I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night

I remember a few years back, I was really getting into metal. This was around my freshman year in High School, and I was searching for that one thing that gave me my identity. I was never any good at sports, and I didn’t find much comfort in clubs or extracurricular classes. I was deeply involved with AFJROTC, but that didn’t really fulfill me. I started listening to heavy metal bands like Mudvayne, Slayer, Lamb of God and Pantera and started wearing black band tee shirts. Not a whole lot of people were into that kind of thing in Floresville, and the people that were into it were always so tight with each other. So I kind of just fell into place with them and felt like I finally belonged to a group, to a circle of friends who all understood me. Not too long after that, I began playing guitar, which still fulfills me like nothing else can to this day. Nothing can even come close to the feeling I get when I master that solo, nail that riff, or sweep a perfect arpeggio. So I guess my interest in the metal scene came naturally after that. It’s like a hobby: discover new music, meet new people, and gain a new appreciation for the art.

San Antonio has gained much popularity with the Tejano music scene, but not many know that San Antonio also has a very solid heavy metal scene. This doesn’t really strike a chord with the more adult, contemporary crowd or those who enjoy the Tejano scene, so it’s really a very important part of the San Antonio youth. This scene isn’t just limited to the San Antonio residents, however. People from surrounding areas, such as Live Oak, Pleasanton, and even Floresville can enjoy the venues both for entertainment and for booking their own band. This is the basis for my last blog for my Humanities class here at Palo Alto, to explain the finer points of this music scene and dispel many misconceptions.

Now, I don’t think it would be fair to the bands who work hard to create a certain sound to typecast the genre in such a wide generalization. We could probably break the local metal scene down into at least a few sub-genres. A few of the most popular sub-genres are metalcore, hardcore, and heavy metal, but it also includes death metal, grindcore, emo, screamo, and punk. The importance of the sub-genres is the way the songs are created, the emotions and lyrics that go into them, the style of playing and singing, and the artists they are influenced by. People don’t seem to recognize the fact that the world of metal is so complex and complicated that it is impossible to just generalize the entire genre. The roots of metal lay in the early metal bands of the 60’s and 70’s and have since branched off into an elaborate family tree of musical styles, and that is what makes metal so interesting to me. It is so diverse and there is always something there that somebody will like, they just have to give it a chance, and I think that local venues and accessible events will help people find something that will suit their musical taste.

As far as local music venues for local bands, the White Rabbit is the way to go. The White Rabbit is located at 2410 North Saint Mary’s in Downtown San Antonio, a convenient place for mostly everybody. It’s a pretty small venue, but has been able to accommodate some fairly big bands in the past. Some of the bigger names that have come through the White Rabbit are Static-X, Ill Nino, Gwar, and All That Remains. But The White Rabbit is so much more than that to a lot of teenagers and young adults in San Antonio. It is a bastion for local bands such as Delores Haze, Man of Sorrows, Silence the Messenger, and D-Railed.

The main focus of local venues such as the White Rabbit is on the local, up and coming bands who can’t afford to make it to bigger venues. The White Rabbit offers two stages, a main stage and a jam stage, the latter being a very small and intimate room with a far lower capacity than the main stage. There are local shows almost every weekend, sometimes even during the week. I was able to contact my step brother Gene, who does vocals for local metal band D-Railed. I sat down with Gene and asked him what his favorite part of performing live was. “The Energy that the crowd delivers is just phenomenal. It’s an exhilarating feeling to be up there, whether it’s in front of a sold out show or just a group of friends or fellow musicians.” I also asked him what he thought about other local bands and he said “Other bands in the area are just so cool. My band is pretty good with a few other local acts, so there are always other bands to play shows with. It’s also cool to see other bands that are possibly younger than us. I’m going into my 30’s this month, and some of these kids are like 10+ years younger than me and they’re just tearing it up out there!”

The White Rabbit isn’t the only one, however. There are a few other local music venues for smaller bands, such as The Sanctuary located on Main Street in San Antonio and Sam’s Burger Joint on East Grayson Street. The Sanctuary is a lot like the White Rabbit, but Sam’s Burger Joint has a very eclectic mix when it comes to live music, so local metal bands are not as common. There are larger music venues in San Antonio and surrounding areas as well, such as Sunset Station behind the Alamodome, The Freeman Coliseum and The AT&T Center, and The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Selma across from Retama Park. These are also important hubs for concert goers seeking a larger show with bigger bands.

Even in the small town that I live in there are at least a handful of metal fans to associate with. But when we’re outnumbered at least 100 to 1 by other types of people, we have nowhere to go but San Antonio for that authentic metal camaraderie. One of those other metal fans is my cousin Chris Trevino. He’s lived in Floresville his whole life and has been listening to metal music for most many years, so he knows a lot about the local scene and venues. I asked Chris which venue was his favorite, and he told me “The White Rabbit, without a doubt. The people there are really down to earth and the performances are just so close and intimate compared to bigger stadium venues”. I also asked him about the local scene in general. “Well, first off, the local shows are a lot cheaper and there are usually more than five bands on the bill, so you get a lot more bang for your buck at local shows. The kids in these bands are also always very appreciative when people support their artistic endeavors, so it’s pretty fulfilling on both ends.”

For a final opinion, I asked a parent some questions about the local metal scene and how it affects their kids. The first person that popped into my mind was my father’s fiancée, Cecilia Arguello. She is Gene’s mother and a typical, caring parent. Her oldest son plays in a metal band and her other two younger sons both enjoy going to shows with him, so I asked her how she felt about that. “I really don’t mind,” she said, “I know my kids are good kids, as are a lot of kids who go to these shows. The thing is, if they’re occupied with music and concerts they’re not out on the streets with the drugs and the gangs that plague a lot of youth elsewhere.”

The metal scene in San Antonio is definitely a source to be reckoned with. There are comparable scenes in surrounding areas, but San Antonio takes the cake for metal music. It’s a statewide phenomenon. We even have a unique period of time on Monday evenings on 99.5 KISS called Texas Tracks where they play nothing but rock, hard rock, and metal from San Antonio and surrounding areas. It’s a big deal here, and I am proud to say I feel close to it, and I would strongly urge any music fan in San Antonio to at least give it a chance.
Outside of Sunset Station

People waiting to get into the White Rabbit