Black Alt Magazine

South African-born, Canada-based Fallon Bowman is the former guitarist for and founding member of Kittie .  She has since helmed Amphibious Assault and now Fallon & The Grace Dynasty .  I completed this interview with her on May 24, 2010. At the risk of making us both sound old, I first fell in awe of you when I was in the 11th grade. A friend showed me the "Spit" album and my eyes immediately went to you. I remember gasping over and over again, "There's a brown girl in Kittie? Really?"  We both thought you were black, at first; later, of course, I learned you're of Indonesian descent.  Among others! My heritage is closely tied to my birth country's dubious relationship with colonialist aspirations - and clearly - desires as well. Now, to be very, VERY honest with you, you were the reason I KEPT listening to Kittie. I bought your album, watched your videos, bought your VHS - you name it. I was waiting for more "you time", I guess

Stux Daemon is the incredibly sexy lead singer and guitarist for Botswana-based metal band WRUST .  I completed this interview with him on May 20, 2010. What drew you to metal, and what’s the metal scene like in Gaborone?  Do you have many shows and a decent following? Well I started listening to rock music when I was about 13 or 14, but even then songs from black Sabbath, Hendrix sounded familiar, so my guess someone was playing rock/heavy metal in the hood before I was 13. At one point in my life I lived in the army barracks so I suppose most of the rock/metal came from there. By the time I was 18 I was listening to more heavy stuff - Metallica, Megadeth, Iron maiden, the progressed to Slayer, Machine head, Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse and so on. I have always been looking for faster heavier riffs, blast beats, double bass drumming and so for forth. To answer the next question I think I need to point out a few things, Botswana has a population of less than 2 million, and Gabo

Urith Myree is the bassist for the all-female metal band Dormitory Effect. I conducted this interview with her on May 17, 2010 . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What drew you to metal? I started off listening to Classic Rock. I was in grammar school and a classmate had a boom box that  was playing "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin. I had never heard that before but I totally loved it, and it just got heavier from there. Later on, I feel in love with Thrash  Metal when a classmate in high school gave me a cassette tape (ha - dating myself here) that had early Metallica, Slayer, Venom and other Thrash bands. I was hooked by the raw power and speed. And how did your family react to your decision to involve yourself in metal? It ended up being a family meeting one afternoon! I didn't understand what the big deal was, especially since my family listened to everything inclusive of rock and fusion, but there is a big leap from Santana to Hendrix to Slayer and it was a bit