ALGORITHM AND BLUES
The staccato rhythm of the opening riff to Trivium’s “In Waves” is blasting through Chicago’s House of Blues when frontman Matt Heafy announces a special guest. Howard Jones, the hulking former frontman of Killswitch Engage and current face of fellow metalcorers Light The Torch, comes strutting onstage and unleashes a blood-curdling scream before walking over and wrapping his arm around another guy who’s been asked to sit in.
Leaning into the crowd as he palm-mutes, Jared Dines is wearing his signature backwards baseball cap and the biggest grin imaginable. Dines might not have the portfolio of Heafy or Jones, but he’s got his own kind of fame. Over the past few years, Dines has reached millions of eyeballs and eardrums – not through headlining tours, but through YouTube videos with titles like “Things Beginner Guitarists Say” and “If Lady Gaga Was Metal”.
With more than two million subscribers, Dines has become one of the most prominent figures in the metal YouTube world, with a brand based on equal parts goofy comedy, actual musical chops and a deep knowledge of metalhead life in general and guitar culture in particular.
Video might have killed the radio star, but it’s unlikely that streaming is going to kill the metal god. Still, a creative pack of musicians, equally comfortable with cameras and Les Pauls, are showing that it’s possible to get your music – and your jokes – out to a wide audience: no record company or radio play needed.
Days after the Chicago show, as Trivium are getting ready to play in the North Dakota town that pop-culture writer Chuck
