SXSWORLD

Metal's Many Tribes United By Dedication to Music and Lifestyle by Linda Laban I Metal nation is opinionated, passionate, 100% engaged and only growing stronger. "More than a genre of music, metal has grown to become a way of life for generations of fans in every time zone," says Alexander Milas, editor of European metal magazine Metal Hammer, which is presenting a SXSW showcase in conjunction with musicians union FIM (Th e International Federation of Musicians). "Like fans I've met everywhere from Stockholm to Tokyo to Sydney to London, we're cut from the same cloth and share similar outlooks." Since its origins in late '60s hard rock, heavy metal has not only n addition to the music's extreme sounds, metal bands and their fans also embrace an uncompromising lifestyle that encompasses attitude and, though they might shun the term, even a dress code. survived despite critical and social scorn, it has grown into an ever- diversifying genre with more sub-categories than just about any other music, including classical. Th ere's '70s old school heavy metal, New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, thrash metal, speed metal, death metal, black metal, doom metal, psych metal, sludge metal, Viking metal, prog metal, drone metal, space metal and metalgaze. Splinter groups such as glam metal, hair metal, and nu metal contentiously err on the pop side, but still retain or inspire the same intense tribalism. How a seemingly simple, and critically lambasted as simple- minded, music got very complicated, even sophisticated, and harder to characterize. Hamilton, head of Detroit-based Small Stone Records. "We get lumped in with metal because our bands are hard and it rocks," he says of Small Stone's '70s proto metal leaning bands, several of which play the label's showcase this year. "Metal's extremely diverse," says DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara. "I don't think you can easily defi ne metal anymore," says Scott "Th ere are so many diff erent kinds of bands with so many subgenres within subgenres that it's hard to keep track of it." With a style dubbed "groove metal," the Santa Barbara, California, quintet is scheduled for the Metal Alliance showcase at SXSW. "But that's a good thing," he adds. "Without such diversity, if you only had one style of music it would get boring really quick." Just as the bands forging new sounds in metal today usually have was Metallica and Megadeth. Th en it got heavier and nastier with death metal and black metal. Th en there was like 85 subgenres of this one thing," laughs Hamilton. Original heavy metal all but disappeared until the 1980s, when no premeditated agenda other than to follow their musical instincts, the late '60s hard rock bands such as Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath that forged the metal sound were simply making their version of hard rock. "Th ey took up the blues and amped it. Th en metal got hard; there the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, spearheaded by bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, broke commercially, followed by chart- topping hair metal bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe. Even originators like Ozzy Osbourne saw career upturns. Th ough alternative rock and grunge took center stage on the hard rock scene in the '90s, metal found a commercial kingpin when thrash titans Metallica became a massive mainstream act. If any music has an adapt and survive mechanism, it is metal. Devil Driver Unarguably, its progressive diversity has taken it far beyond its blue- collar suburban roots and keeps it vital. "Th ose bands who take the time to progress the sound and go after art, that's what's leading to all sorts of new music. Th e fans recognize that and appreciate it," says Fafara. Beyond the bands striving for individualism and forging their own sound, metal's survival is down to incredibly dedicated fans. "All music fans are dedicated, but there's something about metal fans," says Fafara. "Th ey align themselves with the bands; they align themselves with the lifestyle much more than, say, pop. It is tribal in nature; it is the sound of rebellion." "Heavy metal people are a pretty loyal bunch, that's why the genre keeps going," attests Hamilton. "In 2012, metal remains as vibrant and innovative as ever," agrees Milas. "But what's perhaps most interesting is the explosion of metal communities in places as far afi eld as India, Indonesia, China and Vietnam. What's clear is that more than its forever-expanding styles of music, it's now a global phenomenon." ■ Lo Pan For information on metal showcases at SXSW 2012, check schedule.sxsw.com. 38 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH M USIC 2012 TRAVIS SHINN

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