#46 (of 365) "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" The Mountain Goats

If you came to the site anything but randomly, you'd be aware that my second novel was titled THE BEST HARDCORE BAND IN PA. And it was, indeed, inspired by this song by The Mountain Goats which came out in 2002, when The Mountain Goats was just John Darnielle, and All Hail West Texas described his experiences living there (I'm not sure when). This particular song's lyrics are about a time when John volunteered or worked at some kind of youth facility and met kids in difficult situations, and I can't remember now whether the exact scenario in this song was fictional or based on kids he met (I think the latter) but it inspired me to expand on the story of Cyrus and Jeff and make it my own.

My first attempt was to match the match the song completely, with the story set in Denton, Texas, and the metal band aspect included, along with the religious overtones, but since I had only been to Denton once in my life and I didn't actually enjoy listening to death metal, I found that version difficult to write. Around the time I was penning the novel, though, I was starting work at a new employer (my current employer), based in York, PA, which is a pretty nondescript township in south-central Pennsylvania, closer to Baltimore than Philly, that seemed to have a boatload of churches, particularly on the way south from there into rural Maryland / bordering on West Virginia. I thought it was the perfect setting for this novel and settled on subsection of the township called "Dallastown, PA", largely because of the Texas connection. I did spend some time on my visits to my company in Dallastown and the surrounding areas to perfect the setting but it's definitely an exaggerated version, I'm sure. It's just the anti-gay and anti-"metal music" pro-Jesus town fervor in my novel would not make sense at all where I live (Hudson County, NJ) but it was a setting / area I knew well enough to write about. As far as the death metal portion, I switched to "hardcore" bands like Fucked Up, which I kind of liked at the time I was writing that version (mid 2010s) and that version got me my agent which eventually led to my first novel being published in 2020 (I WILL BE OKAY) but that version of Hardcore PA never actually sold.

When my first novel was getting published, COVID had hit and I was looking to start a new novel, having finished a "horror witch story" that never went anywhere and to fill my time between marketing attempts during COVID for I WILL BE OKAY. I was watching a lot of YouTube concert videos at the time (since I couldn't go to concerts anymore - a true horror story - during COVID) and watching a lot of Joyce Manor. And the energy of the audience and my own excitement/joy at watching those moments (and dreaming of attending concerts again) got me to rethink HARDCORE PA into more of a punk/hardcore direction, incorporating bands I actually liked, including Joyce Manor, Cloud Nothings, and Japandroids. None of these are actual hardcore bands but they're definitely heavier rock (especially the latter two) than my typical indie rock bands and they definitely are awesome live (at least the first two, Japandroids I've only seen once or twice) and would a couple teenage boys from "rural" PA think they're hardcore? Sure. So that's what I went with and writing about those bands and those songs and those concerts opened up a joy in the writing that I think had been missing from the original version (which publishers called "too adult" for YA). I also edited/toned down the evil of Jeff's stepfather (he's still evil enough) and added the whole 2 year time jump that occurs 2/3rd of the way through and the new setting the ends the novel (Manhattan Beach, CA). That version is what got published and it's all pretty far now from the song that made the list in the Top 50 of all time, but the kernels of inspiration and at the very least the names still apply.

Hail Satan.

the best ever death metal band out of denton were a couple of guys, who'd been friends since grade school. one was named cyrus, and the other was jeff. and they practiced twice a week in jeff's bedroom.

the best ever death metal band out of denton never settled on a name. but the top three contenders, after weeks of debate, were satan's fingers, and the killers, and the hospital bombers.

jeff and cyrus believed in their hearts they were headed for stage lights and leer jets, and fortune and fame. so in script that made prominent use of a pentagram, they stenciled their drumheads and guitars with their names. this was how cyrus got sent to the school where they told him he'd never be famous. and this was why jeff, in the letters he'd write to his friend, helped develop a plan to get even.

when you punish a person for dreaming his dream, don't expect him to thank or forgive you.
​the best ever death metal band out of denton will in time both outpace and outlive you.

​hail satan! hail satan tonight! hail satan! hail hail!

"The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" - The Mountain Goats // All Hail West Texas (2002)