Virginia' based doomhaulers Salome have been everywhere lately, playing shows up and down the East Coast, swinging by Atlanta to rock with the best of 'em, and blowing out eardrums across the globe with their devilishly decimating brand of riff worship. Their self-titled debut (out now on Vendetta) has taken up permanent residence in my CD player, and is damn near essential listening for anyone that digs the heavy. I caught up with drummer Aaron Deal a few months after their appearance at the now-legendary Scion Rock Fest to chat about their experiences down South - including the freak blizzard that trapped half the bill in a liquor-less hell for several days.

You guys destroyed at Scion Rock Fest a few weeks ago, and I heard tons of people talking about how you were one of the highlights of the whole fest. How did you end up playing the show?

Thanks. We got an email a couple months ago asking if we'd be up for playing a free show headlined by Mastodon and Neurosis. We were into it. Then we found out about the rest of the lineup and it kept getting better and better.

Did you catch any of the other bands' sets? Who were you most excited to see, and who were you disappointed to have missed?

I got to see most of Boris, Pig Destroyer, part of Krallice and most of High on Fire, Neurosis and Mastodon. I was most excited to see Neurosis. It had been years since I had seen them. It was impossible to see everything. Every band was really great so you had to make some tough decisions about what to see. It was just really cool to be a part of it. All the bands were awesome and we all stayed at the same hotel. When we checked in, Boris was waiting in the lobby. You would just run into the other bands in the elevators or restaurants or whatever, it was a pretty crazy scene.

What happened after I saw you last at the hotel? How long were you stranded there, and how did you end up getting back home?

It kept on snowing, a lot. We ended up waiting on hold for at least an hour and a half with the airline but eventually got through and rescheduled our flight. We ended up flying out on Tuesday morning, so we were stuck an extra two days.

What did you guys do to keep sane while you were stuck in Georgia? Was there anyone left to hang out with by the time you escaped?

Sunday was pretty rough. We found out the hard way after walking to a grocery store that they don't sell booze on Sundays down there. The satellite tv was knocked out for several hours at the hotel too. On Monday we went out and got a bunch of beer and Rob and I drank all day while Kat laughed at us. Our plan was to watch the Family Guy mini-marathon from 8-10 and then pass out so we could wake up early and get to the airport. I love it when a plan comes together.

What was the best thing about that weekend for you? The worst?

There were obviously frustrating parts about the weekend. But there are worse things than hanging out with your friends in a hotel room, so it ended up being kind of fun anyway. The show itself seemed like it went off pretty smoothly and we had fun. The best part of the weekend was being able to play our set and then go see some of our favorite bands play too.

Was it worth all the hassle?

Sure, we would do it again.

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