Social media can be the end of you or open up whole new worlds. Being a crazy metalhead, I love connecting with those as demented and twisted as I am who share the same soundtrack to their life. I first stumbled upon Sasha, AKA Miss Metal, on Instagram and loved her listening choices of the day- often prompting me to dig into some forgotten tracks on my iPod. Not only is Sasha a true metal music afficianado, but she has devoted herself to the promotion of the genre and worked in the industry in her native Australia. Though she is far from Pittsburgh, she knows our reach worldwide, and happily gave us the time to catch up with her. Read on for some insight into the industrious and beautiful young woman known simply as Miss Metal.
Can you tell our readers how you first got into metal and what keeps you still so attracted to it as a genre today?
I started listening to metal at a fairly young age. I think the first song that I was really ever attracted to was “The Final Countdown” by Europe (haha). My dad had that on cassette, and I would always love listening to it.
Apart from that my eldest brother is a metalhead too, so I grew up around him listening to Metallica, Pantera, Tool, Yngwai Malmsteen… stuff like that. Then when I turned 12, I started to discover my own music… bands such as Slipknot, Hypocrisy, Arch Enemy, Decide, Decapitated and so on…I think I’ll always be attracted to metal, it’s in my blood. The music is fantastic, what’s not to love?
Tell us about your business Cataclysmic Events and what you have going on with that currently and in the future?
Cataclysmic Events was my local events promotion business. I was putting on a lot of events in my home town, as well as promoting international artists & managing a few local bands too. I’ve been taking a break from that scene for a little while, mostly trying to focus on building my name up online with the pages I am currently involved with.
But I’m sure one day I’ll pick it back up again and start doing more shows again.
Can you tell PMM some stories from your experiences working on tour with various bands?
It’s hard work (haha)! But it’s always fun! I think my favorite experience would be when I put on an open air festival with Carnifex, Darkest Hour plus 10 Australian heavy metal bands. It went amazingly!!! But it was a lot of hours, paperwork, and organization.
Apart from that, working with Decapitated, Origin, Misery Index & Psycroptic was my dream come true & my very first big tour I helped out at for Soundworks touring.
I think that’s the most special to me, because from the age of 16 I always wanted to work at a huge show with my favorite bands!!!!… And it finally did happen 🙂
How did you get started working with Roadrunner, Relapse, Soundworks, etc.?
Roadrunner Records is a funny story… for my 16th bday, I didn’t want a party… I wanted to go to Roadrunner Records (haha)! So, I went and hung out there for the day and loved it! A year later I went back for work experience for a week during my high school years, because I was studying the entertainment business at the time.
Soundworks took me on and have taught me a lot about the touring industry, I have nothing but respect for them all at the touring company. I emailed the promoter and asked if it was possible to help out at some of their tours a few years ago, and I still loving helping them out today!
As for Relapse Records, I emailed them too and asked if they were looking for an intern for the merch store.
Luckily, with my experience, I was offered an internship in promotions and social media instead!
Where did you develop your awesome sense of style? (Check out Miss_Metal_Official on Instagram!)
My style is very weird… Haha. I’m actually really girly & love the color pink! But, I still love my band shirts and having my metal attitude. I guess I’m just me!
What types of goals do you have with your involvement in all the Facebook pages and social media sites?
At the moment, my goal is to spread the word of metal worldwide! There are a lot of metal pages out there today, and it’s great! But I’m trying to focus on getting my name out there as a metal presenter and hopefully have a good following of people that I can share music with.
Who are your top favorite bands and why?
Ahhhh pressure! Ok. Ummm, Decapitated is my all time favorite band for the past 7 years! When I heard them, that was it for me…. Death metal was in my blood and it was staying for good. They have such amazing grooves and their drummer Vitek (RIP) was absolutely incredible and I still look up to him today.
Apart from those guys, I really dig: Origin, Aborted, Dying Fetus, Devourment, Dysentery, Abnormality, Face Of Oblivion, Necrophagist, Rings Of Saturn, Carnifex, Cancer Bats, Dimmu Borgir, Kreator, Chastain, Sodom, Nuclear Assault, Coroner, As I Lay Dying, Insomnium, Napalm Death, Carcass, Mayhem, Acacia Strain, Dark Funeral, Isis, Cult Of Luna…. Soooooo many top bands (hahaha)! They’re all just so talented!
Any suggestions on some unsigned or lesser known bands you can expose us to?
Absolutely love Chaos Divine, Burial Chamber, Disentomb, Anno Domini, Make Them Suffer, Entrails Eradicated, Claim The Throne, Portal, Death Audio….They’re all Australian bands! Good stuff.
Go check Sasha out here and make sure you LIKE her page!:
http://www.facebook.com/cataclysmic.events
I can’t take this seriously. A scene kid who calls her self Miss Metal? This is pretty week.