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| Landmine Marathon’s Matt Martinez onstage. Photo by Denise Elfenbein |
The members of Jackson-wielding Arizona death metal quintet Landmine Marathon are accustomed to seeing themselves in the pages of metal’s biggest magazines in the United States and abroad; features about the band and solid reviews for latest album Sovereign Descent have appeared in recent issues of Decibel, Revolver, Rocksound, Metal Hammer, Kerrang, Terrorizer, Outburn and other publications.
Imagine bassist Matt Martinez’s surprise, however, when Landmine Marathon recently found its photo splashed across the prestigious pages of a publication the group hadn’t appeared in before—the mighty New York Times. In its coverage of the March 13, 2010, Scion Rock Fest in Columbus, Ohio, the Monday, March 15 edition of the Times prominently included a photo of Landmine Marathon in mid-set at the Newport Music Hall.
“That was beyond belief,” said Martinez, who works for Jackson parent company Fender Musical Instruments Corp. when he’s not touring. “When the photographer said he was from the Times, I thought he meant the Columbus Times, or something. Then he said, ‘Check the New York Times on Monday.’ It was definitely bigger than we expected. Something to show the family.”
The March 15 New York Times in which the band’s photo appeared.
The Times photo capped an unusually busy and exciting week for Landmine Marathon. Martinez and his bandmates, vocalist Grace Perry, guitarists Dylan Thomas and Ryan Butler, and drummer Mike Pohlmeier, proceeded almost immediately from Columbus to Austin, Texas, for the mammoth South by Southwest festival. During SXSW, the band played sets at Emo’s, a Prosthetic Records (the band’s label) showcase at the Mohawk and—seriously—Hoek’s Death Metal Pizza, all of which Martinez reports were very well received. Landmine Marathon also played Texas dates in Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso, plus dates in New Mexico.