Report: Metal is Back in Australia
Putting metal back on the map has involved a year-long personal quest by Roadrunner Records managing director Jon Satterly whose label releases hundreds of albums from hard rockin' acts every year.Satterly, whose email signature features the pithy entreaty ``When in doubt ask, `What would Slipknot do?''', devised two promotional campaigns this year to achieve his goal of bringing metal into the mainstream.
The first initiative, Out A Metal Head, was designed to uncover the most unlikely fans within and without the music industry.
His second goal was to get his artists' music back on the airwaves.
After they were deluged with thousands of postcards from fans demanding a few hours of power, Channel V put a metal show back on air in May. Albeit after 1am.
Satterly says his crusade was partly fuelled by a desire to grow the market in Australia, with Roadrunner's turnover exploding from $1.05 million in 1996 to more than $8 million in 2006.
He says two primary factors led to metal becoming a dirty word in the 1980s; hair metal bands and cultural media snobs.
``I think the genre did become a victim of the stereotypes of the '80s and hair metal didn't do us any favours,'' he says with a chuckle.
``It's always been working-class music, metal and later punk, which was appropriated by the cultural elitists, the snobby critics.
``It's almost like everyone's cultural memory of the genre ended in 1984 but it remains as diverse and thriving as any family of music.''
Metal is one hell of a genre. Just as pop fans might split hairs over R&B versus bubblegum and their rock brothers and sisters quibble about alternative versus prog, a metalhead can expound for hours in excruciating detail about the dozens of subgenres and their exponents.
There's metalcore, hardcore, nu-metal, industrial metal, stoner metal, grindcore, Norwegian black metal(!), Swedish death metal, power metal, goth metal, thrash metal, shock rock, early metal, progressive metal and of course, everyone's cringe factor, hair metal. Just to name a handful.
Contrary to the misconception that metalheads are meatheads, a study by the University of Warwick in the UK found the most intelligent teenagers at the school listened to loud, heavy rock to cope with being gifted.
``Saying all metal fans are long-haired, black T-shirt-wearing yobbos is like believing all jazz fans wear berets,'' Satterly says. ``The mainstream media still think metal musicians wear codpieces a la Spinal Tap.''
Everitt and Bernadette Faddoul confound the stereotype. Everitt was proudly outed for his love of the genre in industry bible The Music Network, which published six-months' worth of outings and claim they had enough responses to run for the next four years.
The Swans player says he is a metalhead because the artists are ``entertainers, not just a band''.
``They are loud, they are proud, not so beautiful but bloody awesome,'' he told Music Network.
Faddoul, who works with decidedly un-metal acts at a music management company, looks glam in her leopard-print jacket by day but sports her Motorhead T-shirt by night.
She says there are more women in the metal moshpit (a far less scary place than at most rock concerts) than people would expect.
``Without pandering to the cliches, growing up in Wollongong had something to do with me becoming a fan because there was heavy music blasting from the bedrooms of most kids in the street,'' Faddoul says.
``I love it because it's uncompromising, it's loud, it's powerful. When I'm at a metal show, I can't think about anything else ... it's a release.''
Craig Downes, the store manager at Sydney's legendary Utopia Records, has seen generations of metalheads commune in his store.
``Once a metalhead, always a metalhead,'' he says. ``They are the most loyal of fans because it is timeless music. One of the coolest things about working in this store is seeing these guys in their 40s and 50s, who are high-powered professionals and executives, dashing into the store in their suit to pick up the latest CD from their favourite band.
``On the weekends, they're back, wearing their favourite band T-shirt, with their sons. Dad is picking up the remastered version of a Black Sabbath album which came out 27 years ago, while little Johnny is combing through new releases.''
Utopia, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, has become an internationally renowned brand with a fashion line and collectibles.
The world's biggest bands make a beeline for the store, now in Broadway after decades in the city, to perform or host instores, aware of the store's reputation as Sydney's metal clubhouse.
One of the most memorable was for American alternative metal act System Of A Down when they toured with the Big Day Out in 2002.
About 800 people turned up for a recent signing session by US act Lamb Of God; Gene Simmons and Tommy Lee have attracted as many for their personal appearances and every Saturday afternoon there is a healthy audience for the live performances held in the store's basement.
``Metal fans are very precious about their music because it's a lifestyle for them,'' Downes says.
``It's tribal, it's still about rebellion and individualism but being a metal fan gives you a sense of belonging.''
There has been an explosion of tours and mini festivals in the past two years to satisfy the increasing fan base for metal.
KMW Productions general manager Chris O'Brien, whose company is bringing out the Gigantour 2007 festival headlined by Megadeth in November, says the metal community is personally invested in making the shows a sell-out.
The success of the inaugural Gigantour shows on the east coast last year spurred the promoters to take the tour around the country.
``This is the strongest territory in the world for this tour,'' O'Brien says.
He also credits the Big Day Out for helping to spotlight emerging metal talent and bringing big guns to Australia in the past decade, including Metallica, Slipknot, Trivium and Mudvayne.
Australian bands are also benefitting from metal's slow emergence from the underground.
``There is now a booking agent in Europe who is dedicated to signing Australian bands to play the big European metal festivals,'' O'Brien says. ``Everyone has high hopes for the local scene here and we try to give local acts a chance to strut their stuff with the biggest bands in the world on our tours.''
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson says metal will prevail for generations to come regardless of whether it is embraced by the mainstream. The band returns to Australia for its first tour in 15 years next February, with Dickinson piloting a purpose-built Iron Maiden chartered plane.
``There are no bands like Iron Maiden around now,'' he says. ``That's why we've managed to not just prevail but grow. We have three generations of fans since our original fans. It's all through word of mouth.
``The amount of media we've had -- we're not seen as cool, but all the bands who had all the attention from the media have gone away and we're still here.
``The fans get it. Especially with the internet, it's a matter of `I like that song, I'll go and see that band'.
``Music has got back to being about bands people actually like. The journalists might not like that, but that's what's happening.''
* Iron Maiden play Acer Arena on February 9, tickets on sale September 27; Gigantour featuring Megadeth, Statis X, Devildriver and more is at Luna Park's Big Top, November 15.