A concert performance photograph by @dessnappedit showing Trailer, the hardcore band. Captured from behind in a low-angle shot during a live venue performance, a musician wearing a backward black baseball cap holds a dark red electric bass guitar overhead with both hands raised toward the ceiling. Stage lights cast a soft glow on the performer and instrument from below, set against a dark, atmospheric venue backdrop.
Trailer Credit: dessnappedit / Instagram

Metal and hardcore bands from across the Southeast are headed for Tampa’s Ybor Heights neighborhood this weekend, for the two-day Rott Fest kicking off Friday afternoon.

The massive lineup of about two dozen bands cover a wide swath of hyphenated subgenres like slamgaze (Gurm), groove metal (Ghost Tape), and nu-metal-dad-rock (Trailer). Alabama’s Slugbleed (“trailer park slam”) and homegrown heavy hitter ZeroFL (playing the indoor stage on day two) are among the headliners.

Tickets to see Rott Fest at Deviant Libation in Tampa on Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24 are still available and start at $15.


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Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...