During a recent conversation with Anne Erickson from Audio Ink Radio, BUTCHER BABIES singer Heidi Shepherd was asked about her views on the current state of metal music.
“I really love a lot of new bands that are out there,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of really great bands putting out really great music. And something that I can really respect is that people are experimenting and people are doing things that are different. People are not putting out the same record over and over again. People are expanding.
“I love that the genre is crossing with so many other genres as well. I’m such a huge fan of hip-hop. I’m such a huge fan of country. I’m a huge fan of all music, to be honest… It’s just incredible to see the cross-genre happening and seeing that all these other fans in country or in rap are being exposed to metal. I feel like metal needs that. We all need that. We need that openness between music lovers in general. So that’s a huge positive that I’m super excited to see.”
Shepherd also discussed BUTCHER BABIES‘ cover of the hit single “Best Friend” by rapper Saweetie, which included American rapper and singer, Doja Cat.
“I love Doja Cat,” Heidi said. “She’s way more metal than most metalheads I know. That girl is so cool. There’s so much respect to be given to all artistry. And I feel like sometimes we’re told, ‘Oh, you’re only supposed to like metal, you’re only supposed to like metal.’ But I feel like you’re really doing yourself a disservice if you only jam to metal all the time. I can go from the heaviest deathcore — ’cause deathcore’s, like, my favorite [laughs] — I can go from the heaviest deathcore, like SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL, you know, the heaviest stuff, to Lainey Wilson, who’s one of my favorite artists out right now. She’s dominating the country charts, and she’s just like us.
“I read something today that she tried out for ‘American Idol’ seven times. She failed at ‘The Voice’. And then she went out there and she’s the biggest thing in country right now. I just love success stories like that, and I can find total inspiration in drive like that and to just keep knocking down doors. I find inspiration in that kind of stuff too.”
