The Thunder Of Gods Festival"

Los Angeles-based metallers RESISTANCE have issued the following update:

“We just got back from Austin / Dripping Springs Texas after the Fiasco that was the Thunder of Gods Festival. Everyone is asking and I see that there are posts (online) so here is the Resistance story.

We were asked to play the Main Stage on Saturday, May 9th by the promoter of the Festival, Will Pruitt several months ago. After checking out the long list of Metal bands playing which included some really killer Metal bands (HELSTAR, IGNITER, IMPALER, ABSU, SHUNNED, TERROR CELL, CHRONICLES OF MAYHEM, to name just a few) we agreed to play the show.

We were sent a signed contract by Will Pruitt which included payment, a backline that included two Marshall Stacks with Heads, one 8X10 bass Cab with Head, a drumkit, pro lights and sound, and a set time of no earlier than 5PM. Everything looked good.

We flew out of Ontario airport Friday morning, switched planes in Houston and flew into Austin arriving about 7PM Cali time, 9PM Texas time. From there we picked up our rental van and headed to our hotel, which was a really nice, brand new, two bedroom suite about 15 minutes from the airport.

We dropped our luggage, grabbed our Merchandise bag, and headed off to the Festival grounds to drop off our Merch and check out the Festival.

The Festival grounds were about 40 minutes from our hotel but it actually took us about two hours to find the place because there were absolutely no signs and the back ass winding country roads didn't show up on my GPS. To make matters worse, our brand new Dodge Caravan was almost taken out by a deer that tried to commit suicide by bolting across the road right in front of us.

When we finally found the place we were greeted by the gracious campground hosts, who between the six of them had a total of three teeth. It was like a scene from Deliverance. They actually turned out to be very cool though and even had a Tequila shot with Robbie.

We signed our release of liability forms and walked down into the Festival grounds. The grounds were a killer 40 acre private campground which was covered in grass except directly in front of the stages. There were at least ten clean flush toilets, half a dozen porta potties disbursed throughout the campground, hot running showers, a really nice large patio covered merchandise area, one large main stage, and two smaller stages all with good sound, soundman, mixing boards, lights, and a large pool. The weather at that time (11PM) was still about 80 degrees and muggy. It was a fucking perfect place for a great Open Air Festival, had it not been put together by a crack head.

We immediately noticed that the attendance was poor and that there were some really shitty techno bands playing on different stages at the same time.

We found the merch booth and dropped off our large duffel bag with about $1,000 bucks worth of t-shirts and CDs. I had an uneasy feeling about it then because the guy who took the merch just seemed really nervous and unsure of what he was doing.

We had enough of the techno shit so we took off back to Austin where we went to Dave and Busters and threw back a few beers before everything shut down. We figured the Austin metal crowd would show up in droves the next day.

We left the Hotel Saturday afternoon about 1:00PM. It was about 95 degrees and again very humid. We stopped at a liquor store where we loaded up on two cases of Coors light, a bottle of Patron, and a handful of bottled water.

About ten minutes out from the grounds we were passed by a truck going the opposite direction that was pulling a huge generator. We all new that there was nothing out there that would require such a large generator except maybe the Festival itself. We tried to remain optimistic however we were all worried. Matt said right away, the show got canceled. We all told him to shut the fuck up and stop being a black cloud in our backseat.

When we got to the campground hosts they looked at us kinda funny with their missing and rotten teeth and said, we didn't expect to see you guys here again, didn't you hear, the show was canceled. Needless to say, we had not heard anything. In fact I had been trying to reach Will Pruitt on his cell phone since we first arrived. He was always quick to answer emails and phone calls before the Fest.

We went down into the campground and found about 5 bands hanging out and a handful of people. We also saw that the merch table had been completely cleared out and our merch was no where to be found. Luckily the guys from the band TERROR CELL picked up all the bands’ merch, so that it couldn't be stolen by Will Pruitt. Thank you guys for saving everyone’s merch. You fucking rock. As a matter of fact Terror Cell drove 18 hours from Georgia to play this show. Fucking road warriors.

We found out that Will Pruitt was seen the night before smoking a crack pipe in the office next to the merch booth. He took off early Saturday morning without saying a word to anyone and caught a flight back to Ohio. He called the campground hosts and told them to turn everyone away because the show was canceled. He texted, that’s right, texted the sound men who were already there working and said pack up your shit and leave because I’m not paying you. He kept the money from ticket purchasers, bands who paid up to $500 to play, parking money, and left countless bands stranded at airports with no one to pick them up from as far away as Austria and Russia. A true piece of shit!

For anyone that is wondering here is the information I have on Will Pruitt. His address is 615 Shelbourne Ln #205 Dayton, Oh 45458. His cell which I’m sure is disconnected is 937-241-3518. His email which I’m sure is either disconnected or he is to much of a coward or too strung out to answer is will.saotome@gmail.com . Please take the time to get a hold of him and tell him how much of a piece of shit he is.

We were there and determined to make the best of it. With the bands that were still there we put together enough equipment to play. The campground hosts left the electricity on at the main stage so that we could still play if we wanted to. So that’s what we did. SHUNNED from Fort Wayne Indiana played first. They fucking tore it up and played as if they were playing in front of 10,000 people. Much love to your brothers and thank you for letting us play on your equipment. If you ever come to L.A and need shows look us up.

We were also helped out with equipment by the guys from CHRONICLES OF MAYHEM from Oklahoma City and INNOCENT EXILE from El Paso Texas. It was great meeting you and hanging out with you. Get a hold of us when you come to L.A. We will set up some shows for you. You guys made this Fiasco worthwhile for us.

We took the stage next and ripped through ‘Technochrist’, ‘Ashes Of Tomorrow’, ‘Inhumanation’, ‘One Nation Under G.O.D’, ‘Warpaint’, ‘Vlad’, and a cover of IROM MAIDEN's ‘The Trooper’. We were joined on stage by the other bands to jam with us on ‘The Trooper’. Despite all the bullshit we had a great time and met some really cool people.

We hung out and partied with the bands for a few hours and then we took off to downtown Austin (6th street) where we finished off the night barhopping. We left with no sleep and went straight to the airport.

We would definitely come back to Austin and even the RP campgrounds under the right circumstances.

Despite all the bullshit we had a lot of laughs and made it a trip that I will never forget.