The Power of Metal
On the music genre and how it has shaped me
Blood, violence, omens, and dark color schemes. Enough to hold a candle to…
That may be your impressions of the above album artwork. But for me, it’s my entertainment, my relief valve, and dare I say, my safe space. It’s very unlikely an adult just one day picks up Cannibal Corpse, At The Gates, et al., and thinks, “Wow, what a wonderful listening experience!” Like many fans of metal, my fandom began in my adolescence. A time when I was just a brand new matchbook, untouched or ignited by anything extreme.
Being the son of a rock (now classic) dad, I was already born listening to the likes of Journey, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and many others. The monoculture of MTV and the privilege of living within the range of WMMR & WMGK radio stations further emboldened my love for guitar music. It wasn’t until I played the famous Tony Hawk Pro Skater game that I discovered more ‘heavier’ music. A few friends in grade school shared my sentiments. Playing Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden in a basement boombox was a much simpler time.
For my first allowance, my dad took me to Sam Goody, a nearly extinct music and entertainment retailer. With gusto, I marched to the rock section to find a copy of two specific bands: System of a Down and Metallica. I grabbed the first album I could find, Steal This Album! and St. Anger, respectively. When I asked my dad if I could ‘steal’ the album because of its literal interpretation, he laughed and said, “That’s not how things work. Artists need to get paid.” Little did I know, the depth of peer-to-peer sites like Limewire and Napster lurked behind thinly-veiled internet curtains. Talk about throwing gasoline on a fire!
Picking up a drum set was one of the best decisions of my life. Joey Jordison, Chris Adler, Dave Lombardo…you name them; I wanted to be them. Winning the Battle of the Bands in a two-show elimination was the highlight of my senior year. Afterward, I was in a myriad of bands as I grew into my 20s. The idea of being in a band was one thing. Playing in one was another. The clashing of egos. The camaraderie after recording a song. Meeting people with the same energy and desires. It all opened me to many more bands and subgenres. You can say, I ‘graduated’ to the fringes of metal. But, like any community, there is a space and time for everything.
To date, I have 48.6 continuous days of music on iTunes (I’m taking donations of your old CDs). Bandcamp came in huge for me during the COVID pandemic. Dozens, if not hundreds of underground bands have graced my ears since. The longing for another drumset is palpable in my veins. Many more concerts were attended. Some ticket stubs and guitar picks were lost to the annals of time, but not the spirit. I can’t write without some sort of guitar solo, gnarly screams, or a blast beat. But even better, music has been burnt into my fiction, branded even.
I’ve been hard at work writing scores of little stories. I don’t have many rules with my writing, but these follow pretty open criteria: at least 1 person wearing a band shirt, zombies, or a shoehorned reference to a band. Above all else, they don’t take themselves too seriously. Yeah, some are punching up on the so-called ‘gatekeepers’, but that’s the point. Look at how much fun everyone in these pictures is having! It’s what I wish I could’ve read when I was a teenager. All those years wearing headphones and carrying a CD player. I guess there is a space and time for everything. And that time is now.
I have a chapbook forthcoming in 2024!
*fire, 100%, flexing emoji*
There are many details and some final edits to make, but this is my proper teaser. BEHOLD, INFINITE FIRE will be published through Frequent and Vigorous Chapbooks. I knew it was a good sign when MD Wheatley, the publisher, and I immediately hit it off as fans of all things metal. Couldn’t have asked for a better comrade in this process. The chapbook will contain a handful of stories that are purely metalhead-coded. Some crossover with literary fiction and horror will be present. Some sketches from MD will also be prevalent throughout.
Thanks for strolling down memory lane with me. I have hundreds of concert pictures, but this one is one of my most memorable, and part of my core identity. A lot has changed since this concert While I’m stoked for this chapbook, I also realize that I’m not getting any younger. Rebellious, teenage moments are long gone. Moshing and headbanging can have days-long side effects. There are times when I feel like a bucket of sand has been dumped over me. But like a flame, it doesn’t take much to set a fire, to spread an inferno.
A fine journey, lad. And congratulations on the forthcoming chap. I'm but a mere 2% metalhead, maybe I'll be 5% when I'm done reading it??