Metal fans have it great. No one tells you what to like, how to act, how to dress, or what is trendy for the week. Nope, it’s just you, the music, and the T-shirt. As far back as anybody can remember it’s always been easy to recognize a fellow metalhead by the shirt. One can be standing in line at a local fast food joint in the south Bronx when the etchings of PANTERA catch your eye from across the room. It took all but a few seconds to make an ally (just in case shit goes down), and to remember to blast “Cemetery Gates” on the drive home.

The downside to this lack of mainstream influence in our music scene, though, is that it can be remarkably difficult for up-and-coming bands to get the exposure that they need in order to succeed. There are innumerable great metal bands out there that people would love if given the opportunity to hear their music. That's where Great New Metal comes in.

Great New Metal aims to connect the artist to the fan in a unique but ingenius way: through our common love of band shirts. GMN has taken the love of band shirts and created a framework through which unsigned and emerging bands can gain exposure and support. Bands earn their keep by selling tickets and the beloved T-shirts.

Great New Metal is gaining a ton of support, already, and has some high-profile people from the metal community backing it. Virtuoso guitarist of progressive metal powerhouse Between The Buried And Me, Paul Waggoner, had the following to say about it:

"Great New Metal will give bands that push that they need; that initial kickstart to get some recognition and then hopefully they will take that ball and run with it, and play shows and sell merch and get signed." 

Any new and innovative concept that can bring the music to the masses is a good thing, and Great New Metal is just the type of idea that could mean the difference between obscurity and success for your favorite emerging band. A Kickstarter campaign is underway to help fund the project, and any donation over $1.00 is happily accepted. We here at Tri-State Rock contributed toward their goal of $1500.00 and you can too by clicking here. They've got some pretty sweet rewards to give for anyone who believes in their cause and is willing to help out - so do your part! 

We'll have founder of Great New Metal, Brian Shields, calling in during our live broadcast on Thursday, March 29 to tell us all about the creation of the project and what they hope to achieve through it! Tune in to www.tri-staterock.com at 7pm EST to check it out, or view the archived episode any time after by clicking on the "Episode Archive" tab above.