Hellfest: Американский музыкальный фестиваль

American music festival

Hellfest was an American all ages music festival that existed between 1997 and 2005. The festival showcased hardcore music in its broadest sense, including punk rock, metalcore, emo, post hardcore and more. It originated in Central New York, in and around Syracuse, but eventually relocated to Central New Jersey during its final years. Hellfest was known for its fan friendly atmosphere, including a lack of barriers that provided easy access to the stage for stage diving and sing alongs. It also encouraged social awareness through workshops that discussed such causes as animal rights, LGBTQ and politics, with many of its bands and attendees following straight edge and/or vegetarian or vegan lifestyles. Not unlike many festivals of its size, Hellfest encountered several problems, notably the changing venues mere days before starting. This was the case for 1999's Syracuse Hell Fest 99, 2000's Hellfest 2K, 2001's Hellfest 2001 and 2005's Hellfest '05. The relocation caused an entire day to be missed of the 2000 edition, while the 2005 edition was cancelled altogether. The considerable financial dilemma that resulted from the 2005 event's cancellation led to the termination of the festival.

Co promoter Josh Grabelle, who was also a sponsor of the festival through his record label Trustkill Records, claimed in 2001 that the event was named Hellfest because "This festival has always been the first weekend in July and it is always extremely HOT, hence, the reference to the blazing inferno known as Hell". This explanation, though inaccurate, has since become de facto, even though Grabelle was not involved with the early years of the festival. The factual reason behind the naming of the festival was linked to founding promoter Keith Allen's concert booking agency, Hardcore As Hell. Allen and his partner Ryan Canavan had been booking and promoting concerts in the Syracuse, New York area since 1996. For Hellfest 2004, Allen relocated the festival from New York to New Jersey, forming a new partnership corporation. Paper Street Music Co. LLC was co founded by Allen and Shawn Van Der Poel and was based in Mount Holly, New Jersey. They copromoted 2004 Hellfest with Heath Miller and Excess dB Entertainment at Rexplex in Elizabeth, NJ.

Location: Hungry Charley's, 727 South Crouse Avenue, Syracuse, New York.

Location: New York State Fairgrounds, 581 State Fair Boulevard, Syracuse, New York.

Location: New York State Fairgrounds, 581 State Fair Boulevard, Syracuse, New York / Planet 505, 505 Westcott Street, Syracuse, New York.

Location: RexPlex, 2 Ikea Drive, Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Location: Sovereign Bank Arena, 81 Hamilton Avenue, Trenton, New Jersey.

In 2004, Hellfest sponsored an official battle of the bands contests, both nationally and in Central New Jersey, giving the chance to unsigned bands the opportunity of playing the festival's stages. New Jersey bands were required to enter the local competition organized by concert promoter Excess dB Entertainment, while national acts could apply through //radiotakover's competition.

The Excess dB Entertainment Battle of the Bands contest offered a total of fifteen prizes: nine Hellfest playing slots for first place winners and six Excess dB Entertainment concert playing slots for second and third place winners. The competition was held over three days, two at Club Krome in Sayreville, New Jersey, and one at Cricket Club in Irvington, New Jersey. Five winners were picked at the end of each event by a selection of judges from the New Jersey hardcore community. The bands Endwell, Malice Aforethought, Flat Earth Society, Nothing Left to Mourn, The Dead Season, Breath of Silence, Sycamore Dreams, Nag Hamadi and Starting to Wonder all won first place and played at Hellfest 2004. Endwell, Nothing Left to Mourn, Breath of Silence and Sycamore Dreams played on the Hot Topic Stage, while Malice Aforethought, Flat Earth Society, The Dead Season, Nag Hamadi and Starting to Wonder played on the Dinosaur Stage.

The //radiotakeover Battle of the Bands contest was sponsored by Hot Topic, Revolver, Hopeless Records and Trustkill Records. Instead of hosting live shows and judging the bands by their live performances, this Battle of the Bands was hosted digitally with artists submitting pre recorded songs to //radiotakover's website using a user based voting system. The eleven top voted bands were selected on June 21, 2004, and presented to a judging panel of industry professionals (likely the same judges from Excess dB Entertainment's Battle of the Bands). The judging panel had four days to select the winners, based on a single song, which were scheduled to be announced on Friday, June 25, 2004, but was delayed to Monday, June 28, 2004. The Grand Prize winner was given a slot on Hellfest's main stage, accommodations and expenses for the weekend of the event, as well as inclusion on the documentary DVD scheduled to be released by HighRoller Studios (which was ultimately shelved). First Prize winners received slots on Hellfest's Hot Topic stage, free passes to attend the event and free Hellfest merchandise, but were required to provide their own accommodations.

Hellfest Syracuse, NY Summer 2000: The Official Documentary was the first officially released video recording of 2000's Hellfest 2K. It was released on VHS and DVD by Trustkill Records on June 12, 2001, and features live footage, interviews, commentaries by fifteen bands, the majority of which were already signed to Trustkill Records.

Credits are adapted from the VHS/DVD's liner notes.