From Donington To Download

by Ian Carroll

  Andrea Ferro (Lacuna Coil –Vocals)

  “In 2009 we played on the main stage and that was indeed the full penetration with the full climax! 80,000 people is an unbelievable sight to behold...wow! DT has played thousands of shows and dozens of festivals throughout the years, but I must admit Download is absolutely hands-down one of the coolest highlights of them all!” Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater - Drums)

  “This year’s bill, especially the Sunday, really did hark back to the Monsters Of Rock days. If they carry that on for the next few years, or the foreseeable future, it will be a great success.”

  Ryan Richards (Funeral For A Friend – Drums)

  “The line-up is always stellar, with great bands and we had a good energetic set, like we always do and the UK fans are amazing. We had some technical difficulties up there, but you work through those and give it your best.

  I watched a little bit of Devildriver and I had wanted to see some of ZZ Top and Def Leppard, as I am a fan of old school rock, but our hotel was very far from Donington and our singer (Jamey Jasta) was hosting the Metal Hammer awards on the Monday.”

  Frank Novinec (Hatebreed – Guitar)

  “The second time we played Download it was a lot more relaxed. We were actually in the middle of a European tour and we got to see some of the other bands and hang out with some people that we knew.

  I remember driving out in the van around the racetrack and it was crazy.

  Nothing compared to the first experience of Donington though, that was unreal.”

  Keith Nelson (Buckcherry – Guitar)

  “For us it was our second visit to Europe and it was pretty cool to be invited and to play on the mainstage, which is huge, so it was a good start.

  We were second on the mainstage and the second day, so people are hung-over and hanging around in their tents, so we didn’t know what to expect.

  We got close to the stage and the people were chanting ‘Five Finger Death Punch’ and when we hit the stage there were about 20,000 people already and there were signs everywhere.

  It was like ‘WOW’ because they all knew the lyrics, so people had been downloading alright!! They were chanting the name of our band between every song, so that was really, really welcoming. We felt that if you were approved by this crowd, then we must be doing alright; so that meant a lot to us, we must have been doing pretty good.

  These festivals tend to be like ‘family reunions’ because we know most of the people here, because one way or another we had toured with them. We have met friends from other bands and even the crew, it’s a small world really; somebody who was our roadie last year was somebody else’s this year. We met Dragonforce and we are really good friends with them, they are a lot of fun and it’s always good to see them.

  It was awesome to be invited; Donington is the ‘hot bed’ of rock and metal.”

  Zoltán Báthory (Five Finger Death Punch – Guitar)

  “It was my first time at Download and it can’t be any better than to play the mainstage, with my first solo record out.

  It was a great experience. The day before we did a lot of press and bumping into other bands; it was like a family reunion.

  To hang out backstage there were bands at the ‘top of their game’, from Staind and Motley Crue to Limp Bizkit. Just sitting out in the courtyard was amazing.”

  Tim "Ripper" Owens (Ripper Owens – Vocals)

  “On the way over here Tim was kind of ‘sheepish’ because we were going to be on so early in the morning and I said ‘Dude, it’s the mainstage! Nowhere else can you play on a mainstage at 11am to 20,000 people’. Usually when you are on early in the day you’re not doing very well, but to be at Download on the mainstage, I told Ripper ‘you got walked right to the front of the line’.

  Most bands who had played here had been out working for years, so for me personally, I was proud of Ripper to come in for the first time and to play the mainstage, even the line-up on the second stage was as impressive as the first stage.

  For Tim it was a cool badge of honour to walk onto the mainstage for your first Donington Festival.”

  For me it was a personal triumph to come back and play Donington, as it will always be Donington to me. To stand on that stage and to cherish a new life and to play at 11am; I would never have been up at 11am before!

  Donington for me, the last time, was ‘bitter sweet’ because it was that moment that I had previously made a mess of my life and couldn’t really enjoy it for what it was; so this one I think I will remember a little better, for many years to come.”

  Dave Ellefson (Ripper Owens – Bass)

  “When we played we ‘underlined’; a bit of metal in the morning.”

  Simon Wright (Ripper Owens – Drums)

  “It was my first time at Donington and I had the Donington LP and always made me want to play here, being that Judas Priest was one of my favourite bands.

  It was a great time playing there, a lot of fun.”

  Chris Caffery (Ripper Owens – Guitar)

  “We were totally stoked to open the festival. It’s legendary, we don’t have stuff like this in the US and to play on the day Faith No More reunited was awesome. When I grew up I was 13 when they broke up so I never thought I’d see them. What more could you want?

  Music attracts normal people but also people who are attracted to the lifestyle – or the one they think we lead. When you bring someone backstage they’re always like, ‘is that it?!’ cause it’s not nearly as cool as they think it is. I actually think it’s bad for them. It’s fun, I can’t ask for a better life cause I get to travel and do what I do artistically for a living but there’s not girls in booty shorts dancing around on poles. Some places you’ll run into some whacky shit but not here yet. I’m more interested in what’s happening in the camp grounds than being backstage. Johnny 3 Tears (Hollywood Undead – Vocals)

  “It was our first ever Download experience playing; we played the mainstage and it was awesome.

  We had a sizeable crowd, I’m normally good with numbers, but there was at least 15 people watching us.

  It was good to play, we did a medley of songs; we did one of our songs and went into a Korn song, a Limp Bizkit song and then into Faith No More song.

  We had a blast and it was good fun and we hope that we come back, because it was one of the best festival line-ups that I have ever seen. If they could beat the line-up in 2010, then fair play to them.

  It was a year of the reunion, with Faith No More and Limp Bizkit; I remember seeing Wes backstage all painted up! Completely painted black, with a big feather Mohawk, like a horse; like you do.

  Our dressing room was next to Motley Crue. Our drummer is a big Motley Crue fan, with a tattoo and when he found out where our dressing room was he shit himself.

  We were probably ‘too gay’ to have played the festival before, but it was good to be asked to do it. I met Andy Copping and he was dressed as a cowboy; I’m not sure if he does that everyday or just for the festival? No jeans and ‘buttless chaps’ for him next year?”

  Sean Smith (The Blackout – Vocals)

  “It was the first time that we were actually lucky enough to participate.

  It’s such an historical place, in the world of rock; you’d had so many things like Monsters Of Rock in the same sort of area or compound.

  The line-up covered all sorts of music. You had Slipknot, probably one of the most successful rock acts of the last 10 years. Then Def Leppard, Whitesnake and ZZ Top who were proper classic rock bands. I was also very excited to see ‘Journey Idol’, who were on before Dream Theater.

  It was a good show, a lot of fun. Our monitor mix was a bit slap-dash, I had some strange noises; I had a burger van from down the road in my wedge.

  Hopefully, we will come back and play again. We are thinking about having another day and instead of calling it Download we’re thinking of calling it Blackout and we will play for 12 hours, so you wouldn’t have to go to work; but we may play for as long as we want,
which may be 10 minutes or 12 hours.”

  James Davies (The Blackout – Guitar)

  “It was the first time that I had been to Download and it was awesome; I was usually a ‘Reading Festival boy’. In a way rock has come back into fashion again.

  When we turned up it was a field, pretty big; but when we saw all the people fill it it was like wow, I didn’t think it was that big! I loved all the bands, but the one I really wanted to see was Faith No More, a big influence on our band.” Rhys Lewis (The Blackout – Bass)

  “We played this year and it was awesome as usual, it’s always good. It’s Donington Park, so it’s good to be a part of it.”

  Oliver Sykes (Bring Me The Horizon – Vocals)

  “It’s always fun playing Download. We always have the odd heckler, but we always go out and have a good time at Download and it’s a good laugh. The same goes for the rest of the weekend, if we stick around, we always have a good time and see people we know there; it’s guaranteed to be a good time.

  I watched Meshuggah; they were ‘super tight’ and they sound like machines. I also saw a bit of Korn, Limp Bizkit and Sylosis.

  I enjoy it; every time we play it it’s good, so hopefully we’ll get to do it again.”

  Matt Nicholls (Bring Me The Horizon – Drums)

  “I’ve since returned to play Download with my current band, Bring Me The Horizon which was another amazing show for me.

  From a bands perspective, Download is like a big annual party; you get to catch up with heaps of friends and bands you haven’t seen or toured with in ages, there’s always something going down in the backstage bar, those who drink can get pissed up and hang out and those who don’t can hang out, watch and laugh at those getting pissed up. From a fan's perspective (myself included) it’s a great opportunity to see a handful of your favourite bands all at once. I saw Meshuggah, one of my favourite bands, for the first time at 2009 Download, got to see and hang out with my long time friends from back home in Australia - Parkway Drive, and met idol's such as Tony Iommi all in the same day!!

  I don’t like to make fun of our fans because I’m always grateful that they’re the main reason I get to live this amazing lifestyle and play these insane concerts such as Download; but I will say this, there are some freaks in the crowd at that fest and one of my favourite pass-times is just walking around and people watching!

  I’m greatly looking forward to the next time I get to rock Download!”

  Jona Weinhofen (Bring Me The Horizon – Guitar)

  “There were a lot of people in the crowd who I bet had never seen or heard of us before, but it was great to see that there were some of them who were really watching our show intently.

  It has been a great honour to play this prestigious festival, and my sincerest thanks go out to all the people who brought us here. We definitely hope to come back again to Download in the future!

  Being backstage was a blast; I bumped into Motley Crue's Nicky Sixx and met with Jonathan Davis who I've not seen since Family Values 2006 when we toured together. I also got to meet so many other bands and it was just as

  fun backstage as it was watching the bands play all day long.

  The weather was also simply terrific that day. I was under the blazing sun

  while we were doing press. It's been 3 years since I had sunburn which was bad as it hurt a lot in the shower for the next few days!"

  Die (Dir En Grey – Guitar)

  “I didn’t have much time to check around as we had many interviews, but the day was amazing. It’s a huge festival, very exciting and it had been 10 years since we had been in England; I think that the last time was in ’99, if I remember well. But I promised that we wouldn’t take another 10 years to come back though!

  There are always a lot of metal bands and there are always bands that you want to see. So you come to the festival and realise that they are on the line-up, like Meshuggah, so it’s great for the bands also and not just for the public.

  Our friends Faith No More played; we toured with them and Soundgarden in 1990, so I was really excited to see those guys again for sure.

  We had to leave the day after we played to go to another festival, but we arrived the day before we played, straight from Montreal, a little jet-lagged. We had played Sweden Rocks the week before and then flew back to Montreal and then came back to Download, so it was a lot of flying.

  It’s often the case when you agree to do the ‘festival circuit’; but it’s better for Voivod that we do the ‘festival circuit’ rather than do our own tour in clubs because we are pretty underground, but to play festivals you get to play in front of so many people and we sell a bit of merch, it’s a very good scenario. The pay is also very good at festivals and better than playing in little clubs. Quite often we tour and we come back, but we don’t make much money; but if we spend the summer playing festivals we are actually making a pretty good pay. We tend to get paid between 5,000 and 15,000 Euros per festival, so if we bring along one tech, we make pretty good money.

  You try to have about 20-25 festivals, but now that people know that Voivod are back on the scene we are getting lots of calls from promoters; so next year (2010) we are hoping to book 50 festivals.

  We were told the camping sold out in 2009, so people are really going for it. It’s a very amazing festival and I didn’t think that we would ever get to play there, so I was pretty proud.”

  Michel "Away" Langevin (Voivod – Drums)

  "Being from the states I had only heard references to Download Festival but the Monsters of Rock title travelled pretty far and was something I had always hoped I would get to be a part of.

  Download '09 was my first Real Rock festival where all the bands were heavy and good. A lot of festivals in Europe are such a mix of styles so it was fun to be a part of something that was so exclusively heavy.

  I'm a huge fan of Corrosion of Conformity, Pantera and Down so this was the first festival where I actually went out into the trenches and checked out all of Down's set. It was at around 2pm so I fried in the sun and fought off the hammered punters to do it! They were fucking great, the way it's supposed to be done. Phil and Pepper came to hang with Chris Cornell before our set at our dressing room so it was rad to get to hang with those dudes.

  We also hung with Anvil, whose show I also caught, and they slayed. Anselmo even sang back-ups on a few jams as he's a fan as well! Great to see those guys still rocking as they were at it before most of us! Caught a bit of Slipknot as well and hung side stage for some of Manson but he was throwing his mike more than singing into it so we bailed!

  It's great to play such a momentous festival and know you rocked and did your part. It was rad to look out and know the crowd was totally with us during our show, to have the best photographers documenting and have some of your metal heroes watching you from side stage!"

  Jason Sutter (Chris Cornell Band – Drums)

  “I went this year as a punter to hang out for a couple of days and watched some Faith No More, which was great. They have the greatest up there; I went to 2 festivals in 2009 and it was much better at Donington than ‘P In The Bin’.”

  Rick McMurray (Ash – Drums)

  “A lot of women in America shave their vaginas on a regular basis and we hadn’t had any oportunity to see any vagina yet, because we arrived the night before and had been partying; so we were looking forward to the aftershow party.

  I ran into David Coverdale, I actually ran into him and he fell, it was weird; I tried to help him up. Heavy Metal is killer, David Coverdale and Whitsnake are a pretty sexy band.

  This was our first time taking the jump over the pond and we were so excited to be there.”

  Michael Starr (Steel Panther – Vocals)

  “American Audiences, since we live in LA, are able to see our shows, as they are a lot closer than people that live in England.”

  Lexxi Foxxx (Steel Panther – Bass)

  “I think that Steel Panther fits in anywhere that we can, it make just ta
ke a little while.”

  Stix Zadinia (Steel Panther – Drums)

  “We appreciate what Whitesnake have done for music and what we are trying to do here is bring the style of heavy metal that those guys made popular 25, 26, 35 years ago, we’re gonna make it popular again. Those guys look killer still, they’ve got bitchin’ hair, bitchin’ pants and that’s what we do.

  We focus on the look first, we pride ourselves as a band on how we look more than anything; the music is always secondary with us.

  All the fucking record labels are a bunch of fucking pussies, even our label and I will fight anybody at Universal and I will kick their fuckin’ asses; I’m just kidding, I like our label and they are awesome. I love Universal and they are my favourite label.”

  Satchel (Steel Panther – Guitar)

  “Hanging out with Slipknot and being friends with them and being able to kick it; it was awesome. We did a summer tour with them in the States and at one point in my life I didn’t like that band, but now they’re one of my favourite bands; as far as their onstage presence and their music goes.

  We landed Thursday night and got to Donington Friday morning. We hung out all Friday and Saturday and played on Sunday. We did a few interviews on Saturday and we did ‘walkarounds’, where we went out and talked to people in the audience.

  I was smoking a joint and Tommy Lee walked by with six ‘hot ass bitches’; dude that’s fucking rock ‘n’ roll right there.”

  Mitch Lucker (Suicide Silence – Vocals)

  “I was there all weekend long and watched all kinds of ‘bad ass bands’, some that I hadn’t seen for years and some that I thought I would never get to see again, like Limp Bizkit; that was fucking crazy.

  We played at 12:30pm on the Sunday on the 2nd stage; there was a good breeze, so it wasn’t too hot and everybody was just having a good time.