More and more, festivals are becoming the driving force for touring rock and metal bands. While obviously there were none in 2020, festivals are returning in force in 2021, mostly in late summer and early fall. Headliners and co-headliners include such heavy hitters as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, Rob Zombie, the original Misfits, Korn, Judas Priest, Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown. Live Metal’s “2021 Festival Spotlight” series aims to bring attention to some of the names in smaller print on the festival admats—the bands you can get up close and personal with at the smaller stages—along with a few higher profile acts we find worth calling out here. See you at the shows.
Playing: Blue Ridge Rock Festival
Website: www.theghostinside.com
Latest release: The Ghost Inside released its fifth, self-titled full-length in 2020 via Epitaph Records.
What You Need to Know: The Ghost Inside, a metalcore band formed in 2004 in Los Angeles, California, has played only a handful of live shows since a 2015 crash involving its tour bus and a tractor-trailer. The drivers of both vehicles were killed, and passengers, including the band members, suffered major injuries. The band didn’t officially regroup until 2018.
“As dark as it is to say this, the accident showed us a lot, you know?” vocalist Jonathan Vigil said in a 2020 interview with Upset magazine. “Not just the downside of things, but it also gave us a sense of reinvigoration. It showed us what this could be, what this means and what this is.”
Though tragedy always will be with the band members, they’re looking to the future now. “We live with the emotions every single day,” Vigil told Upset. “We’ve said our piece, we’ve put out our record to deal with it and the future is wide open. We have a newfound clarity on everything.”
What You Need to Hear:
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