#bailjack

Doom Fest is right around the corner! Here is a preview of Day Two, a little later than planned, commencing Friday 24th

You know what they say about sequels, how the longer they go on for the crappier and more insignificant they become? Well that may be the case with these preview intros! Day Two of Doom Fest on the other hand will be just as much of a monumental success as the day preceeding it, chock full of bands who are gonna keep the festivities rolling long into the night, bringing those feelgood vibes we’ve…

Tomorrow, The Maryland Doom Fest kicks off a weekend of doom with its fourth installment. The event runs from Friday, June 22nd to Sunday, June 24th and will be held at Cafe 611. Tickets and additional information are available at this link.

Additionally, there will be a free show on Saturday at Guido’s Speakeasy. Details for that can be found following The Maryland Doom Fest admat.

Friday, June…

The Maryland Doom Fest 2018 event tickets are still on sale. The lineup is announced, the merch is ready, and of four primary festival sponsors (Riff Relevant included) we reach our final.  We invite you to learn a bit more about primary sponsor: BALTIMORE TATTOO MUSEUM.  This one is special…

The Baltimore Tattoo Museum opened their doors nearly 20 years ago in 1999. Located in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, the Baltimore Tattoo Museum is a traditional, fully-functional tattoo shop. However, the space also includes exploration into the history, artistry, and artifacts of modern electric tattooing.

The artist collective of Chris Keaton, Adam Jeffrey, Chris Smith, Dave Cise, Tory Destromp, and Elvis Aaron in the shop boast a wild array of varying styles of tattoo work, from traditional styles of old, to portraits or caricature, and on to more modern designs and custom work.

The walls, books, and display racks hold vast artwork collections of tattoo imagery, machines, tools, and historical archives on tattooing. Piercings, somewhat unique jewelry, and shop-specific merchandise are also available. The information and merchandise can change with the seasons, but they do welcome walk in customers and browsers to chat and ask questions.

It’s an interesting place and the staff and artists do much amazing work to assist their local community of artists and musicians. If you’re ever ambitious enough to browse their galleries of photos (as I did to find some of what you see here), you may come across an illustrated poster or two for bands like Freedom Hawk… an alumni performer of The Maryland Doom Fest 2017!

That was a tease, since I didn’t include it here, but if you peruse the Baltimore Tattoo Museum’s Facebook photos of amazing artworks, you’ll find it. The wide variety of tattoo work they’ve done and share in their photos is phenomenal and worth the time to look.

The Baltimore Tattoo Museum on:  Facebook / Instagram / Website

Now, I did mention at the beginning that this was special and it was with good reason. The artists collective of Museum staff named above once included a gentlemen quite important to the Baltimore music community and The Maryland Doom Festival. Reverend Jim Forrester was his name. Jim was unfortunately and very senselessly murdered, while outside on a break at his work as a professional piercer at the Museum last December of 2017.

Jim was a highly-regarded Maryland-area musician, as well as a husband, brother, son, and human. ‘The Rev‘ was on staff with The Maryland Doom Fest for years. He was also my friend. To be honest, this part of the article has been rather difficult to write coherently and should have been completed much earlier. Jim was a wonderful person who welcomed me into a tribe of amazing people. I’ll be forever grateful to have known him.

Jim is sorely missed by all who knew him, and his colleagues at the Baltimore Tattoo Museum have kept his memory alive through their support of benefit events to assist Jim’s family, as well as community involvement to support and try to help make their neighborhood a safer place. They are a primary sponsor for The Maryland Doom Festival this year in Jim’s honor.

Rev. Jim Forrester at Baltimore Tattoo Museum, November 2017

Rev. Jim Forrester (with Foghound), Photo by Shane Gardner

From the organizers of The Maryland Doom Fest:

“I would just like to say that Rev Jim was a special dude. Always smiling and very charismatic. When the discussion about possibly having an emcee to individually announce all of the MD Doom Fest bands each year, Jim was the very first person that came to mind. Rightfully so, because he was the perfect fit.

His presence is deeply missed in this community and in this music scene. The MD Doom family will not forget this man or his legacy… ever.” ~ JB Matson

“In addition to being a great friend to so many people both in and out of the local music scene, Jim was a steadfast supporter, as well as an essential member of both The Maryland Doom Fest and The Baltimore Tattoo Museum teams.

To honor him and his many contributions in everything he was a part of, we asked our friends at The Baltimore Tattoo Museum to team up with us this time around in helping us to make this year’s festival the best one yet.

Collectively, as a family, we dedicate the 2018 Maryland Doom Fest in its entirety to the loving memory of this remarkable man who was taken from this world far too soon.” ~ Mark Cruikshank

Maryland Doom Fest 2018 happens a in two weeks, so check out the lineup below and go by your tickets!  The headliners include legends The Obsessed and Weedeater, as well as Windhand.

Taking place once again at Cafe 611, in Frederick, Maryland, with 2018’s Doom Fest happening June 22nd through 24th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). The updated festival roster of bands is listed on the poster below. Get tickets here:

Full Fest – All Days / Day 1 (6/22 only)

Day 2 (6/23 only) / Day 3 (6/24 only)

  The Maryland Doom Fest Primary Sponsors:

Oliver Brewing Co.

Capitol Hemp

Baltimore Tattoo Museum

Riff Relevant

The Maryland Doom Fest 2018 event tickets went on sale in December.  Riff Relevant has announced the lineup, a beautiful fest poster (artwork by Christina Christie), and of four primary festival sponsors (Riff Relevant included).  We invite you to learn a bit more about primary sponsor: CAPITOL HEMP.

Originally opened in Washington, D.C. in 2008, Capitol Hemp has quite the interesting background, and is by far not your average ‘head shop’.  They are a premiere hemp goods (clothing, art, and accessories) retail store in the District of Columbia.  Their original operation was out of a basement storefront of Washington, after a few years of legal battles (prior to legalization in D.C.), the store relocated to 1770 Columbia Road, NW, Washington, DC in August 2015.

Not only are they ‘not average’, they have long been involved in supporting the legalization of marijuana for both medical and recreational purposes.  They’ve been successful, too.  Several years ago, co-owners Adam Eidinger and Alan Amsterdam led the efforts of the ‘DC Cannabis Campaign’ in 2014, and collected the signatures needed to place Initiative 71 on the ballot that year.  They received over 57,000 signatures, in fact. An overwhelming 64.87% of D.C. residents voted in favor of Ballot Initiative 71, and it was passed in early 2015.

Capitol Hemp

Washington D.C. hemp-friendly residents have Capitol Hemp to thank as some of the very reasons that helped to somewhat decriminalize marijuana in the District, as this ballot initiative “allows retailers in the District of Columbia to sell products that can be explicitly used for the consumption, processing, and cultivation of cannabis”, among other legislation.   You can read more about their efforts [here].

Aside from the Hemp-factor, Capitol Hemp also enjoys attending music events in the D.C. and surrounding Mid-Atlantic areas. This includes attending last year’s Maryland Doom Fest, as well as hosting their own music events in D.C.  Capitol Hemp is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and are hosting an event on (when else?) 4/20.  You can find more about the event here:  ::Capitol Hemp 10th Anniversary Show::

Find Capitol Hemp on:  Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Website

Maryland Doom Fest 2018 is a little less than four months away, so check out the lineup below and go by your tickets!  With more than THIRTY acts over its three days, the headliners include legends The Obsessed and Weedeater, as well as Windhand.

Taking place once again at Cafe 611, in Frederick, Maryland, with 2018’s Doom Fest happening June 22nd through 24th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Riff Relevant shared much info about Maryland Doom Fest 2017, both before and after the event (past MD Doom Fest articles here), and are also a primary sponsor for 2018.  We’ll have another update for the lineup soon, along with some info on a MD Doom Fest sponsored free show at Guido’s across the street during the festival days.

More photos from MD Doom Fest 2017 performances are also coming [see 2017 behind the scenes at MD Doom Fest].  The entire festival roster is listed on the poster below and ticket links are here:

Full Fest – All Days / Day 1 (6/22 only) / Day 2 (6/23 only) / Day 3 (6/24 only)

The Maryland Doom Fest Primary Sponsors:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Maryland Doom Fest 2018 event tickets went on sale in December.  Riff Relevant has announced the full festival lineup, revealed the beautiful fest poster (artwork by Christina Christie), and told of the four primary festival sponsors (Riff Relevant included).  Now we’re inviting you to learn a bit more about these sponsors, starting with the Oliver Brewing Co..

These crafty craftsmen have been in the Baltimore, Maryland area for 25 years.  That’s right, since 1993!  Not only do they do their brew, but most of the staff are pretty wicked metal heads.  Don’t just take my word for it, you can see it as soon as you look at their beer cans.

If you visit their relatively new (and humongous) Baltimore brewery location, you’re going to see evidence of that heavy music fandom all over the joint.  Some of the bands and artists they’ve collaborated with include Wo Fat, Mothership, Monolord, Stoner Rock BBQ, and many more.

Artwork and illustrations from heavy bands and their respective artists are hanging on the brewery walls, around the bar, music blaring through the sound system… but it’s even better when it comes to their special events.

Every so often, the Oliver Brewing Co. hosts live music events to celebrate their releasing a new beer brew or a new can package line, or simply because they’re pretty cool folks who care about their Maryland neighbors and they host fundraiser events to help each other out.

One such live music event I made the trek to Baltimore to attend was last June, for a live show performance from Cavern to help announce and reveal the new Maryland Doom Fest packaging for their ‘Bury The Sun‘ brew.

MD Doom Fest Beer ‘Bury The Sun’ from Oliver Brewing

This was a hell of a fun time, and I don’t even drink beer!  In my personal experience, Oliver Brewing Co. has a great staff, a nice facility, and in general, seem like pretty fun folks to be partnered up with.  The Maryland Doom Fest organizers have been working with Oliver’s Head Brewer Steve Jones for a couple of years now, and it’s a wonderful thing to witness from afar that relationship evolve to the level of camaraderie that it has.  We hope to see it grow in the future, as well.

To quote MD Doom Fest organizer Mark Cruikshank:

“Oliver Brewing Company is awesome.  I like beer and stuff!”

There is no recommendation easier than that!  Below are some quick photos taken at the MD Doom Fest ‘Bury The Sun‘ beer release with Cavern.  Coincidentally, Cavern is also scheduled to perform at Maryland Doom Fest 2018, so you can take a look here, check out the rest of the fest lineup below and then go by your tickets!  See you at the fest!

Maryland Doom Fest 2018 brings the fourth ear-crushing event, featuring more than THIRTY acts over its three days.  The headliners include legends The Obsessed and Weedeater, as well as the well-established Windhand.

Taking place once again at Cafe 611, in Frederick, Maryland, with next year’s Doom Fest happening June 22nd through 24th (Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Some Riff Relevant staff attended MD Doom Fest 2017, and we shared much info about the fest, both before and after the event (past MD Doom Fest articles here).

We’ll have more sponsor features soon, as well as more photos from some of the MD Doom Fest 2017 performances. Here’s a tease from 2017 behind the scenes.

The entire festival roster is listed on the poster below.  Here are ticket links:

Full Fest – All Three Days

Day One (6/22 only) / Day Two (6/23 only) / Day Three (6/24 only)

The Maryland Doom Fest Primary Sponsors:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(By Leanne Ridgeway, Owner/Chief Editor, RiffRelevant.com) Early Bird Tickets for the Maryland Doom Fest 2018 events go on sale Sunday, December 17th (which is TODAY).  You can click here or on the ticket announcement flyer below.   (more…)