LUCID FORGE

Stop thinking about heavy metal as the domain of basement-dwelling, occult-obsessed, long-haired high school nerds.

Filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen proved with their first feature, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, that the musical genre, previously maligned by mainstream press, and blamed for every youth problem from drug use to suicide, is a significant, relevant cultural force that binds and connects societal outcasts in meaningful ways.

Global Metal, being released nationally on Friday, is the duo’s second feature, and portrays metal’s appeal crosses linguistic and national divides. Anthropologist-cum-metalhead Dunn treks across Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, and Dubai, camera at the ready, tracing the global force of metal across societies and cultures. Speaking from their Banger Films offices in Toronto, Dunn and McFadyen reflect on their time abroad, and the various roads that lead them to seeking metal in some of the most surprising –or not-so-surprising -places. “Apart from Brazil and Japan, all of the other countries we went to, we had to do a lot of research to find out what was going on,” Dunn explains, “Brazil is known because of Sepultura, and metal is huge in Japan, so we knew those two were places we had to go for the documentary. “For the rest of them, there were thirty or so on a list we knew where metal existed, so it was just a matter of finding places that had interesting stories about how metal had arrived, and the kind of impact it was making.” Another thing that surprised the filmmakers was, as Dunn puts it, “the extent to which a lot of metal has personal relevance for kids growing up in different countries.” The popular, socially-conscious Sepultura has, he points out, “always been singing about corruption and poverty and just expressing their anger with their own society. Obviously that was something the kids in Indonesia could totally relate to.” The result is what Dunn terms “this weird synergy between Sepultura and Brazilian kids and Indonesian kids.”

Indeed, Global Metal draws some fascinating cultural connections. For instance, Japan’s taste for heavy metal is shown alongside the more traditional trappings of Kabuki theatre; it’s an ingenious bit of visual weaving that is indicative of the curious and culturally aware minds behind it. In drawing such connections, the filmmakers help to break down a lot of old stereotypes that have built up around the genre.

“For the most part, metal always has been considered more of a fantastical, whimsical music -you know, dragons, sorcery, galloping across plains –but when you take a band like (legendary metal band) Slayer, who are talking about war and conflict, you realize these are things kids have been living through, so it becomes more personal.”

That personal connection is expressed by a member of the Israeli metal band Salem. Nir, one of the band’s guitarists, admits the band’s name originally came from the dark lure of being connected with the infamous Salem witch-burnings, but the band’s content has taken on a darker tone more congruent with present-day realities. Fear of getting killed by suicide bombers or shot in the streets is certainly more terrifying than any demon, he says, and as such, that reality is the foundation on which Salem’s work is built.

Nir’s comment struck a chord with the filmmakers. “(It) encapsulates a huge part of the film,” says Dunn thoughtfully, “you’re more scared of reality than what’s on TV screens or in movies. That comment really hit home for us. We went, ‘wow, there’s definitely something different happening with metal outside of the West than what we knew growing up in ‘burbs.’”

McFadyen concurs, noting that the reverse is also true, that metal represents a different version of the West than what media in other countries might portray. “There are some great things about the West and our society. I think that people in this environment don’t always see it - they see George Bush, or whatever - but when they see things like metal, there’s a different side to our society. It’s a good liason for the stuff going on, things like freedom of expression and such… and it’s amazing, the comeraderie. It was an overwhelming feeling I had, coming back.”

He pauses, lost in the memory of his and Dunn’s travels, surveying the 40,000-odd kilometres that Global Metal took them. “I was quite surprised at how great people are everywhere”, though he admits that prior to leaving, he “had preconceptions of what they (were) supposed to be.”

Those notions, however, got kicked out the door, nowhere moreso than in China, a place both filmmakers concede was an incredible eye-opener on cultural, personal, and musical levels.

“Before the making film, we had no idea there was metal in China,” explains Dunn, “When we researched Tang Dynasty, we found out they were the biggest metal band in China’s history. Kaiser Kuo, this American guy, moved to China, and basically kick-started the biggest metal band there ever. (Kuo has since left, but the band is still existent.) We were surprised that this band had become so popular, and that nobody really outside of Asia had heard of them. It’s an enormous country that has a metal scene we didn’t know about at all.”

He lets out a big laugh, noting even he was shocked by the extent of Tang Dynasty’s popularity –to say nothing of his own musical ignorance. “For somebody who thinks he knows everything there is to know about metal, it was a humbling experience!”

McFadyen agrees, noting that “you think it’s a place that’s filled with restrictions, and yet you go there, and it’s like the wild west. Anything goes!” Still stunned by the experience, he observes that “(China)’s a crazy place… it completely surprised me, the metal going on there - how popular it was, how extreme.” He says popular British band Iron Maiden would like to perform there next year, “but (Chinese officials) are very strict, so they want Maiden to change some songs, not play others, change some lyrics. There are some restrictions. But then I heard (political rap group) Public Enemy played there recently, so there’s some weird thing going on… I don’t know, I guess only metal gets picked on.” It wouldn’t be the first time.

India is another country featured in Global Metal. One scene portrays a banquet hall hosting a metal concert in one room, and a traditional Indian wedding in another. Scenes of Indian headbangers are contrasted with those featuring sari-wearing ladies and suited men grooving to Indian pop music. It’s that contrast, and the portrayal of a society in flux, that offered the filmmakers a fascinating microcosm of social change to observe and explore.

“It was fascinating,” says Dunn, still clearly in awe of his experiences there, “India is on the cusp of a huge transformation. Young people in India are becoming a force unto themselves. The notion of youth culture is becoming relevant in India. For the most part, kids had been listening to music from Bollywood (the enormous Eastern film empire) or music their parents listened to, so now with metal, it offers something completely different.” Metal in India is, he thinks, is part of something much bigger, and isn’t the “backwater reactionary music that it’s always been portrayed as. It’s on the forefront of some kind of change.” That change, however, can only come about with those who have the means and ends to pursue what is still essentially a hobby. “Obviously, kids have to be in some position to have money and free time to pursue these things”, he says, noting that “we couldn’t go to the most out-of-the-way places. I mean, you need a guitar and amp to create power chords.”

Still, as one of the premiere countries for the high-tech and online industries, India, along with many of the other countries in Global Metal, feature net-savvy metalheads who initially discovered their passion online.

“We realized early on doing research that the internet had made a huge impact on the spread of metal around the world,” says Dunn, “and really, we couldn’t have made this film without the internet, because really that’s how metal had spread. That’s how we found out what was going on.” McFadyen agrees, calling the internet’s influence “completely revolutionary. You talk to Slayer or whoever, and you tell them ‘you’re big in Iran, or Sri Lanka’, and they have no idea. They’re not selling or touring there - it’s hard for them to know, to have some kind of connection.”

The predominance of social networking sites like Myspace has meant that international metal voices now have a whole new outlet to promote their work, and, in some cases, subvert governmental restriction and authority. “Every band now, even Iranian death metal bands, have Myspace pages,” says Dunn, noting that when he was a teenager, he had metal-loving friends on the other side of the world, but communicated with them via the post. “Now Myspace is the same thing but its spread is much wider. It makes everything much more readily accessible, and on top of that, given that some of these countries have quite repressive regimes, authorities have in some cases banned metal outright. The internet is the only way they could get their hands on the music.”

Dunn admits that it was seeing the ways the in which internet fostered worldwide metal awareness that compelled him to ask Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica, about changing attitudes toward music downloading. In the dawn of internet technologies and file sharing software, Metallica, and Ulrich in particular, were vocal in expressing their anti-downloading, anti-music-sharing stance, and they demonstrated that stance in legal actions against then-popular Napster. The band have since softened their position (with the predominance of I-Tunes, Myspace, et al, it was inevitable) but it’s still startling to see Ulrich doing an about-face on film, considering the intransigent position of the band historically.

Dunn says Ulrich’s change of heart points to a larger issue at work in the music industry affecting not only Western markets, but international ones. “Interestingly, in the West, we have these bands, and people complain about crumbling record labels because of the internet and all this controversy, yet when you look at it in a broader perspective, the internet has totally revolutionized music, period -who gets to listen to it, how you get it, whether you’re in Indonesia or Iran or China.”

McFadyen says the pair even came across a pirated copy of their first film, sitting in a huge bin of pirated films in Vietnam. Metal: A Headbangers Journey has given the duo a measure of fame themselves, justifying as they have, the tastes and indeed, passions of a whole previously unheard-from, and very under-represented subculture. As such, it’s opened doors and created deep connections in some rather unexpected places.

“We walked into the airport in India, and there were about 30 kids awaiting for a plan to Sri Lanka. As soon as Sam walked in, they broke into applause -there was this frenzy. They came around, telling us their story about how in Sri Lanka, they have their own metal club with thousands of members, and in order to be a member, people had to watch our film.” He pauses, savouring the emotion of the memory. “It was a bit like… wow … overwhelming.”

Still, McFadyen is quick to observe that “there is a lot of separation still (between) people. It goes down to cities and provinces and counties. Hopefully music will have effect to break down barriers.” He says it was his and Dunn’s goal to challenge preconceptions of those new to the metal scene, as well as those who might be holding media-fuelled beliefs of the music genre as being exclusively interested in dark and violent themes. The second goal, he says, is related not just to metal as a musically connecting movement, but in observing different cultures, to “take steps to break down stereotypes. I know kids in Texas will be watching the film who support the first one. It may open up their concepts of what a Muslim is, of what life is like in Indonesia. And that’s especially important at a time when people are turning away from that country because of fear.”

Dunn notes that “because of mass media, there are a lot of preconceptions of what other cultures are like. I think that what we learned through Global Metal is that that there’s youth cultures that we don’t her anything about. When we think of Israel, we think of images of war. When we think of Indonesia, we think of tsunamis and environmental disasters, and with Japan, we think of people who dress up as Elvis and wear Levis. Exploring metal gave us an inroad to a totally different world. It allowed us to look at a culture through metal, rather than through the usual ways that we look at these places. When you do that, it allows you to reach totally different conclusions.”

Global Metal is released on Friday, June 20th, in Toronto and Vancouver; it opens in Montreal and Calgary on June 27th. For updates, go to www.metalhistory.com or www.myspace.com/globalmetalfilm.