(Screen-shot from Heavy Metal Never Dies)
If you had predicted, six years ago, that a
musical group would come along and reverse heavy metal’s seemingly inexorable descent
into darkness, negativity and harshness, and reveal metal as something
that can be glorious, melodic and inspiring, no one would have taken you seriously.
If
you had
said this group would be composed of women, you would have been met with blank
stares. After all, in the West today, high-profile
female rockers can be counted on one hand. There have been very
few women in rock, ever. A whole group of them? No way.
If you had furthermore said this group would raise the bar
on instrumental virtuosity in a field which many thought had reached its limit,
you would have been met with laughter. “Girls don’t play guitar” goes the old
stereotype. (Never mind that according
to Fender, the global market for electric guitars is increasingly dependent on female
customers.) Besides, say some experts, “The progress is all in recording and production technology now. So, dream on."
Well, such a group showed up in 2016. They named themselves Lovebites, after a song
by Halestorm, one of the few female-led bands still alive and kicking in the U.S. They chose the wolf as their avatar, because
they know they are "lone wolves" in a world where most musicians - and women in particular - are doing pop. As it turns out, wolves are matriarchal, which makes them the perfect symbol for a group of
women this fierce.
The typical reaction of rock fans on first seeing and hearing Lovebites is...confusion. They
are tiny, almost ethereal in their appearance, but they
play explosive, highly
technical music—exactly the kind that women are not expected to
play. With every performance, they shatter one of the most enduring glass ceilings in music by
proving that women can do heavy metal as well as or better than the men who invented
and defined it.
In fact, they have done more
than break the glass ceiling: they have erased the traditional lane markers in popular music altogether. Women in Western mainstream
music largely stay in the singer-songwriter lane. However, there is a rebellion under way in other
parts of the world, and Lovebites are one of the groups leading that rebellion. They have shown that it is
ok for women to sing about more than bad relationships and
heartbreak. That it's ok to be complete bad-asses on rock instruments. That it’s ok to be better than the dudes. That, in fact, it’s ok
not to sing about dudes at all!
If you are not used to high-octane rock or metal, Lovebites
can be daunting at first. The rewards, however, are some of the most
intricate and beautiful compositions in modern music. They don’t do throw-away, radio-ready
songs; they do concertos and anthems.
For music nerds who love to study the details of arrangements and
technique, they are a gold mine. All five members of the band have
training in classical music, jazz and/or blues, and they all take a hand in
composing songs for the group. As a result, much of their work has the majestic
feel you get from the great classical composers, such as Beethoven or Chopin, or
from great adventure-movie sound tracks. They express it all in a deep,
diverse musical vocabulary.
There have been a lot of great acts in popular music—acts
that had an impact the first time you heard them, and that still have an impact,
even decades later. However, there have
only been a handful that actually changed the way we listen to music. I’m thinking of artists like The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, King Crimson and Nightwish.
They forced us to re-hear everything else with different ears.
For me, Lovebites are such a band. Their roots are in the 70’s and 80’s “golden
age” of rock--Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, Metallica, Iron Maiden etc., but
they add modern arrangements and dazzling musicianship to create a fresh,
unique sound. Divine feminine energy infuses their
compositions and arrangements. The simplest way to say it is that they have
made metal unabashedly beautiful.
Intentional or not, there is a political aspect to a band like this. In the midst of the forever debates over the place of women in our society, these women defy easy
categorization. They dress like fairy
princesses, while savagely wielding instruments built for men close to twice their
size. They do it with absurd ease and confidence, rather than the
histrionics and grimaces that a lot of male rockers engage in. We hear all the time that our society does not like powerful women. Don't tell that to their legions of fans, both men and women, who love them for their uncompromising attitude and sheer bad-assery.
Lovebites tackle daunting themes
like defying fate, finding unity, overcoming failure, breaking walls, self-sacrifice,
conquering inner darkness and reaching for the impossible. They have sung about
spiritual salvation, nuclear winter, and finding humanity in the aftermath of an atomic bombing.
There is no energy wasted on pining over some dumb-ass guy, which seems to be
the only acceptable theme for Western female pop stars. For me, hearing Lovebites the first few times was
like receiving a package wrapped in velvet, done up with lace and ribbons--and opening
it to find a sledgehammer. Everyone who wonders at the dearth of powerful female role models in popular culture needs to see this band in action.
