Murderfest
http://www.texasmurderfest.com
With: Tobin
Interview by Eliot
Tobin is putting together a huge metal/hardcore/grind fest in Texas called Murderfest that is going on September 11th and 12th. I interviewed him through AIM.
First lets start off with a little about yourself and where your from.
My name is Tobin Eugene Anthony and I am from Houston, Texas.
Is this the first year you have put on anything of this magnitude? I take it from the size of this you're already experienced in booking.
I work for Upskirt Productions which is a booking/promotion agency and hope to someday make it a record label. I am really involved with hardcore, metal, death metal and other styles of music around the Houston area and nation wide.
So this isn't a brand new thing for you by any means? Is this your biggest show yet?
Umm well my very first show that I booked was with Every Time I Die, Burnt By The Sun, It Dies Today, Kid Gorgeous, The Dillinger Escape Plan, God Forbid, Asherah and Found Dead Hanging. But with this many amazing bands, yes, this is my first time to do something of this magnitude.
I am pretty experienced as well, I am 17 years old and have been booking since I was 15.
How have your experiences with booking been so far? How do the bands treat you in general?
I have made a lot of new friends from all over the world, because I will be booking the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, some of Europe and maybe Japan in the upcoming months. I always have bands stay at my house and we always have a blast. I have learned to manage and promote like no other and have realized that I want to major in Business Management and Advertising when I get older. The bands treat me really nice, even if I do mess up or am not able to pay them their guarantee. Upskirt is not like other big booking agencies where they will just book shows/tours for big bands. We will book shows and tours for everyone, considering that you're tour material.
All of this already at 17 is a huge accomplishment. What made you realize that this is what you wanted to do with your life?
Umm well I first started off as the manager of my friend's local band, I was more like the guy who booked/promoted their shows and handled money, it was all cool. I made them the most well known act in Texas by their third show and they hadn't played outside of Houston, and Texas is effin' huge. One thing that made me really want to get into booking was to get good shows coming through Houston and to give the local bands a chance to play with big acts. I hate how big agencies sometimes won't let locals jump on the big shows, so I will usually add on 2-3 locals to every show I get. What I really want to do in life is have my own record label and have my office set up as a record label, clothes/record store, venue, salon, skate park, tattoo and piercing shop (this would be like a K-Mart size building). Also owning my own venue, I won't have to rent out a venue, just pay a really high electric bill. I am really good at booking and I love managing shows and promoting/working with bands, I guess that is the main reason.
Which were some of the hardest bands to get for this year's fest? Are there any specific bands you couldn't get that you really wanted?
Well here is who we had at one time, but some stuff went down that I don't feel like explaining. Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Shadows Fall, Hatebreed, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Zao, Motorhead, God Forbid, Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Bleeding Through, Between the Buried and Me, Martyr AD, Converge, Deicide and I think The Red Chord. I am not totally 100% sure who was the hardest to get... from the bands that are on the fest, probably Dying Fetus or Suffocation just because they took the longest to get. Relapse called Mike (my boss) up and offered him Suffocation, Cephalic Carnage, Dying Fetus and Macabre.
That's insane. The line up you have got is still amazing in my opinion however. Are you satifised with the line up in general?
Kind of. See, I joined Upskirt Productions after they had it going, but there still wasn't that many bands. Jarron, former partner, was doing the third stage and there are a lot of bands on there that I do not care for. I am the one who added Annihilates the Body, Shed for You and Silence After Tragedy to the third stage. I will be doing the third stage for next year's Texas Murderfest. I am already jizzing my trousers. My boss is a big death metal guy as you can tell by the line up and I like a lot of metal/death metal/grind/noise/hardcore/metalcore and I mean when you add all these genres together you can make one amazing fest. Some of the bands on the fest I do not care for, but that is okay. Some of them I have never seen live so my opinion will probably change after next week.
I am so happy that we got 3 of the 5 biggest death metal bands around today on the fest. Well, they're the 3 of the 5 biggest in my opinion. Those bands would be Suffocation, Dying Fetus and Six Feet Under.
What are your favorite bands personally?
I listen to a lot of bands, but here are some (might be a lot): The James Dean Trio, Rage Against The Machine, Dying Fetus, Nehemiah, Through The Eyes Of The Dead, Zao, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, Unearth, The Red Chord, From A Second Story Window, Bodies In The Gears of the Apparatus, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, At The Gates, Psyopus, All Shall Perish, Ion Dissonance, As The Sun Sets, Heaven Shall Burn, Katalyzm, The Dillinger Escape Plan, With All Sincerity, Into The Moat, A Thousand Falling Skies, The Autumn Offering and a lot of others... sorry if that's too many. [Laughs]
That's fine. Are you in a band currently or do you hope to be in one someday?
I am the vocalist for Vows of Creation and Assemble the Machine. Both bands are brand new projects but I hope they go somewhere in the future.
Thanks for the interview, is there anything you would want to say to anyone reading this who might be planning on attending Murderfest or is hoping to book bands themselves?
Yeah, you should go to Texas Murderfest or, as Arnold would say, "you're a girly man." Everyone attending the fest is awesome and I am very happy that you're coming. I know that a lot of people from Cali, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, North Aarolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and New Jersey are coming out to the fest. For anyone who is booking shows or wanting to book shows here is some advice:
1) Don't be scared of the bands, they're not God
2) Get to know bands and venues around your area first
3) Just move up the ladder gradually with size of shows
4) Treat all bands and venues with respect
5) Treat your hometown bands with respect and do not talk down on local bands
6) Book shows for everyone and go by this phrase that from A Second Story Window: "KILL THE ROCK STAR"
7) Listen to Beauty in Chaos [Laughs]. they're cool guys*
8) JUST HAVE SOME FUCKING FUN
*Editor's note: Beauty in Chaos is my (Eliot) band. I didn't put that line in. Tobin really said it.
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