Steff Metal

I went to the Auckland ACDC show with CDH and our friend Liz last night. It was rather enjoyable, to say the least.

Rock n' Roll train - AC/DC cashes in on Steampunk

The show kicked off with a wicked, anime style train cartoon, which ended with a massive live locomotive steaming onto stage, while ACDC launched into “Rock n Roll train”, from their new album. Johnson’s first note was perfect, setting the stage for a great show. Angus Young stole the show with his typical onstage antics – a delightful striptease during “She’s Got the Jack”, and an extended solo in “Let there be Rock.”

I love the way they’ve cashed in on the steampunk trend, in good old rock n’ roll style. The giant evil black train puffed smoke and had devil horns. The stage was outlined in cogs and gears. The only thing that spoiled the effect was two giant blowup “viking” helmets with the letter ‘A’ stamped on them. I’m not entirely sure how they contributed to the overall aesthetic?

Perhaps I’m overthinking this.

A WHOLE lotta Rosie

They played the old favorites – Back in Black, Highway to Hell and For Those About to Rock (the encore, of course), Dirty Deeds,High Voltage, TNT and Whole Lotta Rosie – during which an immense blowup woman with breats the size of a the millenium falcon )I’m trying to think of something really large and round) descented from the roof and sat astride the steampunk caboose. She wobbled there for the entire song while the band cowered under her enormous boobies. It was brill.

CDH and I had a lengthly debate about whether AC/DC counts as metal. We’ve still not come to a final conclusion.

On the one hand, AC/DC is what people who aren’t into metal think metal is. CDh noted most of the entire crowd consisted of “rockers” who thought they were “metalheads”, but wouldn’t know Amon Amarth from Iron Maiden. He said, sure they’re important to metal’s history, but so is Led Zeppelin and Uriah Heep – would you consider them metal? They also self identify as “rock n’ roll”, not metal.

Brian and Angus

However, AC/DC are incredibly important to increasing the popularity of metal the world over. I said they’ve stuck with a winning formula and with their steady rise in popularity comes the rejection from the undergound which inevitably turns a band from metal to the ambiguous “rock”. Just look at Metallica, who were considered “rock” after the black album, despite the fact the black album is still really a metal album. And I’d call Death Magnetic a metal album, too. But Metallica can no longer be a metal band. Just because AC/DC aren’t blasting out double bass rolls at 250 BPM doesn’t mean they’re not metal. And, if AC/DC aren’t metal, does that mean Manowar aren’t metal, either? Because they’re not all that dissimiliar. I’m sure they’d have words to say about that.

Also, I’ve always thought of Uriah Heep as the first progressive power metal band.

Also, also, if they put on a great show, does it matter? Not really, but CDH and I will discuss it anyway.

Thoughts?

Steff

When our motley crew ventured into Oslo in August, we didn’t expect to encounter one of the best up-and-coming prog metal acts, but we caught Cloudscape with Pagan’s Mind at ProgFest in Oslo, and they kicked our ass.

Coming from New Zealand’s black & death-oriented metal scene, it was such a treat to see a club show with such talented prog bands. We brought an album which we listened to all the way to Bergen (which is a rather long way). And now, I’m lucky enough to have Cloudscape’s Mike Andersson to answer a few questions:

Tell us a little about Cloudscape’s last album, Global Drama. What are the concepts behind the songs on this release, and how has it been recieved so far?

A weird answer maybe but, I think you catch my drift ;).

Global Drama have been recieved really great from fans and media and we are extremely happy that most of the reviews we’ve read thus far have turned out fantastic:).

How do you think Global Drama stands up against the band’s previous releases? Have you done anything different on this album?

Global Drama is definietly more thoughtout compared to its predesserors. Of course we are very satisfied with our debut and our second album Crimson Skies but, with Global Drama we’re more mentally prepared. There’s a nice balance between the more brutal/raw songs and the more melodic and atmospheric songs, which creates a nice atmosphere and varied album.

We dug really deep in our minds to find the right touch and atmosphere to create and record Global Drama. So, even if I am proud of our first 2 albums I must say that Global Drama is without doubt my (our) favourite album thus far.

To support the new album, you’ve done a few shows and festivals around Europe over the last two years. How have you seen the fans reaction to your songs?

I’m happy to say that our audience mostly rocks like crazy during our shows and supports us really great:). We have played live as support band in a club for a crowd that didn’t know who we were but, normally we manage to get them hooked, hahahaha.

When we played live at Bloodstock Open Air in England in 2008 the audience was AWESOME. I mean, we entered the stage at 11:00am and infront of us there were about 3000 metal fans rocking with us through the whole concert. That was really cool and memoriable considering the early hour of the day.

A crowd favourite that we always play live is the song called “Under Fire” from our first album. If the audience for some reason have seemed “mellow” they always wake up when we play that song … it’s become kind of a metal classic in a way.

Coming from the NZ metal scene and seeing you guys perform in Oslo, I was blown away both by how tight your were as a band, and how much support metal is given in Scandinavia. I noticed in Europe the focus of metal seems geared towards folk/viking bands. How is prog metal being recieved nowadays?

Thank you very much, we enjoyed being on stage in Oslo and it’s great to hear that you enjoyed our show:).

Well, I think prog metal depends on quality and promotion just like most other genres. The music biz ain’t a dance on red roses anymore which is sad but, nonetheless there are many fans that support the genre wholeheartetly, which is deeply appreciated. We can’t say enough of thanks to the metal fans that support Cloudscape and other bands to keep us/them going.

When I saw you guys live I noticed you didn’t have a keyboard player. Why is that?

That’s a choice we made when we formed the band in 2001. Since we don’t use the keyboard layers as a “solo instrument” we decided to have them pre-recorded in a backing track instead.

By doing that we’ll keep the whole sound atmosphere even when we play live. But, of course there are times when we think that a keyboard player would be great to hire but, we are already 5 members in the band and we have known each other for many years now, so we are like a family. The fact of the matter is there are many bands that have a keyboardsplayer that use backing tracks nonetheless …

Since your debut you’ve played some big festivals – Sweden Rock, Bloodstock, Progpower, etc. What was your favourite festival experience? Tell us how playing festivals differs from playing regular gigs? Which festivals do you hope to play in the future?

First of all I must be honest and say that we love to be on stage no matter if it’s a big festival, small festival or a club. What is important to us is to deliver our music the best possible way for the audience and feel the feedback and support from the crowd and hope that they enjoy our music and show.

But, personally my favourite show is the one we did at Bloodstock Open Air in 2008. I mean, we were prepared and thought that we would perform live for a few hundred fans but, there were close to 3000 metal fans in the audience which was a fantastic surprise and experience :).

The biggest difference between playing a single club gig compared to a festival is that it’s more stressful at a festival. It’s rare to have lots of time to gear up and get started;). But, the actual show is more or less the same. The best thing with a festival of bigger size is that you’ll get the chance to perform live for curious metal fans that might not have heard about the band before. At a club it’s normally die hard fans that is in the crowd supporting you which is really cool and overwhelming at times. Normally it’s more intimate performing live in a club, which is a cool feeling.

The bottom line is, either way we love to be on stage ´performing live. As long as we feel that the audience enjoys our show we are happy:). That’s what’s important for Cloudscape.

Festivals we would love to visit is any good and suitable festival wherever in our world but, a few prestigious festivals that we would love to visit for a live performance is the German major metal festival “Wacken Open Air”. There’s another festival called “Bang Your Head” and “Rockhard Festival”. “Gods Of Metal” in Italy would be awesome to visit and a REvisit at “Sweden rock Festival” would of course be very appreciated;).

How did Cloudscape get started? I know the band rose from the ashes of Doctor Weird. Why did the band rename and change direction? What do you think has given Cloudscape the success that Doctor Weird never had?  

It’s hard to say why Cloudscape found success and Doctor Weird didn’t but, personally I was more driven when we started up Cloudscape which ended up with Cloudscape signing management deals and record deals. The music of Doctor Weird wasn’t bad at all but, when looking in the mirror I think there was a lack of memoriable songs and catchy songs. There was also a lack of variation and the songs we had as a whole seemed monotonuos compared to what we achieve today with Cloudscape.

The reason for “renaming” the band was simply because we started over from scratch in 2001 and the fact that I started to sing. In Doctor Weird I was keyboard player and there was another guy who was the singer (curiosa: The Doctor Weird singer sings backing vocals on 2 songs on Global Drama) but, when he left the band on mutual basis I said to my partners in crime that it’s time to start over from scratch as a new fresh band and that I wanted to be the singer considering I’ve always been a singer in all my previous bands except for Doctor Weird.

The main focus with Cloudscape is to compose songs with strong melodies and arrangements and spice it up a little with some progressive elements. But, nonetheless I think Cloudscape is more of a “melodic metal” band compared to a “progressive metal” band. The ones who listens to bands like Symphony X and Dream Theater often finds our music to be more straight forward melodic metal while the fans of bands like Hammerfall or Europe finds Cloudscape quite progressive in the vein of Dream Theater, hehehe.

How has been in Cloudscape changed your lives? What’s it like being part of the Scandinavian metal scene? How has the music scene changed since you’ve been involved in it, and what do you think the future of metal holds?

It’s of course great to be a part of the Scandinavian metal scene. Even though we have only been in the music biz for about 5 years I must say it has changed drastically.

It’s much harder to get good promotion nowadays and support from the music industry because of labels selling less and less albums. There are sadly already a few labels that have gone bankrupt. Record labels do not sign bands anymore (some do but, it’s more rare nowadays). The bands themselves have to work more with promotion which is sad in one way because I would much rather focus on my songwriting and play live, instead of working on promotion. Back in the day the labels did the promotion job or had a company do it for them but there’s no economy left to do that and it’s only the “big names” (bands) that still get lots of promotion.

It’s a really tough business nowadays but, we hope to see better days to come and we really hope that our fans and our fans to come will support Cloudscape and the genre by attending to our shows, spreading the word out on the internet and buy our albums either in digital or physical form. But, even if it’s “dark times” at the moment we love to be here and we are happy to have come this far nonetheless:).

Describe a typical week in the band’s life? How do you balence band committments with your jobs and families?

Well, basically we rehearse 1 evening per week. Most of us have dayjobs and families so, of course respect have to be shown from both parts etc. Personally I have the luxury to be engaged to a very supportive and understanding woman who understands me and my music when it comes to songwriting, promotion and other music/band related things + she helps me out a lot:).

A week musically is never the other one alike but, in general I think I except for the weekly rehearsal dedicates around 10 hours per week for my musical works. Some weeks I work more and some weeks I work less….it all depends. My family is most important for me.

What was the first album you ever bought?

It was a Vinyl single back in 1981 (Kiss – Heaven’s on Fire) followed by Come án Get It with Whitesnake. 

What bands and albums have you heard recently that have stood out to you?

The latest Symphony X, Frost, Pagan’s Mind, Rush and Whitesnake albums. All of them are awesome!

What was you best ever live music experience?

When I saw “Rush” in “Globen” (Stockholm) in 2004 (anniversary tour). A MAGICAL performance from start to finish.

Many of our readers are aspiring musicians. Do you have any advice to help them get their own projects off the ground?

Well, like I said earlier it’s very hard nowadays to get recognition from the music industry but, there’s a lot to be done through the internet by using www.myspace.com and getting the word out. If you’re a single musician without a band, please don’t be afraid of keeping your eyes open to replace members in bands if such thing happens. I mean, my good friend Anette Blyckert took a chance by sending Nightwish a demo with her singing when they were on the search for a replacement for Tarja Turunen.

Anette wasn’t very known before but, now she is VERY well known and have even changed her last name to “Olzon” since she became the singer in Nightwish, hehehe;).

What I mean is, don’t be afraid of taking the chance when there’s a chance to take:).

What does the future hold for Cloudscape? Any chance for an Australisian visit?

Oh, that’s really hard to say. We are struggling to find a good booking agency to work for us. We have played at lots of festivals and done lots of single gigs but, never a tour which we really hope to do as soon as possible. We would certainly love to visit Australia for shows and many other countries too but, right now our main focus goes to complete the songwriting for our fourth album. But, when a gig opportunity comes we rarely say no:). Spread the word and let organizers know that metal fans NEED to see Cloudscape live definietly helps :). 

Thanks for talking with us, Mike!

The pleasure is all mine and thank you Steff for talking to me:). 

Cheers: Mike Andersson (Cloudscape. Full Force). If you wanna know more about Cloudscape or listen to a few tracks, check out the official Cloudscape website, the Cloudscape myspace page or Mike’s myspace page.

This was the first band interview on Steff Metal, and I hope to do more in the future. If there’s a particular band you’d love to see on the blog, or you’re in a band yourself, send an email my way, and let me know.

Horns up \m/
Steff

I’m starting a new column on Steff Metal. I get several emails from readers – especially readers in their last year of high school or in the middle of uni exams – wanting to know how to get a job in this or that profession. No one wants to be an accountant or a street sweeper or a customs official; you’re all a bunch of aspiring musicians, writers, music producers, designers and band managers.

So I thought, “why not interview people who are successful in their field … the field of heavy metal.” That way you, and me too, learn from the experts how to get that kreig career. We’re calling this Get a Real Job, because that’s the name of a song my Dad used to sing all the time “get a haircut and get a real job”.

Our first victim is Jonathan Kruse of SHRED Clothing. Jonathan is a fellow metalhead who’s been in the tee shirt business for several years. Alongside SHRED Clothing, he runs How ro Start a Clothing Company, an amazing resource for the designers among you, and Double Dragon Studios, a website and e-commerce design company.

Tell us about SHRED Clothing. How did the collection come about?

I run this other clothing company called Mediocore soon to be renamed to Totally Awesome Clothing. It was all about pop culture and coming up with unique shirts with great ideas about the stuff I loved as a kid. I really wanted another outlet just to make badass shirts that just looked cool and didn’t have a big idea behind them. Also I know a ton of great artists in the t-shirt industry so it just made sense to do a project with my friends.

How did you come up with the name SHRED?

My friend actually came up with it. At one time I was really obsessed with Banksy and being a street artist, maybe I am still a little obsessed with Banksy. I was trying to think up a cool name and my friend said ‘Shred’. I never really got into wheat pasting too much after college and never used that name but I always thought it was a cool name. It just fit the brand and I went with it.

Who buys your designs and why? Do you often do designs for bands and other special occasions? What’s it like working with bands?

Skaters, metalheads, a lot of different people buy my shirts. I don’t think it’s always the people you would expect. I’m mostly a internet retailer so I never get to see my actual customer.

I started doing work for bands 2 years ago but it wasn’t an industry I loved. You usually get contacted by some third party who wants a bunch of ideas and will only pay you a small amount if your shirt gets accepted. I tried it for a while but it wasn’t for me, I work with a lot of clothing companies now building their websites and e-commerce sites. It’s a lot nicer to get paid for everything up front.

The bands I have worked with are really cool but I always hear horror stories from others.

How did you get into designing / apparel in the first place? How did you learn the techniques necessary to create your kickass shirts?

I was more forced into then anything. I graduated college, got a job and got laid off a few weeks later. Finding a job sucked then as I am sure it still sucks now. I ended up trying to be proactive instead of waiting to hear back from companies. I realized this was the only time in my life I would have a chance to start a business and do something I love, so I moved forward and never looked back.

Designing for apparel is all about reducing your colors and creating something that is easily communicated and connects with your buyers. The first design tutorial I read was done by Jeff Finley of go media, but really it’s all about learning it yourself and just creating work so you get better.

Describe a “typical SHRED t-shirt”, from start to finish.

Badass, intricate design, oversized print, bright colors, super soft shirts. A lot of the reason why I started Shred was because I knew I could do it better then what was out in the market.

I usually come up with a few ideas and find the right designer. I get sketches from the designer and make changes and slowly it becomes the shirt that gets printed.

What advice would you give to anyone else wanting to create clothing and accessories for metalheads?

Do what you love, because if you aren’t passionate about your product no one else will be.

How do you promote your business?

I’ve been featured on Computer Arts Projects, thrillist, awesomer, and tons of blogs. I don’t pay for any advertising and I believe in word of mouth and that people will talk about an awesome product. All I really do is make sure my stuff gets seen by those people that like to talk.

What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you because of SHRED?

Being able to do what I love instead of having a 9-5 job.

What are the next steps for SHRED? Upcoming projects / designs / new directions, etc?

We are mainly working on getting into retail stores at the moment. I have a new site I am going to start working on soon, some new designs, custom packaging. Ohh yeah, a white shirt too!

What was the first music album you ever brought?

The Presidents of the USA. I still love that cd, I didn’t get into metal until high school.

What bands and albums have you heard recently that have stood out to you?

A day to remember and four year strong have impressed me lately.

What was your best ever live music experience?

Seeing Iron Maiden was pretty awesome. I am a huge fan and it was awesome to see a giant Eddie on stage.

Who or what inspires you?

I think the artists that work for me. I am always looking at people work and it really gets me pumped when I see them doing amazing work for others.

Thanks Jonathan! Good readers, let me know what you think of this new column. If it’s kreig or just totally lame. If you or someone you know has an epic metal career, or there’s a certain career you’d like to know more about, or you just want to chat about anything, drop me an email at steff@steffmetal.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Horns up \m/
Steff

In the second of my heavy metal fashion reports, I talk about the grymmest of the grymm, the kreigest cats of all: Black Metal Fashion.

Born in the early 90s of a disgust at the emerging death metal scene in Europe, and a general disgust at middle-class, conservative Christian Norway, black metal emerged as a rasp of defiance. The first wave bands like Bathory and Celtic Frost cemented the music style, while the second wave – the infamous Black Circle bands like Mayhem, Burzum and Dark Funeral – created the black metal mythos. Crimes were committed, churches were burnt, band members were murdered and their brains turned into milkshakes. Misanthropic music was written, and it all sort of died down a bit after Varg Vikernes was ushered off to jail.

Black Metal exists today as the most underground and difficult-to-get-into sub-genre of metal. The screeching vocals, demoniac blast beats and lo-budget, static-infused production make it probably the most difficult music in the world to appreciate – it’s almost anti-music, a black fuzz of angst and anger, hatred and loathing. Most black metal albums are senseless noise, but sometimes, it’s magic. Dark magic, evil magic, but beautiful nonetheless.

And black metal, like every sub-genre of metal, has it’s own fashion. At any festival, you can pick the black metallers out by their surly expressions and t-shirts featuring unreadable names of bands you’ve never heard of. They’re the dudes with runic tattoos poring through the $2 vinyl boxes, looking for those obscure records of misanthropic gold. They’re the last of the Great Hunt, the demons of the night, the metalheads of your nightmares.

Clothing

The kreigest black metallers know that, like the music they so love, tr00 black metal attire must come from Scandenavia. So when you shop for black metal attire, you should look first to the underground boutiques of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. However, when buying from these sources, be wary, the kvlt kreig tr00 scandenavian look does not come cheap!

The first fashion item for any discerning black metaller is a pair of tight jeans in the darkest, grymmest hue of black. Acne, Cheap Monday and Anti-Sweden jeans make black jeans specifically tailored for the black metaller’s waifish, undernourished physique. And they’re all from Norway or Sweden, for additional scene points.

Next, you’ll probably want a t-shirt. Like most metalheads, the best black metal t-shirts are band t-shirts, the more unpronouncable the name and more unreadable the logo, the better.

If you can’t find a band tee suitably indecipherable, your next best buy is a standard satan shirt. You can find these at Infidel Concepts (warning, Australian company, NOT Norwegian), Satan Shop or Turbowolf. I wrote a post last year about shopping for satanic shirts, which also has some great shops to try.

Also, tees with runic designs and pagan symbols work well, too. Steer away from cheery, pot-bellied Vikings, however.

Remember, black metal is not a fashion that accepts color. There is black clothing with white designs, and white clothing with black designs. That is final.

To prevent wrinkling, wash your clothing in virgin’s blood.

Accessories

To dress up your brootal outfit for a night on the town, you should start with a belt or twenty. Spiked and bullet belts make great accessories, the spikier the better. Wear them around your waist or cross them over your chest.

Spiked or rune-adorned gauntlets encircle your wrists, and a chain. Upside-down crosses, pentegrams, runes and other pagan symbols adorn the neck. A black metaller is never without his or her trusty Thor’s Hammer or pentegram necklace. My favorites come from Wulflund in the Czech Republic. These are replicas of archaeological finds. You can slo find Thors Hammers and other pagan / satanic pendants at Little Devil Designs, WodansWolf and Vermorlian Magick Shoppe.

To carry around your church-burning kit, Broake and Thumb designs offer Thor’s Hammer messanger bags.

fur and feathers give a naturalistic, Dark Ages feel to any black metal outfit. Ravens were the messengers of Odin, and the carrian harbringers of doom, so black raven feathers obviously the kreigest of them all. Pluck them from a live raven for maximum kreig factor, and string on a low necklace or sew around the edge of a black skirt.

For even krieger outfits, carry a weapon, like a sword or axe or mace. Add spikes to it. The more spikes, the more black metal scene points you earn.

Makeup

No article about black metal fashion would be complete without a discussion about Corpsepaint. To perfect a corpsepaint look, paint your whole face white and add black (or VERY OCCASIONALLY red) details, around your eyes and mouths. The style mimics the face paintings of the Norse Oskorei.

Most black metal musicians have a specific corpsepaint “look”, which seldom changes. With a little experimenting you can perfect your own black metal “look”.

See this tutorial on how to apply corpsepaint.

It will take a bit of experimenting to find the perfect white paint. Black Metal legends Behemoth recoomend Kryolan Supracolour Cream Makeup, which is professional theatre makeup. Others suggest using ordinary acrylic paints instead of makeup. Just make sure it’s non-toxic, first!

For some great examples of corpse paint, see rate my corpsepaint, which is my new favorite makes me giggle website.

Style Icons

Resources:

Black Metal Fashion Show

Ann-Sophie Back – Swedish avant-garde designer and lover of black metal.

Anti-Sweden Jeans: Made in Oslo, Norway. The tr00est, kvltest black metal jeans you ever could find. Exchange an old pair of jeans made in Sweden and get your Anti-Sweden jeans for NOK$666. Brootal.

Cheap Monkey: Swedish purveyors of fine black metal jeans.

Rakk and Ruin: jewellery and accessories for the black metal babe.

Wulflund – swords, jewelry, clothing, helmets and misc. from my fave Czech Republic historical shop. For all your Thor’s hammer and guantlet needs.

This was actually one of the most fun articles to write so far. Please let me know what you think, and if you know of any great black metal designers, shops and accessories.

Stay Grymm \m/
Steff

” Maybe it’s not on top of the charts, but we’re still standing strong. So we’ll be here forever. United and hard we stand. “

On this day, five years ago, Pantera/Damageplan guitarist and metal legend Dimebag Darryl was tragically shot down in the middle of a concert. Dimebag was one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time – with a sound and style completly his own. But more than that, he was a humble, fun-loving metalhead. He was one of us, and he is sorely missed.

Born August 20, 1966, Darryl Lance Abbot picked up the guitar at age 12. He went on to win a series of local music competitions. One of the prizes was a Dean ML guitar. This guitar and his Randall amplifier (another contest prize) became part of his signature sound.

Darryl and his brother Vinnie Paul formed Pantera in 1981. Back then, Pantera was a glam metal band (can you believe it?) but the thrash metal influence of Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth had rubbed off and by the late 80s Pantera had created their own signature sound – known affectionately as “groove” metal. They gained commercial success and critical acclaim for their 1990 album Cowboys from Hell, followed in 1992 by Vulgar Display of Power.

Pantera broke up in 2003, mainly due to tensions arising from Phil Anselmo’s drug habit. Not keen to give up metal, Vinnie and Dimebag formed Damageplan, with former Halford guitarist Pat Lachman on vocals, and Bob Zilla on bass. Damageplan released their debut album, New Found Power, in Feb 2004.

“When I tried to play something and screwed up, I’d hear some other note that would come into play. Then I started trying different things to find the beauty in it. “

Dimebag was shot onstage during a Damageplan concert at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio. The shooter – Nathan Gale – also killed the band’s head of security, Jeff “Mayhem” Thompson, employee Erin Halk and audience member Nathan Bray, who was shot while trying to give Dimebag CPR.

Nathan Gale suffered from paranoid schitzophrenia and his personal writings reveal he believe the band could read him mind and steal his thoughts. Incidentally, December 8 also happens to be the day Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon.

Those who knew him remember a friendly and truly kind-hearted man, with a fierce love for metal, guitars, alcohol and friends . He had a tremendous respect for his fans, always taking time to hang out with them after shows.

Dimebag is buried alongside his mother at the Moore Memorial Garden Cemetery, in Arlington, Texas. He was buried in a Kiss Kasket, with Eddie Van Halen’s Charvel Hybrid VH2, also known as “bumblebee”. A Hammer truly fit for a metal god.

You can honour Dime’s memory by:

• Wearing a Pantera shirt to work
• Attending one of the many tribute shows, and banging your head off
• Making a Black Tooth Grin, the cocktail invented by Dimebag. One shot “Crown Royal Whisky”, a shot of Seagrams 7 whiskey (optional), and just enough Coke to darken the whiskey’s colour. 
• Or create a Black Tooth Grin burger, like Grill owner Bob Moseley.

“I start with a half pound of black angus chuck and grill it in whiskey, soaked in whiskey!” Moseley writes in an e-mail. “Then I grill sweet red onions in Coca-Cola to caramelize them. Topped with a thick slice of cheddar cheese, served with old fashioned crinkle cut fries with my own special seasoning.”

•  Watching all your favorite Pantera videos. The Devil Music has a great selection, as does Metal Hammer.
• Buying Pantera CDs for all your non-metal family and friends for Christmas. Grandma will love Vulgar Display of Power, trust me.
•  Blasting Cemetery Gates at your local cemetery.
• Read about Sebastian Bach’s memeories of Dimebag. Especially the last paragraphs. If this doesn’t make you teary-eyed, you’re not human.
• Teach a child some guitar riffs. Dimebag felt this was important. 
• Dedicate a song to Dimebag at your next concert.
• And, of course, listening to Pantera, Damageplan and Rebel Meets Rebel.

  RIP, metal brother. Your legend lives on.

Horns up \m/
Steff

The Prince of Darkness, looking quite devilishly handsome.

Raise your horns, metal friends, and drink to one of our great masters. On this day, 61 years ago, in the smoky, industrial town of Birmingham, England, John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne burst forth upon the world.

In 1968, Ozzy helped form Black Sabbath, the most important heavy metal band of all time. Metalheads say that no new riffs have been written since 1968. Every metal riff is just a sped-up, slowed-down, played-backwards version of a Black Sabbath riff.

Pounding, crushing, dooming, thought-provoking music. Black Sabbath started it all. Without them, metal might not ever have come to be.

And that isn’t Ozzy’s only claim to metal fame. After being booted from Sabbath in 1979 for drinking and smoking and snorting too much (and this was the seventies, so it must have been a LOT), Ozzy formed a solo band, and recorded some of the wickedest albums to date, like 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz. He recruited former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads.

Ozzy – along with his long-suffering wife, Sharon – created the Ozzfest, an american heavy metal festival to rival the Wacken’s of Europe. It’s now a bit too nu-metal, but once it was a great and mighty beast. He helped break Metallica into the mainstream, by having them open for him when they toured Master of Puppets. And lastly, his foray into reality TV with the Osbournes, which remains to this day, one of my Dad’s favorite TV shows.

Happy Birthday Ozzy, here’s to many more years of metal mayhem \m/

Power metal defies many of the stereotypes associated with heavy metal – it’s upbeat, happy, melodic and popular. Every word of the clean, melodic vocals can be understood. Subject matter references medieval legends, fantasy books, role-playing games and battles with dragons. Every power-metal album contains at least two ballads – and a “call to arms” for metal warriors across the land to unite and slay the naysayers.

And far from looking menacing and dangerous, the bands prefer to prance around the stage dressed as bards, minstrels and courtly princes. Power metal’s themes more closely resemble courtly love and chivalric poetry than any crude odes to the battle gods.

Rhapsody of Fire wearing their renaissance-inspired finery

Power metal fans and musicians are geeks at heart – lovers of Sci Fi/Fantasy novels, computer games, and progressive, technically brilliant music. Of all the metal genres, power metal is the one most likely to be adopted by the mainstream, for the simple reason that the music, the bands and the fashion is accessible and inoffensive, unless you’re particularly offended by dragons. Look at the popularity of Dragonforce – do you see my point?

Dressing power metal means taking inspiration from the land of geekdom. The power metal fashion could also be called “Lord of the Rings” fashion. Natural materials like leather and cotton embrace the pseudo-medievalism of the music, and amulets and alchemic symbolism add to the “magical” aspects. While maiming and murdering the enemy do not feature prominently in power metal lyrics, musicians often carry a sword on their hip.

Power Metal Fashion

The central mainstay of power metal fashion (for guys and gals) is a pair of tight leather pants, in either black or brown. Leather is very medieval, and it shows off your manly (or womanly) curves.

rouched leather leggings from Behrle Leather NYC

Leather panel leggings from Blackmarket Baby

A pair of decent, form-fitting leather pants will set you back hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. If you’re a metalhead on a budget, you could look for faux-leather leggings and trousers for a fraction of the price. You’re also not endorsing the animal-clothing industry, if you happen to care about that.

Fortunately, because people we’ve never heard of (like Rhianna) have been wearing leather leggings recently, these babies are back in style, and you should be able to pick up a flattering pair off the high street.

If you’re more of a skirt kind of girl, you want to find longish, flowing, medieval-style skirts in dark colours – black, brown, red, purple or blue. I’m especially fond of wearing below-the-knee bias cut skirts with a pair of sexy boots. Take inspiration from medieval / renaissance styles rather than dressing like you’ve arrived on horseback from a LARPing event.

handkerchief skirt, comes in many colours, from Sisters of the Moon

medieval-style skirt, from Metal Star

Over your leather pants you need a flattering, puffy-sleeved shirt, preferably without buttons. Buttons are post-medieval, and therefore not kreig. You can find these skirts at any medieval-re-enactment shop. Avoid polyester and satin – they just look ick.

Ladies, don’t layer a pheasant shirt over your long skirt – as a general rule, an item of loose clothing needs to be balanced with a form-fitting garment, or else your figure swims away in an ocean of black fabric. Find a corset or bustier top to complement your skirt, and you’re on your way to being a power-metal goddess.

Accessories

Your accessories should be understand (for metal, which means not understated at all) and carry an auro of “magic”. Look for medieval-inspired pieces, especially those covered with esoteric symbols, or look like something worn by a character in Lord of the Rings.

Leaf-patterned belt from Buckleman

Belts should be leather with large metal buckles. Studded belts look great, but spikes are out – you don’t want to look like a dungeon-master. The chick from Battlelore wears several thin strings of metal chain around her waist – they look kick ass!

Jewellery should always be large and made of metal and leather, because dammit, this IS heavy metal. Crucifixes (not upside down), alchemic and magikal symbols, dragons, swords and daggers make excellent necklaces, earrings, amulets and charms. Diadems, circlets and headpieces are not out-of-place.

medallian and chain maille, from Chrissy Gemmel

Inspiration

Liv Kristine, Leaves Eyes

Simone Simons, Epica

Sharon den Adel, Within Temptation

Within Temptation

Blind Guardian

Shopping

• Blackmarket Baby
• Sisters of the Moon
• Behrle Leather NYC
• Buckleman

If power metal isn’t your genre of choice, never fear! I’ll be covering all the different metal genres in upcoming articles. See you again soon!

Super Snuggles and Shoggoth kisses
Steff

Wrist-accessories can make or break a metal outfit. Too much metal bling, and you look like a runaway Avril Lavigne backup dancer. Too little, and you look … well … normal. And who wants that?

Metal music does not favor the subtle, and the same rule applies to our dress sense. No thin silver bracelets or delicate beaded strands here – no one’s going to notice them as you thrash around the mosh pit.

Dragon cuff by Batwings and Battleaxes, $25

Thick leather straps studded, spiked, laced, cuffed and emblazoned with skulls and danggers and all manner of terrible things … metal wristwear aims to shock and intimidate, and often mimics armour styles from the medieval and viking period. Even the terms – cuffs and gauntlets – evoke imagery of rogues and warriors.

So how do you turn these arcane accessories from displaced Viking garb to metal fashion statements? I have a theory – hear me out, it’s all a little bit expositional at this stage.

Leather corset cuff in black / red, $65, Sewlutions by ANO

In warlike cultures, the best warriors had the best armour, because they’ve fought for many seasons, taken many prizes from many enemies, and bedded many rich men’s wives. Not only is their armour the best and most ornate, it’s also the most worn. Dents in the breastplate, chinks in the gorget, dirt encrusted vambraces and wonky pauldrons. The old warrior like this worn look – they’ve earned their beautiful armour, dents and all.

If a new git turns up the first day of training with an expensive suit just off the smithy’s forge, well, he’s going to look like a bit of a plonker. And the other warriors are going to mock him mercilessly and throw mashed potato at him over the mess hall. He hasn’t earnt the right to wear that armour.

The metal scene works in much the same way. The more you “contribute” to metal, the more crazy you can dress without looking like a try-hard. It’s warrior-culture for the 21st Century.

If you’re in a well-known band, for instance, you can wear corpsepaint and 12 inch nails embedded in your wrist and you somehow seem … right. You’re kreig. Wear that same getup to a party when no one knows you from their dorky younger brother, and you’ve just earned yourself negative fifty scene points.

Cuffs with worn edges, knife scratches along the leather, tattered laces and faded designs denote an aged and wise metaller – a grand magus of knowledge and experience.

Younger Metalheads shouldn’t over-accessorize unless they’re dressing up for stage / band photos. Don’t stack cuffs up your arm or you’ll look like a delusional punk. One SMALL cuff will suffice. Find a unique one online or make one yourself.

Because of the damage they cause in the mosh pit, 2 inch spikes are being phased out in favour of domes, rivets and other, less gouging, adornments.

Here's a cute idea - wear your cuffs on your biceps. Now that's kreig!

Ladies can get away with much more metal bling, because we’re rare commodities, much desired by the menfolk. We earn scene points just by existing. I love to mix thin leather bands with metal jewelry to create the effect of striped cuffs. I make most of my jewelry myself – CDH cuts the leather for me and I punch it, and I buy chains and charms from local craft shops or Etsy.

Black Vertebrae cuff from Project TransAction, $45

Plunder

A few shops selling bogan-beautiful wrist accessories, cuffs and gauntlets:

Sewlutions by Amo: high quality corset and steampunk-inspired leather cuffs. Many contain secret pockets. Also sell utilitarian wrist purses made of amazing leather materials.
Batwings and Battleaxes: heavy metal leather cuffs, some plain, some studded, some inspired by medieval designs.
Heavy Metal Laundry: an astounding range of glam-metal style patterned cuffs.
Project TransAction: a leatherworking a screenprinting company producing some unique cuffs.

Till next time!
Super Snuggles and Shoggoth Kisses
Steff

Ah, winter. The Gymm, frostbitten season of epicness. We’re deep in the bowels of Scandinavia at the moment, and boy howdy is it chilly. Not that we mind. As we’re previously discussed, metal is NOT a summer fashion – all that black leather, boots, jeans and fishnet does not a cheery beach babe make.

For this very reason, many metalheads hail the onslaught of winter. And what’s not to like? Hot chocolate, open fires, rain pattering on your roof, snowboarding, and having fun with winter fashion.

So how DO you look kreig and stay warm at the same time?

For girls, layering is key. I always struggle choosing outfits when we go out to winter gigs because even though the club will be warm, the walk TO the club will be a frozen hell. Sure, you could bring your floor-length woollen jacket, but sometimes you just don’t want to lug that thing around all night (there be no coat check’s at NZ metal bar, FYI).

When you’re skinny and easily affected by the cold like me, you’re night will swiftly turn to shite if you’re freezing. Layering close-fitting clothes traps warm air close to your body, which helps keep you warm. Several thin layers will keep you warm than one or two baggy sweatshirts.

Successful layering means taking advantage of differing lengths, colours (or shades of black) and fabrics. When you wear four or five layers of cotton, the fabric sticks together and you end up looking quite lumpy. Mix some silk, satin, cashmere, wool … or something in there – you’ll notice a difference immediately. Choose items with different cuts, lengths and sleeves – if all your layers end right above your waist, for instance, you’ll look thicker there, and they tend to clump together and roll up.

The skinny-legged pants and leggings trends continue this season, and for that, metal girls should be eternally grateful. You know all your hot little miniskirts? Wear them over your skinny pants or leggings – warmth AND hot little mini shirt. I love this look with big stomping boots or legwarmers and wedge heels.

Alternatively, long swishy, slightly hippiesh style skirts go great with metal tees, and you could wear a pair of leggings underneath and NO ONE WOULD KNOW (It’ll be our little secret).

NO winter wardrobe would be complete without a coat. Your coat of choice will depend on the weather in your abode (a Scandinavian winter being vastly different to an Australian winter, for example), the amount of money you have to spend, the type of clothes you’re wearing with it, and the colour and fabric you choose.

Guys, as usual, have it easy. Now’s the time to dig out your long-sleeved metal shirts. I’m advise ditching those icky hoodies for leather jackets and investing in a nice leather jacket and pullover jersey, as well as a long-sleeved thermal skivvy to wear under your clothes. Pants come in requisite black, as do boots. Belt buckles come in varying degrees of kreig (mine has a skull and crossbones). Chain wallets and white sneakers are OUT.

Those floor-length priest coats are also OUT, just FYI. They look REALLY cool in the shop but tend to make you look like a goit in the company of other people. My new favorite item is strait-jackets, in all their zippered, strapped glory.

In many places, the winter metalhead may not venture out without a scarf, hat and gloves. Scarves and hats are my favorite winter accessories – so useful and yet so much fun! Don’t limit yourself to monochrome colours. A scarf can be your opportunity to inject a little colour into your kreig black wardrobe! In winter I wear orange and red scarves, as well as my basic black number covered in white knitted skull and crossbones.

Around 80% of your body heat escapes through your head, so adding a hat to your outfit can really keep you toasty. Most metalheads wear beanies, but I like to live a little! My hats include an 18th century english cavalry beret and a felt top hat.

What are you wearing this winter, or, if it’s summer where you reside, what do you WISH you were wearing? Lets hear your favorite tricks for winter warmth?

Super Snuggles and Shoggoth Kisses
Steff