Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz says the Mayhem festival might have been more successful if organisers had booked a bigger headline act than Slayer.
Co-creator John Reese stated earlier this month that the touring festival had now come to an end after eight years as a result of a war of words between his colleague Kevin Lyman and Slayer’s Kerry King. Lyman blamed “old, fat and bald” metal acts for ruining the genre’s reputation.
Cannibal Corpse played the event last year and Mazurkiewicz says there was a notable difference between the lineups.
Mazurkiewicz tells Metal Shop: “It just looks like this year it wasn’t strong enough to play to the masses. In the United States, metal is very big, but I think having a band like Slayer headline Mayhem may not have been the greatest idea. For us, it’s great – Slayer are our idols and our kings – so for them to headline Mayhem is amazing. But in the scheme of popularity and record sales, it was a downsize in a way.
“When we played it, we were with Avenged Sevenfold headlining, and they are a huge band in America right now, so for that reason alone there should be more people coming to the show. There was Korn, as well, and you a great whole second stage.”
He adds: “It was downsized this year and I think that was the big downfall. If they had a bigger band to headline then maybe it would have been more successful.”
The drummer ponders the future of US festivals as a result of the fallout from Mayhem.
Mazurkiewicz says: “Most of things that happen during the summer are things like the Warped tour or Mayhem, where they’re travelling festivals that play every day in a different city.
“It would be cool to have the weekend festivals. They work in Europe very well. It is kind of weird that the United States hasn’t gone that route yet, where you’re having weekend festivals. I don’t know why they don’t do that but it seems like it would be a good idea.”
Cannibal Corpse will launch a US headlining tour with Cattle Decapitation and Soreption in October.
The band’s latest album is 2014’s A Skeletal Domain.
