Making metal work
Working lives of metal musicians in Aotearoa/New Zealand
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.23740Keywords:
heavy metal, new zealand, professional lives, music career, local scene, professional lifeAbstract
This article explores lived experiences of heavy metal careers in Aotearoa/New Zealand as bands navigate shifting metal markets, and rapidly expanding digital landscapes for the music industry more generally. Drawing from interviews conducted with four established metal bands in Aotearoa—Blindfolded and Led to the Woods (Otautahi/Christchurch), Shepherds Reign (Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland), Stälker and Bulletbelt (both from Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington)—we explore whether metal musicians are able to make music into a viable career, and furthermore how the changing commercial and technological landscapes for metal might have also brought about differing ideas of the mainstream versus the underground, commerciality versus authenticity, and amateurism versus professionalism. Such binaries, these interviews show, continue to play a complex role in how musicians experience, or reject, metal as an entrepreneurial activity, where the coincidence of genre with geography, and metal’s long-held anti-commercial and anti-establishment discourses, influence career expectations and opportunities.
References
Bartleet, Brydie L., Christina Ballico, Dawn Bennett, Ruth Bridgstock, Paul Draper, Vanessa Tomlinson and Scott Harrison. 2019. ‘Building Sustainable Portfolio Careers in Music: Insights and Implications for Higher Education’. Music Education Research 21/3: 282–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1598348
Berkers, Pauwke, and Julian Schaap. 2018. Gender Inequality in Metal Music Production. London: Emerald Group Publishing.
CreativeNZ. 2019. ‘Research Reflects Significant Challenges of Making a Living as a Creative Professional in Aotearoa’. Online at https://www.creativenz.govt.nz/?sc_itemid=%7BE5FAA20E-9234-498D-9AB5-3246F1729040%7D (accessed 25 November 2022).
Drachman, Jillian. 2021. ‘10 Metal Musicians with Smart Day Jobs’. Online at https://metalinjection.net/lists/10-metal-musicians-with-smart-day-jobs (accessed 9 August 2022).
Earl, Benjamin. 2009. ‘Metal Goes “Pop”: The Explosion of Heavy Metal into the Mainstream’. In Heavy Metal Music in Britain, ed. Gerd Bayer, 33–51. London: Routledge.
Finnegan, Ruth. 1989. The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Halnon, Karen B. 2006. ‘Heavy Metal Carnival and Dis-Alienation: The Politics of Grotesque Realism’. Symbolic Interaction 29/1: 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1525/si.2006.29.1.33
Hauge, Elisabet S. 2011. ‘How Do Metal Musicians Become Entrepreneurial? A Phenomenological Investigation on Opportunity Recognition’. Doctoral thesis, BI Norwegian Business School.
Jennings, Ros, and Abigail Gardner. 2012. ‘Rock On’: Women, Ageing and Popular Music. London: Routledge.
Hoad, Catherine, and Oli Wilson. 2020. Amplify Aotearoa: Gender Diversity amongst APRA AMCOS NZ Members. Wellington: Massey University.
Kahn-Harris, Keith. 2007. Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge. New York: Berg.
Laaksonen, Laura, Antti Ainamo and Toni-Matti Karjalainen. 2011. ‘Entrepreneurial Passion: An Explorative Case Study of Four Metal Music Ventures’. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship 13/1: 18–36. ht tps://doi.org/10.1108/14715201111147923
Metal Injection. 2007. ‘Opeth Guitarist Peter Lindgren Leaves Band’. Online at https://metalinjection.net/news/opeth-guitarist-peter-lindgren-leaves-band (accessed 9 August 2022).
Miller, Diana L. 2018. ‘Sustainable and Unsustainable Semi-Professionalism: Grassroots Music Careers in Folk and Metal’. Popular Music and Society 41/1: 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2016.1209901
Moore, Ian. 2021. ‘Deathtrippa’. Creative Practice Honours thesis. Wellington: Massey University.
Munro, Scott. 2015. ‘Testament, Exodus Men Kept Busy with Day Jobs’. Online at https://www.loudersound.com/news/testament-exodus-men-kept-busy-with-day-jobs (accessed 9 August 2022).
Perich, Bronson. 2020. ‘Shepherds Reign Fans Unaware of the Band’s Diverse Whakapapa’. Online at https://www.teaomaori.news/shepherds-reign-fans-unaware-bands-diverse-whakapapa (accessed Aug 9, 2022).
RMNZ/PWC. 2020. ‘Economic Contribution of the New Zealand Music Industry in 2019 and 2020’. Online at https://www.recordedmusic.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PwC-NZ-Music-economic-contribution-2020.pdf (accessed 9 August 2022).
RNZ. 2019. ‘Achieving Artists’ Living Wage’. Online at https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018696797/achieving-artists-living-wage (accessed 9 August 2022).
Shepherds Reign. 2019. ‘Le Manu—OFFICIAL VIDEO’. Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNb1LXXk40 (accessed 9 August 2022).
Sperinck, Fahad. 2020. ‘Life after Death Metal’. Online at https://tedium.co/2020/09/11/life-after-death-metal/ (accessed 9 August 2022).
Villanueva, Justina. 2010. ‘Norwegian Musicians Discuss Their Day Jobs at Seminar’. Online at https://noisecreep.com/norwegian-musicians-discuss-their-day-jobs-at-seminar/ (accessed 9 August 2022).
Walser, Robert. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture. Boston: Da Capo Press.
