Studies in Popular Music \r,r ir,,, I rlilors: Alyn lilriptrln, lct:turer in.jazz history at the Royal Acad- r,nty ()l Mllsi(, lontlorr. arrd at (.ity University, London; and Christopher l',rr lr rr 111t,, l'roli.'ssor rll llcligious Studies, l.ancaster University

I rorn iazz l(, rcgUile, bhangra to heavy metal, electronica to qawwali, irrrtl lrtitn protlrrr:tion l.o consunlption, Studies in Popular lAusic is a rtrrrlti tlirr iplirrlry serics wltich aims to contribute to a comprehensive HEAUY ItlETAt rrrrrh'rstirrrtlirrl.i of pollullr nrusic. lt will provide analyses of theoretical lrr.f\l)('( trvcs, a lrroarl range of'ca!;e studies, and discussion of key issues. CONTROVERSIES AND COUNTERCULTURES Published

(l1tn 11r, tht Doors: Music in the folodnn Church Mark Evans

Trrh n o n md: Global Raving Countercultures Ciraham StJohn

l)uh irt lktbylon: l|ndcrstanding, the Euolution and Significance of EDITED BY t)ult tlql!:flt'in Jamaica and Britain KingTubby to Post-Punk TITUS from HJELM, KEITH KAHN-HARRIS AND MARK LEVINE (-hristopher Partridge

Soul in thr Clones: A Cultural Study ofTribute Bands (ieorgina Cregory

I fu I ott Wontt:n oJ' Rock l\usic: Female Musicians of the Punk Era (second edition) llelen Reddington

tilolutl lriht li'chnolog, Spirituality and Psytrance Graham St John

Nilk ('rrtt': A 5turly of Love, Dmth and Ayocalypse lloland Boer

eeutnox

SI'IFFFIFI D rrx BlllSTOl- r:r l'rrlilished by Iquinox Publishing Ltd. List tributors t lK: l(t:llram l'louse, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield' Sl 8AF ln t l5A: l5t), 7O tnterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 060'1 0 Heayy as controversy and counterculture www.t:quinoxPub.com Titus Keith Kahn-Harris and Mark LeVine

I irsr puhlished 201 3 Part l: (olittlslljclm,KeithKahn.Harris,MarkLeVineandcontributors20l3 ', or transmifted in Suicide solution how the emo class of 2008 we to All rights rcserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced photocopying' record- contest their ization, whereas the gers, rn.y liirm t:r h.y any means, electronlc or mechanical, including permission in writ- burnouts or'ch ZoSo' generation were irrii or ilny informition storage or retrieval system, without prior Andy R. Brown in1; tronr thc Publishers. Brltlsh Llbrary CataloguinS-ln-Publication Data 'Howyou gonna see me Acnt'aloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Recontextualizing metal a Brad Klypchak Llbrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data c;untercultures edited by Titus Hjelm, Keith I lclrvy iuetal : conrroversies a;d / Triumph of the maggots? and Mark LeVine. Kahn"ilurris Valorization of metal in the cm. -- (Studies in popular music) l)ilges Hilrne Laurin Irtr'ltttles bibliographical references and index' (pb) lsuN e/8"'1 84s53-940-5 (hb) -- ISBN 978-1-8+5fi-941-2 (Music)--History and Dworkin's nightmare: L l lrlvy nretal (Music)--Social aspects' 2' Heavy metal lll. LeVine' Porngrind as the sound .r.itrt:isrri" l. gielm, Iirus, editor. ll. l(ahn-Harris, l(eith, 1 971- editor' Lee Barron Mi[k, 'l 9t;6" editor. t't.lt6 Jt14:t 201 3 Mt ie1 The'double of Christian l()t;.4'11416-dc2l 20120++70+ Marcus

Hellfest Th that should not be? Local pe Catholic rses on metal culture in France ltrl[.]: ,)/tt I t.t4553 940 5 (hardback) and Jedediah Sklower l,illN' ',/lt 1 tt4t'i i 941 2 (paperback) lylrr:rci hy (. A Iyln'seltilll; Ittl, www.publisherservices'co'uk and t,rinrc,l ;rrrtl S,rrrrl i. the ttt( hy tigtrtning Source tJK ttd., Milton Keynes \otlr(tt lrl( , I;t Vr'rgne, IN t ililrttrttrg louto support local metal': theory of metal scene formation .lffnny Wullarh and Ak:xnndra Lrvinc 117 Black metal soul music 183

While Walser allows the blues to shirnmer behind the remainder of his book without further comment, I want to note the ways in which black (African-American) hearry metal musicians confront the reality that, as Walser Black metal soul music and other heavy metal scholars such as Deena Weinstein readily acknowl- edge, heayy metal is a genre with an audience that is 'mostly young, white, metal class' (Walser 1993:.3). Stone Vengeance and the aesthetics of race in heavy male, and working Moreover, black hear4y metal musicians must also confront the practices of a music indusrry that bases its decisions about marketinS, artist development Kevin Fellezs and genre configuration on that realiry. These assumptions cum practices inadvertently silence black rock musicians by reinforcing tautological links Columbia University, USA between genre and race that ensure audiences, critics and music industry per- sonnel identify certain musical sounds and gestures with particular rypes of the global reach of contemporary metal complicates Walser they bodies. While i told the guy, that's not what we are' I can understand' know, and Weinstein's assertions about the core constituency for heayy metal, the hear the sible [ferences-but that's the bluesl That's from the overarching racialization of rock as a 'white' genre remains, particularly in the blues.l.mjustcarryingonltheblackmusical]traditioninrock'n,roll. States, black African metal bands notwithstanding.2 It's a code, you kn6w,"and a part of who I am" United -mit . Coffey, leader of Stone Vengeancel

Robert Walser asserts, Near the beginning of his incisive study of heary metal,

A heavy metal genealogy ought to trace the music back to African' American utues, uut th"is is sildom done. Just as histories of North America begin with the European invasion, the histories of musical point genres such as rock and heavy metal commonly begin at the of.,hit.dominance.ButtoemphasizeBlackSabbath'scontribution ofoccultconcernstoroc[

Coffcy, does African-American guitarist and Stone Vengeance founder, Mi[rock music and by extension, hearry metal,

'20s. Jefferson' I listen to stuff from the Charley Patton, Blind Lemon who's Blind Blake, Robert Johnson from the '30s' Lonnie Johnson' just as good, probably a little better than Robert Johnson' Robert iot nsoi just got popular because Eric Clapton put his stamp fof approvati on t im. But you ask BB King and all those guys' [they'll trti yo, thatl Lonnie Johnson's bad as hett, man' Skip James That's what happens when you put the drums and the bass behind the guitar, iis rockin' now! You can't get heaty metal-*if you don't havc "that drums guiur, it'll be somethingelse.Youcan have a loud bass and but without that guitar, it's anothcr rnttsic' lJtr grlitrrr is yrinmry rilarkr) (i) hftdu\t'ill th( hlttr\. ,itonc Vrngtflnr'* {l,f: Mlke I ult*y, lr;r116'n lomlkinl, Antlxrtty l9:I$ l'attl lraltini Black metal soul music t 85 184 Heavy Metal African Amer- rituals, practices, territories, traditions, and groups of people'(Holt 2007: 23,19, Stone Vengeance is a heavy rnetal band whose members are all added emphasis). lt is reasonable to assume that the 'cultural values, rituals, ican and, while enjoying i primarily white male audience, formed their aes- practices, territories, traditions and groups of people' associated with thrash thetic in recognition, erien celebrat'ion, of their blackness' lnitially formed in metal do not normally call to mind African-American musicians or black 1978, Stone Vengeance have remained a cult favorite for a small if dedicated as Coffey musical traditions. Yet, as Stone Vengeance effectively posits, despite working core audience who can be found 'on every continent but Antarctica', moni- within a genre discursively constructed as a space for the expression of white boasts' Their fans have named them theLords of Hea4r Metal soul' a masculinity, thrash metal can be thought of as part of a black American musi- ker, while clearly meant to praise, that speaks to stone Vengeance's racialized cal tradition. positioning outside the inner sanctum of metaldom, pointing as it does to a 'soul', Before allowing Coffey's narrative to center my discussion, I want to be iong fristory of primitivist tropes concerning black Americans' a non* explicit about not taking his comments at face value. However, throughout inte'ilectuai body-oriented essence that opposes the figuration of thrash metal while all my work (and not exclusively for this book), I aim to highlight musicians' as a complex musical form. As John sheinbaum warns rock schotars, musi- voices in order that we might gain knowledge from their perspective. Too rock's increasingly canonical historical narrative presents white rock 'race-based construc- often musicians'voices are muted or muffled by scholars, critics and fans with cians as artists and black sout musicians as craftspeople, that a real loss in the ways in which historical narratives, aesthetic choices and tions of difference we may hear should not lead us, unthinkingly, to assert possesses different music industry practices are framed. By giving ample space to Coffey, I hope to Imusic produced by whiie or black musicians] somehow and there- serve as an interested interlocutor of Stone Vengeance's working aesthetic in Lvels oi valu e' (2002:1 27). Sheinbaurn's point-that an unspoken that heavy metal as an articulation of a black aesthetic. ln this way, I mean to fore- fore often unacknowledged idea lurking behind criticaljudgment holds 'soulful ideal ground Coffey's role as musician-both agentive and reactive, both expressive exemplary black musiciinr ,r. unschooled performers' while and constitutive-in negotiating musical discourse, audience desire and critl- white musicians are highlytrained 'skillful artists'-reveals the predetermined cal hermeneutics. ways in which black culturat production enters critical discourse in an already For example, at one point in a conversation with Coffey and drummer/ subordinate Position. vocalist Darren Tompkins, I referred to Jimi Hendrix and his role in shaping My interest in stone vengeance lies in this very predicament: the rela- psychedelic hard rock and, consequently, heavy metal through his technical tionsfiip between race and value as experienced by musicians who challenge mastery of the blues combined with the sonic assault of hard rock and his conventional genre boundaries through an embodied difference to assumed creative use of distortion.5 But the mention of Hendrix elicited a heated reply genre expectitions.r ln fa6, my initial interest was in studying the 1980s from Coffey. After quickly assuring me that he loves Hendrix's music, Coffey Francisco thrash metal scene that had served as Metallica's formative ian became decidedly less appreciative of the aims to which Hendrix's representa- ground. However, as I began researching, I became increasingly interested in tion has been mobilized by rock critics and fans, particularly after his death. I Vengeance because of their longevity-most of the other bands from itone quote coffey's response at length: the originai scene have long since disappeared.a More importantly, as the sole in the scene. Stone Venge^ represJntatives of African-American musicians I always thinl< about it. People aa like they really love Hendrix. But, relationships ance provides a uniquely productive vehicle for reflecting on the you know what? lf that is lhe case, it wouldn't be so hard for black histor- among processes oi raiialization, critical appraisals of aesthetic and people to get in to this music. So I feel like, well, Hendrix is gone and ical value and music industry assessments of commercial interest precisely he's no longer an obstacle or a threat or something-so ir's easy, safe to like. That's what I feel about Hendrix because people because Stone Vengeance makes visible the underlying tenets for recognition [he's] of like me, and you...we're children of Hendrix through the discipline by other metal muiicians, critics, fans, and music industry personnel*atl of rock'n'roll. *r,o* begin their appraisal of bands and musicians on presumptive notions appropriate for a particular genre. As of genre, i"ncluding ihe bodies deemed lhrt tlrt'rr"r no ll)l,irrirtus to hclp us at all. So, Ithink it's brrllslrit. of popular music genre, a'flmre (dn Fab-ian Holt arguei in his insightful study I thirrk it'r ;t {;tlrr' lovr irll;rir with !ltrnrlrix. lt's jrrst ltt''s 11onc, atttl or s-ystelnic litnctions be viewed as a ciltunwirhthe characteristics of a systern ntotlry f:.nr l,r" ltt;trL'lll ol Ititrt, ytrtt lMetal Black metal soul music 187

Think about it. He didn't make it here in rhe States. We haveto look racism. But ljust didn't think it would be this hard. I really didn't. t was willing at that. He was struggling in the States, just like us. Just like Living t0 work hard and prove myself and put in the work' (emphasis added). wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for Mick Jagger, you know Colour Similar to Coffey's reminder about the way in which Robert Johnson was what I mean? So it's bullshit, dude.6 legitimated through Clapton's imprimatur, Muureen Mahon notes the trou- bled entry of another African-American rock band, Living Colour, into the Noting how a fetishized Hendrixian presence allows white rock fans to mainstream rock market: 'Whether one reads Living Colour's alliance with proclaim their admiration for a dead black musician while disenfranchising lMick] Jagger as the calling in of a debt, the ultimate sellout, or a savyy manip- living black rock musicians, Coffey insists that despite the adulation Hendrix ulation of resources, it exemplifies the race and power dynamics of the music receives within rock culture, the real status of black rock musicians is evi- industry. Most disturbing for Black Rock coalition members was the fact dent in the racialized conditions that remain within the music industry and that a white star had to validate a black band before it could gain recogni- within rock discourse writ large that keep black musicians from full participa- tion' (2004: 156). While race is nor rhe only element in play, it is difficult to tion within rock-even, as Coffey points out, for an artist as revered as Hen- deny that raciaiized conceptions of musical genre form a significant part of drix.7 Coffey's view that the figure of Hendrix has allowed an obscuring of the the larger context in assessing a particular band's perceived mainstream mar- lack of apparatus-lack of structure, of legitimation, of support, of authority- ketability. Further, these assessments usually carry negative repercussions for other black rock musicians in the commercial music market provides the for black musicians engaged in genres not typically identified as 'black music' chance to briefly address the underlying issue of musicking, in thrash metal or genres (e.g., rhyhm and blues, rap). otherwise, as labor. ln defending his choice to pursue an interest in hearry metal, Coffey main- tains that black American music has always dealt with the themes identified Something etse with heavy metal: individualism, anti-aurhoritarianism, anti-bourgeois senti- Stone Vengeance was not successful ln turning home court to their advantage ments connected to working-class alienation and a morbid fascination with in the burgeoning San Francisco Bay Area metal scene of the 1980s. Despite death and apocalyptic imagery that is often drawn from anti- or, perhaps moderately large sales of a homemade cassette recording at the Record Vault, more accurately, pre- or non-Christian beliefs. stone vengeance treats these an important heavy metal music store in San Francisco at the time, Stone themes as a fundamentally black aesthetic thereby presenting thrash metal as Vengeance remained a club band unable to secure a recording contract with part of a larger black music tradition.e heavy metal labels such as Megaforce, Roadrunner or Combat or touring stone vengeance articulates their hear4y metal-ness in explicit dialog with opportunities as opening acts for better known bands.s ideas about, for instance, black masculinity. But their performances repudi- The musicians of Stone Vengeance provide a perspective that is important ate popular culture stereotypes of blackness. Coffey describes the band's out- praisely because of their positions as working-class black musicians whose pro- lier position in hear4y metal by recalling a scene in the film, Blade, in which the fessional music careers confront the intertwining pinschers of race and class black 'half-vampire daywalker' played by Wesley Snipes is helped by a black as articulated in musical discourse, including practices and norms within the woman, who asks him, 'You're one of them [a vamplre], aren't you?' Blade music industry. Born and raised in the black working-class neighborhood of replies, 'No, l'm something sl5s'.ttr the Bayview-Hunter's Point area of San Francisco, California' Coffey, Tompkins Coffey continues, and Starks see their creative efforts as both art and commerce, lndeed, the fact that Stone Vengeance performances are self-consciou5 That's what we are. We're not what the white guys are [i.e., con- ventional rock groupsl. We're nor what the black guys are acts of labor formed a large part of our discussions. Coffey and Tompkins rec- Ii.e., conventional funk or hip hop groupsl. So, ro manage a band like ognize that their musical labor is harnessed to racialized conceptions of pro- us, you lrave to think about that because we don't fit. Because musicking that are reinforced strudurally through music business fessional there lrc rro recrlrd labels looking for black rock bands. you have practices (not to mention institutes of music educa- organization norms and :;onrt' lhl.rt k ror:k bandsl that are out there [nowl but we were the tion). Coffey points to racialist thinking as impacting his professional efforts: lilrit lrlirr li lrr,rlriy /fr{t.r/ l)and. Stonc Vcngcan(f is notabl0 lilr heing 'lltecordl labels are set up for white groups. I lelrned that a long time ager. I thl ttrrt lrlar li ,llrarll ltnt'y nrtdlbanrl Mtrrc lrrrl rnorr,[rt.tlrlr. rrow rt rlirlrr't go inro this wil h rny eyes closed. I knrw wr' w('re lrltck anrl I l

188 Heavy Metal Black metal soul music lg9 The continued silence around Stone Vengeance in the increasing catalog of the singer's career with sun Records was brief (1953-1956). By 1960 Elvis heavy metal texts, however, belies Cofey's assertion.l2 What might Stone was chartingwith you ,lt,s ballads such as'Are Lonesome Tonight?,and r,Jow Ven geance's invisibiliry reveal? or Never' for RCA rather than reproducing the energetic rock,n'roll sound of his earlier sun recordings 'Hound Dog' or 'Baby, Let s play House'. As Elvis,s roots recordings Black thrash indicated, the rapid rransformarion of rhythm ind blues into rock and roll 1 Coffey is adamant that rock is based on the blues. While he admires guitar- in the late 950s eventually advanced rock io the center of American popular music ists such as Randy Rhoads. Ulrich Roth, Ritchie Blackmore and Yngwie Malm- culture in a process captured by Reebee carofalo's apt descrip_ tion as 'black steen for their efforts to combine elements of European art music with hard a movemenr from roots to white fruits, (2002).11 However, coffey's rock, he insists, . early music listening experiences pierced through rock's whitewashed veneer. His involvement with hearly meial was a natural out_ lfyou don't like the blues, I guaranteeyou, your heroes like the blues come of being exposed to a wide variety of muiic despite growing up in a Ihe is specifically discussing Rhoads ct al.l. Black Sabbath, you know working-class African-American ,i*ri"*por"d neighborhood. Coffey: to a lot they were called Earth at first, a blues band. Van Halen was into of music ,A [through] rhe radio. And I remember hearing Day in the Life" on IEric] Clapton. AClDC-they crazy about the blues. KlSS-listen to ,,a the radio. That was one of the songs, The Beatles' oay in trre Ace Frehley, that's the blues. A/l of those guys who established hear,y rire", that stuck with me. I was like, rhere's something about metal were into the blues. that musii-lust magital,.Coffey is unequivocal aboutThe Beatles as source and inspiration fo. m"aking music central in his life, displaying Coffey points out that the relationship between the blues and rock extends his conrinuing reverence forthe band byThe Bea_ tles.posters that hang beyond the 'merely musical', noting, in his band's rehearsal space and his frequentieferences to them in interviews. You can't take the blues out of it. People ask, why do you sing about ln fact, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (Capitol 1917), a live recording Satan? That's the same thing in the blues, it was the devil's music. compiled primarily from two performances at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 It's the same shit today. We sing about god, the devil, sex-it's the and 1965, was rhe first ,s recording Coffey purchased. whiI his claims to having get it. They pull t. same thing. You can't really away from can only that li: listened to rhe record ,:,: over one thousand times may be hyperbolic, people who don't know the history of the music. it indi- on cates the central place =: the recording occupies in his musical development. He was initially disappointed as the sounds But I studied the music. When I got into it, I would go to the library of a noisy, screaming audience first greeted him. However, and read the history of [rock music]. So, I know where it came his buyer's remorse soon turned to apireciation as his room ,They from-it came from what they called 'race music' or 'that nigger filled with the sound of electric guitars. He recalls, start of with "Twist perceived as strictly black and shout". And, bop'music. lt was [initiatly a] [music] and dude, ir was the sound of ir. so, [the re-ason] r got into then it became rock'n'roll. which was strialy white I wanting to play music [a] [music]. [was through a] fascination with the electronic side of remember some guy tried to come with some bullshit, trying to say it. The sornd of amplified blues, man. The sound of the equipmefi.rhe p,wer that Elvis Presley had his rockabilly, his country style-trying to take just of a few instruments.on a stage being amplifiea ana irre power rolling away from the black influence. But that's not what [Sam Phillips] off that stage'. Like many rock fans, Coffey was attracted said. He said, 'lf I can find a white man that sings like a black man, to two in rock that partially define its aesthetic: roud "I.*.nt, l'll make a million dollars'. He wasn't looking at Elttis's country roots, he volume and complexity in the service of expressing power. was looking Jor Elvis to sound like a black man. Coffey's attraction to rock's volume as an instantiation of power indicates the resistive, This is no small point for Coffey. Phillips, whose Sun label had primarily even rebellious, potentiar rock music holds out for him. cof- fe-y's imnrersion recorded African-American rhythm and blues musicians, was looking for rt in the forcefu|sound of amplifieri blues,allows him to wield white singer who could sing with an authentic black fecling in ordcr to lclvp l)ower tlrrrlulilr nx"l<'s volrrrilc antJ use of rlisl0rtion ;rgainst unspol1960s and'70s, whose DJs introduced form FM radio embedded within Eurocentric models and taste hierarchies. ln accepting jazz by Sun most importantly' the metal cal music by lgor Stravinsky, Lu.1nd' 'production (NWOBHM)' As noted' Coffey ideal- Pillsbury's contention that Metallica's of identiry through com- of the New Wave of srit''# rit"y Metal of music that was plexity' (2006: 60) rests on ideas about whiteness and masculiniry, however, music of rhe geatles bui it was the wide spedrum ized the I mean to point out that Stone Vengeance's articulation of musicaI complex- the 1 970s that freed him plry;J San Francisco aay Rrea stations during 'l so liberated' by the iry in thrash metal rests on opposing stereotypes about blaclsong. After p.rft,*ing'oay"frippef incorrectly and taught him not only how informed him that he was p[ying Motdrhead-you gotta give them credit, too. Songs like'lron Fist' ,Day taufht him standard tuning as well' to perform Tripper' *or. .rrily but and some of that early stuft'-that was an intluence. Even Loud- Aroundthesameti*e,Jostphsmiel'aCerman-Americanmusicteacherat ness from Japan-we listened to all that shit. Venom was one of my a single lesson' which' consisted 'cause Woodrow Wilson Higtr ltf'Jof ' gave Coffey favorites, lron Maiden. Judas Priest before all of them I was basic skilts such as proper hand posi- into the Priest, all their '70s stuff. The early stuff like 'Sad Wings of of showing the beginiing guitarilt so.me guitar instruc- Destiny' and 'Sin After and 'Stained Class', all of that. ani givingiim , ii[p"a-out chord charr from a Me[ Bay Sin' Crcat shit. ;;;i;g That's where we got our scream from-Rob Halford was the man. tion bool<. Raven, John Callagher. Those were the two guys, we started going Musicstoresalsoprovidedawaytolearnaboutdevelopmentsinhardrock fscreams]. Also, a small part, Robert Plant. 't'd a white guy [whoJ looked like he and hearry metal. co#.y remembeis, see ir,it do you like?" because I wanted to find out roclUnited States offered to most hearry metal fans. lnstead, Coffey tried to meet likely band members through music stores. Coffey recalls,

[Bassist] Anthony lstarks] and I were hanging out at Cuiur Center,r{' fil trying to 8et another guitar player. We d meet different white guys because [by the mid-1970s], I lhad Siven] up on meeting another brother [African American] who wanted to [perform rock music]. So, l'd try to meet these white guys. They'd talk good but they wouldn't show up to rehearsal, they wouldn't even call back.

Still, a white musician briefly held the drum chair in Stone Vengeance: 'Arthur would hang with us at the house and at school. He was kind of a loner because there weren't that many white people at Woodrow Wilson [high school] at Stone Vengeance logo @1 987 Stone Vengeance that time'. But soon, Arthur quit, telling Coffey, 'ljust can't see a black rock band making it'.17 Eventually giving up on finding another guitarist, Coffey $l #1 As Walser cogently argues, 'Heayy metal's fascination with the dark side of began to envision a guitar-based power trio. rSl life gives evidence of both dissatisfaction with dominant identities Coffey initialty named his band the Dreamers but, after about a year, he and insti- # tutilns and an intense yearning for reconciliation with something more credible' wanted a more appropriate name for a hearry metal group. He recalls it was -3F (1993:xvi-xvii, emphasis added). Clearly, Coffey sees Stone Vengeance as part in 1978 when: .&:1m, ::E:: of a long history of enduring African-American cultural resistance, embody- It took me a couple of weeks to come up with [Stone Vengeance] ffii ing the 'rejected' legacy and rhetorically prevailing over death. Stone Venge- because I knew a name meant everyhing. There was a spiritual ance's preoccupation with hea4r metal iconography and a shared ideological I wanted to say but not a 'religious' band. lt's base of what [as] ffi resonance with its dark themes are derived from a legacy of black American not that. I just know that people use religion to control people in 'readings s; biblical against the grain', echoes from the spirituals of black slaves so l'm not into following religion] under certain ways [any [those as well as the secular and often sacrilegious concerns of the blues-musical conditionsl. anchors distina from, for example, the Norse myrholory ascribed by Norwe- gian black metal groups. So, the'stone' is from the Bible. The stone thatthe builders rejected- that's us. That stone is a people, an ancient people. The builders are ln addition to Pillsbury's description that thrash emerged from 'reworkings the 'civilized' nations of the world. Black people are rejected. of British metal groups such as Diamond Head, lron Maiden and Motdrhead' (2006:3), Cofey includes the blues as a means to recognize heavy metal as a rejected, That's what the stone represented to me-the despised, the black American musical practice. Moreover, stone Vengeance's rebuffs by the that build civilizations-scorned the hated. The builders-those Ius], #i music industry echo the marginalized position from which coffey announces looked down upon us. Ihat has been our experience in this music' an African-American thrash metal band named to invoke the long history of black repudiation of 'the builders of civilization'. Coffey is unambiguous You see the star and all that in our [band logo] and [peoplc] don't ffit on this point: know what that means. But it's heavy symbolism. You have six €1 points, each one is sixry degrees, 6 times 60 equals 360 degrees, gl Stonc Vt'ngeance has existed rhat's a circle, a circle of knowledge with 6 points of light. You have and survived by my iron will. I would not rrp. I knt'w Stone Vengeance the skull, which everyone knows represents death. So, it's a balancc'. l1ivt' was a square peg hut I have %l t'ttottlllt pttrlt',t', rt hl;tr'l< Knowledge is power, knowledge is lit'e--if you have knowlctlgr,.yotl tttan tltal lwitsn't going to lbrcc mysr.ll' ffiI ittttt il riltltirl lrill1' can survivc'. 1yr,. rrcv|r 1;oirr6 lo rlo lh;tt. WtJrfl rric| gtrys ffi ,trtrl1rro1rl1. wtll tr,ll Vou lltitl w("n.on(,ol lltc t,artr',,t lr;rrtrl,; to worli * a. 194 Heavy Metal s Black metal soul music 195 x 4 with in the business. But we're not whatyou would call Uncle Toms. were coor with us, hanging out with us backstage t2 at the stone [a san And that is part of the reason that freezes a lot of people, because in ..t Francisco rock ,,t ciubl when we were playing with Trouble and Slayer. this country, the black rnan is made to look a certain wayand if you This ,lli, was when [Metallica] had.lust gorten signed with Elektra. can't be used or ridiculed-some people just don't like that. They a1':]: feel more comfortable if you're in a posirion where you're not taken .n Yet, despite well-intentioned music industry insiders who ': offered to man_ seriously. So you can be a jol

Black outlaws well,.iust the racism. For instance, when we tried to book ourserves into certain clubs. peopre Coffey identifies Stone Vengeance as a San Francisco thrash band that emerged teil me that it's a shame that stone venge- ance hasn't been in the Fiilmore, hasn't been at the Warfierd. from the same early 1 980s scene in which Metallica and Exodus cut their teeth: Thire were just a few clubs [thatwould book us]. We never had a shot like [the other san Francisco] bands. I would see bands Back then, when [the] heavy metal lscene] was starting [to form in a club like at Ruthie's lnn in '84, and they're getting signed in San Franciscol, the bands that were playing sounded like either a year later. And l'm hearing some of our influence on them. But we,re just Uudas] Priest, lron Maiden or they were more commercial sound- gening left in the underground. Exodus got signed, alr ing. But there lweren't] that many bands. There was us, Metallica of those band"s werl on major labels. Testament, Exodus, Heathen_all these bands ben- coming up [from Los Angeles]. Slayer, Exodus. And from what I efited from a scene that we helped build. They remember, honestly, we were probably the first to come out of 5an came along later and we got the least out of it. Francisco. Because Metallica was not from here. Slayer wasn't from here. Exodus was from the East Bay somewhere. Additionally, when asked whether he endured any provocation from African_ American neighbors, Coffey admined that he yeah, Yet, even in an underground metal scene in which they were literal 'home faced all kind of insults. I remember the insults, man. The pressure boys', Stone Vengeance remained external to much of the social aspects of a of that made me more determlned,. It is not only white aud.iences who, scene through which musicians interact in competitive as well as collaborative tacitly or explicitly, exclude black participa_ tion in rock music. Black audiences 'taughi ways. Coffey admits, have been to uphold musical segre- gation, as well. lndeed, ll Coffey admits that while 'there weie always :7\:::' some black already NWOBHM and punk influences] and .k I people in the 'hood that could dig music], We were [blending t Iour but of course *l didrt fit in, we were I didn't even lrape, the Because, to me, the only people that were doing what I was diggin' 3i cassefte tape. I would always take a cassette, put it in an envelope those was lron Maiden, Venom, Raven and all [type ofl bands. and send it to fans, whoever wanted it. All over the world, man. I .L if was sending shit behind rhe rron curtain when it was still the i;. i soviet Coffey disclosed that while Stone Vengeance never hung out with man.y Union. So we had fans there, a:,.: i then. Soyou can imagine what was hap- playing ,*: I pening other rock bands except when shows together, a number of thcnr when a person would get his hands [on it] because it was ille- I gal. And r would get these refters from alr were fans: "::$ over the worrd. sometimes r l'ri f w,ull13't nlonoy. lt would've cost morc [to changc into IJS currency] r": 1 'em, 'em hrrr You know, you talk to you meet [backstage]. [l)cccascd lwrrrkl ',('.(lit ro trrcrrr anyway. Antr that's h.w r rrid it, ,r*r. Metallica bassistl Cliff Burton liked our nrusic a lot Ihc grrys in I ii.iz ::' .l .ii: $ Rockit, thcy likccl us. liuicirlal lttrrh'rrlies, tltcy lilir'rl lr:i \(r nr,nry lll l')l'lt,t,ollrytt',r'rl lti',((Inl;l('ts,witltllrr'[k,rortlV;rultlrlprrrrrtotr,Slort. t (r.t/y rr.,l irr ti lrt'olrlr.. f lrrrr'licrll( illl I wir,, i|xltt All tltr'1irry'r Mlt;rllrr;r *f;il Vt,trllr';ilrrt, ilt ;t \lItll,l [!l\. l,r,.lrrrrn 196 Heavy Metal Black metal soul music 197 l'd take a cassette tape-it wasn't even a demo! I took a boom- It happened so much that when I would get interest [larer], I box, set it in the studio, rehearsed with the guys. So I took it to the wouldn't send them shit. l,d go make a Xerox copy of toui photol Record Vault, they listened to it and they asked me, 'Can we sell because r didn't want to waste the time or the posta"ge ,*aing th.* this?' [Laughs] 'Yeah, if you think so'. And, apparently, man, they my music for nothing. l,d rather keep my music and give it t6 a fan knew so. So they gave a copy to Ron Quintana and he played it on instead of sending it to them when they aren,t going io do anyhing KUSF, which is good for us because that was exposure.ls with it. So, I starred to just send them a picture andlhat wouid en, that. Besides being a radio disc jockey, Quintana was an avid heavy metal col- lector who produced the fanzine, Metal Mania, and whose influence would A final exampre: stone vengeance was remastering their first compa., disc be crucial in the development of the San Francisco metal scene. But Coffey's recording, To Kill Evir,,.and the.mixing engineer, Jeff Risdon, knew a casting attempts to grow beyond contacts with individual fans or the market of a director who was rooking^for a near4y inetit group for a movie that was being local, if influential, heavy metal retail store were disheartening and revealed shot in the san Francisco Bay Area. ,Look, B;t coffey rord Risdon, man, I appre_ the ways in which the world of independent label thrash metal reproduced c.iate what you're saying but when they say they're rooking ro. rr.ur1, r,n.trr, the larger music industry's racialized sensibilities. Steve Waksman's impor- they'renot looking for us'. But Risdon insisted and, as a faior to t,im, Coffey tant study of the cross-genre impact of punk and heavy metal includes a called the casting director, telling her that stone Vengeance was an African- chapter on the role of the independent, or indie, label in developing the American heavy metar band. After tarking with the"producers, ihe crrting heavy metal scene in the 1980s. Focusing on SST, Metal Blade and Sub Pop, director informed ao.tr that the produclrs fert thai taving a'u1rck merar 'did genre group in the I 'presenting Waksman notes how each label not forsake as a tool to achieve firm wourd be a whore orher rype of itatement,. their ends'. lmportantly, however, 'Once these labels were established, they did not merely reproduce the already defined aesthetics of the genres with Conclusion and chang- which they were associated Ibut] updated redefined in line with Coffey notes: ing local conditions and the importation of new sounds from afar' (2009: 25s). See, when I tell people this sruff, l,m talking from whar white people Yet Coffey, in describing his own interactions with indie labels, reveals the said, not from whar l,m saying. We nncr intendcd to rnake i *ot, 'updating and already defined genre aesthetics' in Stone mcnt. Wc just wantcd to limits redefining held rock. But to white people, [Stone Venge- ance isl 'another Vengea nce's particul ar case: statement'. r don't know what kind of statemrnt exactly-l can guess_but think about it, a black band trying,o piry merar]. I remember we would get record companies back in those early Iheavy wejust happen to be brack but we have t6 u. ,,rrl"g 'No, a statentent now. days that would be interested. So nobody can tell me. it's not Wc can,t just rock. So, it shows that wc are perceivi racism'. OK, in the '80s-this happened numerous times-l would fthrough racc]. get a lener from a record label and they would be interested in sign- My central interest has ing the band. A record company doesn't write you unless they're been to trace the roots and routes stone Vengeance already familiar with your music and they're interested. rnobilizes in order to tease out the band's claims for thrash metal authenticiry and authority based on foundationar black American blues traditions. But as But they didn't know what we looked like. They would just hear the qu.ote above suggests, whire Coffey foregrounds Stone Vengeance the music-'Oh, I'm interested'. flhey knew we were an] American s inter- r)retation of rock as a bracr< musicar e*pr.ssion, metal band. They'd ask me for a press kit, wanting to see what we he arso desiref to be known simply as a 'thrash metar musician' ,brackthrash looked like. Then I would send them a picture and they would just rather than as a metar musi_ r ian'. Yet cofley's positionality--embedrJed back up. Or, this is what they would say-and it's a trip because ini- in a narrative of aurar trespass_ in13 arrrl sorri. ir.r'rrlrrrr;rri.n that tially they would be totally enthusiastic-'we'rc totally interested, r:omplicates the links between fn"noryp. of attrliotyPC lry send us a bio, scnd us a picture'. Ihcn all a sudrlen, tltcy frcczc: 'ttttl "r't'liittll lo rcrk'(irrr: tiu, look ;rnri sclrrntl ol'crnhorlierl psychedelic rock and heavy links between musical genres and performing bodies. The band's professional r€: metal, beginning with Hendrix; particular, g. '.rf i see, in pages 16-1 See also waksman experiences underscore the ubiquity of these ideas and highlight the difficul- i 2009 I for a broader look at the various ways in which heavy metal was influenced by ties black musicians face in their atrempts to expand conceptions of heayy a psychedelic, or acid, rock. ):i : 6. ln an expanded version of this chaprer, I spend metal from a space of white working-class masculiniry into a more inclusive 'ia: l some time thinking about coffey,s comment rhar 'people genre. rt$: : like me and you..,we're children of Hendrix ihrough 3:l the dis- gi cipline of rock'n'roll'. Fle is discussing people of color here ('people Stone Vengeance may be finally receiving overdue recognition. Remark- :l like mJand you') .:l 'child and the notion of being a of Hendrix' evolGermany, along with an offer to tour South America in 201 1. +i Hendrix Experience and Band of cypsys .,:s: . were evaluated. instrumental Black 'Wrath Cometh', ln a largely Sabbath-inspired song, . ,0. 8. The importance of music stores in the development of heavy 'And i the metal scene of Coffey sings a single line, in the end, we are justified by revenge'. The 'riii the 1980s is an understudied phenomenon. However, steve waksman iii mentions stone, in other words, will someday prevail over the forces that reject and Johnny and '.e Marsha zazula's record store, Rock'N'Roll Heaven, as a major source of despise it. lndeed, Stone Vengeance's music persists as a vital testament to e. :tE underground metal recordings as well as being 'thc place to hang *B' our for specialist metal's core principle of individual empowerment rallied against larger struc- .,gi t tleavy Metal music on the East Coast' (2009: 235, original emphasis) and empha- tural and discursive forces while allowing the band to demonstrate that thrash :'ti r sizes the role music stores played in shaping local heavy metal scenes throughout tn, the US. metal's roots run deep within the enduring legacy of black American blues ! r,- traditions. i 9. As detailed later in the text, coffey renamed his rock band, the Dreamers, ro stone s: l vengeance .{i l. in san Francisco in 1978. The Black Rock Coalition formed in New york :?l city in 1985. srone vengeance was isolated for rhe most part '9.'! from other black rock Notes li fans and musicians. unaware of the Black Rock Coalition (BRC) until Living colour,s 1 quotes success gave . lnterview with authoc 10 December 2009. All Coffey are from author inter- BRC national exposure, stone vengeance has remained outside the S, l view unless otherwise credited. BRC orbit to rhis day due in large part to stone Vengeance's genesis prior to the for- lndeed, the articles that deal with African metal carry titles such as "'White at mation of the BRC as well as the band's 2. ,s1 thrash metal orientation. Music" in the Black Continent?' (fromhttp://newschoolthoughtsonafrica.word arg t 10. coincidentally, a Stone Vengeance composition,'l vampyre', almost *i made it onto press.com/2010/10/05/white-music-in-the-black-continent/, no longer availa :E: ! the B/a/c soundtrack. 'tu. .ii. i While many African heavy metal bands are composed of white Africans, thc i 1 1. there were a ble). i$, handful of other African-American heavy metal groups in the 19gOs hypermasculinist orientation of heavy metal remains wherever it has tal

and Adolescent Alienation (Boulder, CO: Weswiew, 1996): lan Christie, Sound oJ the Beast:The Complete Headban$ng History of Hearty Meal (NewYork: lt-Harper Collins, 2004); and Natalie J. Purcell, Death Metal /Ausic: The Passion and Politks of a Subcul' girls and ture (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003). To be fair to Coffey, he may be referring to S emoltio the growing acknowledgement of Stone Vengeance in fan discourse. 13. Additionally, similar to Coffqy's complicated view of Hendrix, while he is clearly crit- Negotiating ulinity in grindcore ical of some of the uses Presley has served within rock discourse, he was also frank about his admiration for Presley's music. 1+. See the chapter'Cenre Rules'in Frith 1 996. Rosemary O For on the underground FM phenornenon of the 1 970s, see Neer 2001. 15. more University of Melbourne, 16. A national United States retail music instrument chain store. 17. Coffey only recalls the drummer's first name, Arthur. 'Wrath Rehearsal Demo, as was later titled, included the songs, 18. The Cometh' it Crindcore is more than tional . That is, grindcore scenic par- 'Stone 'Time is Hand', 'The Creat Controversy', and 'The Persecution'. Vengeance', at ticipation is less about how m lyrics larrangements tensitie differing texture, temporal- ln Rhythm and Business: The Political Econonry of Black Music, ed. Norman Kelley. New ity, velocity and spatia act on are produced through York Akashic. bodies, and transmi bodies. Holt, Fabian. 2Q07.6enre in Popular /Ausir. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Joseffer, Jordan. 201 0. 'Stone Vengeance'. Thrasher (March). I call the affective se y grindcore scen experience 'feeling Mahon, Maureen. 200+. Right to Rock: The Black Rrck Coalition and the Cultural Politics of brutal' after the u catchcry of ' heard at at gigs. This uner- Press. Race.Durham, NC: Duke University ance goes some way rds articulating the a ve experience grindcore Neer, Richard. 2001. FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radla. New York: Random House. generates. Pillsbury, Clenn T. 2006. Damage lncorporated: rl\ctallica and the Production oJ /Ausical lden" ln this chapter, I feeling brutal as an entry a discussion on how fity. NewYork and London: Routledge. affect relates to, a troubles, metal masculiniry. a recurrent assump- Richardson, Ben.201 0.'Headbanging History'. SF Bay Guardian, 14 December.http:// tion in metal ies that Western metal is sexist, ist, and even www.sfbg.com / 201 0 / 1 2 / 1 + / headban ging-history. misogrnist Sheinbaum, John. 2002. '"Think about WhatYou're Trying to Do to Me": Rock Historiog- 1996; Kahn-Harris2007: Walser 199 nstein 2000). I raphy and the Construction of a Race-based Dialectic'. ln Rock }ver the Edge: TransPr' ask whether )re participants really do, following a s{ title from band mdtions in Popular Music Cultures, ed. Roger Beebe et al. Durham, NC and London: Blood Du Girls and Emotions'.1 I concur that metal gery, particu- Duke University Press. Iarly in meta I a nd gore-gri ndcore, regu la rly represents men as sexu- Waksman, Steve. 2009. This Ain't the Summer of Lote: ConJlict and Crossover in Heavy /Aetal alized obi at best and objects for rape, torture and murder . Metal and Punk. Berkeley: University of California Press. slSnr often literally, scream masculinity. ln such a masculi discourse, Walser, Robert. 1993. Running with the Devil: Pawer, 6ender, and Madness in Heavy l\ctal it is for metal songs to articulate emotions, which are, in cul- Music.Hanover, NH and London: Wesleyan University Press. tu inized. lnstead, the male protagonist is busy'doing'-batt riding Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heatty Metal: lts Music and its Culture . NewYork: Da Capo. or, in tht' r-'ase of death metal, killing. As Massumi (2 :27) uSiteS, a[ler.1 ic ttot 5ynonyrnotrs with 'ernotion'. Nevertheless, fli .

in ;rrticulatlrrli nthrrl rrrilns rhat reprrsenralions of its intensitirs r avily 0n the lgrtgrtlxl: ol' r,tltol'rtnt. (iritt(lrorc slrtu' rrrlrrrlrlri. rrtrqll: