COUNTDOWN TO THE METAL SUCKFEST: RAMMING SPEED’S JONAH LIVINGSTON
The Inaugural Metal Suckfest is almost here!!!! Twenty bands will DESTROY The Gramercy Theatre on November 4 and 5, PLUS there’s an awesome, five-band pre-party at the venue the night before, making this THE can’t-miss hang of the year.
Tickets are on sale now right here, and you can hit up the fest’s official website for more info on the shows, including the complete line-up. In the meantime, we’re counting down to this weekend of chaos and debauchery by speaking to one member from each band on the bill. We continue today with drummer Jonah Livingston of Ramming Speed, whose recently released a new split with A.N.S. via Tankcrimes Records.
Read our chat after the jump. And don’t forget to check back in the coming days and weeks for interviews with more of the musicians participating in this awesome event!!!
What other festivals have you played before, if any?
We’ve had the pleasure of playing Obscene Extreme (Czech Republic), Fluff Fest (Czech Republic), Play Fast or Don’t (Czech Republic), Grind The Nazi Scum Fest (Germany), Fusion Fest (Germany), Trash Fest (the Netherlands), The Fest (Florida), No Thanks Fest (Texas), The Tankcrimes Brainsqueeze (CA) and probably a few others over the years..
What was your best and worst festival experience (as a performer, not as a fan)? You don’t have to name the specific fest if you don’t want, we’re not trying to get you to burn bridges.
Playing Obscene Extreme was both totally amazing and really tough. It was one of the last shows of a two month European tour that we’d done in a super shitty van that barely worked with no driver… our nerves were shot and the day before the fest our van rental company basically took the van away from us to give to a band just arriving from the States, and we were told we had to use a car to get from Germany to the Czech Republic, with as much gear as we could fit. No room for our personal luggage, just a couple backpacks, some merch, guitars, cymbals etc. We got wicked fucking lost (like seven hours in the wrong direction lost) on our way there and MISSED seeing Napalm Death, but, luckily, eventually found our way. When we arrived, we learned that we didn’t have anywhere to stay, and the festival organizers pushed some chairs out of the way so we could crash on the floor of the ticketing booth. It had been raining so we were all wet with no extra clothes… all this at the end of this brutally long tour, and we only had five hours to sleep in the ticketing booth before they had to open the next morning. Eventually we got to play and of course it was all worthwhile, getting to rage in front of eight- or nine-hundred soaking wet grindcore maniacs in POURING rain. I got to do a stick twirl on the jumbo tron, watch Hail of Bullets from the side of the stage, and weird out half of the Terrorizer magazine staff with drunken rambling about being at war and losing my mind. I hope we get to play again some day!
Any tips to fans for having the best possible festival experience?
Bring a straight edge kid to DD so you can get drunk as shit. Also, do uppers.
For people who are too stupid to read the poster, which day is your band playing Suckfest?
We’ll be dicking around on the stage Day 1 (November 4) and most likely in front of the stage Day 2 (November 5).
Can you tell us anything about the set your band is planning for Suckfest?
We haven’t put together a set yet, but I’d expect thirty minutes of grinding, thrashing, fist pumping and air guitaring (from you, not us — we have real guitars). It will probably have songs from all of our records along with a few new ones to be recorded in the winter for a full length.
Which band or bands (besides your own, duh) are you most stoked are gonna be at Suckfest?
Magrudergrind are some of my favorite dudes and such a force to see live, so they’ll definitely be a highlight! Of course Municipal Waste are blast and we haven’t played with them since touring together last year. Dudes in Howl, Red Chord, Rosetta, Fight Amp, and Black Tusk are good buds, so hopefully the re will be time for high fives and beers all round. On the non-friends tip, I haven’t seen God Forbid since 2002 so I’m pretty curious to see if they’ll stand up to how much they killed it in my high school days.
When you were first contacted about appearing at something called “Suckfest,” were you at all concerned that you were being propositioned to appear in a porno movie?
I think we were all kind of bummed that we weren’t being propositioned to appear in a porno movie. It’s worth noting that it would be one of our members’ (pun intended) second time in such a film.
Is it awesome or weird that Axl Rosenberg’s parents are coming to Suckfest?
Mom and dad coming to a gig isn’t too weird, but extra points if they’re moshing!
On a scale of one to ten, one being a freshly douched vagina and ten being your balls at the end of a performance, how badly will the Gramercy Theater reek of B.O. by the end Suckfest?
69
Finally, on how bad is Suckfest gonna suck?
I have a weird tingling feeling it might actually totally rule… I mean… uh.. FEST FLIP, WORST EVAR, METAL SUCKS IS RITE LOL!1
Read other entries in the Countdown to The Metal Suckfest series here.
