In a new video interview with music journalist Joel Gausten, famed music photographer Frank White and veteran metal singer Alan Tecchio (Hades / Non-Fiction / Watchtower) discuss the recently published revised edition of their 2022 book, Jersey Metal: Volume One, which chronicles the history of the Garden State’s heavy metal scene from 1969 to 1986.
Calling the years 1969 to 1986 “the bedrock of the scene,” Tecchio began the Jersey Metal project with White during the early days of the pandemic. The pair eventually spent two-and-a-half years researching and compiling the book’s first edition, which was unveiled in October 2022 at the Chiller Theatre horror convention in Parsippany, New Jersey.
“I wanted to start around 1969 because it was the Woodstock era, and Black Sabbath was playing around. So was Led Zeppelin, Mountain, and Alice Cooper,” White says. “Those were some of the bands that got people from New Jersey interested in wanting to become a band as well and start playing out. A lot of them started out as cover bands, and that transcended to tribute bands and original bands. That’s how the scene pretty much got started in New Jersey.”
“The next book, which is going to be ’87 to 2004, is like the real meat and potatoes, but the first book sets the stage,” Tecchio adds. “Otherwise, the second book would (have readers wondering), ‘Where did the scene come from? How did it grow organically?’ This first book tells that story.”
Check out the complete interview below.
Photo: Michele Spina-White