First, a toast (and picture #1):
To drinking at 3 in the afternoon and going down memory lane.
Now then, a few things triggered this blog entry, the very first and foremost being that Jay (IcedGuardian) found all his previously lost Heathen Crusade photos and videos and has since uploaded them to Myspace. If you want to see 9 pages of visual documentation, go to his Myspace and check it all out. The second thing that motivated this little typing exercise was the fact that Heathen Crusade is no longer with us with part 3 being the last one. And the third thing motivating me was the fact that I never actually wrote an extensive blog about the festival. It's impossible to review a lot of it cause of lack of memory after 3 years, but for some odd reason I still to this day remember the set-lists of Moonsorrow and Thyrfing, and still have the mental image of Primordial playing the Coffin Ships for the first time in America and Nemtheanga getting a little teary-eyed as he belted out the lyrics. I remember my neck absolutely hurting after The Chasm, my voice half gone after November's Doom.
I LOVED HC 2 and 3 and had an absolute blast at those, but my favorite had to be the first festival in January 2006. When I first started hanging out with Matt back in like 2005 this festival was slowly being announced. For years I always talked about traveling to a metal fest, namely Wacken, but was working at a pizza place and barely netted $250 for a week. So it was always out of the question. However, after a night of many beers (or a string of nights at the Dodger), we actually figured out that we could do this festival. I think I was more shocked then anything that Matt was actually serious about it and not just saying "dude, let's go to this" and balking when it came time to fork over the cash. Moonsorrow and Thyrfing were among my favorite bands at the time as well, so it was a no brainer.
Matt hit the travel arrangements, I paid for my share of the plane ticket, ordered the concert tickets, and took the days off from work. Then the hard part came...waiting till January to fly out.
The night before we flew out of Philly, we all took a trip to NYC to see Sonata Arctica play. We didn't get into Philly again till 4 am, then headed to the airport at 5. After an easy plane ride (it was my first time in a plane), we arrived in Minnesota not knowing at all what to expect. We met up with Maddie (who flew in from LA) and Jay (who took a shuttle bus from Mankato, MN) at the airport and grabbed a taxi. Ironically the first face we saw at the hotel was the festival organizer, John. He welcomed us, we got settled in, and took a nice walk to Burger King afterwards.
Original Blog Post from 2006:
"I'm in Minnesota!!
My
flight got into Minnesota around 10:30 AM for Heathen Metalfest. I'm
using this little computer in the hotel to update for now, probably
check this every day or so to see if any of you sent me anything :P
flight got into Minnesota around 10:30 AM for Heathen Metalfest. I'm
using this little computer in the hotel to update for now, probably
check this every day or so to see if any of you sent me anything :P
Thyrfing just arrived and hopefully (or is that unhopefully) we wind
up with a room near theirs to add to the party. Speaking of, liquor
stores are hard to come by here :( Unless you have a car, which the
closest one of us has in New Jersey right now, 1,000 miles away.
up with a room near theirs to add to the party. Speaking of, liquor
stores are hard to come by here :( Unless you have a car, which the
closest one of us has in New Jersey right now, 1,000 miles away.
Going to Heathen? Look for black leather jackets :P"
We met up with the first of many party mates, Garen and Shannon on the way to Burger King. Took us forever, but after a few hours, we finally tracked down a liquor store and carried it all the way back to the hotel (nobody rented a car and it was at least a mile walk).
All of us walking back to the hotel with alcohol in hand.
We stole a bellhop cart from the hotel and wheeled it up to our room:
Epic return from the liquor store
Naturally, wheeling $150 worth of alcohol through a hotel is bound to attract some attention, and we definitely did just that by running into the members of Thyrfing. Invited them for a few beers, they accepted.
We finally quit after like 4 am. Ironically the hotel only had to call us once all night to keep it down, and that was due to a drunken Manowar singalong. The damage: half a liter of vodka and like 5 beers was all that was left of $150 worth of alcohol. Jagermeister, Captain Morgan's, and Odin knows what else was completely eradicated of it's existence.
The morning after was a hangover and a half. Somehow, I managed to answer the phone at 9 am to a gift of more beer, brought over by a hungover Crusader that couldn't even look at it without getting a bit nauseous. I also felt a sense of accomplishment in the fact that I pounded about 13 beers, a record for me at the time (since broken). Matt was almost dead to the world after consuming about half a bottle of Jagermeister, the rest being punished by Garen and Thyrfing's bass player Kimmy, who didn't really stop drinking until the day of the fest.
The second day we all wound up splitting up, with a trip to the Mall of America for some, and me wandering around the small suburb of Roseland, MN finding a small shopping mall and eventually a Best Buy. The weird looks I got from traffic reminded me that in these parts those folks don't take too kindly to that Devil music, nosireebob. (At the fest ironically they thought there was a biker convention at the supermarket). When we got back the 2nd party was already being prepared. After another long haul to the liquor store to restock, we got underway. Moonsorrow had already arrived and Primordial was on their way. This was also when we realized that the Heathen Crusade festival had booked the entire 3rd floor of this hotel so anyone that wanted to drink only had to wander into the hallway to find like-minded metalheads with beers wide open. Me, Jay, and the members of Primordial grabbed the shuttle to the venue to see a pre show organized by a few local bands. The bands pretty much sucked, but it was an excuse to drink a few pints at the bar attached to the venue.
Me riding an amoeba?
Got back and THIS happened:
Amy vs Maddie
The party was basically moved to the other room we had cause one of our Finnish friends decided to answer the phone "Hail Satan" when hotel security was calling about the noise. We grabbed the party and went post haste to the other corner of the hotel.
Picture time:
We didn't actually pass out that night. We were partying till 6 am with Nemtheanga from Primordial and Kimmy from Thyrfing, much to the horror of the 2nd floor who all wanted to be moved away from the noise.
This was the destruction in the hallway the next morning even after being cleaned once over:
The next morning - Heathen Crusade 2006
The day of the fest we woke up and gathered in the lobby.
This was the original 2006 Blog Post from the 2nd Night:
"Trashed, Lost, and Strung Out
2nd day of Heathen Metalfest. Hungover as fuck. 2 days of drinking with Europeans, my liver is rebelling against me!
We trashed the 2nd room in a row, drank till 6 am, had band members
pass the fuck out in our room and the hallway, and I have a hangover
that even Tylenol won't cure :P
pass the fuck out in our room and the hallway, and I have a hangover
that even Tylenol won't cure :P
Okay, going to the shuttle. Okay bye!"
The venue (which is no longer there) was smack in the middle of a strip mall, with a Mexican grocery store across the street and Chinese buffet next door. It made an awesome side trip while the bands were playing. Missed like half of Typhus because we decided to get some vital carbohydrates to sustain our headbanging energy. November's Doom was awesome, The Chasm was pretty brutal, with a few people traveling from Mexico to see them and showing Minnesota what a circle pit was. The blood shower from Thyrfing stained my arms red for the rest of the fest, Primordial was amazing, and Moonsorrow were absolutely insane.
3rd night of partying, the "official" after party in the venue was cut short because everyone just wanted to come back to the hotel to get wrecked. We crashed Primordial's room, then wound up annoying hotel security to the point where they called the cops, who were horrified to see pieces of shredded bible in the hallways. We had the quiet room at the time, so nobody knocked on our door.
However, here was our aftermath (and NO, I have no fucking clue what I was saying at the end of this video cause I was going on 48 hours awake and wickedly destroyed on alcohol:
Heathen Crusade 2006
The aftermath:
We packed up, said or farewells to our new friends (Hail to thee, Amy Maddie, and Amy!) and headed to the airport...barely cause Matt was so wasted.
I passed right out and slept for a whole day when I got back.
And this was the original blog I posted when I got home:
"I just got in yesterday from Heathen Metalfest in Minnesota. I'm still recovering right now from 72 hours of drinking :P
The bands and fans were all staying at the hotel on the 3rd floor, and
the night of the fest we had both the cops come and hotel security
complain there was like 3-4 noise complaints from every room we moved
the party to
The bands and fans were all staying at the hotel on the 3rd floor, and
the night of the fest we had both the cops come and hotel security
complain there was like 3-4 noise complaints from every room we moved
the party to
:P
The
fest itself was awesome. Thyrfing, Primordial, and Moonsorrow headlined
and all got an hour a piece, completely rocking the place. November's
Doom and the Chasm were the middle bands, and the show was opened by a
few smaller acts like Todesbonden, Typhus, Dumas, Enshrined, and Autumn
Eternal, and the night before featured a local act show with Cold
Colours, Risingfall, and Epicurian. Really was a worthwhile experience,
and not as cold to boot (the weather stuck to being around 30 the whole
time).
fest itself was awesome. Thyrfing, Primordial, and Moonsorrow headlined
and all got an hour a piece, completely rocking the place. November's
Doom and the Chasm were the middle bands, and the show was opened by a
few smaller acts like Todesbonden, Typhus, Dumas, Enshrined, and Autumn
Eternal, and the night before featured a local act show with Cold
Colours, Risingfall, and Epicurian. Really was a worthwhile experience,
and not as cold to boot (the weather stuck to being around 30 the whole
time).
Met a TON of cool people down there, and have a few pictures to upload of the weekend."
The ironic part is it was my friend Talia's birthday when we got back, so a 4th night of drinking was about to happen in Philly. We had built such a tolerance from the fest that my friend, who lives in Finland and can out-drink most guys, was taken to the hospital with alcohol poisoning while me and Matt were perfectly fine the next day. This insane ability to be immune to alcohol would continue until my tolerance dropped a bit due to like a month of not drinking just so I could recover.
Heathen Crusade would be repeated again in 2007 and 2008, cementing it as one of the absolute best festivals to go to in North America. We're hoping beyond hope there's a 4th one to have more adventures at.
Hail to thee!!!
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