Domantas Magyla: growing up punk in Lithuania, searching for those who care through the extreme and heavy metal scene in Colchester

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, a government body, showed an increase of 60,310 non-UK student enrollments over the past year. Growing European and international enrolment in higher education in the UK is good news. Their impact on the country's arts and culture is phenomenal, turning cities and towns into diverse and innovative centers. Austeja Treinyte talked to Domantas Magyla, a student from Lithuania, who, after his lectures, promotes his passion for heavy metal in Colchester's pubs and streets.

2020/02/25

“English heavy metal music is mostly political. It’s fascists against lefties, lefties against fascists, and centrists being like: please, stop. You’re being annoying,” says Domantas Magyla, a Modern History and Politics student at the University of Essex. His international hardcore punk band Authority Complex aims to bring attention to local problems, such as knife crime, through extreme music and coded messages to find those who will care.

Magyla says that the heavy metal music scene in Colchester used to be weak, but his hardcore punk band consisting of Lithuanian, Norwegian, Bulgarian and Malaysian artists brings proper heavy music to the area. But why should Colchester care about having a decent heavy metal scene, we may all wonder. To find out, I first ask Domantas why he cares about heavy metal and how one gets into wearing corpse paint and mosh (an aggressive form of dancing).

Photograph: Domantas Magyla

‘I started to be really punk in second grade. Maybe because of my cousin, who used to listen to Jimmy Hendrix a lot,’ he says. Magyla – longhaired, scarcely bearded, and with a black leather jacket – is a somewhat conventional metalhead, but also skittish, always chuckling and his eyes rowing the room. “But the real change happened when my dad once asked me: ‘Want to hear some really heavy music?’ ‘Yeah, I listen to AC/DC, bro!’- I said. He then played some of Sepultura’s songs like Arise, which were super death metal. Back then, I said to my dad that this was too heavy for me and that I’m a bit softer, but ever since that day, the music I used to listen to wasn’t really kicking me anymore, and I got exposed to something different, something that gave me energy, something just clicked,” recalls Domantas, as he bangs his teaspoon on the table.

Metalheads tend to be very intelligent, with many actually being quite nerdy. Harper Reed, former CTO for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, and current Senior Fellow at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab in Southern California, once said, ‘We were nerds that never really fit in and loved the weird fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. So we were always looking for things that were interesting in that way, and for some of us, metal was that thing.’ Magyla sees this trend as a wish to be edgy and an outcast.

‘I was also just a guy who played loads of “World of Tanks” online with my friends. But, we wanted to play games that are not always popular to be different. I always seek something a bit more niche, striving for originality.’ Domantas was indeed a so-called nerd. He not only spent his teenage years playing video games but also participated in social science competitions, was on a school committee, and served as a vice president.

Photograph: Domantas Magyla

Now, a second-year Modern History and Politics student, he is pursuing a career in politics. I ask Domantas how he manages to coordinate his studies and music. After all, being a metalhead is a lifestyle; is one capable to dissociate from that in day-to-day life?

‘Oh yes, it’s actually way more useful sometimes,’ he thinks. ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this, but my uncle worked as a bodyguard for loads of government officials, including presidents. So you would be surprised how many of Lithuania’s parliament members go to Devilstone (Open air rock and metal music festival in Lithuania), change their suits to leather jackets, party, and then return to their normal office lives.’

Black Metal band Anapilin (2017). Photograph: Domantas Magyla

Domantas thinks being a metalhead could be your foundation. ‘But people are like sculptures and you need to sometimes dissociate from that in order to start building upon your foundation. However, a lot of people just start drinking, because metal and punk have really abusive subcultures.’

The metal scene is generally associated with excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs. Even the concept of “heavy metal” has been taken from ‘Nova Express’ by American writer William S. Burroughs, who used the term in reference to addictive drugs. Metal artists and fans alike are famous for their love for beer and even promote this image of excessive drinking and the use of drugs. Domantas remembers: ‘There were days when I would come to my studio in Kaunas (Lithuania), just when I started Bloodpatch (Death/Trash Metal band in Kaunas since 2016) and see a wasted punk dude from another town, sleeping on the floor, looking like he just masturbated. We had bands coming from all around Europe, different nations, and different generations, but all were super punk rock. I was a kind of middle ground connecting the younger and older generations. Boy, it was a proper 1990s incarnation today.’

Death and Trash Metal band Bloodpatch in Kaunas, Lithuania (2018). Photograph: Domantas Magyla

However, the abusive part of the punk lifestyle did not usurp Magyla's personality and aspirations. He says that for him, it was always about the music, image, and message. Sharing a particular message is probably the most important part of heavy metal music and lifestyle. One of the genre’s most famous pioneers, Led Zeppelin, was known to use their music to bridge the cultural divide between the East and West.

‘By playing heavy metal, we’re putting attention to ourselves through the extreme. It’s like a filter to find people who actually care. Black metal has a way to produce super bad quality music, so only true fans would listen. It’s about searching for people who will care, who will listen, who will listen,’ Domantas pauses for a moment.

Considering that heavy metal was the fastest-growing music genre in 2018, it may be just the right amount of extreme to get important ideas and issues, such as climate change, across. So I show Domantas a video of Greta Thunberg’s death metal makeover of her UN speech, which went viral recently, made by Suaka drummer John Meredith.

Magyla notices that there was always a big thing about climate change in metal. ‘A band called Nuclear Assault made a mass extinction album back in the 1980s. Greta’s message attracts, but this video makes the market because of the black metal makeover and because it is also a meme,’ he says.

Photograph: Domantas Magyla

Domantas also uses music to talk about different issues. One of his most successful musical projects, the black metal band Anapilin, plays in Lithuania and in other countries around Europe. The main topics in their music are nihilism and existential life questions.

Magyla thinks that heavy metal has changed significantly in Lithuania since the 90s when there was a big punk movement in the country. From constant alcohol abuse and fights between metal heads and “marozai” (a Lithuanian slang word used to describe usually aggressive men, who emphasise their masculinity by extensive use of sportswear) it moved to a more refined approach towards music and lifestyle. ‘Instead of being mindless alcoholics, we are now becoming intellectuals, reading books and enrolling into universities,’ he laughs.

Photograph: Domantas Magyla

However, the heavy metal scene in Colchester is different from that in Lithuania. Domantas says: ‘English heavy metal music is mostly political. It’s fascists against lefties, lefties against fascists and centers being like: please, stop. You’re being annoying.'

There are many issues of wider political interest, that Colchester is also facing today, such as homelessness, crime, and illegal workers. In 2019, Magyla and three other international students from the University of Essex started a punk band to address one of the main problems concerning the locals – knife crime. Their original name, Greenstead Stabbings, aimed to reflect on the current social issue and bring more attention to it through their music. Initially, the band's name received mixed views and some people found it insulting. Thus, the band decided to instead call themselves Authority Complex, reflecting on their own personal experiences of seeing their peers being undermined, mistreated, and bullied. Magyla says: ‘It was telling that there is a problem, that there needs to be a change.’

‘I am trying to bring to Colchester something that I would listen to, something that reflects my life here. I am just trying to put out my emotions there, and they’re really heavy,’ Domantas talks about his future musical projects. They also include playing heavy metal on Colchester streets, a drummer shoe business, and a new album.

Hardcore Punk band Authority Complex (2019). Photograph: Domantas Magyla

So far, Magyla’s most recognisable appearance in the UK was a gig in Coda Colchester last year. He says: ‘Coda was more of a jazz bar, but since I brought my band from Lithuania to play there, the bar still does metal nights because they saw how big of a success the night was.’

The future of post-Brexit UK and the whole world is vague and worrying. Domantas suggests that while some messages can be lost because of different cultures and mentalities, extreme messages always attract. Perhaps this is what Colchester and the rest of the world need right now – longhaired, black leather jacket-wearing death metal growlers to put out meaningful messages to those who will care and who will listen.

Photograph: Domantas Magyla