Mesa Meltdown Fest

The Mormon-heavy milquetoast milieu of Mesa is likely one of the last places you’d expect to become a hotbed of death metal and hard rock, but such is the case thanks to the soldiers of the Mosh Pit Army. The metalheads of this military-like clothing company/ concert promoter (which boasts...

By Benjamin Leatherman

December 10, 2009

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The Mormon-heavy milquetoast milieu of Mesa is likely one of the last places you’d expect to become a hotbed of death metal and hard rock, but such is the case thanks to the soldiers of the Mosh Pit Army. The metalheads of this military-like clothing company/ concert promoter (which boasts various fan “platoons” stationed around Arizona) invaded the East Valley city back a few years back, using U.B.’s Bar as a sort of headquarters to host plenty of musical sturm und drang courtesy of such major-label genre acts as Vader, Decrepit Birth, and Powerman 5000. Their latest operation is the Mesa Meltdown Fest, featuring an entire day devoted to a dozen different local fire-breathers, including thrashy and trashy bands like Kult of Thorn, 69 Sins, Split the Enemy, Adavant, and Heavy Metal Blood Drive. Be sure to bring some earplugs, as well as your devil horns.
Sat., Dec. 12, noon, 2009

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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