Some may know of Mark as the manager of "Crestfallen Records" others may know of him as the guy that brought out "Abbaddon Incarnate" or even the editor of “Extreme Noise” magazine, but now he's taking on a much bigger challenge with co-running the massive "Destruction of Oz" gig in Melbourne on the 22nd August this year featuring DORO, SODOM, MARDUK and CRYPTOPSY

1. First up mark, how are you coping with the pressure of organising something so big?

Well, it has been a very busy couple of months, that is for sure. Between the label, the next issue of Extreme Noise, due out soon, and the festival it has all been time consuming. Luckily, I do thrive on challenges so do not suffer too much pressure, plus it is something that I love so feels more like a hobby. I have had fantastic help from Steve Ravic and Simon Cleary (production manager) from Metal Warriors as well so that been really great. I know that next year we have even bigger plans, I think that if anything, that is when I will really start to feel the pressure. Overall though, it has not been to tough for me, despite the work load. And as long as everything goes off smoothly I am not too worried.

2. Have you found the management of the various bands involved easy to get along with or were they very demanding?

The managers of the various bands have been fantastic and we are really lucky that they have all had faith in us for putting this gig on. While I have bought Abaddon Incarnate out on tour I do not really have a lot of experience in promotion - then again, it is like anything I do, be it the label, the magazine or promotion, I just use my instincts and go for it. Steve Ravic has been dealing with Noisegate in regards to Doro as he knows them quite well. From what communication I have had with Dirk who looks after Doro, he seems like a great guy though. I have also been dealing with the personal managers of both Cryptopsy and Marduk and both of these have been fine as well. As for Sodom, I have been dealing directly with their personally with their booking agency, Continental, which is one of the three biggest booking agencies in Germany and who deal with everyone from Dimmu Borgir to Iced Earth, from Sentenced to Soilwork etc. I guess that some of these people have probably phoned around to see what I am like and I have come up clean so all is well. If there is indeed any pressure it is to make sure that everything does indeed run smoothly as I hope to work with these people and their bands in the future, but if I stuff it up this time, there won't be a next time. But overall, all has been good and I could not thank any of them enough for having the faith that they do. I know Steve Ravic and Metal Warriors probably goes a long way to getting a good name as well.

3. What about the palace management?

The Palace management has been absolutely fantastic. I deal with a woman called Jenny Rees there and I really owe her a lot for having faith in us as well. She has gone out of her way to help us out and been really supportive, even though before this, she would not have known us from a bar of soap. Its people like her and the managers above that really make events like this happen - they, including Jenny probably have a lot more to lose than myself for instance so they have placed a lot of trust in our hands. But yeah, I am glad that we have used The Palace, which is a great venue, for the first Destruction of Oz Festival

4. How long has this gig been in the planning for?

We have actually been organising this event for quite some time now. I know, because people did not hear about it earlier, they think I planned it one weekend before I announced it, which obviously is not the case. We did not want to announce it earlier, mainly to avoid disappointment - it is better to do so once everything is 100% concrete. What people do not often realise is that stuff like this does take a long time - you have to go back and forth with booking agents to make sure everyone is happy and agreed on certain points and so forth. To give you some idea, we are already working on next years Destruction of Oz Festival which will not happen until April 2004.

5. Now that you've organised one really huge show, would you do more, or is it better left to someone else?

Like I said, we are already organising the second Destruction of Oz Festival, which we hope to make into an annual event. I must confess it is a bit addictive and I love organising this kind of event. In fact I have got the promoting bug so much that I am already looking at other bands to tour. So in regards to the question, absolutely, I would definitely do, and will do, more shows.

6. What were the coolest things about putting this thing together?

I think the coolest things about putting the shows were getting such great names and also meeting knew people involved. I had never really talked to Steve Ravic before, who decided to help out because he had the idea to do something similar, but now we catch up once a week. Also, the production manager, Simon Cleary, is a really great guy. I like to think I have made good friends about of both of them. Then their are the managers and booking agents who I cannot wait to meet and also people like Jenny at The Palace who have given ME a little faith in putting something like this on.

7. Have you had much industry support from your peers...? Has their reaction been good or bad?

Yeah, we have had fantastic support from everyone, including the media. I think the thing with the metal scene at least, is when it comes down to it, everyone helps out. For example I have done various radio interviews and when I have asked to do that, they have all agreed. No one has said no. Then there is the rest of the metal community, who have offered to put up posters or help out in someone. Without these people and the media, this event would never happen. I think that most of the metal industry realise it is about time we had something like this as we need more bands over etc. So I salute everyone who has helped out in some way for the Destruction of Oz Festival

8. What was the biggest challenge of this venture?

Biggest challenge of the event I think would be keeping faith - sometimes you wake up and panic and ask 'is this going to work? Have I made the right decision'', but I am always around positive people who are always encouraging me, or I will read an email left on the guest book of the site about someone really enthusiastic and thanking me for bringing out this or that band, and then I think that its all been worthwhile.

9. What other projects have you got planned for the future?

Well, while I think it would be great to have a break after this, like I said I am already looking at next years gig, which will be even bigger and better - we certainly have big, big plans. We already have a couple of big bands that are really interested which is great, some real surprises. I would also like to do maybe a Napalm Death tour later in the year and I am also looking at another major band to get over to Australia -whether either happen will be another thing. As for other projects, we will have the new issue of Extreme Noise out soon which will be full gloss. We also launch headlong into the label, which we have revamped as Extreme Noize Records. We have three releases that should see the light of day around September so there will be a lot of work for that. I think all of that should be enough for awhile, ha ha.

Thanks for the interview and your support Reggae and hope to see plenty of metal heads down from Canberra.

Tickets for this thing are available on the net from www.destructionofozfestival.com for somewhere around the $80 mark. I’ve also put some information on the web about what you can do if you’re going to have transport hassles.

This gig will probably go down in Australian metal history as one of the all time must see gigs ever, so make sure you do what you can to get down there. If things go well for Mark, He’ll be putting on more and more shows of a similar calibre!