Comment on this story What: Beware The Gentlemen with Capulet and The Shape When: Saturday, April 3, 7 p.m. Where: The Church, 4339 Woodlawn Pike Cost: $5

Beware the Gentleman infuses its metal with stark reality

by John Sewell

One of the most maligned musical genres, the behemoth of heavy metal will never go away. Sure, there are many subcategories within the metal world. But the general perception of metal musicians and fans is that of black T-shirt clad, beer-swilling stoners (the vast majority of them males) with long hair and lack of hygiene. Bands as varied as AC/DC, Slayer, Queensryche, Motley Crue and Converge fall under the leaden banner of metal, and that’s a gamut of styles.

New to Knoxville’s underworld is Beware The Gentlemen, a sonically challenging and lyrically thought-provoking band led by (who woulda thunk it?) a young woman.

“Gosh, I hate to classify it, but I guess you’d call what we do metal with brains,” says frontwoman Renee Sanabria. “There’s a concept behind everything we do.”

The ‘Gents’ subject matter always focuses on bleak to downright depressing topics. And the music is equally bombastic. The band isn’t singing about the hackneyed partying and headbanging or silly Satanism. Instead, they focus on the real, verifiable of brutality of war, exploitation, racism and failure.

BTG’s first album, Learn To Struggle... is a loosely stated concept offering that Sanabria, the group’s lyricist, says is essentially a protest against the idealized world of Hollywood movies. “In the movies, there are always these stories of people with great aspirations that overcome these incredible odds, and that’s not how reality is. The album tells a story of a person—I don’t want to say exactly because the listeners can figure it out for themselves—but that person struggles to succeed, and they fail. They just get left all shot out.”

Already working on the next release, the band has taken a more challenging and brutal subject matter. “I’m a history major, and I focus on the history of racism and genocide,” says Sanabria. “The new album is going to be about the Rape of the Nanking [a prime example of genocide and imperialism that occurred in China, perpetuated by the Japanese]. They killed children by the thousands and pregnant women and used rape, and history has basically overlooked that event. The album concerns how people can become bystanders or even perpetrators.”

This kind of heavy fare is eons away from the fabled “Highway to Hell,” and has roots in the post hardcore sounds of Converge and, in quieter moments, the smoother tones of Denali. One thing’s for certain, the band’s roughshod aural blasts are not exactly the stuff of pop radio.

Though Sanabria isn’t comfortable with any kind of classification, she does like to challenge the sexism of metal through her imposing presence. “I’m a very socially conscious person and through our music we’d like to think we could open people’s eyes a bit. And the kids that come to our shows, some of them are very young. And they’re hearing what we say.

“I like metal because first, it’s fun to play. Second, if you were going to put a musical background to these concepts we’re singing about metal is the best sound.

“As a woman, I can play a song that’s 10 times as loud, 10 times as long, I can scream 10 times as loud, or I can scream 10 times as low. I guess you could say I’m a feminist. And I want to show people what I can do in a way that is socially conscious and breaks down categories.”

The band is dead set on carving out a niche for themselves, all the while concentrating on their studies. This means the band will be touring in the winter break and in the summers. If they’re offered a tour with a larger act, they’d consider taking a break from school.

Though the Gents’ music is undeniably heavy and chaotic, they’re not as dour of a bunch as one might think. After all, the bombast of metal can be a cathartic release that really is fun.

“I know that we’re going to have to work our asses off if we want to get known, as it should be,” Sanabria opines. “And we’re really serious about this. But I don’t think that just because you have a serious message you can’t have fun at your shows. We get goofy between the songs, and we have fun. Some take it seriously and some don’t get it. But if the kids come out, well, that’s great.”

April 1, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 14 © 2004 Metro Pulse