Just wondering, is this one of those pay to play scams or not? I've heard other people complaining about it, just thought I'd ask for some advice on this.

"METAL TO THE MASSES 2 BATTLE OF THE BANDS!


Thank you to most of you (some bands i have copied in just incase) for your interest in entering "Metal to the masses 2" where some of you bands will win a chance to play a Bloodstock open air in 2010 and 2011!, Wacken open air 2011! and Mammothfest in 2010. Prizes also include loads of music equipment and possibly a Wacken record deal too so there is a lot at stake here.
Just look at Evile who shot to success after winning last years M2TM and have gone on to support some massive bands as well as now securing lots of other festival slots. Success is down to you so put your balls on the table and prove you are the 2010 up and coming band of the year worthy of reaping the rewards!


Bloodstock and Wacken festivals will be aware of every band entering down here so you will be on their radar, play well and you will continue to get their attention. They will also be promoting our BOTB across the world in various publications etc so there is every chance you will again get publicity from this. It really is a big deal.
Heats will be held at the Hobgoblin, Brighton and starts as of the 1st Thursday in February and run every Thursday up until the final on Saturday 3rd July…only one week before Mammothfest 2010 in the Dome Saturday 10th July. Perfect timing!
If you win the 3rd July South east final you go into national finals where you go head to head with bands from all over the UK. BOA and WOA will make massive deals of you guys, national press etc so you got to be at the top of your game.
At the south east heats there will be independent judges so don’t worry it will be fairly judged from start to end.
The judges system is based on the following 4 principles -
Crowd pulling abilities. It is questionable whether you should play at a festival if you cant get 5 people to a local gig. (oh and by the way entry to the Hobgoblin venue in Brighton is free so there’s no excuses!) By bringing as many people as possible you not only have a good crowd for your set but you also kick the metal scene up the back side which is good for us all. Make it happen guys!
Technical ability as individuals and as a band. Say no more, pretty straight forward…
Charisma / stage presence / attitude. Give it some, wind the crowd up, make people smile, make them head bang, win the crowd over, job done.
Song writing abilities. A really subjective section to the scoring here, judges will decide what they think over all based on dynamics, changes, choruses etc. We should all be able to tell a well written song from something shite…
Each of the four points above will be marked in the same points system as used in Formula one - 10 points for 1st place, 8 points for 2nd, 7 points for 3rd and so on…so you could bring no one and still kick ass in other areas and win. Don’t leave it down to chance though, nail all the points. Records will be kept of the points through out the tournament so we can see a league table of who has most etc. This is not designed to name and shame but raise the bar for all bands. I want our southern bands to be the ones that go on to win Wacken and Bloodstock places. Lets make the south east the Mecca of British metal!!
Entry for this competition is only £25 before 31st December and £30 from 1st January onwards, this includes VAT and includes full entry to the competition so get your payment in sooner if you want to save yourselves a couple of quid!!
Its going to be a busy year for us at Mammothfest so we kindly ask that you get your payments in as soon as possible, also you dont want to miss the cut off date of February 1st 2010 so dont miss it and lose your chance to enter! This will give us ample time then to work out the plans for the competition. Should you be unable to make this payment in time please inform us at
Payments can be made by the following means -
Bank transfer to - S D Dickson, (somewhere) - Sort code - (Not here)/ Acc no - (No number for you!) - please also add the name of your band as the payment reference…THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT otherwise I will not know who paid and you may not be included.
Cash to me personally, please email my back to arrange a meeting point convenient to us both. (I am out of the country until Monday 14th December 2009.)
Cheque payable to S D Dickson - posted to 29 Belgrave Street, Brighton, BN2 9NS, again please let me know which band you are!!!
We will work with you bands to make this as easy going as possible. Equipment will need to be supplied by local bands in certain circumstances. All will be discussed prior to the competition. We thank you in advance for your support and assistance in helping to make this happen. Your efforts will be kept to a minimum rest assured.
The number of heats will depend on the number of bands, we already have a good 50 bands at least up for this on our last count so it’s a BIG deal…win this and you really prove your metal.
No bands will be paid for playing or for transport costs unless prior agreed and in line with the provision of equipment, you will not be charged anything else other than the entrance fee as detailed above which simply covers the franchise cost Mammothfest has paid of nearly £2000. Any profit made beyond paying this off will go towards Mammothfest 2010 in ensuring we have a metal festival that grows so whether you win or not your money is going to the cause…
Please also note that payments made to Mammothfest for entry to the BOTB are non refundable. Please also note that any foul conduct may result in the removal of a band too...Of course we dont want this, please just be cool and everything will be fine!
So please get cracking with making the payment to us, the sooner we get it the sooner we can finalise the details and let you all know which heat you will be paying in and therefore which bands your are competing against.
Mammothfest thanks you for your support, wishes you a merry Christmas and good luck in the biggest battle of the bands competition the south east has ever witnessed!"

Certainly has the whiff of one bro. I mean, what the fuck's in it for them? The love of metal? Sure!!!

Ask them outright is the best bet. See what they come back with...

SL

Doubt they'll be holding at at the Hobgoblin...

These things are bollocks. The best thing to do, in my opinion, is stay well clear.

BOTBs are bullshit and go entirely against my ideas of what 'the underground' is all about. Music is not a sport and should not be treated as one, bands gain far more from working together than they do by forking out cash that could be better spent on BOTBs.
This is just my opinion and I would urge you to decide whether or not something like this would genuinely aid your ambitions as a band.
However, keep in mind that this is just another revenue stream for these festivals, and a pretty decent one at that, these festivals don't give one shit about your band and you could bypass all the hassle by ringing them up and offering them a wad of cash.

I doubt that Evile's success is entirely down to winning this, I'm sure that they had done a fair bit of work before hand and now, sad as it is, they have a dead band member and everyone loves a 'martyr', so as much as I will look like a cunt for saying it that will help their cause. But I'm not the one using a band who are in everyone's mind because they recently lost a member in tragic circumstances to promote a battle of the bands.

So, to sum up . . . . stay clear, spend your money on better things and get there the same way all the bands you loved did . . . hard work!!!

The metal scene is as band, if not worse than the indie scene for taking advantage of young bands!!!!

Nicely put!

The way I'm seeing it is that with 50 odd bands trying out for this we probably don't have a chance in hell (Although the way this guy's worded it you'd think we've already won!) and even if we did get through we'd be playing to an empty tent. £25 isn't exactly much either but we'd rather earn it than pay it! Just looks like he's exploiting the bands to me, I think we'll be avoiding this one.

Cheers for reading it through by the way, he does like to waffle it seems....

Due to the fairly liberal amounts of Guinness I've poured down my gullet tonight I have only just clocked that (guessing by the initials and the regular use of the name Mammothfest) this is probably Steve from Blind Eye Fury.

I don't know if that changes your opinion in anyway.


I would also like to add that BOTBs are quite often fixed and you can often guess the winner within two minutes of walking through the door. I'm not saying that this is fixed or a scam but it is worth noting that MTTM have a history . . .



This is a thread from UKMU, have a look and see what you make of it

This looks very Suspicious to me, if you can find out who he's working with (production companies, managers etc....) I can find out from some of my contacts at the festival organisers office that I know are putting on these events and they will know all of the competitions involved in the festivals.

We are providing LED screens for both of these festivals so I can get inside info!

Also as Enos says these things are always rigged!

I would like to point out I was 10 pints of Guinness worse for wear when I typed that last night, but my point still stands!!!





That's always handy, I'm pretty sure that this is Steve from Blind Eye Fury who promotes under the name of Tactical Whore and Mammothfest (which is the name his planned metal festival). I've never had any dealings with him as a promoter so I couldn't comment on that side of things.

I think it is best to stay well clear of BOTBs, there is always and agenda beyond what you're being told. Whether that is at the promoter's level, in the festival office or at the venue. It's always worth thinking about just how much money you are making for the organisers, venue, etc, compared to what you are actually getting out of it.

People don't go to BOTBs to check out new bands, they go to support their mates, so it's rare that a band will gain much out of them beyond an empty wallet and a bad taste in their collective mouths.

With any luck he'll be at our next show, he's mates with the promoter there and I've seen him about before. Splunge (great name!), will there be big screens at bloodstock next year then? I went this year and there weren't any. I'm horrificaly short sighted so it would be great to actually see whats going on!

OK, So if all the other venues "don't cut it nowadays", then why didn't he pick the Ocean Rooms in the first place?

Also he's asking for money from the punters as well as the bands to cover "overhead costs", THEN says he's trying to "make things cheaper for everyone"!