LOS ANGELES MURDERFEST's DANIEL DISMAL Talks Heavy Metal

Liz Ohanesian of LA Weekly recently conducted an interview with Daniel Dismal of Church of the 8th Day, organizers of the Los Angeles Murderfest. The fifth annual event is scheduled to take place May 9-10, 2009 at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

LA Weekly: What are your thoughts on the metal scene in Los Angeles?

Dismal: I think that for a while, we were all seeing it die a little bit...I don't think anyone saw a reason to put on a metal fest out here. I think that right now it's really strong and that's why it's easy to do stuff. Well, it's not easy, it takes a lot of work, but it's easier to put on a fest out here and get people to come out. The second one was really slow. I lost a lot of money, close to ten grand. The third one did really well and the fourth one did even better. This year, it seems like this one is going to do even better because the metal scene keeps getting stronger. There are a lot of young kids, plus a lot of the old school people are starting to come out of the woodwork because so many bands are touring right now.

LA Weekly: You have some pretty major bands from the genre booked, like EYEHATEGOD. Does it take a lot of time to get these bands?

Dismal: EYEHATEGOD I had been after for about three years. It kind of fell into place, this year seemed to be the right time for them. Even smaller bands, like the guys in DESPISE YOU, I was trying to get those guys to reunite for over three years and finally on the third [Murderfest], they reunited. Now they're playing all the time. All of the bands where they are reuniting, that takes a lot of work. It's mostly a lot of reassurance on my part that it will be more than worth it for them. A lot of these bands, they're not in it for the money, but the money needs to be there. We need to make sure that they understand that they are going to get paid, that they aren't going to get ripped off and that it's going to be worth it, that kids are going to be there and it's going to be fun. I think it's easier now to find the bands just because it's been five years in a row. I can tell people, "Hey, I'm not fucking around."

LA Weekly: How long is the process for putting together Murderfest?

Dismal: It takes about a year and one month to put together. It takes about seven months of booking and finding the bands and then about three months of promotion and sending out the money. The last month is flights, hotel pick-ups, all the things that need to be taken care of. It's only me and my partner Jordan putting all of this together. So, it's two people taking care of fifty bands. If you do the multiplication, that's a lot of people. It's just me and my partner Jordan, but on the day of the festival, we have another friend of ours that we hire to drive. Then we hire stagehands. We hire from within the scene. We hire friends that we know like the music, that aren't going to be like "I have to go to this night and listen to all this loud music." We hire people who are excited about the music.

Read the entire interview from LA Weekly.