Hatebreed - March 5 Kings Arms, Auckland

[SlashWylde]

Of sad (meaning not happy) people, reading the above?

Not really. That's a common misconception about heavier genres of contemporary music. Yes they explore dark themes, no the lyrics aren't on the surface bright and uplifting. But for the fans of this music, listening to it can be a very visceral and cathartic experience where they can connect with their emotions and find inspiration, hope and fellowship from the music through the voice of the band and singer.

Each of us have, to a greater or lesser extent, certain pressures stresses and hurts in our lives. A lot of people bottle these up or try to suppress them with alcohol and/or drugs. Part of the enjoyment of listening to, watching live or even performing in a heavy metal band is to expunge these demons and revel in the sweaty, cathartic and very physical environment of the mosh-pit.

In my opinion the mosh-pit is a modern incarnation of a battle-field, where young men can unleash all their frustrations in a peer-controlled environment. Amped-up and emboldened by the band, these guys (and girls) can jump around, arms flailing, charging into each other with joyous abandon. If someone falls down, an anonymous hand will immediately grasp them by the wrist to pull them back up again. If you ever want to see a bunch of really happy young guys, go and watch a mosh-pit in action. I call it good natured violence - it has all the appearances of an all out brawl, with none of the adherent injuries or hatred of a real fight. In this sense it can be a very healthy enviroment to let off steam.

These are just some of the themes inherent with this genre of music, and it's got me thinking I'd like to write a bit more about them, maybe as part of a larger blog in an appropriate forum.

[SlashWylde]

actually alot of bogans and other lovely people most of the bogans are rockers and thrashy metal, alot of the black/death metal people are educated uni students most of the time and not all depressed like you'd think. it's the goths that usually are singled out as the lost depressed ones. but most of that stuff i wrote is generalising anyway...

I concur. Metallers may look kinda scary, but when you get to talk to them most are really friendly happy people. I've often noted at metal gigs in Auckland it often feels like a big family reunion, where you run into people you havent seen for ages or sort of vaguely know from the last show you went to. As N4CR said, it's a pretty tight-knit community.

[Big Dave]

Interesting thanks.

My guitar teacher took me to one of the first ever Australian - and world - Punk gigs.

We saw 'The Saints' in Oxford St, Paddington. The Ramones cite them as an influence. From just before them I believe you can probably draw a line to your Hatebreed.

I been and seen but never really understood.

Was always too busy chasing pussy to want to jump into or about with a heap of sweaty blokes thanks, unless it's on a basketball court and for glory.

And I never have had much frustration to express - there was only 2 guys that could pull hotter chics than me in the entire school and we had some outstanding contests.

Punk schmunk . I had a CB450 and ruled the world.