Five years ago today, Mark Shelton died. We honour him today with an interview in which Vidarr from Legendry looks back on the past Stormbringer Metal Festival.

André: Where are you from? And how long did you travel to get to the festival location? Was it your first time there?

Vidarr: Legendry is all within about an hour of Pittsburgh, PA. The drive was around 11 hours for us. It made more sense to make the journey by car due to flight costs being so high, and also so that we could bring the merch we wanted to bring. Both Arcane Hammer and I are now using double neck instruments, so flying with them is not the easiest thing to do! This was our first time playing in the New England area.  We have some friends who live in the area who have been trying to get us to play up there, so it was great to finally get to make that happen.

André: Which bands were your highlights at this year’s Stormbringer?

Vidarr: It was great to finally see our friends in Knight and Gallow, Throne of Iron, Ryghär and Chamber Mage, along with Sölicitör, Destructor, and of course Visigoth. Really, the lineup was so stacked, it was all great, I didn’t miss a band! The real highlight for me was getting to hang out with the bands and fans all weekend. We are all spread out across the country, so being in one place for a while is something I do not take for granted.

André: How did you experience your own performance?

Vidarr: The sound from the monitors on stage was not the best. I think they were having trouble with the monitor in front of me, so I couldn’t hear my guitar for the most part. There was a grounding issue with the electricity too, so I was getting shocked from the microphone constantly, throughout the set, haha!  We had a great time though. We played two new songs from our upcoming album. One that we debuted at Hell’s Heroes last year, and one that no one outside the band’s circle has heard yet. We were also joined by our violinist, Dee C., for a few songs, so that made it something of a special set. In addition, it was an emotional experience to play “Necropolis“ and have the audience respond so strongly.  

André: What do you think of the location? Please also tell us something about the atmosphere.

Vidarr: Despite the stage difficulty, I think the venue was very cool. It’s the sort of place that is disappearing as things get modernized and made more accessible. The whole venue was filled with weird artifacts like Halloween props, spray painted mannequins, broken pinball machines nailed to the ceiling, strange taxidermy, and a thick wallpaper of band stickers throughout. The jukebox downstairs had both Manilla Road and Roky Erickson; I think that says a lot. It was a wild time machine, impossible to create without decades of insanity.

André: Which bands would you like to see next year?

Vidarr: Hard to say, really. This year they had so many of the newer bands playing in the old styles. I think Savage Oath would be a great band to get, along with our friends, Lady Beast and Iron Brigade. I think it will be interesting to see how the fest grows. I could tell that Evgeny put a lot of thought and a lot of heart into the fest, so I’m sure he will continue with another epic lineup!