The rollout and eventual unveiling of this year’s ‘Summer Slaughter Tour’ sparked mixed reactions. After a hiatus and unexpected delays, the lineup was finally revealed late last month. The final announcement regarding bands included Slovian nü-metalcore act Within Destruction officially being announced for the lineup and North Carolina’s nü deathcore band Filth being added to the mix.
The complete lineup for the tour is:
Veil Of Maya (co-headliner)
Brand Of Sacrifice (co-headliner)
Gideon
Left To Suffer
Within Destruction
ten56.
Tallah
Cabal
BRAT
Filth
Founder Ash Avildsen addressed the criticism in an interview with The Punk Rock MBA, discussing his vision for supporting emerging bands and responding to concerns about the lineup’s deviation from past iterations.
“I think — total transparency — I think what happened with the announce, was for anyone that’s seen ‘Game Of Thrones‘. The last episode got a lot of backlash because the second to last episode was so impressive, and climactic and powerful. ‘Dracarys’, and all of the action, and carnage, and drama. So [then] people assumed that the finale was gonna eclipse the second to last episode, and naturally that didn’t happen.
Had it all been one episode it probably would have landed differently with all the fans. I think because the way we teased the comeback of the tour, and showed all the old posters, and all the lore around the tour, and these old lineups; I think a lot of fans assumed because we were returning and everything’s gotta be bigger and better post-COVID… I think kinda everyone had it in their minds there was gonna be some kind of massive lineup with all these big legacy bands. And it’s just not realistic to do tours like that in clubs anymore, unfortunately, because of how expensive it is to tour.
But outside of that, I think everyone was just expecting it’s gonna be so larger than life. And I think I underestimated what the perception of the brand actually meant to people. Because to me, starting the tour was always about, ya know, still having older acts on it. But it was all about elevating the future and helping current younger bands get bigger.”
Regarding the original vision for this year’s lineup, Avildsen stated:
“Truth be told, we looked at a more legacy, larger than life, big lineup when we were first talked about bringing the tour back. I mean we were looking at Suicidal Tendencies, Dying Fetus, Biohazard triple co-headline.”
Host Finn McKenty would go on to mention that that bill sounded ‘expensive’, Avildsen responded:
“It’s tough to take a tour like that in 20-30 cities in a row for a myriad of reasons. All 3 are iconic, timeless bands in their own right. And it got to the point, where we’re trying to see if it was even possible — some bands couldn’t do all the dates. Everyone’s got plans in Europe in the summer. And I just kinda had a heart to heart with everyone involved in the tour. And we’re like ‘dude, we created this tour to help move forward a new era of bands’. Even if we still had Cannibal Corpse and certain older acts headline the tour. I was like, let’s focus on something that is going to do that, and bands that we think have earned the right to be on the top of it.”
When mentioning how the tour would help elevate younger bands in the past, Avildsen added:
“To me it was always like a community-based thing where it’s like, ‘hey, let’s champion these bands this year.’ So this, like the backlash. I think some of it’s because they assume it’s gonna be Cannibal Corpse, and they’re gonna bring back Necrophagist, and Meshuggah is gonna be L.A. and New York, and we’re gonna fuckin reunite the original Morbid Angel…”
Avildsen said, regarding the toxicity online and gatekeeping:
“If you’re let down that we didn’t have a bunch of older bands… I mean, I’m sorry if we let you down, but Veil Of Maya, Brand Of Sacrifice, Gideon, these bands have earned it. They’re fucking great. Give them the opportunity to headline.”
Avildsen would then confirm that he likes seeing bands elevated and grow into headliners, stating:
“I stand by all these bands. If all you ‘Summer Slaughter‘ ledge jumpers aren’t really sure, if you think it’s not worth your time. I stand by these bands we put at the top. If you go to the show and you’re like ‘Veil Of Maya, Brand Of Sacrifice & Gideon didn’t make me feel like I got my money’s worth, email me dude, I’ll PayPal you the money back. These bands are going to deliver man. It’s their time.”
The full lineup runs as follows:
07/12 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Monarch
07/13 Pittsburgh, PA – Mountain View Amphitheatre (no Veil Of Maya/BRAT)
07/14 to be announced on May 20th
07/15 Norfolk, VA – The NorVa
07/17 Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
07/20 Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall (no Veil Of Maya/Brand Of Sacrifice/Gideon)
07/22 Fort Wayne, IN – Piere’s
07/23 Sauget, IL – Pops (no BRAT)
07/25 Houston, TX – Warehouse live
07/26 Dallas, TX – South Side Music Hall
07/27 Austin, TX – The Far Out Lounge
07/28 San Antonio – TX – Aztec Theater
07/30 Phoenix, AZ – The Marquee
07/31 Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
08/01 Riverside, CA – Riverside Municipal Auditorium (no BRAT)
08/03 Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall (no BRAT)
08/05 Chicago, IL – House Of Blues
08/06 Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Complex
08/08 to be announced on May 20th
08/09 Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
08/10 Reading, PA – Reverb
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