It’s 11 on a Monday night, and I’m standing in a ghost town of do-it-yourself capitalism. Lanky, tattooed guys and girls wearing trucker hats, shorts and tight-fitting tees pack up boxes of shirts, CDs and other assorted merch and roll them with hand trucks to cream-colored vans waiting outside. It’s the punk-rock American dream and, in a fitting way, the perfect end to Fire Fest, the two-day death metal and hardcore music festival which ran Thursday, June 16 and Monday, June 18.
Forecasted to bring in over 1,000 people over the two days, the metal festivities drew only 600 or 700, much to promoter Quinn Bott’s—and his wallet’s—dismay. Day 2 finds the mammoth Cheyenne Events Center, nearly half-full for Day 1, holding fewer than 150 attendees. “I’m losing my ass today,” Bott says, glancing across the small, young, clean-cut audience.
Thursday’s crowd was a more grizzled bunch. Waves of long hair flew violently in the air, head-banging to the parade of grindcore and death metal bands. A gamey, sticky musk permeated the room’s insides, turning the venue into a choking environment of stink, hair and pure, unhinged anger. It became a vision of hell, complete with its own soundtrack provided by groups like San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation and local grind maniacs Guttural Secrete.
Day 2 finds Thursday’s gross, ominous atmosphere stripped away, as a wide array of hardcore outfits, including a large pack of locals, take up guitars and arms on one of two stages. Despite the lack of numbers, the smallish crowd finds its own fun in the midst of the emptiness.
Energetic sets by LA’s Thriller and locals She Turned Us Into Trees pale next to the near-meltdown of Horse the Band lead singer Nathan Winneke, who appears to have a nervous breakdown onstage after his band is heckled for a series of technical problems. But Winneke responds with a roaring performance, providing a proper closing to two nights of raging musical chaos.
In the end, despite losing thousands, Quinn somehow maintains a smile, cheering as he watches some of his favorite bands for the final time in his home town before heading to Boston this summer. “Yeah, I lost a lot of money,” he concedes with a chuckle. “But I still have enough for college.”