The official launch of Metal on Merseyside, a collaborative project devoted to supporting and developing heavy metal and hard rock music within the Liverpool city region and beyond, will take place at the Zanzibar Club, Seel Street, this coming Sunday, August 28.
Initially inspired by debates emerging from Liverpool John Moores University academic and Sun 13’s resident metal writer Nedim Hassan’s 2021 book, Metal on Merseyside: Music Scenes, Community and Locality, the project focuses on the heavy rock and metal music scenes within the Liverpool city region, including areas such as St Helens and Wirral.
Featuring several local industry stakeholders including promoters, DJs, artists, and podcasters, alongside Nedim himself, the Metal on Merseyside project has an ambitious agenda.
It seeks to both continue the research work established by Nedim but also provide a valuable resource for Merseyside’s heavy rock and metal music communities.
Speaking to Sun 13 ahead of the event, Nedim comments:
“This is a project that has come to fruition over the last 12 months. I feel lucky that since the publication of my book, people from within the local scene have approached me to work with them on following up the interest generated from previous events like the book launch.
“It has been great to work with passionate members of a long-standing and vibrant scene, and we are working on developing events that will raise awareness of what remains an often-under-appreciated aspect of Merseyside’s music heritage narratives. With support from brilliant student interns at my university we have developed a website that we want to act as a contemporary resource for scene members, as well as something that contributes to tracing the history of a rich and diverse music scene.”
Doors will open at 7pm for an event that will see the Metal on Merseyside network members introduce the project, as well as discuss their plans in a panel discussion.
Alongside this there will be live performances from some of the finest metal bands from within the region including Deified, Omega Throne, Atanamir, and Raised by Wolves.
Discussing the line-up and the selection of the bands, Nedim says, “The launch event will be testimony to the diversity of the current metal scene with established bands such as St Helens groove metal masters, Deified, alongside newer acts such as the nu-grunge merchants, Raised by Wolves, doomier Atanamir and the blackened death metal assault that is Omega Throne.”
The event is free and open to all. To register for tickets please head to the Event Bright site here:
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