While it’s undeniable that metal is definitely something you need to listen to, many discerning metalheads also round out their knowledge with a little heavy metal literature. There are many books on the market about metal, from general guides to in-depth histories of different genres to rockstar memoirs … and even a cookbook or two.
If you’re in need of a little metal reading this summer, here are some of my favourite books about metal:
Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal, Ian Christe (It Books, 2004)
Arguably the best general history book on metal on the market, Sound of the Beast is packed with to the teeth with nerdy metal facts and genre history. Sound of the Beast is aimed toward an audience that’s already neck-deep in the metal subculture, and fans will find interesting facts and figures on every page. My only fault with this book – and it’s a minor one – is that Christe devotes a disproportionate amount of space to bands like Metallica, at the detriment of certain lesser-known genres.
The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time, Martin Popoff (ECW Press, 2005)
Martin Popoff is a legend among heavy metal writers. This book is comprised of irreverent, meticulous and often humorous reviews of 500 of the most influential metal albums of all time. The choice of albums was decided by poll, and Popoff adds his own opinion about releases he doesn’t feel warrant the credit they’re given. Popoff isn’t afraid to voice criticism and his book incites an equal number of fans and detractors. This is the book that gets metalheads talking at parties.
Hell Bent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict, Seb Hunter, (Harper, 2004)
In Hell Bent for Leader, Seb Hunter attempts to explain metal in terms anyone can understand, starting with his discovery of metal at a young age and ending with is his fifteen minutes of fame as an image-conscious metal musician. Part adolescent memoir, part sociological history, Hunter uses his own experience to explain the history of metal, its sub-genres and its fans. Not afraid to laugh at the music – and at himself – this book is a great read for anyone interested in learning more about metal.
The major niggle I – and many other fans – have with this hilarious romp is that Hunter leaves the world of metal in the nineties when grunge took over. As far as he’s concerned, that is when metal died. Given the growing popularity of metal and the plethora of new sounds and genres that have emerged since the nineties, I definitely think Hunter could do with listening to some Mastedon.
Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground, Michael Moynihan, (Feral House, 2003)
Mixing metal and true crime, Moynihan tells the story of the early black metal scene with a focus on the crimes perpetrated in its name. If you’ve ever been curious about the formation of the black metal scene and the workings of the Norwegian “Inner Circle”, this book provides a thorough overview.
While parts of this book capitalize on the sensationalism of the crimes, metalheads will enjoy the interviews with infamous black metal legends like Varg Vikernes, Anton LeVay, Samoth (of Emperor) and Dani Filth.
Choosing Death: Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore, Albert Mudrian (Feral House, 2004)
As the editor of Decibel Magazine, Mudrian definitely has the qualifications to write a genre-history, and Choosing Death happens to be one of the best examples of a journalistic approach to metal commentary in book form. In other words, it’s bloody good. Mudrian not only demonstrates the importance of bands like Morbid Angel in the formation of death metal as a genre, but he profiles bands that push the envelope in this style of music.
Seasoned fans will learn a lot from the interviews and historical facts in this book, and beginning death metallers will gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of the genre.
Metal: The Definitive Guide, Garry Sharpe-Young, (Bazillion Points Books, 2007)
There are a few coffee-table books floating around aiming to be the definitive guide to metal, and this is probably the best one. Packed with memorabilia, biographies, quotes and discographies, this is the kind of book you return to again and again when you’re seeking a piece of information about a band you love. If there was ever going to be an encyclopaedia of metal – Metal: The Definitive Guide would be it.
What are your favourite metal books?
Who am I?
I’m Steff. Born in New Zealand, raised on a steady diet of metal and out-of-print archaeology books, I’m now a freelance writer, accessible formats producer, and full-time iron maiden.
You can keep up to date with all the metal madness at my Steff Metal blog. I update 4 times a week with reviews, articles, advice and silliness about living the metal lifestyle. And, for alternative biz owners, I run a creative business community for the dark side at Grymm & Epic.
For the first edition of this column, I could think of no better way to kick things off than speaking with someone I truly admire, who is indisputably one of the most badass ladies in metal and an equal rights warrior goddess besides: Marissa Martinez. This San Francisco, CA-based guitarist and vocalist lends her raw talents to legendary grindcore OGs Repulsion as well as her own long-running band of grindfreaks, Cretin. She’s been wonderfully forthcoming and open about her journey as a transsexual woman, and serves as an inspiration for so very many people worldwide. Bright, funny, and genuine, Marissa is a class act – and can shred like a madwoman! Check out our interview below, and up the irons!
Kim Kelly: You’ve been a busy, busy lady this year! Can you tell me a bit about what’s going on with Cretin?
Marissa Martinez: We’re in the middle of learning the new songs that Matt (Widener, bassist of Cretin) and I wrote for the next album. We’ve got a good base so far of 7 to 9 songs, which would be a little over half an album. So, there’s still more writing to be done. But it’s great to be in the rehearsal studio again.
These new songs are a little more quirky than the last album. We’re exploring the unique cretanic sound that can be heard as an undercurrent in our earlier songs, and trying to bring it forward, rather than trying to adhere to a strict Repulsion sound like we did with the first album. The new songs are also a bit more dark. I wrote a good portion of them five years ago when I first started my transition. I was really struggling to find myself at that time, and I think the frustration that I was going through kind of comes through. But, our overall ethic is still there to keep it sounding really old school, with simple song structure, and a straight forward delivery.
It’s really fun to see these songs take shape. I’ve been picking at them here and there for a while now, and I had a serious fear for a couple of years that I might get raped and killed before these songs could ever see the light of day…
KK: For those who don’t know you yet, could you give me some background on your musical adventures, and tell me what the relationship is between you and Repulsion?
MM: If there’s one thing that’s been at the heart of my musical adventures, I’d have to say that it’s always been the sincere friendships I’ve been so fortunate to make along the way. When Matt and I became friends with the guys in Exhumed, not only did we gain lasting friends who would contribute and be a part of our lives in and out of music to this day, they also helped to increase the caliber of our playing.
When it came to getting Cretin signed, and our album “Freakery” released, we made amazing friends with the folks at Relapse. Not only do they believe in our music, but they also stood by me while I was going through one of the biggest challenges in my life. Friends from the label actually came to see that I was released from the hospital, and relocated to my hotel room after my surgery.
The boys in Repulsion are no different. We’re all very close friends. Matt (Olivo, lead guitarist of Repulsion) and I met online years ago, due to my (then) job in the video game industry. From there we started a friendship that would include Scott (Carlson, bassist/vocalist of Repulsion). They both loved Cretin and regarded us as the “2nd Coming” of Repulsion, and because of that they recruited Col (Jones, drummer of Cretin) to be the permanent replacement for Dave Grave (original drummer of Repulsion), who wanted to retire from the band.
They played a couple of shows that I was able to attend, and asked me to make a guest appearance on guitar to close their sets, the most prominent of those being the Maryland Death Fest 2010. I guess you could say those were inadvertent mini-auditions, in a way… I naturally match the Repulsion sound when I play guitar. So, because of that, and our close friendship, I think the guys just felt like I was a perfect fit for the band. They asked me to on second guitar last year, and we played our first gig together at the Roxy, on the Sunset strip, last summer. It’s been amazing!
KK: What is your day job? How did you get involved in that field, and what do your colleagues think about your bands & involvement in metal?
MM: I manage an internal Software Quality Assurance department for Industrial Light & Magic. I was hired to develop this group after working for nine years in the Compatibility department for LucasArts. Before that, I spent two years working in the graphics card industry, testing to make sure that the cards would work with video games that were popular at the time.
I’ve always been a huge Star Wars fan. So, when the opportunity to work for LucasArts came up, I jumped at it. I’ve been working for Lucasfilm for over 12 years at this point…
My colleagues like to tease me about my music, but I think they respect that I play in bands. They just aren’t fans of extreme metal…
KK: What’s your favorite book?
MM: I’m not a big reader to be honest. I mostly just read news blogs regarding LGBT social issues. But, I recently got “Murder in the Front Row, Shots from the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter,” and I love it. It’s mostly a collection of photos, but it’s extremely nostalgic and heart-warming for any fan of old school metal.
KK: What’s in your purse right now?
MM: Hmm… Let’s see… Wallet, makeup bag, car insurance, checkbook, dental floss, headphones for iPhone, scrunchie, eye drops, lip gloss, gum, house keys, and a match book. Nothing exciting…
KK: You’ve been grinding it out for years, onstage and in the front row. How did you get into metal in the first place, and what inspired you to pick up an instrument?
MM: I guess you could say “music has always been in my blood.” My biological father was the lead guitar player for an acid rock band called “The Underground Railroad” back in the ‘70s. He died when I was five and, as a result, my family always pushed me to grow up to be like him. I guess they expected me to fill the void left in their hearts by his passing… Anyway, I inherited his 1967 Gibson SG so, once I found metal, it just made sense to learn guitar.
I was actually way into skateboarding when I first got into metal. We built a mini ramp in one of my friend’s backyard, and he would throw on a lot of Metallica and some hair metal bands while we’d skate. But, eventually he got into the skater punk bands.
I was hooked with Metallica, especially “Kill ‘Em All” and “Ride the Lightning.” I started playing guitar more and skating less… In mid high school Widener and I reconnected around music (we’ve been friends since 4th grade). He had started playing bass, and was already more or less “over” thrash. He introduced me to death metal through bands like Carcass, Obituary, Cannibal Corpse, and Dismember. Honestly, it took me a little bit of time to warm up to the music but, once I did, that was it. Particularly after we went to our first death metal show. When we saw the bands headbanging and playing their hearts out, we knew that’s what we wanted to do.
We started our senior year of high school the next day, and I was tasked with the job of approaching the one metal drummer we knew of, to see if he wanted to join our band. He did. And so began Cretin…
KK: Your love of latex and fetish fashion is pretty well known by now (and you look DAMN good!). Can you tell me about how you got involved in this scene and a couple of your favorite stories relating to the world of fetish fashion?
MM: I’ve been a fan of kink and latex since I’ve been sexually aware. I dabbled with it here and there in the past, dressing up ex-girlfriends, and doing some light play. But, I never really felt comfortable with it. I hated my body, and I was embarrassed to express myself sexually. Once I started to transition, and things had progressed to a point where I had gained some confidence, I went wild! I decided to indulge myself in everything that I had shied away from, or was too embarrassed to explore previously. Latex fetish was forefront in my interests.
The day after my 34th birthday, I went to my first Latex Fetish Ball. It was hosted in SF by Erik Von Gutenberg, who is a well-known photographer in the scene and publishes his own glossy magazine. The ball was great and I met a lot of fun, kinky people there. There was an open casting call at the party, where people could get their photo taken, and you’d be entered into a competition. The winner of the competition would get a professional photo shoot with Erik that could possibly get published in his magazine.
I didn’t want to try out, but one of the photographers talked me into it. Long story short, I won the competition, had an awesome photo shoot, and made it into Issue #1 of Von Gutenberg magazine. That was something I never thought I could do…
KK: It seems as though metal has a very tribal mentality when it comes to issues of sexuality and gender – we accept our own, no matter what. Rob Halford, Mina Caputo, and yourself seem to have been accepted fairly easily for who you are, though I’m sure you’ve also had to deal with many challenges. Would you agree with that idea, or am I way off?
MM: Well… Obviously, there are ‘phobes out there, and metal can be a hyper-masculine, anti-politically-correct shock fest. But, for a lot of us, we’re castaways from society to begin with, and we’ve all faced some sort of prejudice or adversity that attracted us to metal as somewhere we could let off our aggression and excel through the music. I think that helps to create a bonded community. Plus, it’s always been a belief in metal that “no one is going to tell me who to be or how to live my life.” Because of that, I find that a lot of metalheads actually respect their LGBT sisters and brothers for being “out,” and being proud. Provided you can prove you know your shit about metal… Heh.
KK: You’ve been very open about your life as a transwoman, and done a lot to raise awareness and promote acceptance. Have you gotten any letters from other young metallers struggling with their sexuality or transitions?
MM: Yes! I get contacted from LGBT metalheads from all around the world. It’s great, and I love talking with them. They usually reach me through facebook at this point. There’s a lot of people out there struggling to define themselves, and I feel very fortunate that I can help to be a source of inspiration in their lives… It’s a huge honor that I do my best not to take for granted.
KK: How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
MM: Oh… about an hour and a half. But, I dilly-dally a lot, and I like to take my time. When I first started to transition, though, it would take me 4 hours. I was a perfectionist and felt like I had to do everything to the fullest. It was insane… I was over-compensating for missing out on my girlhood…
KK: What’s your favorite non-metal record? Your favorite metal album?
MM: Honestly, I don’t have a favorite non-metal record. I mean… Of course I do like music that isn’t metal, but I don’t have a favorite record there. I guess I just don’t feel interested enough to spend the time to rank that stuff…
My favorite album of all time is “Horrified” by Repulsion.
MONSTER EVERYWHERE! Ok! This month I’m thinkin’ I’d let you creepers in on some music that has a combo we all love! ROCK-n-ROLL and MONSTERS! I’m a caveman when it comes to tunage and I still spin vinyl records. And so should you. (I still have never downloaded a song. I’m having a hard time steppin’ into the 21st century.) You can discover great stuff in the record stores if you can still FIND record stores. I know you can. Either way, if you listen to these puppies, it will surely make your Lip Service party swing.
SO HERE WE GO!
1. ALICE COOPER: Keepin’ Halloween Alive
2. THE CRAMPS: Human Fly
3. ROY BROWN: Butcher Pete
4. DOKKEN: Dream Warriors
5. BLUE OYSTER CULT: Godzilla
6. WEREWOVLES: Flesh Express
7. KISS: Man Of 1000 Faces
8. SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS: I Put A Spell On You
9. RAMONES: Chain Saw
10. CAPTAIN CLEGG and the NIGHT CREATURES: Zombie A Go-Go
Of course there are many others and I could go on and on, but these songs will get you started for when you throw a “Lip-Service (Orgy) Ghoul Party!” This was my play list and it gets the freaks goin’! So g-g-g-g-g-go find these tunes and throw a party immediately! That’s an order! This is a motivational article. What is my point you might ask? TO HAVE FUN! I can’t stress that enough.
Also, I wanna put you Lip-Service junkies to work. Send me, Chad Cherry, songs with “MONSTER” themes for another installment of this for later entertainment. I’ll post your info and make you all famous! Send tunes here: askchadcherry@gmail.com (I must be nutz putting this out there! But you already know that.) If we wanna throw a “Lippy Ghoul Party” we’ll need to ROCK!
I have to keep this short but sweet this month for time is never on my side. After jumping through hoops and dealing with my massive traveling schedule (and Orgy Ghoul Parties) The Last Vegas will finally be putting out a brand spanking new record this summer for all you humaniods. It’s almost ready to be released into the wild and I can’t wait to see what happens.
Sex, drugs, and an infamous Rock & Roll deal gone murderous in the Summer of ’69.
Susanna Lo was first noticed for her stylistic 35 milometer feature film, Black & White: A Love Story, which she wrote, directed and produced at the age of twenty-six. The film was accepted into the American Independents at The Berlin Film Festival and went on to win a best directing and best feature film award in Montreal. At the 1996 Berlinale, Joe Leydon of Variety describes Lo as an intelligent writer who scrupulously avoids predictable melodrama.
Lo was born in Hong Kong on February 20, 1966 and raised by a single father, Christopher P.W. Lo, and an aunt, Such Shih “Winnie” Lo, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was raised as a Catholic by her father and a Buddist by her aunt, and attended Waikiki Elementary School and Star of the Sea High School. Lo made films with a Super 8 camera since she was seven years old and went on to study film production at Loyola Marrymount University. As a sophomore, Lo competed with graduated students and won a best film award with her student short, Trapped.
Lo has expressed her admiration for filmmakers, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonion, Luis Bunuel and Jean Cocteau. A painter in her own right, she has also sited Fernand Leger and Salvador Dali as inspirations for her work, is also a big fan of Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar, and has seen every feature film he’s directed since Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom to Broken Embraces. She’s also admired the work of David Lynch since she first saw Eraserhead, considering Almodóvar and Lynch to be the best living directors of our times. Lo does most of her writing while listening to Chopin or Paganini.
Awards
• Montreal Festival, Best Director for Black & White: A Love Story, 1996
• Montreal Festival, Best Feature for Black & White: A Love Story, 1996
• Exground Film Festival, Germany, Best Film for Black & White: A Love Story 1995
• Torino Film Festival, Directing Achievement for Black & White: A Love Story, 1997
MANSON GIRLS In her upcoming 2011 feature film, Manson Girls, Lo tells the infamous story of the Manson Family through the perspective of eight of the girls who followed Manson. The film takes place during the early years of the eight girls’ life and ends one minute before the Tate/LaBianca murders.
Charles Manson remains one of America’s most notorious murder masterminds — even 42 years after the infamous killing spree that shocked and terrified the nation. And writer/director Susanna Lo tells the story of the women who devoted themselves to him and killed at his command. She told me she became intrigued in the story when she discovered a common thread among the girls — typically a troubled childhood — that enabled C. Manson to capture their minds and hearts while molding them into cold-blooded killers.
Actress Taryn Manning plays Sadie Atkins, who died in prison while serving time for her role in the murders. Manning said she’s loved “sinking her teeth into the role,” but added that filming has been very intense and some of the graphic scenes actually made her sick. Monica Keena plays Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who was not involved in the murders but was a devoted follower imprisoned for attempting to assassinate then-president Gerald Ford. Bill Moseley will be playing the notorious Charles Manson in the Manson Girls, which is set to hit theaters in late 2012.
Susanna quote: “Every time someone implies they can do a better job as a filmmaker after seeing one of my films, I’d like to give them a buck and a day more than I had to make it. In the case of “Black & White…”, that would be $42,001 and 11 days for a 35mm feature. Good luck!”
Susanna and I had a lot to talk about. Here’s some of our conversation…
Chad Cherry: Who gave you your nickname “Zanna?”
Susanna Lo: It literally comes from the poem but it’s starts with an X
C.C. Xanadu?
S.L. Not the movie.
(And into the first two minutes of this interview we both started singing songs from the Xanadu sound track and completely forgot about what we were suppose to be doing.)
C.C. You are a member of PENN International and have taught classes to under-privileged high school students through PENN in the Classroom. Can you tell me a little bit about this?
S.L. It was a fantastic program that doesn’t go on anymore. I had a friend that was running “PENN in the Classroom” and approached me to see if I would teach screen writing in high schools and, at first, they assigned me to schools in Beverly Hills/etc and those kids do not need some one to teach them how to write screen plays, they’ll just ask Mom and Dad for the job, ya know what I mean? So I said stick me in neighborhoods where kids actually need this programs like this. So I went to the Echo Park area, Marshall High. The kids were amazing. It’s kinda shocking cuz I went to High School when it was innocent; now kids go through metal detectors. It’s unbelievable. There where kids in my class who came with hand cuffs and shackles on because they came from juvenile detention; too young for prison and they still were required to go to High School, so there were guards right outside the class room door. These kids had amazing stories and I think that it was much more satisfying for me than it was for them. I learned a lot from them.
C.C. You been writing and directing films since you were six years old. Obviously filmmaking is in your blood. What drives you?
S.L. Well, I’ve never wanted to be anything else. Even as a little kid I used to write. My dad was a computer programer and I would steal his notebooks and, ya know when you would draw pictures on each one of the pages and then flip from the front to the back so it looks like its moving? That’s what I used to do. I’d go thru all his note books and do that. He was like “Get this kid into photography or painting … or something! She’s gonna steal all my notebooks!” Its completely his fault, though, ’cause he used to take me to Double Features every Sunday, and I would look up at the screen and say,”That’s what I want to do. I’m making that.” Double Feature was my food.
C.C. How many languages do you know?
S.L. Fluently, 5.
C.C. You’ve created some great films, but I wanna talk about your most recent work on The Manson Girls movie, what you are working on as we speak. This is a very heavy story to tackle, something that literally shocked the world. Do you remember where you were when you first heard of the Tate/LaBianca murders?
S.L. Well, I wasn’t even in the U.S. I was too young and still living in Hong Kong, where I was born, and the first I heard of it was after we moved here, when I was 4 1/2 in 1970, and my dad would watch the trials on tv. Very insane, as a 5 year old, I remember. “Dad take me back to Hong Kong. This place is scary!” I think it was more in my high school time, junior high, when the commercials for Heltler Skelter would come on, and it terrified me. It was like “Oh no! Not that story again. Dad take me back to Hong Kong!” It changed the world, but I really think it changed America. People used to never lock their doors.
C.C. The Summer of Love.
S.L. Violence happened to the President, or it happened to Martin Luther King, it happened in Nam. It didn’t happen at your back door or neighbors house. It was shocking.
C.C. Making a movie through the perspective of eight of the girls who followed Charlie Manson seems a li’l different than the beaten-down stories that have been done in the past. The film takes place during the early years of the eight girls’ life, right?
S.L. Yea, pretty much. It shows how they got seduced by the cult, if you want to use that word, and their time at Spahn Ranch, but it ends a minute before the Tate/LaBianca murders. I didn’t have any interest in telling about the murders and exploiting the families of the murder victims. That’s not the story I’m telling. I’m blown away by how this man could seduce all these girls, and what the correlation was between all of them that made it relatively easy for him seduce them, not just into a cult, but in a cult to murder.
C.C. Do you think Manson would’ve plotted this evil if he got a record deal like he wanted? I wonder if he would’ve went ballistic if he got to be a rockstar like he was aiming for?
S.L. In my opinion, probably not if his ego got satisfied. Hitler was a failed artist also. And here’s Manson hanging out with all the right people, Dennis Wilson, Terry Melcher. He wanted an album–that was implied by Terry Melcher–but then they started to catch on that things were really too weird. And he wasn’t as talented, not that things can’t be properly produced, but back then, in that era, everybody was very very talented. You know, we’re talking Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Beatles. The Doors (which I love), Bob Dylan. His music wasn’t that impressive, and he wasn’t talking about anything unique. He wasn’t brilliant.
C.C. Mankind is appalled by demented minds (realistic or fictional), sex, drugs, violence and death. Yet horrific stories like “The Manson Murders” will be the subject of conversation everywhere, still, to this day. Personally, I feel that, deep inside of us, we all have insect minds and are primal when it comes to evil and violence. It’s why we all stare at car accidents or watch the news. Why do you think humans are attracted to horrific reality?
S.L. I think because there’s good and evil inside ourselves. The evil we see outside, we are attracted to because we think that we could get there ourselves. And we could do that. But, most people will never admit to that. I think that’s why people are fixated and fasinated by it. That’s my perspective.
C.C. Agreed.
C.C. Thinking about questions to ask you made me feel like I needed to go watch cartoons after reading about all this.
S.L. I’m like that every ten pages into the script. Usually it takes a few weeks, this one took a year because I had to go watch a bunch of romantic comedies while I’m working. It’ a horrific story.
C.C. It is a horrific story but I don’t think you are doing a horror movie. I feel it’s a realistic drama that is scary because it happened.
S.L. Basically it’s a character driven movie with an ensemble female cast. It’s based on true events.
C.C. “Manson Girls” has a fantastic cast with some new and old faces like Monica Keena (‘Night of the Demons’), Laura Harring (‘One Missed Call’), Heather Matarazzo (‘Scream 3′), Stella Maeve (‘My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 2′), Brit Morgan (‘True Blood’), Tania Raymonde (‘Lost’), Gillian Zinser (’90210′), Taryn Manning (‘Hawaii Five-0′) and the gorgeous Estella Warren (‘Planet of the Apes’). Great to see my buddy Mr. Bill Moseley in this! He’s perfect for the part. You gotta love working with Bill and Priscilla Barnes. I think the actors in this movie couldn’t be more perfect for the roles.
S.L. And Patti D’ Arbanville! She was around in 1969 and dating Dennis Wilson at the time. She was in Andy Warhol’s “Flesh!” So it’s really amazing. And Priscilla Barnes, I’ve been watching forever, and we got along the moment we met. And I’m such a big fan of Laura Harring from “Mulholland Drive.”
C.C. David Lynch is the master.
S.L. Oh, I know, he’s amazing! One of Americas best film makers, for sure.
C.C. What are your plans after the dust settles from this film?
S.L. I’ll have my first book published, called “Alma Of My Heart”, and will be working on having that be a film. I also have another one I think people will be interested in called “Rip Her”, based on Jack The Ripper. It’s a women’s story on that. And I have a really fun film coming up called “8 1/2.” It’s about legendary actresses who all end up in the same retirement home, broke, and a sadistic producer who decides to use them all shows up dead one day. One of them murders him. I’m excited.
C.C. Me too!
* Side Note: After this interview Susanna’s book “Alma Of My Heart” went to #1 for Kindle in Love and Romance.
ALMA OF MY HEART The Novel ALMA OF MY HEART is a timeless story of love, hope, and triumph over loss and despair. Irena Montoya and Tatiana Jones come from two entirely different worlds.
C.C. I do this to everybody, Susanna.. Who’s your favorite rock-n-roll band? Besides The Last Vegas.
S.L. THE DOORS.
C.C. YES!!!!!
Make sure ya check it out! MANSON GIRLS. Coming soon.
*End note:
I’ll see you in Spain. It’s tour time for THE LAST VEGAS!
LOVE the Mayhem!
-Chad Cherry
By now, most of you have had a chance to preview the hot, new Lip Service styles coming in 2012. In the latest update of Step In Time, Gypsy Nights, are a few exquisite treasures we are ecstatic to be able to offer, namely the beautiful jewelry of Raven Eve. We are so happy to have a chance to work with this talented un-and-coming artist and hope you love her delicately-fashioned pieces as much as we do.
We also thought you might like to meet the artist behind the fashion, so asked Raven a few questions about her craft and how she puts her gorgeous creations together.
What inspired you to first start making jewelry? Did you receive
formal training or did you teach yourself?
I started being obsessed with jewelry at an early age. After I got my ears pierced when I was 6, I would draw page after page of earring designs. I had some formal training starting in High School, then focused on the arts in college and worked for fine jewelers as well.
What are your favorite types of pieces to make and why?
Headdresses are by far my favorite pieces to design.
What types of materials do you mostly use, do you ever use found
objects or collaborate with different artists?
I use vintage and new old stock stones, metal and beads for over half of my designs. I am a control freak, so to speak and am way to obsessive to work with people usually, lol. But I do have a ton of dear friends who make jewelry and are artist and designers.
What was the most exciting piece you ever made and who did you
make it for?
The most exciting piece I made was my Ultimate Mucha Headdress, I made it to see how far I could push my skills. I sold it last year.
If someone wants to start getting into making their own jewelry
what is the one piece of advice you would give them?
I have taught jewelry classes for years and my best advise is good lighting and quality tools! Other than that it should be fun!
If someone wants to purchase your items where can they find your work?
Most of my work is for sale in my Etsy shop and some is at my main site, raveneve.com, which I am revamping next year.
To see Raven Eve’s additions to Lip Service’s upcoming collection and place your preorder reservations, check out Step In Time: Gypsy Nights.
Arguably the best general history book on metal on the market, Sound of the Beast is packed with to the teeth with nerdy metal facts and genre history. Sound of the Beast is aimed toward an audience that’s already neck-deep in the metal subculture, and fans will find interesting facts and figures on every page. My only fault with this book – and it’s a minor one – is that Christe devotes a disproportionate amount of space to bands like Metallica, at the detriment of certain lesser-known genres.
Martin Popoff is a legend among heavy metal writers. This book is comprised of irreverent, meticulous and often humorous reviews of 500 of the most influential metal albums of all time. The choice of albums was decided by poll, and Popoff adds his own opinion about releases he doesn’t feel warrant the credit they’re given. Popoff isn’t afraid to voice criticism and his book incites an equal number of fans and detractors. This is the book that gets metalheads talking at parties.
In Hell Bent for Leader, Seb Hunter attempts to explain metal in terms anyone can understand, starting with his discovery of metal at a young age and ending with is his fifteen minutes of fame as an image-conscious metal musician. Part adolescent memoir, part sociological history, Hunter uses his own experience to explain the history of metal, its sub-genres and its fans. Not afraid to laugh at the music – and at himself – this book is a great read for anyone interested in learning more about metal.
Mixing metal and true crime, Moynihan tells the story of the early black metal scene with a focus on the crimes perpetrated in its name. If you’ve ever been curious about the formation of the black metal scene and the workings of the Norwegian “Inner Circle”, this book provides a thorough overview.
As the editor of Decibel Magazine, Mudrian definitely has the qualifications to write a genre-history, and Choosing Death happens to be one of the best examples of a journalistic approach to metal commentary in book form. In other words, it’s bloody good. Mudrian not only demonstrates the importance of bands like Morbid Angel in the formation of death metal as a genre, but he profiles bands that push the envelope in this style of music.
There are a few coffee-table books floating around aiming to be the definitive guide to metal, and this is probably the best one. Packed with memorabilia, biographies, quotes and discographies, this is the kind of book you return to again and again when you’re seeking a piece of information about a band you love. If there was ever going to be an encyclopaedia of metal – Metal: The Definitive Guide would be it.
