Organizers for New Brunswick's Messtival are slapping their heads in disbelief after black metal-parodying promo images for the event have led some attendees to question whether the festival will be promoting satanic activity.
As CBC points out, fest runners recently posted a message on Facebook after an image uploaded earlier in the spring had a number of people planning to attend the August 6 event in Anagance, NB, quite concerned. The image, mind you, is of a corpse paint-sporting bunny rabbit, with the Messtival name scrawled out, like a black metal logo-style, as "Messtival 6.66." It should be pointed out here that the roster is more focused on folk and funk sounds.
Organizers wrote:
"We just wanted to make a funny poster, so we thought it would be kinda funny having these funk bands, dance bands and bluegrass kinda stuff, look like it's a heavy metal festival," co-organizer Jérémie Boudreau told CBC. He added that people had been in contact with them about the "darkness" of the imagery, which he points out is absolutely tongue-in-cheek.
"Didn't really see that one coming! It was mostly people that have already been to the festival. I was kinda surprised that they thought we were gonna be real serious about this," he said, adding of the vibe, "We have colouring stations, duck races, a bouncy castle and laser tag, you know, none of that is very evil."
To try and balance the scales, Messtival later uploaded a poster rebranding the event "Messtival 3:16," which is jokingly described as "a day and night of art, music and prayer." As you'll see down below, the equally sarcastic show poster finds a party-ready turtle with a lip wig running hand-in-hand beneath a rainbow with Jesus. Apparently, this didn't help them out any either.
"Turns out some people didn't like that one either," Boudreau laughed of the alternate artwork. "We're just gonna roll with it, it's all for fun."
You can find out all of the lineup details for tomorrow'ssupremely satanic, particularly pious festival over here.
As CBC points out, fest runners recently posted a message on Facebook after an image uploaded earlier in the spring had a number of people planning to attend the August 6 event in Anagance, NB, quite concerned. The image, mind you, is of a corpse paint-sporting bunny rabbit, with the Messtival name scrawled out, like a black metal logo-style, as "Messtival 6.66." It should be pointed out here that the roster is more focused on folk and funk sounds.
Organizers wrote:
"We just wanted to make a funny poster, so we thought it would be kinda funny having these funk bands, dance bands and bluegrass kinda stuff, look like it's a heavy metal festival," co-organizer Jérémie Boudreau told CBC. He added that people had been in contact with them about the "darkness" of the imagery, which he points out is absolutely tongue-in-cheek.
"Didn't really see that one coming! It was mostly people that have already been to the festival. I was kinda surprised that they thought we were gonna be real serious about this," he said, adding of the vibe, "We have colouring stations, duck races, a bouncy castle and laser tag, you know, none of that is very evil."
To try and balance the scales, Messtival later uploaded a poster rebranding the event "Messtival 3:16," which is jokingly described as "a day and night of art, music and prayer." As you'll see down below, the equally sarcastic show poster finds a party-ready turtle with a lip wig running hand-in-hand beneath a rainbow with Jesus. Apparently, this didn't help them out any either.
"Turns out some people didn't like that one either," Boudreau laughed of the alternate artwork. "We're just gonna roll with it, it's all for fun."
You can find out all of the lineup details for tomorrow's