COUNTDOWN TO THE METAL SUCKFEST: FIGHT AMP’S MIKE McGINNIS
photo by Francois Carl Duguay
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 legendary guitarist/vocalist Mike McGinnis of Fight Amp, who released a split, Lose Lose Lose, with Kowloon Walled City and Ladder Devils on Brutal Panda Records last year.
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 played Dude Fest, MacRock a couple times, CMJ, SXSW a couple times, and a whole slew of smaller fests throughout the country.
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.
The best was probably SXSW. We played a kickoff show for the festival at Red 7 at the Naked Raygun reunion. The lineup was killer. Aside from us and NR, it was Municipal Waste, Iron Lung, Shotbaker, and a few more. Had about a thousand people there and tons of friends, good time for sure. The breakfast tacos and Tecate the next day topped it off of course.
The worst… ha, we’ve played a handful of shitty ones for sure. Played one in Baltimore that we’ll leave unnamed with about twenty bands that all played to each other and the bartenders. Had a decent lineup and all, I think the promotion just didn’t happen.
Any tips to fans for having the best possible festival experience?
Be sure to buy Fight Amp lots of drinks and you’ll have a great time.
For people who are too stupid to read the poster, which day is your band playing Suckfest?
Day 2, Saturday, November 5th.
Can you tell us anything about the set your band is planning for Suckfest?
Not 100% sure as we’re writing this from the road on the Weedeater tour and haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but we’ll probably be playing a new song or two for the first time.
Which band or bands (besides your own, duh) are you most stoked are gonna be at Suckfest?
We’re going to be doing a few dates with A Life Once Lost and Rosetta leading up to the fest, so we’re stoked to be there with those guys. Psyched to see and hang out with our friends in Black Tusk and Municipal Waste. And we’ve never seen Today Is The Day live, and we’re stoked on them, too. A lot of bands we haven’t seen before, too, so we’re pretty excited to see ’em all.
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?
Nah, we’re already familiar with MetalSucks. But if it were called “Fuckfest,” we may have questioned it.
Is it awesome or weird that Axl Rosenberg’s parents are coming to Suckfest?
That’s awesome, our parents come party at our shows when we play locally. Hopefully they like cheap whiskey.
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?
5.5 – mild case of swamp ass.
Finally, on how bad is Suckfest gonna suck?
Well, Fight Amp was invited to play, so we just may stink up the joint enough to make this thing suck pretty badly.
Read other entries in the Countdown to The Metal Suckfest series here.
