Lancaster Photography | Walnut Creek Wedding and Event Photographer. San Francisco Bay Area.: Rockstar Mayhem Festival

Relatively last-minute, I was granted press access to the Rockstar Mayhem Festival at Shoreline in Mountain View, CA. Similarly to Warped Tour, I only really cared about one particular act: Megadeth.

If you've known me for a while, you know that I have a soft spot for some good, heavy, melodic metal. I learned to play guitar when I was 12, and a big part of my education came from sitting down and playing along with Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction in my bedroom for hours on end. We even jammed some of those tracks in our band rehearsals.

So, although I've largely moved on to different musical preferences, Megadeth has and will always hold a special place in my heart... and I was thrilled to finally get to snap photos of them.

Not only was I in the pit, staring at Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick shred away on the guitar from 7 feet away, but I also had access to the press area backstage. I found myself sitting at a table by Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick and his family, with bassist David Ellefson pacing back and forth next to me on the phone, Sully (from Godsmack) about 12 feet to my left doing an interview with radio station The Bone, the guys from Testament eating dinner, and David Draiman of the band Disturbed coming in and out of the area. It was interesting.

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To get my bearings and learn the press process (each venue is different in policy), I decided to shoot Machinehead as well. As always, here are some of my favorite shots: