Scion Rock Fest was an annual heavy metal music festival held in various cities throughout the United States. The festival lineups included bands from several genres of metal, such as

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. ...

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use ...

, and experimental metal, and booked headliners that include

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little rad ...

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considered ...

Down Down most often refers to: * Down, the relative direction opposed to up * Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place * Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing * Downland, a ty ...

, and

Sleep Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...

. The festival was produced by Scion's lifestyle marketing brand, Scion AV, and admission was free every year. Live video recordings and band interviews were also released after each fest.

History

Scion Rock Fest was established in 2009 as part of Scion AV's involvement in the metal music genre. The five festivals that occurred since 2009 featured performances from 110 bands from all over North America, Europe, and Asia.

Venues & Lineups

2009

The first Scion Rock Fest took place on Saturday, February 28 in

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

The Masquerade Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to: Events * Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event * Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa * Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...

and an outdoor stage.

2010

Scion Rock Fest 2010 took place on Saturday, March 13 at four venues in

Columbus, OH Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and ...

2011

Scion Rock Fest 2011 took place on Saturday, March 5 at two venues and two outdoor stages in Pomona, CA.

2012

Scion Rock Fest 2012 took place on Saturday, June 2 at four venues in Tampa, FL.

2013

On March 6, 2013, Scion announced that the next festival would take place on June 1, 2013 in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

. The full lineup for the 2013 festival was announced on March 26, 2013. The 2013 festival took place at five venues on Beale Street in Memphis.

2014

The 2014 Scion Rock Fest was announced on March 13, 2014 to take place in Pomona, CA. The full festival lineup was announced on March 25, 2014.

Controversy

In the weeks leading up to the first Scion Rock Fest in 2009, Scion removed Nachtmystium from the lineup due to alleged ties to

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

. The band's first album, ''

Reign of the Malicious Nachtmystium was an American psychedelic black metal band formed by Blake Judd, formerly known as Azentrius, and Pat McCormick. The band's name is derived from the German word '' Nacht'' meaning "night", and the made-up term ''mystium'' which re ...

'', was distributed via the National Socialist Black Metal record label Unholy Records. The band was outspoken about the accusations and denied any true ties to the Nazi movement. Several months before Scion Rock Fest 2012 and before the final lineup had been officially announced, the American

sludge metal Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heav ...

band Eyehategod announced on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

page that they had been banned by

Scion Audio/Visual Scion Audio/Visual, also known as Scion AV, Scion A/V or SA/V, was an in-house record label and "lifestyle marketing" division of the Scion marque produced by Toyota Motor Corporation for the North American market. Along with the rest of the Sc ...

from performing at Scion Rock Fest. Brian Patton, a guitarist in the band, later told ''The Age of Metal'' in a phone interview that

had originally approached the band to perform at the 2012 festival, but later rescinded the offer due to their lyrical content and the religious connotations in the band's name.

External links

References

{{Reflist Heavy metal festivals in the United States