Netflix’s Metal Lords releases on the streamer tomorrow, April 8. The coming-of-age film stars Jaeden Martell, Isis Hainsworth, and Adrian Greensmith with Brett Gelman and Joe Manganiello. Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello also serves as the executive music producer for the movie.
“Two kids want to start a heavy metal band in a high school where exactly two kids care about heavy metal. Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is a diehard metal fan —is there any other kind?— who knows his history and can shred,” says the official synopsis. “His dream in life is to win at the upcoming Battle of the Bands. He enlists his best friend Kevin (Jaeden Martell) to man the drums. But with schoolmates more interested in Bieber than Black Sabbath, finding a bassist is a struggle. Until Kevin overhears Emily (Isis Hainsworth) slaying on her cello. The motley crew must contend with school, parents, hormones and teen angst while trying to get along long enough for Skullf*cker to win the Battle of the Bands.”
ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Metal Lords writer and Game of Thrones co-creator D.B. Weiss about the film, his own love of the genre, and more.
Tyler Treese: When I was growing up, it used to be the coolest thing to be part of a metal band, and obviously times have changed and it’s not really the “in” thing anymore. So what inspired you to base it around a metal band and have these outcasts be drawn to it?
D.B. Weiss: I think it’s interesting because, like you mentioned, it’s not as much of a thing as it was 10-15 years ago, definitely. I think it kind of helps the film because as you said, it’s a film about some kids who are outcasts, who are very much outside the mainstream. And, I think the farther the music has drifted from the mainstream, the more it has helped make sense of that at the core of the movie, if that makes any sense. Like, I believe that Hunter would be the only kid who looks like that in his high school. 20 years ago, he wouldn’t have been the only kid in his high school looked like that. But today I believe it.
The film posits this question, “what is metal?” multiple times throughout, and we get a couple of different answers. When you think about metal, how would you define it?
That’s a really good question. I mean, I think metal, at least as it is used in the movie, is a way that kids who don’t feel empowered, find a way to feel strong, and confident, and find the courage to face the world and to face the obstacles that are in front of them. I think that it gives Kevin, especially, a sense of purpose, right? I think that he’s a kid who’s kind of drifting until he finds this music that helps lock him into a track. And once he gets locked into that track, he actually realizes that he’s like, really good at something. He’s a kid who never really thought of himself as being really good at anything. And he finds out that against all expectations, he’s really good at this. And that changes the way he sees himself, and the way he sees the people around him.
The film is dripping with metal references. Metallica, Ironman, and even Goblin Cock gets a mention. Who are some of your favorite metal bands?
I mean, yeah, obviously like Metallica and Iron Maiden, the Judas Priests, Pantera, and newer bands like Mastodon and Anthrax, and I kind of go all over the map with that stuff. I love so much of it that we’d be here for a long time saying names of bands, which probably might not be that interesting to your listeners. But yeah, I’d say that it’s a pretty wide, wide range of the genre that I’ve always been really into.
What did it mean for you to get metal royalty, Scott Ian, Kirk Hammett, Rob Halford, and Tom Morello, all in this film?
I just, it was just throwing yourself like kind of Wayne’s World, “I’m not worthy,” like prostrate on the floor, arms outstretched, like “Please, please, please be a part of this love letter to the music that you guys go created,” you know? I will always be grateful to all of them for agreeing to be a part of it.