1: What does rock/metal mean to you? How important is it and why?
A: It means escape from reality like any music really but metal and rock music is more real and i have more of a connection with more than any other genre and i have also been raised around people who listen to rock and metal so my love for the genre goes deep. There's so many sub genre's out there as well that means that people will find something they will like guaranteed. Metal has the power, the ferocity, amazing technical arrangements of instrumentals and vocals and there's always powerful lyrics out there that will fire you up with passion to stand up on the edge of your seat and sing your heart out not only that but there's music and lyrics out there from metal bands that will easily shock people in the mainstream audience since most perceive metal as being "screaming" and "aggressive sounds" when granted that is apart of it but it's never contained in every single song produced from the metal genre. There's meaningful lyrics and songwriting there in metal too, there's songs for all occasions some you will pump you full of energy, some will make you cry, some will make you think, some you will understand when sad, some you will understand when you happy etc it never ends just the amount of songs there are for all your emotions. Metal music is so unbelievably helpful to pump you up for a work out in a gym or pump you up for anything to be honest but that's just what i think.
2: Do you think fashion plays a big role in rock/metal culture? What are your personal opinions and why?
A: It's role of fashion is so so as you have those who go all out and deck in black or paint up faces to signify the corpse paint for their black metal loving appreciation and style of what is said to be a love for the silent era films back in the day and just a homage to death and to show the persons facial features more highlighted if it makes sense. Most metal and rock fans just look like anyone else really the fashion is to have black shirt with a band logo on it primarily. You also have people who own and decorate their own denim jackets with band patches and other patches. Some prefer to go in for the spiked role which is mainly associated with the punk rock genre. People have also been customising their clothing from 70's as well so the style has always changed. Besides clothing you have hair and body modifications in the form of tattoo's, piercings and dread locks or Mohawks and many other hair styles. A lot of the fashion style or trends have changed as you can expect from the past 40 years or so and a lot of it's style in terms of it's origin's is borrowed from the biker fashion style. I have a lot of band shirts and i own a denim jacket of which i decorate with my fave band patches on it and i don't have piercings but i have tattoo's my hair style is nothing flamboyant either just a standard style i'd say as hairstyles don't really matter nor having tattoo's or not for loving a certain type of music or band as tattoo's just show passion and how much something means to you that you'd have it symbolised on your body for life. I wear band shirts for mainly same reasons as getting a tattoo i appreciate and love that band so i choose to wear their design on me.
3: What are your personal opinions on pop culture icons + celebs sporting metal clothing such as band shirts? (Think Bieber, Kardashians etc) How does it make you feel and why?
A: My opinion on the current pop culture icons are that it's all just fake and just manufactured to promote what companies know sells and that is sex primarily. With a huge amount of modern pop videos all having fake scantily clad women just "twerk" their ways around the camera with un-meaningful boring generic music. As for celeb's and these popstars being photographed in band shirts i do think a lot of them perceive the band shirts to be a clothing brand and that they like the logo on the shirt and think "yeah that's nice and it's cheap so i'll get this" sometimes i think they do it to get people talking about them and not to be able to recognise them in a way since you know it would be strange to see i don't know Miley Cyrus just walk into B&Q ogling over sledgehammers in corpse paint with a machine head blackening shirt on as it would be most absurd. So this does make me annoyed but i do also have to question "what if these celebs like that band?" of course how are people supposed to know if they do like that band or not, i don't remember any of them claiming to like them so the communities just judge and dislike them further for that.
4: What do you think about fashion brands adopting metal fonts/iconography to create their own rock/metal inspired styles and why?
A: If a metal band has their own clothing brand it's cool but it's almost like someone ripping designs of trying to make it their own if a pop or rap star like Kanye West using Metallica's classic font style to be recreated and used as Kanye's Yeezus. I get it if they appreciate or are inspired by the music but besides that i see it as the brands capitalising on such a iconic design that sells that's all i think about it.
5: Is your own sense of personal style important to you and why? Is your personal style a direct reflection of your taste in music or sub-cultural style?
A: My style is it's own really, i occasionally dress in band shirts and denim jackets and jeans or black trousers with boots or strut out with smart casual clothes but of course i would say it's a reflection of my tastes in music as well as what ever i think looks good.
6: What do you think about the concept of authenticity in music and fashion? Think ‘posers’, what defines this term?
A: A poser is your typical person who attempts to blend into a specific social group same goes for hipsters really. Hipsters tend to follow the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream. The authenticity of fashion with music is with each music genre there is a clothing trend of which will defy the listeners if they you know fit in with those clothing types i think. The origins of clothing types when it comes to music are always just borrowed recycled and made their own more or less also.
7: How would you feel about mainstream fashion retailers including more rock/metal inspired fashion collections within their stores? How do you think the general rock/metal fan base would react to this, and do you think the style should remain separate?
A: Mainstream fashion retailers already have rock and metal band shirts in stores which the dedicated fanbase's do hate. Despite there being backlash of hate from metal communities it does display band merch in places easier to find and purchase so i'd say that's a positive but of course with the world all online is there a need for it to be found in stores when it's easier to find access and purchase online? So overall i feel mixed stores having band merch in stock but i'd like them to remain separate to purchase online too.
8: Do well do you think the fashion industry represents rock/metal style? Do you think there are enough rock and metal brands around, and what do you think would be the best way to promote them to an authentic rock/metal fanbase?
A: Yes there's plenty of bands around and i feel the fashion industry turns it eye as far as i can see when it comes to rock and metal style clothing but when they do have designs and they put them on display on models to walk the cat walk i do see them being an eye sore as normally the designers and the models make them look boring and generic for the most part. Best way to promote is having bands and music videos from bands with people in these clothes as it will make people watch an interview or music video or look at photos of the band and will just make them say "oh that looks nice i want it" and that then causes them to google what it is but also they need to list the product name and details so fans can go track the clothing down online and buy.
9: Thinking about the concept of authenticity within rock/metal culture, what do you personally think about parody bands such as Steel Panther? Do you think their brand is too mocking of rock/metal music, or just a bit of fun and why?
A: Steel Panther is a bit of fun and a throwback parody of the stereotypical lifestyles of 1980's glam metal bands. I think what they do is in good taste and is obviously nothing to take seriously but of course there's people who will and have taken offence to their music and style and of the things they do when performing live or the things they do in music videos but you know it's not hurting anyone physically is it so i don't get the point in reporting their stuff to get taken down or banned. I don't mind steel panther i have seen them live and i love their debut album but you know i'm not a fully dedicated fan to them as i'd say i am a casual listener to them. Seeing them live was as you can imagine crude and out there to say the least but they were disappointing live when i seen them since they had a good 5 min or so breaks during a few songs to talk random rubbish about doing this or this or that girl in the audience and it was painfully unfunny i found. So to back track Steel Panther are just a bit of fun really.
10: Back in the day (70’s/80’s/90’s) self-customisation of clothing was key to rock/metal fashion. How do you feel about this, and is this still practised today, do you think promoting this would be an effective way to get the rock/metal fanbase interested in fashion? (think fast fashion, does this take away from the authenticity of traditional rock/metal fashion?)
A: I have no problems with it and think it's cool and i have done a little bit myself, it's still practised today the art of customisation to clothing for rock and metal. As i mentioned earlier i have a denim jacket of which i have sown on band logo's i love and it's quite a lovely jacket almost a piece of art. Thing about metal community is we all have our own fashion and idea of fashion which normally involved black trousers, chains, long hair, black shirts with band logo on it,denim jacket with band logo patches sown on and then heavy boots quite frankly that is the fashion sense of a typical metal head and it's optional to add in wrist bands of spiked or non spiked variety and bandanna's as well. I think it's promotion is self promotion people normally see someone do it and just copy it or a band member do it and so on. I don't really think metal communities have a fast fashion trend and i don't think it hurts to not have one.
