Interview with Tomas Fiala: Basinfirefest & Brutal Assault Promoter!

While at Basinfirefest, we had the pleasure to seat down with promoter Tomas Fiala and chat about Basinfirefest 2025, a bit of Brutal Assault and the future of this festival that has been growing exponentially in the last 4 years.  

Miguel MHR: Tomas, thank you so much for being open to talk about the festival, first of all, how do you feel about the results of the festival so far? 

Tomáš Fiala:  We finished three days of the edition 2025 of Basinfirefest. Brilliant, we are super happy, that's the fourth edition after COVID we do, and finally, it's getting where we want it to land, which is a mid-sized festival for 4,000/5,000 people. 

Super happy about the lineup, super happy about the festival ground, the weather was with us. So, we are very happy that we have been able to bring it to our fans. 

MHR: From a personal perspective, favorite band you got to see at the festival? 
TF: It's gonna be Carcass. It's gonna be Carcass. And E-Force, which is former Eric Forrest from Voivod. Those two for me. 

MHR: In previous years, the lineup has been kind of like a mix between Brutal Assault and other less extreme bands. What are the expectations for Basinfirefest 2026? 
TF: We want to keep it going in the same direction. It should be a little bit of Brutal Assault and a little bit of rock and metal. It should be a little bit more mellow than Brutal Assault. And that's our direction and we want to keep it.

So, it's kind of like a different version from Brutal Assault. Kind of like a warm-up, a month before. And maybe Wacken-ish, it should be like Doro would probably not play Brutal Assault, but would play Basinfirefest. Because we want to go a little bit less extreme direction, while it's possible over here. So that's where we are. 
MHR: Talking about festivals, what are the biggest challenge at the time for you to put this festival together? 
TF: To book the right bands and to match the prices, because it's very difficult in these days that everything is getting more expensive, and I just don't think that there are so many new festivals who are bringing it up. So, it's challenging and it's a little bit of competition, but we like it and we are happy that we aimed where we aimed. And besides, when you talk about bands as big as Dark Tranquility or bands as big as Exodus, you see these bands that have been for a long time, regardless of where they come from. 
MHR: When you think about the festival, how do you see it related to the Czech metal scene from that perspective? Does it get challenging to see who's going to come? 
TF: What I would say the most challenging moment is that all the bands are bringing productions now. So everything is bigger and these are the real challenging moments, but other than that, I believe it's still the same as it used to be. 

MHR: Are there any plans, because I think last year it was not a Šapitó stage, to make the festival a little bit bigger? 

TF: We want to keep the Šapitó and we want to keep it underground in the best way, as the big stage is very official, sufficient and maybe there is a bigger distance between artists and the fans. So the Šapitó should be completely opposite.

It should be raw, punky, right in the face and that's the energy we work with. That's the idea of the Šapitó stage. 
MHR: With relation of the town, for me personally from an outside perspective, how did you end up in this location? 
TF: It is very easy. There is the original promoter who brought up the festival and we took it with him and he is helping us out to build up the area and he does most of the build up work. So it's very natural that we are here, because we have a big help from him. 

MHR: And the people in the town, do they like it? 

TF: They really like it and they are happy that something like this is happening over here.

For us it's easy to travel to Plzen and then here it's not a difficult distance, so it's great.

 

MHR: Are any teasers or anything that you can tell me, regardless of the lineup, you don't have to drop names, but you can tell me anything that you can share for the 2026 edition. 

TF: Not sure, check out our website, but we want to announce something within 1-2 months, but it should go in the same direction and what we really want to do, to convince you, the fans, that we are able to do on a high-quality festival for a very, very friendly price.

And this is our aim, because I guess that most of the people don't have so much money in these times and we want to bypass it and try to offer them the best what we can for a super friendly price. 

MHR: For my perspective, as a foreigner living in the Czech Republic, I didn't know about Basinfirefest before moving to Czech Republic. What are your feelings about people coming to the festival from Germany, Austria, Poland of flying in from other continents? 
TF: Yeah, we want to spread the message and I believe that once people will know, they will love it, because they usually don't have such a quality for such a reasonable money. So that's what we want to do, spread the word and try to make them realize that this is a good option for them, because that's what we work for.

MHR: How do you select the bands, it's like before the festival starts. And you shuffle the names back and forth or is it more like a curated list or it's a mixture? 
TF: But let me say that Brutal Assault is more curated.

This is a little bit more like who can be available and do the right mixture for the crowd, the personal area. That's a little bit different, because Brutal Assault is very international and that's our niche, top thing to do the right dramaturgy. And over here it should be more a little bit metal mainstream.

MHR: I mean, this year I see a little bit of changes from last year and the previous years. We have the games and the Šapitó stage. Is there anything that you wanted to add for the experience of the festival in the next edition? 

TF: Not sure what, but definitely. We think about things and we want to have more seats, more shade, more games. It should be just entertaining and it should be the way that you do have a time to do something over here, because even though you are big music fans, you cannot listen to more than 8 or 10 bands a day. So, then we want to get special activity and I'm happy that people like it and it's going in the right direction.

MHR: What do you want to tell to the fans that now discovered Basinfirefest and maybe the ones that will be discovered through this chat or through any kind of post or any kind of social media? 
TF: Keep it with us. We are happy that we have been able to build it and we will be trying to do the very best with the festival and offer you a fair price for a good package. So keep your eyes on Basinfirefest.

MHR:  Thank you very much Tomas.

TF: Thank you too.

Text: Miguel Rozo

Photo: Martin Huf