Follow Along?

Slidedeck Online: jentery.github.io/rva
Source Files: github.com/jentery/rva

Metal-Punk Opposition

Some Common Assumptions:
Metal is about virtuosity. Punk is about social critique.
Metal is commercial. Punk is underground.
Metal is durable. Punk is novel.
Metal is polished. Punk is stitched together.

See Steve Waksman (2009)

Metal-Punk Crossover, Tho

Influences are often unconscious.
Genres are socially constructed, not fixed.
Artists experiment with styles across bands.
Practices overlap, with political and aesthetic effects.
Cultural formations (gender, sexuality, race) always at play

My own experience: metal was a guilty pleasure.
Investment in punk meant denial of metal influences

Scene Study: RVA

The 1990s in Richmond, Virginia
Known for D'Angelo, Avail, Gwar,
Firehouse, and Lamb of God

I grew up in RVA and went to university there (VCU).

Inquisition, "Warning"

Inquisition

Pop Meets Protest (Anarchism and Pacifism)
Pick Slides + Short Guitar Solos + Tight Drum Rolls
Critiques of White Supremacy + Police Brutality
Echoes of Thrash + D-Beat + Classic Rock

Action Patrol, "Golden Wings"

Action Patrol

Emphatic + Mathy (Punk Goes to College, with Jumpsuits)
Topically and Aesthetically Brainy (Nerdcore?)
Not Quintessential Punk (e.g., Sex Pistols)
Echoes of DC/California Hardcore + English Anarcho-Punk

Hose.Got.Cable, "Pat's Song"

Hose.Got.Cable

Mathy + Emotional + Even Industrial (like Shellac, Slint)
Distances Itself from Hardcore (Post-Hardcore)
Critical Relation to the Very Notion of a Stage
Echoes of Prog Rock and 70s Doom/Heavy Metal (e.g., Sabbath)

Spitboy, "Emaciation"

Spitboy

Anarcho-Punk + Hardcore + Crust Punk
Women of Colour Feminism + Critiques of Patriarchy
Happening Alongside Grunge + Riot Grrrl Movements
Echoes of Alice Bag and Early 80s LA Punk
Not Actually from RVA, But Droogas Lived There

Born Against, "Sendero"

Born Against

Grunge + Sludge + NY Hardcore
Arrangements Are Generally Loose; No Interest in Durability
Politics of Antagonism + Mockery (esp. White Masculinity)
A Sort of Avant-Garde for Hardcore (e.g., Theatre of Cruelty)
Kind of from RVA; Nathanson Lived There

Ipecac, "Nuclear Family"

Ipecac

Mathy + Industrial + Post-Punk
Integrates Free Jazz into Post-Hardcore
Critiques of Disciplinary Mechanisms (e.g., Discipline and Punish)
Guitar Parts Frequently Premised on Virtuosity
Echoes of Prog Rock (e.g., Faust) and NY Hardcore

Eucharist, "Splintered"

Eucharist

Grindcore + NY Hardcore
Clarity of Lyrics Is Clearly Not Important
Politics Driven Largely by Class and Anger ("Powerviolence")
Opened Space for Queercore Bands Such As Limp Wrist
Echoes of Thrash + Death Metal

Black Emanuelle, "Gas Station Scene"

Black Emanuelle

Classical Guitar + Swedish Pop + DC/LA Hardcore + Sludge
Notable Shifts in Distortion, with Mathy Feel
The Cardigans Meet Bad Brains Meet Sabbath Meet Paganini
Fun Fact: Didonato Set the World Record for the
Longest Guitar Solo (24 Hours, 55 Minutes)

Orlock, "Seizure"

Orlock

Post-Hardcore + Sludge + Grunge + Psych Rock
Aesthetic Combines Affectlessness + Process Intensity
Drums Highlight Virtuosity, But Low-Fi
Echoes of Doom Metal and Space Rock

Four Walls Falling, "Aim"

Four Walls Falling

Hair Metal Goes Straight Edge
Vegan Politics Combined with Eco-Criticism and Anticapitalism
Body-as-Temple Form of Resistance
Echoes of NY Hardcore + Iron Maiden

Scenes Matter

Situation Is Partly Responsible for Crossover
Musicians Are Almost Always in More than One Band
Place and Venues Shape Aesthetics
Place and Venues Also Shape Politics
Genre Performance Is Deeply Geographical

Thank You

Jentery Sayers | University of Victoria | @jenterysayers

Thanks especially to Shamma for inviting me