Metalocalypstick Fest celebrates women in Metal

Some festivals have something special to offer. This particular one caught my attention with it's unusual wooden stage. In addition to that it has mountains as natural backdrop. A really special and cool location.

But what's even better is the fact that this Valemount, BC  Lone Butte, BC (Canada) (Explanation. I got a update in the mail today that the venue has moved.) based festival centers upon the female contribution to the world of Heavy music and has some band in it's line-up from countries you don't see often at festivals (Egypt, Mexico). Founded by Kaija Kinney of Vancouver’s Anarcheon after researching a lack of female based metal festivals to apply her band to, Kinney took matters into in her own and decided to produce the event.

Kinney comments:

“This festival means the celebration of both sexes coming together and creating something amazing. People like to say women in metal aren’t a big deal anymore and that we are all the same. I feel that is untrue, this is still a male dominated world and woman are still looked as lesser. I want to showcase all these bad ass ladies and celebrate the differences of men and woman rather than pretend we are all equal. Truth is we are different why can't we celebrate that?”

Check the short trailer below to find out how it's like to be at METALOCALYPSTICK FEST. Even if you can't make it there I recommend to watch the movie. It has some great band's rocking the stage so it's well worth checking it out.


METALOCALYPSTICK is being held during Canada Day weekend on July 1st and 2nd in Valemount, BC. Lone Butte, BC (Canada) at the outdoor grounds of the Interlakes Community Center in Lone Butte, BC. (Explanation. I got a update in the mail today that the venue has moved.)

This year's line up features bands from across Canada and beyond with Cabrakaan (Toluca, Mexico), Sovereign Council (Kingston, ON), Violent Betty (Saskatoon, SK), Atmora (Windsor, ON), Scythia (Calgary, AB), Massive Scar Era (Vancouver, BC / Cairo, Egypt) and many more.

There are day-tickets available (64 Candian Dollar) but there's also a option for both days (priced at 95 CAD including camping).

Poster created by Abradinfluence
https://www.facebook.com/abradinfluence/

Update 2017/04/26: The venue has moved. The festival will be held in Lone Butte, BC at the outdoor grounds of the Interlakes Community Center in Lone Butte, BC.

In addition to the festival celebrating women in metal, the METALOCALYPSTICK FEST gives back to the community by being a non-profit organization dedicated to raise funds and donating 100% of proceeds to local charities Girls Rock Camp, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, Earth Protectors plus an audience picked foundation.

For tickets and more info, please visit the following links:
  
www.metalocalypstickfest.rocks
www.facebook.com/metalocalypstickfest/
Event Page- www.facebook.com/events/1158984924137688/
Ride Share - www.facebook.com/groups/metalocalypstickfestrideshare/

2017 – Armstrong Metal Fest Band Submissions Now Open (Free 2016 sampler inside)

So the Open Air season is slowly coming towards the end for this year. But what is going to happen in 2017? Well, no one knows for sure except for a few announcements that have been made so far.

What's far more interesting in my eyes is that bands can send submissions for the Armstrong Metal Fest right now. There's a good chance that you'll be chosen to play there if you apply with your music. Why?

69.4% of the total band line up for AMF 2016 was made of bands that had placed a band submission.
58.3% of AMF 2016's line up were bands that had never played the festival before.

Band submissions open September 1, 2016 and end November 1, 2016 11:59pm PST.

Please send submissions to the following email: bandsamf@gmail.com

What should you send?
– BAND NAME
– ONLINE MUSIC (Where can we check out your music example: bandcamp)
– AREA/CITY BANDS FROM
– GENRE/ DESCRIPTION OF WHAT KIND OF BAND YOU ARE
– HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TOGETHER AS A BAND?
– LAST ALBUM RELEASE DATE/NEXT PLANNED ALBUM RELEASE DATE
– EXPERIENCE/ WHO HAVE YOU SHARED THE STAGE WITH
– CONTACT PERSON/CONTACT EMAIL
– ADDITIONAL INFO/COMMENTS

Don’t worry about sending an EPK right off the start! They are great to have, but not for AMF’s initial submission; once a band is on the roster an EPK may be requested for media outlets.

What exactly is the Armstrong Metal Festival?

Taking influence from Europe’s music festival circuit, Armstrong Metal Fest is a heavy metal celebration that encourages metal heads from across Canada and the globe to mosh and camp with the backdrop of great outdoors of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.

What started as a backyard party in 2009 with nothing but eleven local metal bands such as Terrifier, Xul and Odinfist to name a few, has grown into a a huge success admired by the Western Canadian Metal scene. 2016 was the eighth year of the festival and was its largest year for music and attendance. Previous years of the festival have seen line ups with Cattle Decapitation, Suffocation, Anciients, Bison BC, Striker, Crimson Shadows, Holy Grail, Archspire, Cryptopsy, Unleash The Archers, Divinity, Into Eternity, Ninjaspy, Vesperia, XUL, Odinfist, Death Toll Rising, Gomorrah among many others .

For more info, please visit www.ArmstrongMetalFest.ca

If you want to check out some of the bands of the 2016 edition of the festival try the stream below or better download a free compilation package directly from Bandcamp.

Grand Sounds Sampler Vol. 6 online / bands for next sampler wanted

So easter may be over but there's still one egg that has not been opened yet. :-)

This time we here at Heavy Metal Underdogs can present a digital band sampler that has been set up by the Grand Sounds PR agency. Volume 6 of the series features 21 tracks contributed by various heavy bands of all around the globe. So let's start discovering new band's - just hit the play button and enjoy.

The cover for Vol. of the Grand Sounds bandsampler, (c) by Grand Sounds PR, used with kind permission

If you would like to participate in the next Volume (No. 7) just write a E-Mail to Grand Sounds PR directly at grandsoundsmetal@gmail.com

or see their Facebook page or visit the website to get in touch with them.

Here's the full tracklisting of the compilation:

01: CIRCLE OF INDIFFERENCE (Swe) "Another Day in Paradise"
02: LOST ETERNITY (Ger) "Orion"
03: MATUBES (Bul) "Left Hand Path"
04: INLANDSYS (Fra) "March Of The Dead"
05: AGAROTH (Mex) "Distortion of Illusions"
06: THIRD ION (Can) "Zero Mass" (feat members of The Devin Townsend band and Into Eternity) (Glasstone Records)
07: RAPTURE (Gre) "Laboratories of Infection" (Witches Brew)
08: WITCHING HOUR (Ger) "Once Lost Souls Return"
09: ZORD (Hun) "Thorns & Wounds"
10: DARK LETTER (Pol) "Toy" (feat.Tomasz Wisniewski)
11: MIECZ (Pol) "Invisible War"
12: STATUE OF DEMUR (Can) "Nungunner"
13: THE SHIVA HYPOTHESIS (Nl) "Caduceus"
14: DISBOSKATOR (Ita) "Passive Suicide"
15: PHANTASMAL (USA) "The Reaper's Forge"
16: ENSLAVER (Bra) "Stained by Blood"
17: STAAR (Fra) "Valkermord"
18: Ungoliantha (Ukr) "Black Winds"
19: Warhawk (Ita) "Flying Tygers"
20: Staar "Vers où nous sommes"
21: Empheris "Nihilistic Black Metal"

Free Generation Prog Festival 2014 sampler up for download

In a few weeks the "Generation Prog Festival 2014" will take place over here in Germany at Nürnberg on 15th of November 2014.

The company doing the promotion for the event "Prog Sphere" has set up a free download sampler that features one track of each of the bands of the festival as song
1-5 of the sampler. Tracks 6-10 are bonus tracks by bands that are taken from the Generation Prog Records roster.

For all those who prefer to stream instead of downloading the compilation I've included the player below. The full download can be found on the Bancamp page of Prog Sphere Promotions.

Find out more about the Generation Prog Festival 2014:
www.generation-prog.com

Order your festival tickets and affordable hotel packages here:
www.generation-prog.com?page_id=1172&lang=en

Discover new prog bands at Progstreaming

Reading other blogs and websites is a thing I love to do. They often do have interesting info and links to sites that are not popular yet.

This site is a fine example for that. It's a blog in german talking about a new streaming website offering free full album streams of young and fresh progmetal bands that aren't known by many people.

Klangkino: Info: "Progstreaming" bietet Alben zum kostenfreie...: Wie die Überschrift schon titelt, bin ich auf eine sehr interessante Sache gestoßen, denn die Streaming-Seite Progstreaming beinhaltet dutz...

I remember having picked up the "Honour Thy Drummer - A tribute to Mike Portnoy" album and found some mindblowing bands on them. Maybe this will happen again? No one knows,but check the site out for yourselfs:

www.progstreaming.com