‘Metal’ captures spirit of ’80s rock

ALBANY — Although she’s most assuredly a country girl and a country musician, Leesburg’s Faith Jackson likes to rock out with the best of them, something she plans to do this fall now that she’s joined the cast of a new touring musical that celebrates the songs, attitude and lifestyle of ’80s metal.

“I have two very distinct sides to me,” the singer says. “If you split me right in half, you’ve got rock on one side and country on the other.”

Her prominent rock side, which she developed at a young age listening to Led Zeppelin, Molly Hatchet and other rock icons with her father, will take center stage when “Metal,” a touring musical featuring classic ’80s rock, kicks off a run of shows in November in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The musical tells the story of four adults and a wayward teen struggling to make sense of a post-apocalyptic world who inadvertently stumble across some artifacts from the past that bring them in touch with the heavy metal that dominated the radio and MTV once upon a time.

The brain child of musician and filmmaker Taylor Anderson, who has deep roots in the music of that time period, “Metal” is, in many ways, a love letter to the music that fills his soul and a way for him to set the record straight about life during the ’80s metal scene.

“I think ‘Metal’ became our answer to ‘Rock of Ages’ (a jukebox musical adapted to the screen in 2012),” said Anderson during a recent interview. “It’s funny, ‘Rock of Ages,’ I think it’s a nice show, if I can put it that way, but it just wasn’t representative of what we did back in those days. So I said, ‘How can I make it more real?’

“I was really angry when I watched ‘Rock of Ages,’” Anderson continued. “And what’s funny is one of our band members, Brev Sullivan, was the guitarist for Tom Cruise in the movie. I said, ‘That was not us, what would I do?’ And here comes ‘Metal.’ When you look at the gamut of ’80s metal, from Poison to Ronnie James Dio, it was its own genre. It was a lifestyle, and it was a movement.”

That movement will be highlighted throughout the musical’s performances, as the “Metal” band and the various cast members perform classic songs from the era, such as Dio’s “Rainbow in the Dark,” the Scorpions’ “Still Loving You,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and many other songs from bands like Poison, Def Leppard and Guns N Roses.

Others joining Jackson in the cast include performers Alex “Alex R. Knuckles” Rodriguez, Cassidy Diana and Alex Mandell; and a band consisting of musicians who cut their teeth playing with a who’s who of rock icons including Alan St. Jon (Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Cinderella), Sullivan (Rock of Ages), Tim “Timbo” Diduro (Slaughter, Skid Row), Christalline Entity (Snakebite), Anderson (Madhouse, Trixxi Lee) and Michael Vaughn (Dayride Ritual).

At different stops along the tour, “Metal” will also feature varying lineups with different special guests, including Quiet Riot, Lita Ford and Kip Winger, as scheduling allows.

“Depending on the market, it’s going to be 10 members at the base, five singers/cast members and then five band members with special guests that we’ll have on stage with us,” said Anderson. “Kip Winger’s going to join us in Daytona, possibly Lita Ford. Again, depending on what market we’re in, we’ll have those guests periodically. Not to mention the fact that the band’s made up of the guys from the metal bands of the ’80s.”

While the musical is most certainly a bit of a nostalgia trip, both Anderson and Jackson said they believe there is a timeless quality to the music of that time period which has been gaining in popularity in recent years.

“It’s got this rebirth after these 20 years of being dead after Seattle, Washington, happened, you know,” said Anderson. “All of a sudden, you look in an audience and there’s three generations sitting there. It’s pretty phenomenal. I’m a little selfish to say this, but back in the ’80s we played all the instruments, we wrote all the songs. We didn’t have computers sitting on the desk. We picked up the guitar and if we got mad, we wrote an angry metal song at a 120 tempo. And if we were sad, we did a ballad. We did everything.”

“I mean this show has such a wide range of what was playing on the radio,” added Jackon. “I remember jamming out to this stuff in high school. It’s exciting, it really is. It’s going to be super cool and a lot of fun.”

“Metal” is slated to debut at Destination Daytona on Nov. 21 and after that the show will hit the road for a string of different dates each month, including a bike festival in Tampa in January. Anderson said that the tour is currently scheduled to run for 10 dates, but he hopes to add more as the tour progresses.

To learn more about getting tickets to “Metal,” visit www.pheenixinternationalevents.com.