INTERVIEW WITH RICH O'NEIL of BRUTAL BATTLE CUBA (Canada)

Interviewer: Ingrid Newton ​

Rich O'Neil 
Founder of Piranha Productions_ and
​Canadian Representative for Brutal Battle CUBA 

Metal Master Kingdom: Your band Chariots Of the Gods played at Brutal Winter Fest 2014 in Cuba? What was the experience like? How did you hear of this fest? ​

When I was a drummer for COTG, I was also managing and booking the band. Having traveled to Cuba a couple of times, I started to make some research about the underground scene/music over there and that’s when I found the Brutal Fest. I contacted the organizers to be able to book my band over there without even talking about it to my band mates! A spot had just opened on the next edition and we were lucky enough to get the gig.
The experience was like nothing I have seen before. Hundreds of Cuban metalheads in every cities of the tour headbanging, moshing and having fun. Pretty much all shows are outdoor and after every single shows we did we had to sign autographs for a good 30 minutes, everybody wanted to talk to us and take pictures with us. It was a real rockstar experience!

MMK: What prompted an extension of the fest into Canada? ​

After touring the Brutal Winter Fest, I realized that it was really expensive and lots of indie bands simply cannot afford to tour outside of their own country. So I reached out to the promoters in Cuba and suggested to make a contest out of it so Canadian bands could have a shot at experiencing such a tour. That’s how Brutal Battle CUBA was born.

MMK: How has the band submission response been? Which cities are competing? ​

We had a really good response so far. We actually had to add some dates to the contest because the demand is bigger than what we expected! And there is still one week to submit!
As of today, we have 6 different cities across 3 Canadian provinces; Oshawa and Ottawa in Ontario, Montreal And Quebec city in Quebec and Moncton and St-John in New-Brunswick.

MMK: How many countries compete at Brutal Battle Cuba? ​

So far, the Brutal Battle CUBA is strictly Canadian. There is a maximum of bands that the fest can take and we are the only Country that have a spot reserved for the Brutal Battle CUBA.

MMK: Can you share some details of the event with the readers? ​

The Brutal Summer Fest tour bus will be on the road from August 18th to August 28th all across Cuba with, on board, 5 to 7 bands from all around the world, including the Canadian winners! Every night, hundreds of Cuban metalheads will attend the Brutal Fest, ready for the best metal event of the country.

MMK: How extensive is the metal scene in Cuba from what you have seen/experienced? ​

Metalheads over there enjoy all sorts of metal. Heavy, trashy, core, grind, name it! You could find graffitis of metal band and people wearing metal bands shirts everywhere in Cuba

Thanks for answering our questions. Good luck with creating this new metal experience for all  of the competing bands here in Canada! C'est bon. ​