Canadian death metal masters Kataklysm have been keeping busy as usual this year. They are releasing their eleventh studio album, Heaven's Venom, on August 24 via Nuclear Blast, they're currently playing Ozzfest and they also have a string of off-dates with DevilDriver. But things hit a sour note a few weeks ago due to a run-in with thrash metal legends Megadeth.
Recently, Kataklysm took part in the annual two-day Heavy MTL festival in their hometown of Montreal. But an "incident" backstage with Dave Mustaine and company, who were also performing at the festival, caused Kataklysm to call them out publicly. On July 25, Kataklysm posted the following statement to their Facebook page:
"MEGADETH: we are big fans but after the stunt they pulled backstage to one of our members, we see what they really are, one of our guys was picked up on the same cart that had Mustaine and others from their crew to be transported backstage (he was ASKED to join the cart by driver) they drove ten meters and Megadeth stopped and got off said they won't be on the same cart as 'everyone else' …that's real metal boys."
In a recent interview with Exclaim!, Kataklysm vocalist Maurizio Iacono commented further on the incident, saying he was offended by what happened. "We always looked up to Megadeth, to us they're a cult band and legendary musicians and we've always been huge fans," he said. "But there is a certain limit to where you can be a rock star. Sometimes you can overstep your boundaries and to us, it was a disrespectful thing."
Iacono also elaborated further on the run-in with Megadeth. "What happened is, we were backstage and a person from our camp – I don't want to start mentioning names – but somebody from our band was waiting to go backstage where the area for musicians is. The cart was passing through and the driver stopped and said, 'Do you want to hop on?' and he said, 'Yeah' and hopped on. They drove ten metres and they just stopped and all the Megadeth people, including Dave Mustaine, just jumped off the cart and said, 'We're not going to share with everyone else.'"
"So my guy got off and said, 'You guys can keep it, I'll walk,'" Iacono continued, saying that he was confused as to why Megadeth would respond in such a manner. "It was kind of stupid in my opinion that they did that."
When asked whether Megadeth knew who they were (drummer Shawn Drover happens to be from Montreal himself), Iacono said it shouldn't have mattered. "To me, even if we're Kataklysm and you're a fan or a person that belongs to the entourage of the backstage area and you're jumping on to get a ride to somewhere, I would never stop the guy and say, 'I'm not being on the same cart,' or 'I'm not stopping for anybody,'" he said. "That's not us, but maybe we're just different."
Head over to Kataklysm's MySpace page for their full list of upcoming shows.
Recently, Kataklysm took part in the annual two-day Heavy MTL festival in their hometown of Montreal. But an "incident" backstage with Dave Mustaine and company, who were also performing at the festival, caused Kataklysm to call them out publicly. On July 25, Kataklysm posted the following statement to their Facebook page:
"MEGADETH: we are big fans but after the stunt they pulled backstage to one of our members, we see what they really are, one of our guys was picked up on the same cart that had Mustaine and others from their crew to be transported backstage (he was ASKED to join the cart by driver) they drove ten meters and Megadeth stopped and got off said they won't be on the same cart as 'everyone else' …that's real metal boys."
In a recent interview with Exclaim!, Kataklysm vocalist Maurizio Iacono commented further on the incident, saying he was offended by what happened. "We always looked up to Megadeth, to us they're a cult band and legendary musicians and we've always been huge fans," he said. "But there is a certain limit to where you can be a rock star. Sometimes you can overstep your boundaries and to us, it was a disrespectful thing."
Iacono also elaborated further on the run-in with Megadeth. "What happened is, we were backstage and a person from our camp – I don't want to start mentioning names – but somebody from our band was waiting to go backstage where the area for musicians is. The cart was passing through and the driver stopped and said, 'Do you want to hop on?' and he said, 'Yeah' and hopped on. They drove ten metres and they just stopped and all the Megadeth people, including Dave Mustaine, just jumped off the cart and said, 'We're not going to share with everyone else.'"
"So my guy got off and said, 'You guys can keep it, I'll walk,'" Iacono continued, saying that he was confused as to why Megadeth would respond in such a manner. "It was kind of stupid in my opinion that they did that."
When asked whether Megadeth knew who they were (drummer Shawn Drover happens to be from Montreal himself), Iacono said it shouldn't have mattered. "To me, even if we're Kataklysm and you're a fan or a person that belongs to the entourage of the backstage area and you're jumping on to get a ride to somewhere, I would never stop the guy and say, 'I'm not being on the same cart,' or 'I'm not stopping for anybody,'" he said. "That's not us, but maybe we're just different."
Head over to Kataklysm's MySpace page for their full list of upcoming shows.