Three veteran bands of 'America's Biggest Memorial Day Weekend Party' are returning to Rocklahoma this year as headliners, bringing back mostly fond memories of their past experiences at the outdoor music fest near Pryor.
Staind returns to Rocklahoma after playing the 2011 edition. PHOTO PROVIDED
Twisted Sister guitarist, vocalist and founder Jay Jay French - who played the event in its inaugural year of 2007 and again in 2009 - had only one unpleasant recollection of past Rocklahoma gigs.
'We headlined it twice,' French said in a recent phone interview as he was riding a public transportation bus through Manhattan. 'This'll be our third time. The first two times were real '80s shows. This one is like a mix of different eras, and we look forward to these things. Except, what I'm really looking forward to is the fact it's not in July this time.
'The last time we did it, we flew from the Arctic Circle (after a show in Norway) ... landed in Oklahoma, and it was 110 Oklahoma summer degrees. Did the show and went home. Someone said, 'Maybe we shouldn't be doing this in the middle of July.''
When Los Angeles-based AEG Live began producing Rocklahoma in 2010, the festival was moved to Memorial Day weekend, and the exclusive '80s hair-metal format was dropped in favor of a program featuring both classic and contemporary hard-rock acts. Audience attendance has grown more than 150 percent since then, with about 60,000 fans expected to show up for the three-day musical campout this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
This year nearly 100 bands will be performing on four stages.
Main Stage headliners include Kid Rock, Five Finger Death Punch, Deftones, Staind, Theory of a Deadman and the aforementioned granddaddies of the bunch, Twisted Sister, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its biggest album, 'Stay Hungry,' and its monster hit singles, 'We're Not Gonna Take It' and 'I Wanna Rock.'
French, who founded the band in 1973, with frontman Dee Snider joining in 1976, has also had success as a producer, manager and owner of a motivational speaker business, among many other things, yet here he was riding a public bus as he spoke with The Oklahoman.
'Sure, why not?' he said. 'I walk, I ride a bus, I take a taxi. You know, in New York City, I mostly walk everywhere because I love walkin'. It just so happened a bus happened to pull up, so I just jumped on the bus.'
Twisted Sister no longer tours on a regular basis and only plays shows to which the band is invited. French says Twisted Sister has been around for so long that its motto is now 'Sex, prescription drugs and rock 'n' roll.'
Not dead yet
Another two-time Rocklahoma act (2010, 2012) now making its third appearance is Vancouver's post-grunge heavy-hitters Theory of a Deadman, who've been around since 2001.
Tyler Connolly, frontman and chief songwriter of Deadman, in a phone interview from Billings, Mont., said he doesn't clearly recall his band's two previous appearances at the Pryor festival.
'No, we've done it before, Rocklahoma,' Connolly said. 'We're not virgins. I can't remember. I mean, God, it's one of those things where you know you played it, and then if someone starts talking to you about it you go, 'Oh, yeah, I remember.' Ahh, probably. I love the heat. So, it don't matter to me. Sure hope it's hot. I like it.'
Entities 0 Name: Rocklahoma Count: 5 1 Name: Oklahoma Count: 2 2 Name: Staind Count: 2 3 Name: Pryor Count: 1 4 Name: Kid Rock Count: 1 5 Name: Deftones Count: 1 6 Name: New York City Count: 1 7 Name: Manhattan Count: 1 8 Name: Dee Snider Count: 1 9 Name: Connolly Count: 1 10 Name: Vancouver Count: 1 11 Name: Jay Jay French Count: 1 12 Name: AEG Count: 1 13 Name: Mont. Count: 1 14 Name: Billings Count: 1 15 Name: America Count: 1 16 Name: Norway Count: 1 17 Name: Arctic Circle Count: 1 18 Name: Tyler Connolly Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1r11QAA Title: Summer music festivals Bonnaroo Lollapalooza and more Description: Stages upon stages and music everywhere you turn. Yes, festival season is officially upon us. Coachella 2014 and New Orleans Jazz Fest have already come and gone, but there's still plenty of summer music festivals to go around. The scene is heating up, and with more outings planned every year, the U.S.
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