Maybe Kerry King is onto something. After saying a few days ago that, “this might be the last time you see Mayhem,” now we have CJ of Thy Art is Murder saying almost the exact same thing. However, CJ seems to suggest that the reason for the lackluster attendance might have to do with the headliners, which is different, of course, than King’s assessment.
In a recent interview with Metal Injection, TJ laid it out:
“Apparently, Mayhem this year is fully shot. All the catering is shot. They have a different catering every day, most days it’s shit. Attendance has been piss poor, man. I’m just trying to spit the facts out. There’s a lot of people walking out towards the end of the night. There’s shit tons of a people for my band but for these massive bands, there are not enough people here for them. And, it’s sad to see.
We come from Australia, and we’re told we’re going to play with King Diamond and Slayer and we’re like ‘this is going to be psycho.’ Look at these venues. You stay until the end of the night, I don’t think they’ll be enough people here to fill the seats. It’s upsetting to see such iconic bands that have been around for 30 years and they’ve what we’re doing and harder, and these guys are the top. Respectfully, they should be having 15,000 people a show. These bands are the reason why bands like ours exist. If it wasn’t for Slayer, they wouldn’t inspire the bands that inspired us. They aren’t getting the crowds and respect that they deserve. There should be ten times more people here to see them. These guys are the best at what they do and I know it’s their home country and I know Americans (and Europeans) are spoiled by tours, especially festival tours, but there is a lot going on. And with the economy now, young people can only do one thing out of those six tours that they want to see. So maybe they are just choosing other tours. But all the people who worked on the Mayhem Fest for this whole time, they’d say the same thing. It’s just a really bad Mayhem.”
Thy Art is Murder released a music video for the title track from their recently released Holy War, which debuted at #43 earlier this month. They’ve got a few more dates on Mayhem (for now at least), and will be doing a five-show headlining tour in Australia this October.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbexfq3WWF4[/youtube]
Thy Art is Murder Mayhem Tour dates:
7/24 Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
7/25 Boston, MA @ Xfinity Center
7/26 Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach
7/29 Atlanta, GA @ Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood
7/31 San Antonio, TX @ Whitewater Amphitheater
8/01 Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
8/02 Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Amphitheater
