RANDY KASTNER

Randy Kastner is not just a Milwaukee, WI legend, he’s known globally for his unwavering support of heavy metal whether it’s booking a show, booking a fest, or traveling worldwide to see concerts and festivals produced by his peers.  This September Kastner is producing the third edition of “Blades Of Steel” metal festival in Madison, WI, September 28-30. JAG PANZER, VIO-LENCE, HAUNT, SOLICITOR, EXCITER, and RIOT V are just a few of the metal acts he’s booked for this premier event.

WORMWOOD CHRONICLES:  When it comes to your festival, “Blades Of Steel,” how soon do you start looking at bands you’d like to book?

RANDY KASTNER:  Usually a year ahead of time if not longer. I have ideas in my head I come up with and bands I’d like to see. The final list is never the one you started out with because of factors like cost, time, visa issues, things going on in their personal lives, tours, the variables are endless. 

I start out with a wish list of like five or six bands and I just kind of go from there but rarely does it end up like that, something always comes up and you have to go a different route. Even if you’re rich, you could probably make something happen but even that’s not a real guarantee in the end, life just happens and you deal with it. I’m just a working guy so I figure it all out as I go. 

Take this year for example, this year’s festival is costing about $40,000, probably a little more when you count bands that have to fly in like VIO-LENCE for example, then there’s hotel rooms, guarantees, sound cost, renting gear, promotion, yeah, it’s definitely a little more than $40,000 and that comes out of my pocket and I don’t get reimbursed except for ticket sales. Sometimes the venues will help me with sound costs, sometimes they don’t, they want to make money too but in the end it all falls on me. 

I have no investors, rich uncles, no donations, nothing, it’s a one man operation. That’s why it’s extremely important if you buy a one day, two day, or three day ticket, that goes back into the cost of the fest itself. 

WC: I’d like to talk about the NYDM and if the club has been an influence on how you book bands.

RK: I joined it in 2008, I believe, and it’s a heavy metal club started in New York by Will from MORTICIAN and Randall from a band called DECOMPOSED back in 2003. Before that they had their own crew going on called Spring Valley, I think Death Crew, or something like that. They had a group of friends and over the years decided to reach out and make connections and set up places where bands could from A to B to C and have trusted people to take care of the situations making sure bands got paid, they got fed, had places to stay, that kind of thing. So, the club started about 20 years ago in its current form.

In terms of what I do and have done, it came down to me seeing a lot of the same bands playing in my area and I wanted to do more and book different bands; I had resources and knew people from other places which helped me bring bands in. As far as the festival itself, the answer is both “yes” and “no.” I’ve been booking bands now for the last 13, 14 years now and everything just kind of took off on its own. I’ve come a long way since being a kid trying to bring a band in from Minnesota and trying to figure out how to pay them $150 bucks to play. It all morphed into what it is now.  

WC:  I’m sure there’s been a band (or bands) you’ve been trying to book for years re: your fest which hasn’t worked out.

RK: Um, yeah, there’s been a handful of bands but I don’t want to name names because I don’t want to put anyone in a bad spot.   

WC: What exactly goes into booking a band for the fest? 

RK: For one thing, I know some of the guys in the bands I book. Over the years of going to shows all over the place you meet people and make connections. When I lost RIOT CITY for this year’s Blades of Steel,  my first thought was to get HAUNT because they’re similar and a high caliber of band. 

When I lost CYCLONE this year due to passport issues I tried to get RAZOR and that lasted about 24 hours before they dropped off and that’s when I got VIO-LENCE, I reached out to them and they were onboard. Sometimes it’s luck and sometimes it takes years to get a band here. For instance, it took nine years to get NUNSLAUGHTER booked when they played here last year in Milwaukee. A lot of comes down to time, effort, patience, and luck.

WC:  Blades Of Steel was born out of your former festival, the “NYDM Spring Bash.”

RK:  Yes, after ten years of running that fest I was just burned out with it and tired of getting pigeonholed with the “spring bash” part of the title. Plus, I wanted to expand my horizons a bit too. But, it was ten years and that’s a good run. I wound up going to a festival in Germany and that inspired me. Word on the street was that I was going to book the band SATAN and that’s where the name of the festival came from, “Blades Of Steel,” a song from their first record. They did make the first lineup but then Covid-19 came along and screwed that all up. In fact, I don’t think there were any shows here, outside of local bands playing, for about a year and a half during Covid. 

And then Mercyful Mike booked a show with THE SKULL and, I want to say THE OBSESSED, so I went to that show about two years into Covid and at that point I just started going again. But during Covid it was hard to get people out whether it was vaccine rules, masking, or just not wanting to go out at all. 

WC: Regarding Blades Of Steel, why the switch from Milwaukee to Madison this year?

RK:  Well, a couple of things. First, I wanted a bigger venue to do a few things that I had in mind that were bigger, like AUTOPSY, and DEMOLITION HAMMER, for instance. The venues in Milwaukee were just too small to generate the income that you need to pay for bands like that, and I had already been doing shows at The Crucible in Madison for three or four years prior and that place is twice the size of the venues I’ve used in the past in Milwaukee. 

The Crucible is set up pretty perfect, the way I’d like to run a festival, so I approached the owner and it took awhile to convince him because he’s a different kind of dude and he’s unsure of things sometimes. It’s not easy convincing a venue owner to take over his place for three days, you know? But he gave in and now I hope I can make him happy. If this festival goes well, in terms of ticket sales, then I can hopefully do something again here next year. If we get crushed, then, you know, that’s over.

WC: As of late August, how’s everything looking so far?

RK: We’re about a third of the way right now. It’s still quite a long way to go. In terms of the bands and all the background stuff, that’s all done. In the meantime all I can do is go to shows and promote the fest, flyer, do interviews, just do what I can to put the word out there. I went to Milwaukee Metalfest this year and passed out probably a thousand handbills to anyone that would talk to me and take one. 

WC:  I saw on social media that you were at Dimestock and Mad With Power Fest. How many festivals do you think you see per year?

RK:  Well, this year I’m pretty out of control. I’ve already been to about eight or nine but by the end of the year maybe 14 festivals? A lot of the stuff later in the year will depend on how Blades Of Steel works out. 

WC: With all the festivals you’ve seen, what bands haven’t you caught live? 

RK:  RUNNING WILD, ANGELWITCH, SAVATAGE, those three come to mind, those are the top three. I had an opportunity to go to Spain last year to see RUNNING WILD but I didn’t make it. ANGELWITCH can’t play the U.S. and even when they do book shows they cancel so you’d have to go to Europe to see them and even then, who knows, right? The show could get cancelled. They’ve been around 40+ years, so it happens. 

WC: Of all the shows you’ve promoted, which ones stand out to you?

RK: VOIVOD in 2016. The band hadn’t been to Milwaukee in a bunch of years and I was able to host them at the old Metal Grill. We had METAL CHURCH here twice, in 2014 with Ronny Munroe, then 2016 with Mike Howe. Let’s see…AMORPHIS was a big one, POSSESSED in 2014, SEPULTURA and DESTRUCTION a bunch of years back, I’ve had some heavy hitters. 

I think when it’s all said and done I can look back, the last fifteen years or so, and take pride that a lot of classic and legendary bands got booked that I was a fan of as a 15 year old kid. That and the fact that I was able to showcase a lot of good local bands as well. 

WC: After all these years, what keeps you moving forward?

RK: I have a non-stop motor most of the time. Yep, I’ve gotten older and slowed down a little bit but I still have a drive whether it’s my job or booking bands, there’s still something I need to do that I want to do. I’m not very good at quitting anything when it’s good or bad, I’ve just never been a quitter.   

WC: What’s left on your bucket list?

RK: I’d like to book FATES WARNING, DEATH ANGEL, OBITUARY would be cool, MUNICIPAL WASTE would be cool, SACRIFICE from Canada, there’s a bunch of European bands I’d like to bring over but you never know, you just try and see what happens. 

Looking back on everything, I’ve survived all these years doing what I’m doing. I don’t know how this fest will turn out but I do know if I get crushed I have to stop for awhile because I won’t be able to afford to do things. If I do break even or make a profit I already have ideas for next year. What it ultimately comes down to is the people: if they support I can do stuff, otherwise I can’t. 

I appreciate everything anyone can do. If you can buy tickets, great, if you can’t then share the ticket link in social media, hand out some flyers, all help is definitely appreciated. Every little thing anyone can do helps. It’s because of the people that support that guys like me can do things. 

RK PROMOTIONS' FACEBOOK PAGE 

BLADES OF STEEL FACEBOOK PAGE