We here at Nine Circles have been inspired by a number of writers. In the near future, we will start doing writer profiles for some of them, for it was those writers that inspired us to join, and water down, their craft. With that in mind, we asked a preliminary question to a bunch of writers we intend to profile. Today we bring you everybody’s favorite connoisseur of thrash and speed metal, Curtis Dewar.
“You’re a metal writer. And if you’re receiving this question in your inbox, then you are a good metal writer. As such, people probably assume that you spend your whole day (and night because metalheads never sleep) blasting your ear drums with the sweet sounds of blast beats. But we know that’s not true. So what are you listening to that isn’t metal these days?”
—
Believe it or not, I actually do listen to metal pretty much 90% of the time nowadays. That being said, there are a few things that I do listen to occasionally when I’m not filling my ears with metal:
Tori Amos-I’ve loved Tori Amos’s music since I was a teenager. In fact, she’s the one who made my teenage self realize that other styles of music can be dark. In my mind early Tori music has a lot of similarities to metal. For example she has songs about blasphemy such as “God” and “Icicle”, a song about conversations with the devil (“Father Lucifer”) and even a Slayer cover.
The Beatles-Another band who might not be metal, but definitely has metal elements. Many people might call me crazy for saying that but it’s true. The White Album inspired the devil worshiping Manson family and contains a couple of truly heavy songs (Yer Blues, Helter Skelter). It also contains one of the first instances of backward masking in Revolution 9. Yeah there is a lot of pop on the album, but in my mind the White Album is the grandfather of all that was to come with the black metal scene in the 90s.
The Cure-They’ve been a favorite of mine since the 90s. Yeah they’re a bit poppy but the band is as dark as they come. Not only do they have dark subject matter, but they also do tend to get heavy instrumentally occasionally too.
—
Thanks to Curtis for his time!
– Manny-O-War & Corey
Leave a Reply