In a new interview with Music Week, Slipknot manager Cory Brennan discussed the reason behind launching Knotfest back in 2012.
He said:
“There was Rock on the Range, but there weren’t any other heavy music destinations out there. They were all being hipster. There was nothing for rock bands in many parts of the US.
“We went into areas where there was no competition, where no-one was thinking about the fans there, and we did it. The first one was in Omaha, Nebraska, the second one was in Wisconsin – they were back to back and it was amazing.
“They’ve created a community that can travel from country to country and resonate with 50,000-100,000 fans each time and it’s not like anything else.”
On some of the challenges that came up as the festival was getting bigger, he explained:
“In 2017 and 2018, we got to prove the model could work without Slipknot. A Perfect Circle headlined one, Slayer headlined one, then Avenged Sevenfold headlined one. It proves people care about what we can offer as a brand.”