Page 12 - ION Indie Magazine JulyAugust 2018 Issue

MM: Year after year, this festival, it seems to me, it just keeps getting better. I looked at the lineup and
the schedule -- from year one at Carolina Rebellion for instance -- and it's just grown and grown. I mean,
is it getting tougher each year? You've raised that bar pretty high each year. It's got to be challenging to
beat it.

GS: Yeah, it is. It's very hard. This is not really glamorous, what we do. And, it's wonderful when that weekend
pops and the doors fly open and you have over thirty-thousand a day come and celebrate what we've put
together -- what took all year to put together. So, we're constantly tweaking. The saying of "If it ain't broke,
don't fix it" does not apply here.

MM: Right. On a side note, just out of curiosity, what kind of numbers did we look at for this year's Carolina
Rebellion as far as attendees?

GS: We had over ninety-thousand for the weekend. It was our second biggest Carolina Rebellion to date.
And, we knew when we booked Muse and Queens of the Stone Age and Incubus that that would be kind of
a challenging moment. But in order for Carolina Rebellion and rock festivals to move forward and not be
stagnant or move backwards, we know that Muse and Five Finger Death Punch, in America, have to exist in
the same festival. They don't have to play on the same day or share the same stage, but, they have to co-
exist together. And that's going to help rock move forward. Because if a Five Finger Death Punch fan goes to
check out Muse and sees how much they rock and then they'll become a fan, and vice versa, a Muse fan will
be like, "Oh, I'll go check out Shinedown or Five Finger Death Punch." Because those bands are great it just
helps everybody.

MM: I've got to tell you, for Godsmack, because they're a local band here, I was given a little bit of extra
press coverage where I got to go back in for the drum battle and shoot that and whatever. So, you know,
I'm standing on the side of the stage for the entire show, and honestly, I don't think I've seen that level of
crowd surfing. Your security guys are in the money for that one. That was amazing!

GS: They do earn their keep.

MM: Yeah. I saw all shapes and sizes coming over that wall. Well, again, thank you so much for taking time
out of your day. We’ll be seeing you at Louder Than Life. Let’s talk again.

GS: Absolutely, thanks!

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Check out the links below for a complete schedule of summer festivals brought to us by Danny Wimmer
Presents:

https://dannywimmerpresents.com
https://www.instagram.com/dannywimmerpresents/
https://www.facebook.com/dannywimmer.presents/
http://carolinarebellion.com