This was actually written back in late July/early August. I figured I was long past a blog post, and I felt bad I never finished this, because I thought it was interesting. Enjoy.
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend Central Illinois Metalfest with my brother, Nick, and his friend, Vaden. Not to be confused with his dog, Vader, who also visited. It turned out to be less confusing than it sounds.
Since I'm not really 'into' Metal, and truth be told I can't pick out a good band from a crappy band, I spent most of the time trying to figure out what was going on. These shows are really fun...even if you're not a huge fan of the music, live, it's a great time. I think I had more fun this year than last, and I was totally sober this year (I suppose some of that could be WHY it was more fun...I didn't puke in the bathroom, I didn't fall asleep, and I didn't go from drunk to hungover all in one night). This is not a compendium of Metal truths, nor is it to be taken as such. They are simply a neophyte's observations. And if someone reading wants to correct me...please do.
Music
From what I gathered, there are (at least) two types of Metal: Death Metal (Old School Fucking Death Metal) and Grindcore. CIM's website also advertised 'Black Metal,' but I couldn't tell you what that is. Grindcore seems to be popular, especially among the newer bands and younger fans. Nick prefers Death Metal to Grindcore. Grindcore is almost purely technical, while Death Metal has more cool guitar riffs. I think I also prefer Death Metal. For those of you totally unversed, the vocals are nearly exclusively growls, the almost-incomprehensible 'Cookie Monster' voice. The vocalists (almost exclusively men, but there are female vocalists, who, according to my brother are almost always 'gimmicks') generally either use a low growl, or a higher-pitched rasp, or sometimes a combination of the two. Occasionally there's 'harmony' between a couple of vocalists, that's pretty cool actually.
Most of the bands have 4 or 5 members: a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist or two and a vocalist or two, and often the vocalists are also guitarists. Though not always. And from what I can tell there's no feeling that those bands who have vocalists who don't play anything are any less talented. However, a handful of bands only have one member. This is not super common, but nor is it extremely rare. One of the most popular sets of the night was a one-man band called Putrid Pile (more on names later). He had a pre-recorded drum track, and then he played the guitar and did vocals. In one song he had his friend do vocals with him, but otherwise it was just him. And, again, I didn't get the impression that he was any less legitimate than any of the other bands.
Appearance
Standard apparel is the same for both the fans and the band members. For men, most common is jeans or shorts, any color (though dark washes and camo tend to be favorites) and black band t-shirts. Aside from those working the show, I think I saw one guy wearing a red t-shirt (though I'm pretty sure it may have also been a band shirt), and Vaden wore a navy band shirt. A couple of guys had just plain black t-shirts, and one guy had a 'Night of the Living Dead' black shirt. Hair is generally either long or shaved, and there's usually some amount of facial hair, most popularly in a grown-out goatee. The vocalist for Deceased (my favorite of the night; I even considered buying a shirt and/or CD from them) was a bit older, and probably at one point had an awesome head of hair. Unfortunately, he now has a huge bald spot. And very long hair. Not a good look. Putrid Pile, by comparison, was very clean-cut: he actually reminded me of Ben Lombardi from college, who is now, I believe, a 3rd-grade teacher. It was a touch eerie.
The few women in attendance wore more varied things. I saw one or two girls much in the same dress as the men, though a few had somehow altered their band t-shirts to be tube tops over tank tops. I also saw a couple girls in very Hot-Topic-y dress, with fishnets and skulls and zippers. And then I saw some girls in much more 'club' attire, and they looked a bit out of place. Very cute, and very out of place.
Tattoos are widely popular. Piercings aren't prevalent, but they're not uncommon. And then usually they're just ear piercings.
Oh, and contrary to the Death Metal episode of Bones (Mayhem on a Cross, which happens to be on tonight), no one was wearing any kind of makeup. I mean the girls were wearing makeup, but no black-and-white stage makeup, or fake blood or anything, and I don't think any of the guys were wearing eyeliner. At all. That actually would have probably been considered a bit gay. More on that later, too.
Band Names
Band names are...well, they're creative. Here's a sampling:
Coathanger Abortion
Embryonic Devourment
Carnal Decay
Lecherous Nocturne
Incantation
Rottenness
Sadichist (whose guitarist is formerly of Gorgasm)
Putrid Pile, as mentioned
Deceased
Malevolent Creation
Typical names tend to have some element of death or decay, or even though I don't think many are actual theistic Satanists, some kind of demonic or at least anti-Christian connotation. I think that in my spare time, I'm going to come up with band names. How about Crucified Fetus? Or Necrotized Stab Wound?
Band t-shirts also have a definite 'look.' Similar fonts: spiky, often hard to read. Nick bought an 'Incantation' shirt, and I could have sworn at first that it said 'Incantatron.' Huge, colorful graphics that depict decaying bodies, demons, or bastardized Christian symbols. Many are actually quite beautiful, in their own kind of disturbing way.
Political and Religious Beliefs
Though I imagine not everyone shares these beliefs, based on conversations with my brother and Vaden, and some shirts I saw, it seems pretty standard. Unfortunately, it's a fairly racist, misogynist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic culture. I'm assuming they're mostly libertarian, "conservative" but no neo-con, Christian, 'family-first' attitude. Quite the opposite, actually. As I mentioned before, I don't think too many of them are actual theistic Satanists--it's more of a, 'we all think Christianity is stupid and horrible and Satanic imagery is the most opposite of Christianity than we can think of.'
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Here is where I stopped writing, for whatever reason. Probably because it was getting long, most likely because Tia was being bratty. Anyway, I think one big point I was going to make is that even if I could REALLY get into the music, I could not be REALLY a part of the culture, especially due to the last point.
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