By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: The article has been updated to reflect that Metal in the Mountains was postponed to Sunday, Sept. 15 due to inclement weather.
For the past year, two local teens have met amongst metalheads in an Ophir Middle School classroom on Wednesday afternoons. The final hour of school is reserved for clubs, and eighth grader Cannon Welch and freshman Sid Leydig were Rock Club regulars in the spring. This summer they’ve been rehearsing together under their band name, Squid Bomb, which they formed in January.
The band will perform a few songs to open for Metal in the Mountains in Len Hill Park on Sunday, Sept. 15 ahead of Big Sky metal band Scavenger and Metallica tribute band Blistered Earth. Metal in the Mountains is in its second year as an addition to the Music in the Mountains series run by the Arts Council of Big Sky, and is a treat for metal lovers in the region. One could call it an “Encore Jam.”
With Welch on drums and Leydig on guitar, the Big Sky-raised pair have practiced together for school talent shows alongside fellow Big Sky bass guitarist and student Kael Gilbert. Welch and Leydig kicked their rehearsals into high gear when they learned they would open the last MITM show of the year.
“I think that’s gonna be really cool,” Welch said, of playing alongside two experienced bands. “I feel like it’s gonna inspire us too.”
Welch has been around metal music his whole life, and referenced his parents’ taste in music as an influence. Leydig was inspired by the hard rock sonic landscape in the Netflix show “Stranger Things.” He remembers what song drew him in.
“The last episode of season four of ‘Stranger Things,’ there was … ‘Master of Puppets,’ and I thought the song was really cool,” Leydig said. He’s talking about the season finale when a character distracts blood-thirsty creatures with a thunderous metal performance, all to save his friends. “So then I started listening to more metal songs, and we had always had one electric guitar that had just been around the house, and I had occasionally played it, but then, after I started listening to metal, I started playing guitar a lot more than I had before.”
It’s one thing to listen to metal music, but it’s another task to play it. Both band members find the music challenging but fun.
“It’s really uplifting. It’s really fun to play,” Welch said. “The style that a lot of these drummers use for metal music, like really fast beats … can be challenging sometimes.”
Brian Hurlbut, executive director of the Arts Council of Big Sky, said that the metal concert is a way to showcase local talent. “We have the opportunity to make a big impact on these kids’ lives and also to show the community what these kids are doing, that they are creative and doing something fun,” Hurlbut said.
Hurlbut said 800 people attended last year’s metal show and many said it was their favorite event that year. “It just feels like a little more of a homegrown event,” Hurlbut said. He’s a drummer himself and learned about Welch’s drumming from open mic-style events, and heard about Leydig’s guitar ability from his friendship with Leydig’s father.
“We’re ready to rock,” Hurlbut said.
As for Squid Bomb’s future, Leydig said that the band will continue jamming and mastering new songs. Thursday attendees might hear Squid Bomb’s rendition of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath.
