| Scion RockFest | |
|---|---|
 Poster for the inaugural edition. | |
| Background information | |
| Genre(s) | Various |
| Location | Various |
| Venue(s) | Various |
| Years active | 2009 - 2014 |
| Promoter(s) | Scion A/V |
| Associated Events | Scion Label Showcase, Scion Rock Show |
| Website | Official Website |
Scion RockFest was a festival held in various cities in the United States from 2009 to 2014. Notably, it was run and funded by Scion A/V, a music-based company formed by Scion, a marquee brand built to attract younger generations within car company Toyota.
Background[]
Scion A/V was formed in the late 2000s to compliment the Scion motor brand within Toyota, providing free music for download and special showcases of various bands of all genres.
At some point in 2008 it was announced that a festival curated by Scion would be in various cities every year. While the festival dealt with bands of other metal genres such as death, black, crossover and thrash a lot of sludge and stoner bands appeared at the festival as well.
In February of 2016 Toyota announced that the Scion brand would stop production in August of that year, effectively ending the festival and likely the Scion A/V brand as well.[1]
Lineups[]
2009[]
The inagural edition of Scion Rockfest took place at The Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia on February 28. The venue utilized all three stages within along with an outdoor stage. Nachtmystium were intended to play at the festival but in the weeks leading up to the first Scion Rock Fest in 2009, Scion removed Nachtmystium from the lineup due to alleged ties to Nazism. The band's first album, Reign of the Malicious, was distributed via the National Socialist Black Metal record label Unholy Records. The band was outspoken about the accusations and denied any true ties to the Nazi movement.[2]
| Saturday, February 28 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor Stage | Heaven | Purgatory | Hell |
| Mastodon | Converge | Zoroaster | 1349 |
| Neurosis | Cryptopsy | Coalesce | Wolves In The Throne Room |
| High on Fire | Septic Flesh | Týr | Krallice |
| Pig Destroyer | Warbringer | Rwake | Withered |
| Boris | Toxic Holocaust | Harvey Milk | U.S. Christmas |
| Baroness | Skeletonwitch | A Storm of Light | Salome |
| Torche | Trash Talk | Alestorm | Apocalyptic Visions |
| Kylesa | Evil Army | Suidakra | |
| Gaylord | |||
2010[]
The 2010 edition of Scion Rock Fest took place in Columbus, Ohio on March 13. Rather than one giant venue or a "festival" setup it took more of a "SXSW" approach and held the festival at four separate venues throughout the city, namely Newport Music Hall, Skully's Music Diner, Bernie's Distillery and Circus.
| Saturday, March 13 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Music Hall | Skully's Music Diner | Bernie's Distillery | Circus |
| Cannibal Corpse | Shrinebuilder | Absu | Brutal Truth |
| Voivod | Yob | Ludicra | Magrudergrind |
| D.R.I. | Pelican | Black Anvil | Trap Them |
| 3 Inches of Blood | Acrassicauda | Liturgy | Thou |
| Hate Eternal | Struck By Lightning | Lightning Swords of Death | Saviours |
| Landmine Marathon | Black Tusk | Lullabye Arkestra | Dead Sea |
2011[]
The 2011 edition of Scion Rock Fest took place on March 5 that year in Pomona, California. Two venues (Fox Theater and The Glass House) along with two outdoor stages were selected to host the festival.
Kvelertak were intended to play the festival but ultimately canceled. They were replaced by Black Cobra.
| Saturday, March 5 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Theater | The Glass House | Outdoor Stage | Outdoor Stage II |
| Morbid Angel | Municipal Waste | Integrity | Anaal Nathrakh |
| Obituary | Death Angel | Bastard Noise | Dispirit |
| Agalloch | Immolation | Black Breath | Necrite |
| Floor | Atheist | Nails | The Body |
| Crom | Bonded By Blood | Primate | Cough |
| Black Cobra | Christian Mistress | Fuck The Facts | Woe |
| Wormrot | Dark Castle | ||
2012[]
The 2012 edition of Scion Rock Fest took place on Saturday, June 2 at four different venues in Tampa, Florida. Several months before Scion Rock Fest 2012 and before the final lineup had been officially announced, American sludge metal band Eyehategod announced on their Facebook page that they had been banned by Scion from performing at Scion Rock Fest.[3] Brian Patton, a guitarist in the band, later told The Age of Metal in a phone interview that Scion had originally approached the band to perform at the 2012 festival, but later rescinded the offer due to their lyrical content and the religious connotations in the band's name.[4]
| Saturday, June 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ritz Ybor | The Orpheum | Czar Bar | Crowbar |
| Down | Exodus | Merzbow + Balázs Pándi | Repulsion |
| Sleep | Suffocation | Oxbow | Sick of It All |
| Saint Vitus | Origin | Wold | Terror |
| Church of Misery | Revocation | Psychic TV | Phobia |
| Witch Mountain | Decapitated | Vermapyre | Cerebral Ballzy |
| Atlas Moth | Party Time | Ides of Gemini | All Pigs Must Die |
| Flyingsnakes | Cell Graft | ||
2013[]
On March 6, 2013, Scion announced that the next festival would take place on June 1, 2013 in Memphis, Tennessee. The full lineup for the 2013 festival was announced on March 26, 2013. The 2013 festival took place at five venues on the iconic Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.
| Saturday, June 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Daisy | Handy Park | Club 152 | Hard Rock Cafe | Coyote Ugly |
| Testament | Whitechapel | The Obsessed | The Casualties | Royal Thunder |
| Melvins | Six Feet Under | Pallbearer | Negative Approach | The Shrine |
| Municipal Waste | Noisem | The Gates of Slumber | Touché Amoré | Indian Handcrafts |
| Corrosion of Conformity | Impaled | Subrosa | Vision of Disorder | Hot Lunch |
| Vektor | Arsis | Ice Dragon | Code Orange Kids | Dirty Streets |
| A Life Once Lost | Gigan | Inter Arma | Rotting Out | ASG |
| Complete Failure | Call of the Void | |||
2014[]
The 2014 (and final) edition of Scion RockFest took place on May 17, 2014 in Pomona, California.
| Saturday, June 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Theater | The Glass House | Sky Fox Lounge | Acerogami |
| Machine Head | Midnight | Coffins | Aqua Nebula Oscillator |
| High on Fire | BL'AST! | Jex Thoth | All Them Witches |
| Red Fang | Exhumed | Windhand | Hot Lunch |
| Crowbar | Power Trip | Lord Dying | The Well |
| Orchid | In Cold Blood | MOAB | Pins of Light |
| Big Business | Speedwolf | Black Sheep Wall | Carousel |
| King Buzzo | Nekrogoblikon | ||
References[]
- ↑ ToyotaAccessed 4 June 2016
- ↑ PitchforkAccessed 12 June 2016
- ↑ Metal InsiderAcccessed 13 June 2016
- ↑ Archived article on The Age of MetalAccessed 13 June 2016.