New EthnoGoth Metal Afropunk Here

Hello Afropunk,

Where to begin. I am a singer/songwriter/artist/musician who is VERY glad I found AP.

I have spent the majority of my life living the afropunk life even if the term did not exist for much of it. I started going to punk and metal shows in high school (that was my scene, those were my people) before venturing into the rave scene after graduating. I had a little career in music which took me around the world and I've lived in Philadelphia, Tampa and London, England before finally settling here in Seattle. I have also spent extensive time in Thailand to the point were I can speak it, just not very fluently.

I kind of took a break from my music and helped produce or mentor a couple of other young artists.

In 2008 I returned to music having joined my best friend's metal band which she fronted, at her urging. She too is black.

Our band broke up but I had been re-energized and focused on metal while further developing my sound and voice while she continued learning guitar and playing folk and the coffee house scene.

Today, I am the lead singer, fronting a melodic gothic metal band here in Seattle called Metamorphia. We are currently working on a studio album. We are in the same vein as Lacuna Coil, Flowing Tears, Evanescence. That kind of sound.

I never though I would be accepted by many other black people though I have always known a handful of close friends who are black and who have been into the same stuff as me. I just never thought such a large scale community would exist. But I am very happy that it does!

Although I saw something on a cover of a magazine about Afropunk in 2008 I didn't but the issue as I thought it was just about punk music, which while i like was not where my head was so much at the time. Only last week did I see the AfroPunk documentary and saw that metal was a part of it as well then I came here and joined and invited some of my friends to join as well!

Anyway that's enough for now. I have lurked for about a week and talked with Logun in the chat who told me not to be shy and just go ahead and post here. I shared some of my music with him and I hope to share it with you as well.

I've joined the Goths of Color and Metal Sanctuary groups and can already tell I will be spending a lot of time there.

Thanks for being here AfroPunk! You rock!

4 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lunakiss on February 13, 2012 at 2:23pm

Welcome Metalhead! =).

There are several groups you might want to hit up on here such as the goth and metal ones. -LK

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fashionfreak on February 13, 2012 at 3:06pm

welcomeee!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jordana LeSesne on February 13, 2012 at 8:15pm

Thank you. I've joined both the Goth and Metal groups :)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rivettech7-9000 on February 14, 2012 at 10:55am

Welcome!

Sites such as these are indeed a blessing for us. It was through similar online groups that I met one of my best friends, and my soulmate who happens to be a black metalhead chick herself. So have fun here and may you make close connections as I have. So you're in Seattle? If you ever come across a band called Beyond Theory, be sure to check them out! The frontman, Koli is an awesome black metalhead dude with lots of energy. I miss talking to him on the phone, but I know he's busy doing his thing. So you were in Tampa at some point? My wife and I were in St. Petersburg before moving to NYC in December. I'm missing the family, the grouper, the beaches, the Castle, and WMNF but NYC(her hometown) is new and interesting to me and I like it. Well once again, welcome and good luck with your music endeavor. We'd love to hear some of it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by PolarVibez on February 14, 2012 at 9:07pm

Hey, welcome to afropunk! Hope to hear more from you!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jordana LeSesne on February 15, 2012 at 1:14pm

Thank you RiveTech and Polarvibes.

Yes I am in Seattle I have heard of Beyond Theory and I think I may have seen Koli at a show and getting on a bus once. I will certainly reach out to him. Yes I lived in Tampa back in 2000. Its an ok place but I love Seattle more than anything. This is my home now and it just feels right. Love the people, love the weather, love the music scene, love everything about it.

I hope to post some music here in the not too distant future watch this space ;)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jordana LeSesne on February 15, 2012 at 6:14pm

The thing is some terms are made up just by us. We're making this up as we go along I suspect. So I use the term 'ethnogoth' to differentiate between caucasian goth aesthetic and non-caucasian goth aesthetics which though similar often differ a bit.