The Thunder of Gods Festival took place this last weekend, (May 7-9, 2009).  The festival boasted almost 100 bands, on three stages over four, no, three days and had bands from all over the world including North America and Europe.  The festival was set to be on scale with the big ones that take place in Europe every year and was to include vendors, bands, and all kinds of other cool stuff to do.  All this wrapped up in a cool outdoor campground in Dripping Springs, Texas and you’ve got a pretty awesome event, right?

 Well…  not even close. 

I’ve had the chance to play promoter for a small festival myself a few years back, and during that time I learned a lot about what you shouldn’t do if you want things to go right.  We all learn from our mistakes, and I learned a lot of good lessons that go round.  Our festival was much smaller and only had about 10 bands.  Our headliner cancelled the night before, so even if we wanted to back out, it was too late.  But we still made the best of it.  The remaining bands still showed up and played, and the crowd in attendance, though smaller than anticipated, still had a good time.  We ended up having to pay the bands and the venue out of our own pockets, but we did the best we could, and that’s all I would ask of a promoter if the same was happening to him.

 What happened at Thunder of Gods though was unexcusable.  My band arrived early on the first day to an empty field around 3:00pm.  The event was supposed to kick off around 5:30 or so, but the promoter explained that they had problems with the sound company and had to do some last minute adjusting.  Around 8:00 or so, the first band kicked the show off, and the second stage was in the process of being built.  Shit happens sometimes, but the guy seemed to be trying his best to make the show go on anyway.  Almost three hours late, my band was the first to play the second stage.  Halfway through our set, we watched the PA speakers fall from the stage, and the monitors were only working about half the show, but we kept playing, as if there were 10,000 people in attendance.  Of course our crowd was only about 40 – 50 people strong, and consisted mostly of those from the other bands, but we gave it hell…  and played a damned fine show at the same time.

 We took off that night after midnight and that’s where our personal story ends…  what happened over the next few days was something I never expected.

From word of mouth and from reading the stories that other bands had posted, I learned that the second day of the show had poor attendance and went pretty rough.  The bands were all behind schedule due to poor planning, and the attendance was still much lower than was expected, but they went on.  Bands don’t let shit get them down in situations like this…  they all played like they would any other time.  They made the best of the situation and had a good time.  At least until the next day.

 Our promoter bailed on the festival early Saturday morning, taking all money with him.  From what I understand, the man was extremely worried on Friday that he wasn’t going to be able to pay everyone, but had told the bands they would be paid by check soon afterwards.  The sound company left with all the staging and sound equipment that morning and the festival was cancelled.  Bands from all over were practically stranded with no pay and at least one band had to borrow money just to make it home.  The Austin bands worked hard to soften the blow to everyone though…  two clubs in the city booked some of the bands to help them out and many places along Austin’s 6th street allowed the bands into their clubs with no cover just to help make the best of the situation.  Still, many people lost a lot of money to this promoter.

The biggest issue with this sort of thing is that this promoter, Will Pruett, took off with the bands’ money and from what I hear, even took merchandise from the bands when he bailed.  He wasn’t 100% up front with people about the problems he obviously knew were taking place with the festival.  He didn’t tell anyone that the presale tickets didn’t sell as well as he hoped.  He must have known this in advance anyway, as the tickets came straight from him, and he would have had records of those sales well ahead of the actual show.  No promotion took place in the city of Austin, 30 minutes away from the venue…  nothing at the college or on 6th street to even inform the locals that something cool might be happening.  The only promotion, came from the bands, and a single myspace page with the festival information on it.  He knew well in advance that he wouldn’t have the money to pay everyone, short of a small miracle, but instead, he took it all, and ran.

 From talking with the bands who were screwed over by this whole fiasco, I noticed some pretty cool things.  Most of them would have played the show anyway, and made the best of the situation without getting paid.  Even more of them would have happily taken late pay and played, and a few would have stayed home if the guy bothered to tell them that things weren’t going to plan.  Thunder of Gods could have been something really cool, had it been promoted right, and even still it could have been a good time if the promoter was honest with everyone, but unfortunately, things didn’t go that way.

 I have the upmost respect for all the bands who made the best out of this mess…  a lot of people’s true colors really came out at this event, and it was great to see these groups look out for each other despite the circumstances.  It really goes to show that when it all comes down to it, we’re all musicians, and despite musical tastes and our differences, that we really can work together for the best.  It’s great to see this kind of quality shine through even in the worst of situations.