Sludge paradise has never been so close. This Friday and Saturday at The Rock will mark the first Southwest Terror Fest, a do-it-yourself festival featuring a bill of extreme and heavy metal acts, both national and local.
While Tucson is fortunate to have a thriving scene of supporters for the kinds of music to be found at Terror Fest, organizer David Rodgers explained that this festival will be the first of its kind in Tucson.
“I come from a local DIY background, so I’ve always been very interested in giving back to the underground scene here,” Rodgers, a member of local sludge band Godhunter, said. “Plus I’m a big fan of Way Out West Fest here in town and festivals like Maryland Deathfest. So when I got together with [co-organizer] Dave Carroll, we were like ‘Why isn’t there something like this for extreme bands in Tucson?’”
With the idea in mind, Rodgers and Carroll set to work, calling up everyone they knew to try and make it happen. The first task was finding a venue.
“One of the main changes we wanted to make to a lot of the models we were inspired by was that we wanted to make it all ages,” says Rodgers. “It’s important to us that we reach the punk-based underground crowd, because that’s where we’re from. Doing that means making it just as open to younger fans as to people our age.”
Rodgers and Carroll were able to secure The Rock, a modest venue within walking distance just south of campus. The organizers worked it out so that they could set up two stages, utilizing the extant stage in The Rock’s main room while converting the venue’s pool room into a stageless performance area mainly for local bands.
“For me the best shows will always be house shows, just playing on the floor of someone’s living room.” Rodgers said, “The second stage is going to be like ‘the house show area’ of the fest, where things are probably going to get a bit heavier. For us it’s keeping the DIY spirit alive in the fest setting.”
Rodgers said that the plan is for Southwest Terror Fest to become an annual staple of the Tucson festival circuit. He’s looking at expanding more in the coming years to accommodate even more groups in the name of scene unity.
“Of course you’ve got to start out a bit small and expand from there,” he said. “But we’re trying to build something here.”
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