This Saturday and Sunday, Detroit’s Bell Isle will be taken over by the 2nd Annual incarnation of the Orion Music + More Festival. Metal Insider will be there, giving you frequent updates via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Soundtracking, as well as on the site. To get in the mood for this weekend, we asked some of the bands playing about their thoughts on the festival, the band that’s curating it, and what they’re looking forward to.
Liam Wilson, The Dillinger Escape Plan
Compare playing a festival like Orion to doing an actual tour.
Each and every band on Orion Festival could and does headline their own tour. The sheer number, and caliber of bands playing this fest would take as many tours to equal what happens in one weekend at an Orion Fest. Most tours are hosted indoors, some seated, and set times are typically all after-dark. Outdoor festivals have a totally different vibe with their own set of variables like inclement weather, a setting sun, and temperature – not to mention how much different bands sound outdoors than in. I think my favorite thing about festivals in general is that no band, except for maybe the headliner, really gets to control the production, so pretty much any bands sharing a stage that day are all subject to the same pitfalls, same crew – be they attentive or lazy – and the rest of it. Festival stages level the playing field and really separates the pros from the rookies.
Aside from Metalica, what band are you most looking forward to seeing?
It’s hard to single out a single band, I’m really looking forward to watching Tomahawk, Infectious Grooves and The Bronx.
How did you first discover Metallica?
I discovered Metallica the same way I discovered bands like Mercyful Fate, Slayer and Megadeth – from my grade school best friends’ older brothers and sisters. I remember going to sleepovers as early as 8 years old and hearing “Trapped Under Ice” and just being so blown away by some dark yet satisfying feeling I had never felt before – I think that was my first mystical experience. I had a dubbed cassette of Garage Days and not long after that the “One” video was playing on MTV. …And Justice For All was the first real tape I ever bought with my own money, and “Crash Course In Brain Surgery” was the first song I learned how to play when I picked up the bass at age 12.
