Heavy metal’s a confusing place to be a gay man; so much of it starts your gaydar whirring, but so much also tells you that you’ve made a wrong turn. Last year, I (like almost every other man in the world) took advantage of lockdown to start a podcast, and so the LGBT+ heavy metal podcast, Hell Bent For Metal was born. (Of course we chose a Judas Priest reference!) When I pitched the idea to the person I wanted to co-host with, I specifically said I didn’t want it to be all doom and gloom, because that wouldn’t be fun or healthy for our listeners or us. I wasn’t going to ignore the bad stuff, but I didn’t want to focus on it. We had so much to talk about that was much more pleasant for everyone, and still raised topics which we felt we...
