3 Charlotte musicians are playing one of America’s biggest rock festivals
For one of Between the Buried and Me’s biggest shows this year, guitarist Paul Waggoner and his Charlotte bandmates are returning to their roots: renting a van and driving eight hours to Louisville.
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“We’re going to rent a van like the old days,” said Waggoner, a Charlotte native whose progressive metal band will perform Sunday at Louder Than Life. “It takes me back to piling into a van and driving untold distances to play one show.
“One time, we drove all the way to Detroit to play a matinee show on a Sunday, and we had to be back in Raleigh on Monday for work.”
This trip will be considerably different. Between the Buried and Me will perform for tens of thousands of fans on the same stage as Mastodon and Gojira at one of the country’s largest rock and metal festivals.
Two other Charlotte-area musicians will perform at Louder Than Life during the four-day event, which begins Thursday: Taking Back Sunday singer Adam Lazzara and Angel Du$t drummer Nick Lewis.
For Lazzara, Louisville will be the first stop in a particularly grueling festival weekend. Taking Back Sunday is scheduled to play Louder Than Life on Friday, Shaky Knees in Atlanta on Saturday and Riot Fest in Chicago on Sunday.
Together, the three musicians represent different generations of Charlotte’s rock scene — and different stages of careers that began in much smaller rooms.
“A big show back then, when we were just a hardcore band — if you could get 50 people in (Tremont Music Hall’s) Casbah, that was a good gig,” Waggoner said. “You knew pretty much everybody, and 25 of them were people in the other bands.”
Waggoner and Lazzara both turned early forays into music into careers spanning more than two decades.
Lazzara grew up in High Point before joining Long Island’s Taking Back Sunday on bass and eventually taking over as lead vocalist. The band cemented its place in Warped Tour history in 2004 and performed on Linkin Park’s traveling Projekt Revolution festival in 2007.
Between the Buried and Me, meanwhile, gradually moved into larger venues as audiences embraced its intricate, progressive strain of metal.
“Through sheer stubbornness or a lack of willingness to grow up, we kept doing it and gained some steam, and heavy music started to become more in vogue,” Waggoner said. “In 2003, I remember making enough money to pay rent. I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll just do this.’”
The rise of sprawling, multiday American hard rock festivals such as Louder Than Life, Sonic Temple and Welcome to Rockville — and punk-leaning counterparts such as When We Were Young — is a relatively recent development.
“It was an entirely different thing than what you see today,” Lazzara said of Warped Tour. “There was still a DIY element to the original Warped Tour when it was active. Festivals in the U.S. used to feel more DIY. You’d find a place and figure it out.
“When we started playing the U.K. and European festivals, I remember having conversations about, ‘Why don’t they do this in the U.S.?’ Those festivals are well-oiled machines.”
Waggoner wondered the same thing. Outside of Coachella and Bonnaroo, he saw few American festivals operating at that scale — especially for heavy music.
“It’s a pretty recent thing for me to have these super-successful metal and heavy music festivals,” he said. “There were a few independent ones we played, but on this scale? They just weren’t ever here.
“Honestly, Danny Wimmer, the guy who puts on Welcome to Rockville and Louder Than Life — he’s helped curate a whole new culture of heavy metal festival. To have a four-day festival and have it stacked to the gills with super-heavy bands? Twenty years ago, it wouldn’t happen.”
Those festivals can provide a valuable introduction for new artists. But even established acts such as Taking Back Sunday and Between the Buried and Me can reach listeners who might never attend one of their headlining shows.
“You have the opportunity to play for people who, if you were coming through town on your own tour or even in some kind of support position, would never have made it to that show or even known about it,” Lazzara said. “Half of these crowds have probably never seen us before.”
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Waggoner expects Between the Buried and Me to benefit from that exposure despite the band’s longevity.
“At Louder Than Life, we’re on a stage with Gojira and Mastodon, and that’s going to be huge for us,” he said. “In that one show, we’re going to get in front of people who have never heard us before, even though we’ve been around for 25 years.
“It’s great for smaller bands to get in front of new people and great for fans to see their favorite bands all in one go.”
Festivals also can feel like high school reunions for musicians and crew members whose paths have crossed repeatedly over the years.
“You see folks you haven’t seen in 15 years,” Lazzara said. “You’ll run into folks you’ve toured with before or see crew members who bounce around. We always look forward to it for that.”
“It’s cool to cross paths with the peers you had when you were younger and embrace the journey you’ve been on and reminisce,” Waggoner added.
Because Between the Buried and Me is playing Louder Than Life as a one-off show, Waggoner expects to stay and watch other bands Sunday — something musicians often cannot do in the middle of a tour.
Taking Back Sunday will have no such luxury. The band will travel from Louisville to Atlanta and then Chicago, with barely 24 hours between performances.
“I’m bummed we can’t stay and watch,” Lazzara said.
For Lewis, Louder Than Life will offer an entirely different perspective.
The Charlotte drummer joined Baltimore’s Angel Du$t before the band recorded its latest album, “Cold 2 the Touch.” Although he has played several festivals in the United States and Australia, the size and scope of the Louisville event will be a new experience.
Lewis didn’t grow up listening to rock music. His father spent 20 years working as a tour manager for hip-hop artists including Jadakiss. Lewis began exploring rock after seeing Slash on the cover of the “Guitar Hero III” video game he received for Christmas when he was 10.
As a teenager, he immersed himself in Charlotte’s hardcore and punk scene.
“I didn’t grow up in rock music. My family didn’t know anything about it,” Lewis said. “This will be a first for me. Angel Du$t has covered a lot of ground in that world. I’m still the new guy.”
He has already seen how festival appearances can translate into new fans.
“I’ve met people who saw us at a festival and decided to come out to our headlining shows,” he said. “It’s definitely exposed us to people who might normally not have seen us.”
Joining Angel Du$t has added a growing list of new experiences to a career that began in restaurants, basements and small Charlotte venues.
“With Angel Du$t, there’s a cool shift in the size of shows and the participation,” Lewis said. “I’ve played in bands that people didn’t care about. To play in a band where people do care is amazing.
“I’ve played restaurants and basements — that’s cool — but to come from that to doing these festivals, I have a real appreciation for it.”
Sept. 17-20, Louisville, Kentucky.
Drive from Charlotte: About eight hours.
The metal and hard rock festival features nearly 200 acts over four days, including Iron Maiden, My Chemical Romance, Tool, Limp Bizkit, Gojira and Pierce the Veil. Charlotte-area performers include Between the Buried and Me, Taking Back Sunday and Angel Du$t. Festival passes also include admission to the neighboring Kentucky Kingdom amusement park.
Sept. 18-20, Atlanta.
Drive from Charlotte: About four hours.
Held at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta, Shaky Knees mixes major alternative acts with indie-rock veterans and emerging artists. This year’s lineup includes The Strokes, Twenty One Pilots, Gorillaz, Pavement, LCD Soundsystem, Wu-Tang Clan, Santigold and Taking Back Sunday.
Sept. 18-20, Chicago.
Drive from Charlotte: About 12 hours
The punk- and alternative-rock festival brings more than 100 acts to Douglass Park. This year’s lineup includes Tool, Twenty One Pilots, Pierce the Veil, Alanis Morissette, Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Nas, Pixies, Patti Smith and Taking Back Sunday.
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