Let's Talk About The Bands At The Redwood Metalfest, At Least The Ones We Could Get Ahold Of.

 With the festival coming up quick, it's about time this was finally released and we got a bit of info out on the bands playing. If I can find any information about them at all.

If you are stumbling upon this article with no idea what the Redwood Metalfest is, I can enlighten you a bit about it. The Redwood Metalfest is a free, all-ages concert festival at the Alex Thomas Plaza in Ukiah, California. This year is actually the last installment of this festival, and so they plan to have it go out with a bang. The last installment, I went and did some photography & video streams of the concert festival, but this year a different approach will be planned of just blatantly harassing the band members & some attendees with a bucket interview, so stay on the lookout for that.

The bands that are on the lineup I have (that I believe will be playing at the event) include Agent System, Cement Sarcophagus, Arm The Valkrie, Middle Children, Greybush, Bullet Lobotomy, Phaneron, Suburban Paranoia, Hellametal, Beyond Doubts Shadow, Shredded Metal, Blessed Curse, Chains Of Belmont, Gursach, Deathwishkid, Mordred, Emissary, Skitzo, Blind Illusion, Vicious Rumors, Chasing Desolation, Wayne & Robyn's Numptuals, and Lich King. 

So, for the sheer fun of it, I'll be going in and roughly giving a background of each of these bands. That is if I can find anything about their existence online. That's always fun. Now, it is going to be mainly based on if they can respond to their emails or messenger messages. 

Agent System

A Technical/Progressive Metal band with many influences blended together from Sonoma County, CA.

 

Cement Sarcophagus 

Previously known as Shroud Ov Atlas. "The fantastical slam band from far away lands. in the distant sound, drums of war with Kevin at the helm. Shrieking sounds of cadaver can be heard. Dr. Slammins rumbling bass shakes the ground. As Kvlt's eye water riffs can be heard. With zambos finger blistering scales can be heard. Boom!"

Arm The Valkrie

Viking Melodic Death Metal from Sonoma County.  

Arm the Valkyrie was born over a game of Magic the Gathering between Steven, Anjrew, and Nik in February of 2018. They wanted to create powerfully epic metal inspired by bands like Amon Amarth and Wolfheart.  Ed joined the band on lead guitar a few months down the road after hearing their first E.P Sojourn. He was a natural fit adding beautiful lead melodies over our heavy riffs making everything all the more powerful and dynamic. Christian was the final addition to the band in August of 2018 picking up the bass lines quickly and adding his own flavor to the songs, pushing them in the direction we had not even considered up to that point.

    Their goal is to send you on a journey with our music. If they can make you feel like you're rowing a Viking longship against crashing waves or charging a shield wall on some ancient battlefield then they've succeeded.

Suburban Paranoia

Suburban Paranoia began in 1990 as punk/metal band and over the years has grown into fierce speed/power/thrash metal with melody unit that needs to be seen. Since the 90's Suburban Paranoia has played many shows and tours and has evolved in their line and sound to what they are now.

 They reside under the Devastated Booking label, and 

Hellametal

From Dunsmuir, CA- "We are a metal band from far Northern California. We are influenced by many genres of metal and embrace them all. We are proud that they are honored in our style and approach to the music we love so much."

Beyond Doubts Shadow

"We specialize in The reproduction of music in the frequency spectrum audible to plants. The noise humans hear is a side effect\ but we love bacon and beer."

Chains Of Belmont

Metal / Thrash Metal/crossover Yreka, CA

Gursach

From San Francisco, CA, Gürschach (pronounced Ger-shock) is a four-piece Experimental Metal band from the SF Bay Area, whose main vision is to create an unfamiliar, yet captivating listening experience for our audience.

X, Leyland Reid, and Daniel Justo- Sanchez originally formed the band in late 2011, mostly playing songs that X and Leyland both wrote together while they were still in high school.  It wasn't until 2014 that Scotty McRib joined the band to complete the lineup.  On October 10, 2015, Gürschach released their first EP, BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARES, independently on a micro-budget, as an embodiment of the phrase DIY.  The music on the EP would be the first and last time the band would release a straightforward Thrash Metal record.

After touring through 2016 and 2017, the quartet returned to the studio to complete their first full-length album, DARK MATTER, on December 1, 2017.  3 music videos and 2 lyric videos were produced to promote Dark Matter, with "UNDEAD EMPIRE" and "INNOCENT BLOOD" garnering the lion's share of media attention.  The band continued to tour through 2018 and 2019, embarking on the Kiss Our Jobs Goodbye Tour in 2019 and joined festivals such as Death In The Dunes and Redwood Metalfest.

In 2020, Gürschach released a reimagined version of Metallica's infamous title track "ST. ANGER" from 2003 with a total production overhaul.  Upon release, it quickly spread throughout the heavy metal scene on a global scale, and still continues to attract massive amounts of attention to this day.

Deathwishkid

Bay Area hardcore punk. 

Emerging from California’s East Bay Area, DeathwishKid is vocalist Chris Peterson, the guitarist

Mike Roberts (ex-Skinlab), guitarist Nick St Denis (ex-Pro-Pain), bassist Dustin Phillips, and

drummer John Riggs. Drawing upon influences such as Refused, The Bronx, Snapcase, Vision

of Disorder, and Rage Against the Machine, the band delivers a volatile, energetic take on

hardcore punk. Their 2019 self-titled debut showcases an uncompromising musical style with a

focus on intense, dystopian lyrical content.

Emissary

Emissary is a metal band from Orange County, CA

Skitzo

SKITZO is the infamous underground thrash metal trio from the Bay Area. SKITZO has been slaying since 1981 and is still active with 19 records to their credit and a few DVD releases, SKITZO still remains strong in the metal world.

Blind Illusion

Blind Illusion was formed by-15 year old Mark Biedermann, along with drummer Bret Hern and bassist Les Claypool. The band's earliest sound had been musically rooted as progressive metal, with Biedermann citing as his main inspirations Rush, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen and Jethro Tull. However, external input from later musicians, many with ties to the Bay Area thrash scene would add a Thrash Metal direction to the band. In 1983 live recordings traded by fans with songs like "Death Noise", "Darkness", "Kamikaze",  "World That's an Illusion", "Helter Skelter (Beatles)", and "Concerto"  were part of their set list. Blind Illusion had already released 2 demos by 1983. During this period, Blind Illusion played extensively with bands such as Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Metallica and Possessed playing shows throughout the area throught the 80's. Mark Biedermann took over vocal duties in place of former singer Dave White who left the band to join Heathen and released a third demo Trilogy of Terror that was produced by Metallicaʼs guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The band also added second guitarist John Marshall (later of Metal Church) who, in 1987, would be replaced by guitarist Larry LaLonde, formerly of pioneering death metal band Possessed. In the same year, Blind Illusion signed a record deal with Music for Nations on their Under One Flag Record/Combat division, with whom the band recorded their debut record in 1987, The Sane Asylum, which was released in 1988. The album was considered a Thrash Metal classic, featuring tracks such as Vengeance is Mine, Death Noise, Kamakazi, Smash The Crystal, Blood Shower etc.. At the same time Mark Biedermann worked with producer Sandy Pearlman in 1987 contributing rhythm and guitar leads on four songs for Blue Öyster Cult on their Imaginos album along side Joe Satriani and Robbie Krieger from The Doors. Metal Mind Productions re-distributed a limited edition pressing of The Sane Asylum in 2007 as the 1988 Combat Records released version of the album had been long out of print. Mark Biedermann reformed Blind Illusion in 2009 with a new-lineup, releasing Demon Master on July 7, 2010. In December 2013, Biedermann bumped into DRIʼs Bass player and Metal Photographer Harald Oimoen in Berkeley, California. Harald called drummer and long time friend Cire the same day to ask him if he wanted to join forces and help put Mark and his legendary music back into the limelight. World in Sound Records out of Germany re-mastered and released The Sane Asylum in March 2015 with bonus tracks from"Trilogy of Terror" demo.

Harald convinced Mark to go back to his roots of Progressive Thrash Metal again after the lukewarm reception to Demon Master. In April 2017 Guitar Legend Doug Piercy who has known Mark since 1982 joined forces with his old friend in Blind Illusion. Due to Haralds conflicting bands scheduling, Tom Gears a veteran of many local bands passed audition instantly, replacing Harald O on Bass. After a successful European Tour in the Summer of 2017 Blind Illusion found itself back in rehearsals working on their new EP 2018. In 2018 Blind Illusion embarked on their second European Tour and were featured at the Keep It True Festival in Germany. After the tour Blind Illusion decided to hit the studio with James Boblak mixing/ engineering and mastered by Legendary Mastering Guru Dave Collins. "2018" EP Produced by Doug Piercy and Blind Illusion.

In 2019 the band reached out to Serg MP the bassist for Bestial Invasion to find a touring partner in Europe. He introduced us the band to Fusion Bomb from Luxembourg. The two bands hit it off right away and scheduled the Slam Asylum 2019 tour of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Special thanks for booking the tour are given to Jochen Boellath from Daredevil Records. Many thanks to one of the bands biggest supporters Paul van Rijswijk, guitarist of the Dutch Heavy Metal band Emerald for booking Blind Illusion on the Heavy Metal Maniacs festival in Amstelveen.

Vicious Rumors

American power metallers Vicious Rumors may not be superstars, but the group deserves credit for being true to their musical identity and consistently delivering heartfelt, fashion-resistant music that their fans clearly appreciate. Vicious Rumors were formed in 1980 in Santa Rosa, California, by guitarist Geoff Thorpe. Filling out the original lineup were vocalist Mark Tate, guitarist Jim Cassero, bassist Jeff Barnacle, and drummer Walt Perkins. The band first received the recognition that same year when they began performing Metal Mondays in Bill Graham's Old Waldorf nightclub. These shows represented the birth of what would become known as the Bay Area metal scene: the biggest, longest-lasting, most important metal community in the United States. After self-releasing a few singles and being included on several important metal compilations, Vicious Rumors signed their first record contract in 1984 with the surging Shrapnel Records, operated by fellow northern Californian and metal entertainer Mike Varney. By this time, several drummers had been enlisted to fill a spot vacated by Perkins; Larry Howe got the job full-time and would hold if for ten years. Tate was also replaced with vocalist Gary St. Pierre from Hawaii, Chuck Moomy had replaced Cassero on guitar, and bassist Dave Starr replaced Barnacle.

The group's full-length debut, Soldiers of the Night, was released in 1986 to an especially warm European response. East Coast shred guitar hero Vinnie Moore was brought in briefly after Moomy's departure, but the virtuoso didn't stay long, as he was anxious to begin his solo instrumental career. Before the door closed behind Moore, St. Pierre was also sent packing, and the classic Digital Dictator Vicious Rumors lineup was formed: vocalist Carl Albert, guitarists Thorpe and Mark McGee, bassist Starr, and drummer Howe. This group would stay together for nine years. The Shrapnel follow-up, Digital Dictator, was released in 1988, and as the band's popularity began to grow domestically, they were signed to Atlantic Records. The group's self-titled debut for the label followed in 1990, and Vicious Rumors supported it with extensive touring. While never close to a top-level U.S. metal act, it appeared at the dawn of the '90s that the band had a real shot at breaking into the spotlight with bands like Mötley Crüe and Queensrÿche. That upward trend continued with 1991's Welcome to the Ball and 1992's Plug in and Hang on: Live in Tokyo, which commemorated an extremely successful Japanese tour.

During a layoff due to an injury to Thorpe, the group was released from their contract with Atlantic, perhaps due not only to the band's relative inactivity but also to the declining stateside popularity of the melodic power metal genre. Many European and Japanese record deals followed, as well as a few member changes while the band trudged on through the '90s. Word of Mouth was released in 1994 and the group remained busy touring the U.S. and Europe. As they were preparing their next release, Something Burning, Carl Albert died on April 22, 1995. The band decided to continue on, releasing an Albert tribute EP and live full-length recording of the singer's final performance. Something Burning was finally released in 1996, and the disc featured Thorpe pulling double duty by filling in on lead vocals. This record solidified Vicious Rumors' European base as many positive reviews and another successful tour followed.

While Thorpe's vocal work was more than competent, the guitarist couldn't approach Albert's dexterity, and a new vocalist was needed in order for the band to incorporate older songs into their live set. Singer Brian O'Connor joined the group for 1998's Cyber-Christ's recording and tour. O'Connor was replaced in 2000 by Morgan Thorn, who appears on the 2001 release Sadistic Symphony. The band went on a short hiatus after the album's release, eventually coming back together in 2006 and releasing their ninth studio long-player, Warball, which saw them returning to the more traditional, less experimental power metal style of their earlier recordings. The band moved to the popular German hard rock label SPV for their next round of releases: 2011's Razorback Killers, 2013's Electric Punishment, and 2016's Concussion Protocol.

Chasing Desolation

Chasing Desolation is a rock band based in Los Angeles, California.

The band was founded in the Bay Area, California by guitarist Jimmy Strimpel in 2005. He soon teamed up with singer/ drummer Seth Perez and they began recording and playing shows near their hometown. Eventually, the band went through a long hiatus, while Strimpel played in another project and Perez moved to Los Angeles to immerse himself in the other facets of the music industry. In 2015, the band officially reunited, adding bassist Austin Dunn to the roster.

Lich King

Thrash Metal band is based in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. Originally started as a one-man project by Tom Martin (13) in 2004. The first two albums were released as a solo project posing as an actual band. In 2009 Tom recruited the members of a local thrash act called "Ages Ago" and formed Lich King as a proper band.

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