DANZIG, MINISTRY, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, ATREYU, C.O.C., Others Confirmed For 'Blackest Of The Black' Festival

DANZIG and MINISTRY are confirmed to perform at this year’s edition of the “Blackest Of The Black” festival, set to take place May 26-27 at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado, California. The two-day event will feature over twenty bands and over twenty “evil attractions.”

The full lineup of this year’s “Blackest Of The Black” was revealed by the event’s curator, Glenn Danzig, during an appearance on tonight’s (Sunday, March 26) edition of “Whiplash”, the KLOS radio show hosted by Full Metal Jackie. The veteran rocker, who has been at the forefront of the hardcore/dark metal movement for more than 35 years, created this metal tour in 2003 as a way to showcase some of the darkest metal outfits that were getting attention commercially but not critically, leading to some hardcore metal bands reaching mainstream success.

The 2017 edition of the “Blackest Of The Black” festival will feature performances by the following bands:

DANZIG
MINISTRY
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
ATREYU
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
VAMPS
MARDUK
SUICIDE SILENCE
VENOM
DEVILDRIVER
FEAR FACTORY
BELPHEGOR
DISCHARGE
COMBICHRIST
BUTCHER BABIES
3TEETH
GHOUL
RITUAL

According to Glenn, this year’s festival will be a much grander experience than in previous years and much closer to the way he envisioned it at the event’s inception nearly a decade and a half ago.

“This year we’re finally upping the ante,” Danzig told Full Metal Jackie. “We’re doing it with a couple of partners now that have come in, and we’re doing it the way I’ve always wanted to do it, which we’ve been building to, so now it’s a two-day fest. It’s not just bands. You’re gonna get a ton of other stuff. There’s gonna be rides. I got to pick the rides. We’re gonna have Hell Hole, we’re gonna have Spider. There’s gonna be Lucha Underground wrestling there, with all the darker wrestlers. There’s gonna be camping overnight if you stay from Friday to Saturday. The plan is to have a haunted drive-in with tombstones. You can just put your sleeping bag there and watch schlocky horror movies until you pass out. It’s gonna be a whole thing. There’s a ‘Castle Danzig’ you can go in. It’s kind of like a horror funhouse, but not so… Like, there’s a blood tub with one of my Veronik characters in the blood tub. And then there’s gonna be exhibits and different things. So it’s more of an experience.”

He added: “Originally [‘Blackest Of The Black’] started out in 2003 as two shows — one in Phoenix at the Mesa Amphitheater and, of course, one at the now-defunct Universal Ampthitheater. And my whole idea originally was to have it kind of like this, but getting that support from a lot of people who didn’t really believe in it in the beginning was tough, and now, finally, after all these years, people are ready to take a chance on it. There’s nothing like it.”

Regarding his decision to incorporate wrestling into the event, Danzig said: “Anyone who knows me knows I’m a lifelong wrestling fan. And, of course, I love lucha wrestling. One of my favorite wrestlers is Blue Demon. We couldn’t get Blue Demon, but we’re gonna have Lucha Underground come in and a lot of their darker wrestlers are gonna be wrestling, like Mil Muertes and Pentagon Dark and Drago and Son Of Havoc. It’s gonna be cool. So you’re gonna get more than just bands. You’re gonna get to see some lucha wrestling. It’s great.”

If this year’s “Blackest Of The Black” does well, there are tentative plans for the festival to go even bigger next time around.

“Well, of course, the challenge is making it a reality,” Danzig explained. “Going from your imagination to making it happen and seeing if you can make it happen. There are things, obviously, we’d love to do that we just can’t make happen — we’d need a bigger budget — but maybe in the future. If this is a real big success, I know we’ve already got plans for next year. And if what we have planned for next year actually happens, it’s gonna be awesome.”

Danzig went on to say that part of his original inspiration for “Blackest Of The Black” was the fact that “in Europe, they have lots of festivals like this and we don’t. And a lot of these bands you won’t see on a mainstream festival, so this is gonna be a game changer, especially if it’s a big success, which we’re hoping it will be. And you’re gonna get to see predominantly metal bands.”

Glenn had one final message for anyone thinking about attending this year’s “Blackest Of The Black”: “People have always complained there’s nothing to do Memorial Day weekend. Well, now you’ve got something to do. So definitely come out and support it.”

The official “Blackest Of The Black” 2017 announcement is expected tomorrow morning (Monday, March 27).