artisan News caught up with Atreyu, who have recently finished their new album “Congregation of the Damned” to get their thougths on being psyched to perform at the first ever Epicenter Festival.

“Personally I’m pretty damned pysched. I’ve loved Tool for a long time, since like 5th or 6th grade and we toured with Linkin Park last Summer so it’s good to be part of that camp. It’s cool because we’ve been recording a record for awhile too so it’s nice to play kind of a local California show again. Like he said the Linkin Park dudes treated us very well on tour last Summer so it’s really cool to play with them again. A lot of great bands and it should be a fun day.”

Hollywood Undead also talked about getting to share the stage with Atreyu, which gave the fans a sneak peak into the bands upcoming Fall Tour together.

“We were stoked. I was very stoked because we’re playing with three, four bands that I love very much. Tool, Linkin Park, Alice in Chains, south side locos and Atreyu’s playing who we’re going on a Fall tour with. We forgot to mention that onstage because we were just out of it but that’s really exciting.”

Just a few of the other bands who performed at Epicenter were Aesop Rock, Sonny, After Midnight Project, Paper Tongues and Atmosphere. Epicenter was put on by Right Arm Entertainment who also promotes another successful hard rock festival, Ohio’s Rock on the Range. As more and more festivals continue to pop up around around America, it’s clear after their first year Epicenter has laid down the foundation for putting together an incredibly successful Rock n Roll Festival in Southern California.