Season 1 Episode 10 - In this episode, the first season finale, I had a conversation with Rebecca Vernon, whose latest project The Keening arrived in our ears last year. You may recall that Rebecca is the founder of the band SubRosa, whose influence has been felt across the doom/sludge scene for nearly 20 years. Rebecca and I sat down and she told me about her “uncool beginnings” (her words, not mine) in the alternative music scene in Utah where she spent her teenage years and early adulthood, and how that led to the formation of SubRosa and the work she’s doing today. We talked about a lot of other things, including ska, the surprisingly vibrant goth scene Salt Lake City, how she first became a drummer, and later how she stepped out from behind the kit and picked up the guitar and fronted a band for the first time. 

I hope you enjoy the conversation!

SHOW NOTES:

The Keening - North American 2024 Summer Tour (w/ Pallbearer & Inter Arma -- June, July, August) - dates and tickets: https://bit.ly/4bmxwsK

The Keening music - https://bit.ly/4aA0l3I

SubRosa music - https://bit.ly/4dLjL8x

Red Bennies - https://bit.ly/4dSxVET

Kid Hideaway and the Warboy: https://bit.ly/44YKESv

SLUG - Salt Lake UnderGround - https://www.slugmag.com

Book - The War Of Art: https://bit.ly/4aua4IL

Season 1 Episode 9 - From his roots in country music in his home state of Texas, Charlie Anderson's musical journey has taken him to the extremes of black metal, where he plays the fiddle in the now legendary black metal band Panopticon. Charlie was kind enough to sit down with me at Cascadian Midsummer festival and tell me the story about how he discovered metal music at quite a young age, and how a few seemingly random events led him to where he is today. 

I hope you enjoy the conversation! 

Show Notes: 

Celtic Frost - A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh - https://youtu.be/dW6RXTjm4iA?si=wolYk6zmI9ZdcSyD

Yes - Close to the Edge - Have you listened to this? If not, you must: https://youtu.be/FQETATIFxE8?si=n06JGoAhTIFTAeOD 

Shoutout to Jordan Day - https://jordanday1.bandcamp.com 

Panopticon - Rime of Memory - https://bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/the-rime-of-memory 

Panopticon tour dates - https://linktr.ee/truepanopticon

Transit Method - https://transitmethod.bandcamp.com/album/othervoid

Credits: 

Theme music for this show is by Tauntaun: tauntaun.bandcamp.com

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024 

Season 1 Episode 8 - If you're an accomplished cellist who really understands metal, you can have a fascinating and varied career, and that's exactly what Kakophonix has done. He's a core member of the dark neofolk project Osi & The Jupiter, which has played numerous metal festivals and tours. He also has a solo project called Hvile i Kaos, which he describes as "black ritual chamber musick." Links to those projects are in the show notes below. In addition to these projects and his work as a music teacher, he's done guest and/or session work on the cello for many metal artists, including Abigail Williams, Vale of Pnath and many others. He sat down with me on a rainy afternoon at Cascadian Midsummer festival in June of last year to tell me his story. I hope you enjoy the conversation!   

Projects Kakophonix is actively involved in: 

Osi & The Jupiter: https://osifolk.bandcamp.com/album/cedar-and-sage-riders-of-the-gallows-vol-1

Hvile i Kaos: https://hvileikaos.bandcamp.com/track/vessel-333

Kakophonix at Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Kakophonix/446992

We also discussed these two bands, which are not his projects but that some might find intriguing:

Antestor — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forsaken_(album)

Admonish - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admonish_(band)

Theme music for this podcast is by Tauntaun: https://tauntaun.bandcamp.com/

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024 

BONUS MINI EPISODE - I slept on Blind Guardian. I did this for over 30 years. For this transgression, to all Blind Guardian fans the world over, I am deeply sorry. But after my experience on Wednesday night I have awakened from my slumber. This is a Blind Guardian Appreciation Episode. Thank you for listening! 

Season 1 Episode 7 - The early 1990s in the US was a pivotal time for heavy music, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, with the emergence of Grunge. Matt Johnston had a front row seat to a lot of those moments, as he was the music director of KAOS radio - the legendary college radio station in Olympia, Washington -- from 1991 to 1994. During that time, Matt got to see a lot of shows and meet a lot of people. He's got great stories to tell about that period, but also about what it was like to be a young metalhead where he grew up on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. 

Enjoy the show! 

Links to things mentioned on this episode: 

Matt’s Metal Gateway - Spotify Playlist: https://spoti.fi/4beyJBZ 

Hawaii - Marty Friedman’s Hawaii-based band before he joined Megadeth. Their album “One Nation Underground” (1983) - https://bit.ly/44lVqln 

Sacred Rite - another Hawaii-based metal band from the 1980s. Their 1980 self-titled album: https://bit.ly/3QplRRC

PMA - Matt’s magazine and podcast: https://www.getthatpma.com/

KAOS Radio - Listen live on the Interwebs: https://www.kaosradio.org

Theme music for this show is by Tauntaun: tauntaun.bandcamp.com

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024 

Season 1, Episode 6 - Andrea Morgan plays the violin for a couple of bands (Exulansis and The Keening). She was kind enough to sit down with me last summer and talk about her metal journey, the presence of classical string instrumentation in extreme metal, and the role of small festivals in the metal scene today. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy the conversation!

Links mentioned in this episode: 

The Keening - European 2024 Spring Tour (w/ Bell Witch -- happening now through May 18) - dates and tickets: https://www.bellwitchdoom.net/live

The Keening - North American 2024 Summer Tour (w/ Pallbearer & Inter Arma -- June, July, August) - dates and tickets: https://www.pallbearerdoom.com/tour 

Exulansis music: https://bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com

The Keening music: https://thekeeningmusic.bandcamp.com/

Season 1 Episode 5 - CJ Yacoub - CJ is the drummer of Canis Dirus, Vulning, and others. I met them last summer at Cascadian Midsummer festival and had a chance to sit down (literally, in the forest) to hear the story about how they discovered metal music. 

If you're a black metal fan in Chicago on May 31, you can catch CJ playing with Vulning at Beat Kitchen - info and tickets here: https://www.seetickets.us/event/sadness/592126

Reminder -- Metal Gateway is a proud sponsor of Northwest Terror Fest 2024 - May 9-11 in Seattle (https://northwestterrorfest.com) and please come say hello if you’re at the fest!

Other links:

Vulning (split w/ Sadness) — https://vulning.bandcamp.com/album/sadness-vulning

Canis Dirus - latest release - https://canisdirus.bandcamp.com/album/a-harmonious-union-of-vibration

Canis Dirus full length and physical copies:  https://shop.bindrunerecordings.com/collections/bindrune-titles/products/canis-dirus-independence-to-the-beast-lp-cd-pre-order

CJ's listing at Metal archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/CJ_Yacoub/788441

Enjoy the show!! 

Season 1, Episode 4 - Joseph Schafer eats, sleeps and breathes metal. He’s the vocalist for Colony Drop (everyone’s favorite Gundam-themed metal band), he’s one of the organizers of Northwest Terror Fest (Seattle’s premier extreme metal festival), and he’s a frequent contributor to Decibel magazine and other publications. He was kind enough to find time in between all of these projects to sit down and tell me his story. 

Northwest Terror Fest: https://northwestterrorfest.com

In this episode: Colony Drop - Stand Against the World - from their full length album Brace for Impact: https://colonydropband.bandcamp.com/album/brace-for-impact

Music for this podcast provided by Tauntaun (https://tauntaun.bandcamp.com/) - used by permission. 

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024 

Season 1, Episode 3 - From their formation in 1985 until they disbanded in 1994, Jeff Braimes was the vocalist of Panic, a Seattle-based thrash metal band. He’s retired from metal now, but he stopped by the studio to tell me about how he got into it, and offered his perspective on what it was like to be in a metal band in Seattle when the whole Grunge thing happened. Enjoy! 

A few links for folks who are interested in exploring Panic’s stuff: 

• Music Video - Panic - Blackfeather Shake: https://youtu.be/mm2B46Zf88U?si=1lsqvybFAoro5wE5
• Full Album - Panic - Epidemic - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lMcIBOcLrng3c51XJlEO0I1Zm_qODax24&si=az9cDStnI2osr2bA
• Panic - Leave It Alone (from their 1987 Demo, produced by Terry Date, mentioned and excerpted in this episode) - https://youtu.be/UqDcPG_iHkI?si=zuXjEAwzob4SGsiw
• Panic at Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Panic/1132

Music for this podcast by Tauntaun (tauntaun.bandcamp.com) - Used by permission. 

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024 

This week's guest -- Matt Jacobson -- started Relapse Records in the basement of his mom's house in Aurora Colorado in 1990. In the years since, the label has become one of the most influential metal labels in the world. 

Thanks for listening! Please like, share and subscribe! 

Theme music for this podcast is provided by Tauntaun. Used by permission. 

The Metal Gateway Podcast is a production of Studio Portcullis - Copyright 2024