Asian American Metalhead? Yeah, not too many of those around…but then again, you’d be surprised. Even 8Asians has had an article by Mike on How to be a Bad Asian: I’m a Metalhead. I admit, I occasionally head bang to Pantera with my cats.
Even if you don’t know anything about metal, you’ve probably heard of a little band called Metallica. When I first attended one of their concerts, I was literally dumbstruck by how this group of musicians had the power to not only fill the LA Coliseum to the brim with fans but also to inspire everyone there to pump their fists in the air in an unearthly unison. Needless to say, there weren’t that many Asian Americans in the crowd, but this Asian American metalhead couple recently did more than enough to represent all of us metalhead APIs.
So last spring, two very good friends of mine, Annette and Dennis Diaz, Annette being the bassist in my favorite band Random Ninjas, released a video of their wedding to share with friends and family. Needless to say, they had a very unorthodox wedding in which the bride and groom had a “first jam” instead of a first dance, and the video of them performing Metallica at their wedding unexpectedly went viral getting them local, national, and even international media attention and televised interviews in the Philippines and Australia.
This past weekend, for Metallica’s 30th Anniversay celebration at the Fillmore, the metalhead couple was in the audience when their viral wedding video suddenly started playing on the stage behind the legendary metal band, and then said band suddenly invited them up on stage TO JAM WITH THEM! I still can’t believe it happened, even with that video close up of James Hetfield’s armpit! Thank you Metallica for making an API couple’s metalhead dreams come true. Who wouldn’t want to be on stage with METALLICA?!? Better brush up on my cowbell skills…
