A Word of Explanation

I was a little strange as a child and pre-teen: I didn't much care for music. That wasn't to say that I actively disliked music or anything; I'd gladly listen to it if someone wanted me to hear something. But if you asked me what any of my favorite bands or songs were, I didn't have an answer for you.

Interestingly enough, I didn't get into music until I got the game "Guitar Hero II" when I was around 13. That was the first time I heard the band Avenged Sevenfold (sort of; it was a cover), and I was immediately hooked.

A lot of people in the more extreme metal subgenres will likely roll their eyes and begin typing an essay in the comment box about that band from the mention of the name alone, but I tend to ignore them, because I got really into it. (Sounding the Seventh Trumpet was the first album I ever bought!)

My interest in Avenged Sevenfold got me hooked into Three Days Grace and Bullet for my Valentine and from there I began pinballing around the related genres: Three Days Grace got exchanged for Disturbed, BFMV sent me spiraling into Seether, somewhere down the line I ran headlong into Metallica and slingshot around to Mastodon, Disturbed got switched with All That Remains got switched with Powerwolf, and eventually I wound up neck-deep in what I referred to as "local bands," despite that they were based out of cities and states nowhere near me. Society's Plague was the first, then Along Came a Spider, Tetrarch, Cerebellion, GrimWolf, Canis Lupus, Azylya, As Silence Breaks (now Daemon Pyre)... "Underground bands" or "unsigned bands" probably would've been a better term, but I digress.

The more I began to get into and support the underground scene, the more I began to realize something: with the exception of one, none of these bands were anywhere near me.

I'm in college now, and hopefully a little older and wiser, and finally made the connection that if you don't support local bands in your favorite genres, you don't get any local bands in your favorite genres. It's a simple and very understandable mantra, but one not many people think about. I myself didn't give it a whole lot of thought until quite recently, and have in the past few months begun putting forth an effort to seek out and support Georgian bands.

That's where Macon Metal comes in. As mentioned before, I am in college now--a creative writing major. Writing is kind of my thing. So, with the DIY ethic that's permeated the metal/punk subcultures since their inception, what better way to help support the local scene than a zine?