Metal and queer issues are literally my bread and butter, especially this year, so I was beyond thrilled when I landed an interview with the crushingly heavy Body Void for my first Fear of a Queer Planet column of the year.
For those not familiar, get familiar. I was introduced to Body Void when I saw them opening for Uniform and Portrayal of Guilt, and was immediately filled with euphoria seeing a band on stage who looked openly queer, but who were also playing such a painfully sludgy and brutal blend of doom that I would’ve been intrigued no matter what the band looked like.
“Metal first really appealed to me from a purely sonic standpoint,” says Willow Ryan (they/them), guitarist and vocalist. “I listened to a lot of noise and improvised music early on that achieved that kind of heavy, overwhelming, wall-of-sound effect. I was really obsessed with that sound and the feelings of chaos and disorientation. Metal, specifically doom metal, felt like it occupied that space on a very specific end of the sonic spectrum where something could be slow but still chaotic and pulverizing. I was obsessed with that and still am.”
Body Void embody such a sound in their music, channeling that big-noise vibe on their latest record, Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth, out last year. You can hear the pain and suffering inherent to the human race on the record, as well as the clear love for the music the band has.
“It started as just three people jamming together and then grew from there,” Ryan explains. “We kind of figured things out as we went. The lyrics mostly deal with broader political topics, but written in a personal, visceral way. The last album was about how capitalism and white supremacy are killing the planet, but I tried to write using imagery that would hopefully make an impact and stick with people.”
When it comes to acceptance, like most metalheads, they report feeling mostly good experiences, but also a sense of isolation that comes from not having a strength in numbers.
“My local scene changed within the last couple years,” they say. “I used to be based in the Bay Area in California and found it pretty welcoming. Early on, it felt like people were really learning the language and just how to be accepting of queer folks, but the scene was still mostly cishet people, even by the time I left. I felt accepted, but a little isolated. The punk scene there was much more queer, but we were always firmly part of the metal scene. I think if I presented more fem or was further along in my transition, my experience might have been different, but I can’t really speak to that fully.”
“I’m now based in New England, and the scene here feels more queer-friendly, just because there are more bands with queer and trans people in them. I feel like I don’t know as many bands that are all cishet men as I did in the Bay Area.”
While queer acceptance seems to be less of an issue—some places, and for some folks, the massive racism, sexism, and homophobia problem in metal still looms large—Ryan’s experience largely mirrors my own, in that they didn’t experience prejudice, but they did notice a lack of other queer folks in their spaces. It is still rare to walk into an extreme metal show and see a woman, or an openly queer person, or person of color, on stage, hence why I got excited to see Body Void in the first place.
But despite this lack of representation, there are some beacons who stand out and provide that sense of fitting in.
“‘Role model’ isn’t quite the right word, but the folks in Vile Creature were big inspirations,” says Ryan when asked about having someone to look up to in the scene. “It felt revelatory to see a metal band be so forward and open with their queerness. When their first album came out, it felt like the blueprint for a queer metal band, and it was a record that was really important to me in my gender transition.”
Of course, there is no easy answer to increase diversity in the metal scene and get rid of prejudice and homophobia, but Ryan thinks that standing up and banding together is a good first step in the right direction.
“I think metal just needs to not treat queer artists’ and fans’ concerns as secondary or ancillary to metal at large,” they explain. “Honestly, the more queer people there are in the scene, the better off we are. Putting queer bands on shows, tours, and festivals and not dismissing us when we encounter homophobia or transphobia. Treating those things as ongoing threats to the health of the metal scene, along with racism and misogyny, and expelling bigots whenever they show themselves. I know many straight allies who are on top of this stuff, and beyond it being encouraging, it just makes our job easier.”
Listen to Body Void’s Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth here:
For more from Body Void, find them on Bandcamp, Facebook, and Instagram.
Photo courtesy of Body Void and Ben Collins
