Found family is better than blood family for a lot of us...

Screaming music (metalcore/deathcore

/Hardcore/ect) is cool because you think it's just gonna be a bunch of white bros and then you go to show and there are women and people of (all) color(s) there as both fans and in bands and you like, "fck yeah!" Metal is for everyone! If you feel like you're the only person in the world going through whatever you're going through, surprise bitch! We're all fcked up and just want you to know you're not alone!

Some fans might be scary looking and unapproachable to people not in the scene, but really they just want to stand shoulder to shoulder with you (metaphorically and literally) and help you escape from the world's fcked up existence for 3 hours while you scream along to your favorite band.

Much like people are scared of bikers bc of how they look or are presented in media, ect, screamy music fans ultimately just want you to know you're seen and loved. Sure, there are asshole bros that just want to take off their shirts and crowdkill, but the majority of us are broken in some way and want you to know that you have family in us.

I remember when I first got into screamy music and there was a local scene that I attended. I didn't know anyone at the shows, but people would still treat me as family and be kind to me. People like the merch dudes/chicks. People like the runners of the venues. The fcking band members. Some of which wound up in big bands that tour the world.

One of the coolest moments of my life was having VIP for Fit For A King. One kid from the local scene in White fucking County, Georgia hit it big and became one of their guitarist. I'd watched Daniel Gailey play in a local band called Thaddeus. Then he joined Becoming The Archetype, and eventually joined FFAK.

I was kinda nervous doing the VIP for the Metalcore Dropouts Tour because I highly doubted he'd remember me, much less give me more than a "hey dude" if he did. The VIP was just a long line of tables where FFAK and The Devil Wears Prada dudes sat and you walked along the tables as they signed your tour poster. Very little time to have actual convos with your favorite band members. My wife told Tuck of FFAK about some Taco Bell menu items. That was cool. But the second Daniel saw me in line he literally jumped up from the table, ran around from behind it, and gave me a HUGE ASS hug. I hadn't seen this dude in over 15 years, but he remembered me, took time out of the VIP, and came and had a conversation with me. And if that doesn't tell you that local music matters, that metalcore kids stay family for life, then idk what to tell you.

I barely listen to much outside of metalcore, but I don't know of any other scene that is more accepting of people and more of a family than screamy music.

My wife and I saw Beartooth in Nashville one time and she met these two female friends who were there by themselves and she basically adopted them as her own and they had a great time. There's also a video somewhere of them belting out Livin' On a Prayer, but I digress.

We saw Caskets on the BLESSTHEFALL 10 year tour of Hollow Bodies. I don't like GA bc I have anxiety and don't like to be boxed in, so for the Caskets set I was in the balcony at The Masquerade's Heaven while she was in the floor and she made friends with some girl's she never met before.

#metalisforeveryone

Fck it, even if you don't like sweaty dudes (and sometimes chicks) screaming at you, but you want to find family, go to a metal show.

Some people that I've known for many, many years I've met through the hyper local scene (NE Georgia) and some people my wife has met have been through bigger scene shows in Atlanta and Ala-fckn-bama of all places. We went to a bar in Birmingham after Trinity of Terror (the first one) right across from the venue after the show bc we didn't want to pay surge pricing for an Uber back to the hotel, and she met this dope chick bartender who actually put old school Asking Alexandria on the bar's speakers bc of a conversation they had. That girl eventually moved to California, but not before she drove all the way to Atlanta from Alabama to go to a show with her.

I still have friends that I may not hang out with on a personal level, but follow each other's lives that met 20+ years ago in the local scene.m

Long story short, metal is for everyone. Metal makes friends for life. Metal is family for people who don't have any.

What started as an invite to a local "Christian" metal show and an egregious misunderstanding/band member mix-up grew into a passion that's lasted my entire life. I was invited to a local show by a friend who was invited by a friend who was invited by a girl he liked/was friends with, and it ended up being a lifelong passion of mine.

I just want people to know they don't have to be alone. I just want to share my story so others know they can find family in heavy music.

I know literally no one is going to read this whole post, much less give a a sht, but I just needed to put it out there.

From finding Soul Embraced's This is My Blood album randomly at some used CD store in Buford Georgia to a life long fan of screamy music to a local metal scene in bumfck White County and The Storm Shelter in the basement of a Baptist church with carpet that caused more harm to 2 steppers then even seen, metal music saved my life and is one of the few reasons I still exist on this earth.