First Posted: 8/1/2014
If your taste in music leans toward the heavier side of things, then The Pavilion at Montage Mountain is the place to be tomorrow as the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival once again comes to town.
Now in its seventh season, the traveling circus of all things metal and hard rock put together by Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and John Reese will be making its fifth stop at the Scranton amphitheater.
The main-stage action gets underway at 6:30 with a 30-minute set by Trivium, followed by Asking Alexandria at 7:15. The other headliners include Korn, which will play an hour-long set beginning at 8:15, and Avenged Sevenfold, which will wrap things up with a 75-minute set at 9:45.
But the music starts at 1:05 with 16 other bands on three stages, including much buzzed about performances by Miss May I at 3:55, Body Count featuring rapper/actor Ice-T at 5:20 and Cannibal Corpse at 5:45.
Miss May I, a metalcore band from Troy, Ohio, just scored its highest ever Billboard 200 placing when its fourth album “Rise of the Lion” debuted at No. 21 in April.
“(The album’s) very diverse, every song is different,” said lead vocalist Levi Benton in a phone interview. “It is based off letters we received from our fans. All of the artwork is fan generated, too. We can’t respond to all the letters, emails and texts that we get, but this was our way of letting the fans know that we do read everything and this was our way to write back.
“This is our first time out with Mayhem and it’s been a blast,” Benton continued. “It’s definitely one of my favorite tours. I always wanted to see Korn and Cannibal Corpse, and to be on the same tour with Body Count is totally cool. It’s been a pretty crazy ride.”
Body Count is a thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1990 fronted by rapper and actor Ice-T and introduced on the song of the same name from Ice-T’s 1991 solo album “O.G. Original Gangster.” Its self-titled debut was released in 1992 (and initially contained the controversial song “Cop Killer,” which resulted in a public denouncement from President George H.W. Bush and a boycott of its record label Warner Bros.), and the band released just three more albums between 1994 and 2006.
The band recorded an exclusive song for the “Gears of War 3” video game in 2011 (Ice-T also voices the character Griffin) and released its fifth album, “Manslaughter,” in June.
“Mayhem’s been great; a lot of people have been waiting for the band for a long time,” said bassist Vincent Price, who has played with Body Count for 15 years. “Everywhere we go, there are kids wearing Body Count T-shirts or hats.”
Although the band has only played sporadically over the years, Price says it has never broken up or been on a hiatus.
“People think we are making a comeback, but this band has never really gone away,” Price said. “Even though Ice is an actor and does ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ we still find time for the band.”
Cannibal Corpse is a death metal band formed in 1988 in Buffalo, N.Y. Despite never receiving much support from radio, the band has attracted a cult following and has released twelve studio albums, two boxed sets, four video albums and a live album. Album number 13, “A Skeletal Domain,” will be released on Sept. 16.
“Mayhem has been so good. We have been playing to a lot of crowds that I don’t know would have come to see us otherwise,” rhythm guitarist Rob Barrett said.
“We only have a 35-minute set on the tour and we have so many essential songs – the ones our fans want to hear – that we’re not playing any of the new ones,” Barrett said. “We’re sticking to the old stuff.”
IF YOU GO
What: Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival 2014
When: 1:05 p.m. Saturday (main-stage sets begin at 6:30 p.m.)
Where: The Pavilion at Montage Mountain, 1000 Montage Mountain Rd., Scranton
Tickets: $29.50 to $69.50 plus fees
Available: At The Pavilion box office, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-300 or by visiting [www.livenation.com]www.livenation.com
