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Robot Mosh Fest was a Metal/Hardcore music Festival that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2001 and took place annually in the Milwaukee area.
The festival was originally titled Hugs and Chugs Fest and was booked by Art Henke. Art created bootleg videos of the show and the bands sold them at their shows, which helped build hype for the following year. The name change was inspired by Forever is Forgotten's song, Destroying a Lifetime of Innocence, which sounded like two robots fighting. This song led Art Henke and Robot Mosh Fest flyer artist, Michael Adler, to create Robot outfits and fight during a show, which in turn led to Robot Mosh Fest. Art went on to book Robot Mosh Fest 2002. CDRs packaged in DVD cases with full art were used as successful promotional flyers and would become a staple for each year's festival. Andy Parmann filmed the show and created bootleg videos for the bands to sell, which helped build hype for the following year. Unfortunately Robot Mosh Fest 2003 never happened. Art passed the Robot Mosh Fest torch to Andy Parmann who proceeded to book the next two festivals (2004-2005), each gaining more exposure, larger acts and crowds. In 2006, Andy was joined by Steve Roche who helped co-organize the following three years of the festival (2006-2008), which included breaking the festival into two days, elevating it to National attention. In 2007, Fox news covered the event and interviewed show-goers.
Andy, Michael and Art ran a website (www.didntthathurt.com) dedicated to documenting metal and hardcore music in Milwaukee, WI. The site was the hub of Milwaukee's underground metal and hardcore scene during the festivals lifespan. It even crashed a few times due to bandwidth overloads from the interest of the festival.
The Festival showcased the best in local, national, and international Metal bands.