Hard core metal fans will be pleased to know their music preference has a new presence on campus via the band Stereotoxic.
We're a new genre of music
said guitarist Brendan Savage, a freshman at Baldwin-Wallace College, in Berea, Ohio. We're not death metal black metal or heavy metal. We like to call it 'super metal'.
Ohio University senior and drummer Clay Savage added his description of their sound: We're a battering ram to the balls of your soul.
Accompanying the Savage brothers in Stereotoxic is guitarist Andy Kirn, an OU junior; bass guitarist John Nagy, an OU senior; and vocalist Patrick Giusto, an OU graduate student.
Stereotoxic formed last January but did not perform until August of this year. Kirn said southern rock has had a strong influence on the band but that they include a lot more ball-busting riffs.
Being a local metal band is not easy, the group members said, because Athens is not a metal friendly scene.
We're supposed to pride ourselves in having this diverse music community and it's not true
Giusto said. Yeah
there's lots of good musicians out there
but it seems to be a club of elitists that makes it difficult to be part of it if you're new.
Giusto gave several examples of failed attempts to get gigs in Athens bars. He said several venues were off-limits based on their atmosphere, like the Blue Gator, which mainly is a blues bar.
I don't think The Front Room would appreciate a bunch of kids moshing and screaming in their place
he said.
Kirn, however, was optimistic about the band's following.
You know there's people sick of commercialized
glossed-over pop -
he said.
Another obstacle the band members battle is they have to orchestrate practicing, performing and composing around two commuter members; both Kirn and Brendan Savage travel from Cleveland to Athens.
So far, the band members say the system has worked well. Giusto said that usually Kirn and Brendan Savage come up with music and bring their ideas down to the rest of the band. After watching and seeing what transpires from the instrumental broth, Giusto writes the lyrics. Using this process, the band is able to develop three new songs in eight hours.
The members of Stereotoxic said their main future objective is to get a professional demo recorded. They said they are eager to work with some telecommunications/audio production students who have to record something as part of their final projects.
We just want to get our stuff out to people
Clay Savage said.
