Interview: Morten Fausboll of London Metal Coalition

 

London Metal Coalition (LMC)

Igor:  Hi. Thank you for taking the time to talk with Anti-Racist Metal Blog about London Metal Coalition!
I would first of all want you to present yourself to our readers. In what ways are you personally active in the metal scene? Do you organise, write about or perform in the scene?

Morten: My name is Morten Fausbøll and I’m the son of a Danish pig farmer. When growing up in rural Denmark you either never leave or you cannot wait to get out of there. I was in the latter category. I’ve lived in London for 10 years now and play in a two-piece metal band here called LEVEE with Norwegian Fredrick Lindal on drums.

About two years ago the underground bands in London started to work together. It was right after covid. Everyone was excited to be back out playing live gigs and during a huge battle of the bands competition called Metal 2 The Masses the competing bands started making friends and bonding in a new way. One guy from a death metal band sat up a WhatsApp chat with initially 7 bands where we could help each other with venue contacts, gear questions, social media strategies etc. Another guy from a thrash band wrote a collaboration song where 10 or so bands participated on. I sat up a meeting with all seven bands for us to get in the same room, have some beers and talk shop. I approached it as a corporate meeting with agenda and next steps etc. 

From these beginnings we have grown to a community of 60 different London metal bands working together. We have a yearly festival, we have meetings every other month, we have a huge showcase show every other month, we have mental health support, Friday hangs in Camden etc. etc. It’s quite insane how fast we have organically grown. 

Personally I run all the meetings, the showcase shows and the Friday socials. However everyone contributes with their own energy, ideas or events. And everyone in the community supports it.

Morten Fausboll

Igor: For a newcommer in the London scene, what is the best way to get in contact with London Metal Coalition and get involved in the scene?

Morten:  The best way is to follow us on the socials and come to some of the events that the LMC (London Metal Coalition) bands put on. That way you can get a good feel of the vibe and meet some other metal heads. When someone in the LMC can say “I know the dude from the band that’s interested in joining the LMC. I had some beers with him. He’s a great guy” then the band is added to the community super fast.

Igor: You started LMC during Covid. Now, post Covid, what challenges are metal musicians facing in UK and London, and in what way can LMC help them overcome these challenges?

Morten: One of the challenges the metal scene faced after covid was that many good venues had closed down. There were fewer places to get on stage. Also before and after covid it was always a challenge to get on good shows since you would need to know a promotor or put on your own show with bands you probably didn’t know well and who might not have any pull. It would all be out of your own pocket expenses. Now when bands reach out to venues and say that they’re part of the London Metal Coalition, it’s much easier to get a very good deal for hire (often free) and knowing that the LMC community is gonna support and promote your show is important too for you to have a good crowd. 

Igor: That has to help a lot! From what you tell, I get the impression that more than a network of opportunity, LMC seems to be focused on building community. In what ways do you do this?

Morten: That is correct I think. The opportunities come THROUGH the community. I believe one of the most important thing in all walks of like if you want to build something is to get people in the same room. That’s really it. When you have a lot of people face to face you bond more easily than through online groups or SoMe accounts. People thrive on people. Every two months we at a craft brewery in London called Signature Brew, where we have some beers, we chat, people come up with new gigs, new band constellations, hugs and good vibes. The community is a bi-product of getting people in the same room. And it’s good for the soul to be able to hang with a lot of other metal creatives without there being a feeling of competition. Our motto has from the start been “A rising tide lifts all boats”.

Igor: Being able to meet physically is definitively important. Also from a mental health aspect, a topic you mentioned earlier. How does mental health support work in the coalition?

Morten: Having a community where everyone knows everyone, is hugely helpful when you’re going through something tough. The way we communicate with each other is in the very busy mother chat of the LMC where representatives for each band have been added. We often have someone who is a bit down who will mentions that and immediately everyone is there to pick him/her up. It is an incredibly supportive community. Should anyone in the LMC need to reach out to someone because life is too heavy, we have a couple of designated, therapy trained people in the LMC that can have the discussion privately. Last year we lost a dear friend of the LMC. His name was Vyte and he would always be in the moshes of our everyone’s concerts. If there is a way that we can save others by speaking openly about how we all have issues, by supporting each other and by having someone that you can all ways call and have an anonymous chat with, then we have already done something.

Igor: For me (a clinical psychologist) this sounds like a great approach. I get the impression that you have managed to create a very supportive community. That I heard such descriptions of your community by metal bands that are members of LMC was the reason I wanted to conduct this interview in the first place. Is this approach something that occured naturally, or have you had this as a goal from the start?

Morten: The community support is something that was there from the beginning. We always have to be a bit careful when adding new bands to the LMC. If we find out that a band that’s interested in joining have beef with a band that’s already in the LMC we would have to make sure that the beef is solved before they enter. Also should a band have shown bad behaviour or hold extreme views we would also be cautious of adding them. We don’t want to be gatekeepers but should we suddenly add someone who holds racist, homophobic etc. views then we wouldn’t last long as a community both due to internal tension AND outside pressure. We are a community and our adhesive is solely our passion for music and being in a community with other like-minded individuals. That both makes us very strong and very fragile.

Igor: Is the challenges and adversity that minoritised members, but not the majority of the community faces something that is discussed in the coalition? Is there anything done to alleviate those challenges?

Morten: There are yes. We have transpeople in the coalition and if they encounter issues in life that frustrates them regarding peoples ignorance or judgement you will see the community stepping up to support them in the chat. Metal is amazing that way. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you believe in, what race or nationality you are, if you’re wearing a band T-shirt with a band I like too then you’re family.

Igor: I'm very happy to hear this! I've seen a lot of metal gatekeeping, with festivals seeing no problems with all-male lineups on all stages.
In LMCs work, do you consider intersectionality? Like what band or band members would need extra accommodation to be able to go on stage, or who would need increased security or being more likely to face harassment from metalheads either inside or outside the coalition?

Morten: We know that we have bands on all kinds of different levels. In order to be a member of the LMC you’ll have to be London based, have at least one track published and you need to be gigging regularly. The showcase shows that we put on have the rule that at least on band should have female representation and that is should be a mix of new hungry bands and older established bands. The venues for these showcase shows is Signature Brew who have a 350 cap. space within their brewery production. Being able to help a new band play such a show in-between huge tanks full of beer, in front of 350 people is such an important thing. It lights a fire under a new bands butt and they immediately feel they’re a part of a big supportive community of much bigger bands who wants them to succeed.

Igor: Do you consider other minorisation factors than gender? Do you have a rough estimate of how big percentage of the scene are people of colour or people with mobility disabilities? Is any work being done to incite them to go on the stage?

Morten: Everyone is welcome and we hope to have representations from all no matter ethnicity, gender identity, disabilities etc. The scene has all of these representation and we get more and more of this in the LMC which is great. Regarding disability friendly shows the venues generally are great at accommodating this. Furthermore we are discussing putting together a show for people with autism where the blinking lights and general disturbing commotion is toned down.

the members of London Metal Coalition at their venue

 

Igor: Yes, it would be wonderful to see more neurodivergent accommodation at metal shows! I think many can become inspired by the work of London Metal Coalition.
What have you tried out that didn't work, and what did work? What should anyone trying to build a similar community in another city or rural area be mindful of and focus on?

Morten: That is a good question. What doesn’t work at times is to add people/bands to the community that initially doesn’t know anyone in it. They find a WhatsApp chat with 60 different bands in it impossible to follow when not knowing who is saying what. We have had bands added that have pulled out again because of it being a bit too overwhelming. When adding bands these days we always prep the person that’s getting added so he/she is better prepared for an onslaught of messages. It takes some time to get to know every band and band member in the coalition, but if you come out to gigs and engage yourself in the community then you’re rewarded 1000 fold.

Igor: Going to gigs and having some faces to the names in the WhatsApp group probably helps.

Morten: When building a community I think the crucial step is for it to truly be a community from the beginning. If it just one person who is trying to get some bands in a group then that probably doesn’t work, however if it is a couple of bands deciding to help each other put on shows, share contacts etc. then it will more easily grow organically since every bands feel ownership of the project. Also from the beginning the focus should be on wanting to be part of a community and not seeing it as a career move to get better gigs etc. In a community it is very easy to feel when people are there to give to the community of take from it. When your heart is not in the right place then it is also very difficult to get anything from the community.

Igor: Do you have any formalised dispute process? How do you handle internal disagreements, or if someone in the group turns out to be a harasser?

Morten: Another great question. We have had issues a couple of times where we have had to take some sort of position towards members of coalition bands. We have a steering committee called the Forge Group where seven people from seven different bands work on turning ideas into reality. This group steers the LMC’s SoMe presence, steers the festival up, handles the showcase shows etc. In the Forge Group we have a woman who actually works in corporate communication. She is steering up a project for us to have pre-prepped responses to various potential issues. The better prepared we are the better can we make a professional and weighted statement should we encounter any crisis in the future.

Igor: Do you have any set of rules, or a code of conduct that states what is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour?

Morten: We have set of values currently together with a vision and mission statement. We are working on how a code of conduct could look.

Igor:  Along the same line of questions: where does London Metal Coalition draw the line, for example for racism? Is it racist attacks, or is wearing racist symbols or shirts by bands endorsing extreme right wing ideologies enough to get the boot?

Morten: Anything that would suggest that someone has racist view would get a band kicked out.
At the end of the day if we are in some grey area we will have a good discussion in the Forge group about what to do.

Igor: Good. Far too many are too permissive with this, saying "but I've never seen him be racist, so he isn't" when the person saying this is a white cis-male.

Now, we're getting to the end of the questions I wanted to ask.
What do you see as the future for the coalition? What strengts of the organisation will be important to achieve this future?

Morten: Personally just humbly hope that the LMC will continue to be a thing for as long as possible. However if we dare to be a bit imaginative then I hope that we will continue to grow and hopefully inspire other metal coalitions in other places in the world. I hope the festival we have started “Coalition Fest” will grow into a big recognised open air festival with huge headliners playing with smaller London metal bands. I hope to be that inspiration for other bands around the world to see that if you work together you don’t have to always rely on promotors for gigs or managers for tours etc. You can actually do most of those things yourself and by empowering your own agency within your local metal scene.

Igor: That sounds like a worthy cause to strive for! I hope to see Coalition Fest one day as an open air! Until then, I hope I will be able to attend one and check out the London underground scene.

Thank you so much for your time. It was very interesting to hear how the London Metal Coalition works with the metal community, especially on the tougher topics of mental health, inclusion and discrimination.

You can follow London Metal Coalition on instagram and facebook, or check them out directly at their website: https://www.londonmetalcoalition.com

You can also check out Morten Fausbolls band on instagram