{"id":375369,"date":"2025-11-13T06:51:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T06:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375369\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T06:51:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T06:51:22","slug":"phoenix-mess-fest-invades-ground-zero-studio-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375369\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Mess Fest invades Ground Zero Studio this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA scene from the first Mess Fest in 2024.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Provided by RoadKill Kaily<\/p>\n

At a time when Arizona\u2019s festival scene<\/a> is dominated by big-budget extravaganzas, one DIY event proves impact doesn\u2019t require a huge bankroll. This weekend\u2019s Mess Fest in Phoenix is a two-day punk <\/a>and metal <\/a>festival that prioritizes community over corporate-backed sponsors.<\/p>\n

Event organizer RoadKill Kaily says that\u2019s the festival\u2019s identity. \u201cIt\u2019s all DIY. There\u2019s no corporate backing. There\u2019s no sponsorship. It\u2019s all just community, underground type stuff,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The all-ages festival at north Phoenix\u2019s Ground Zero Studios isn\u2019t just raw and do-it-yourself. It\u2019s also loud, described by Kaily as \u201ca face-melting blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re into this kind of music, it makes sense,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s all blast beats and noise. Loud and extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"\"L.A. doom metal band Mourn.<\/p>\n

Mess Fest II takes place on Friday and Saturday with 20 different bands from across the Southwest representing a variety of flavors of metal and punk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s many different subgenres. You\u2019ve got grind, crust, hardcore, power violence (and more),\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s why we call it Mess Fest, because it\u2019s a bunch of different styles under the punk metal umbrella. It brings people together that are into all these sounds. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s lineup includes music from bands like Jugular Slice, Ends Embrace, Nooses, Mosara, Necrambulant, Big Gulp, Plunge, Kthulu and Coaccion. Saturday features sets by Life\u2019s Torment, Axe Collectors, G.A.S.M., Poison Tribe, Dismay, High On Formadehyde, and L.A. doom metal act Mourn.<\/p>\n

\"\"Life\u2019s Torment is scheduled to perform at Mess Fest II.<\/p>\n

The vendors at Mess Fest II are also extreme. Local food truck Last Rite Tacos, known for its horror-themed eats, will be at the event. Phoenix\u2019s Olla Olla Crepes will also have food available for purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also going to have art vendors,\u201d Kaily says. \u201cIt\u2019s just bringing the community together to have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same M.O. of the original Mess Fest in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"The inaugural Mess Fest went down in 2024.<\/p>\n

Provided by RoadKill Kaily<\/p>\n

Kaily says she launched Mess Fest in 2024 to spotlight local artists. \u201cIt initially (was) just supposed to be like a celebration of underground punk and metal from all over Arizona,\u201d she says. \u201cKind of old bands as well as new bands. My emphasis is on wanting to do an all-ages music festival. So bands that normally wouldn\u2019t be at all ages shows are going to see the younger bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first Mess Fest \u201cwent off\u201d with 20 bands from Arizona, Texas and California playing the two-day event at Ground Zero.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even had a buddy fly down from Seattle to play. I had vendors, food, art vendors and everything. It turned out really rad.\u201d<\/p>\n

She compares it to Southwest Terror Fest<\/a>, a now-defunct local metal festival from the 2010s that featured bands from multiple states.<\/p>\n

Kaily wanted to do things \u201ca little different\u201d with this year\u2019s Mess Fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t even sure I was going to do a fest, but I had bands from out of town asking me if I was going to put on another one because last year\u2019s was so great. They wanted to get in on it. So this year, we put together another event with bands from New Mexico, Colorado, and Mexico. We opened things up and are going all out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mess Fest II. 5 p.m., Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15, at Ground Zero Studios, 9850 N. 19th Drive. Tickets <\/a>are $22 each day and $32 for the weekend.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scene from the first Mess Fest in 2024. Provided by RoadKill Kaily At a time when Arizona\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":375370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,132130,2104,981,1589,2585,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-375369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-concert-previews","12":"tag-festivals","13":"tag-metal","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-punk","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115541068656962142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}