Norman venue Studio 360 hopes metal music is here to stay

Studio 360 is Norman's home for metal: grindcore, death metal, heavy metal, black metal, thrash and anything heavy enough to which one can start a bar brawl.
 
Originally doubling as a private-party venue and recording studio, Studio 360 became a venue when co-owner Vance Phillips recruited Ryk Weston to promote and book bands heavy enough to fit Weston's metal taste.
 
"My background is extreme metal," Weston said. "I was like, 'We should do something like this over here in Norman.' There hasn't been anything for this kind of music. It's for the sake of metal."
 
EARLY START
According to Weston, the first shows were packed enough with solid metal fans with minimal publicity.
 
"People were crazy for it," he said. "So many people were coming up and thanking us for bringing this kind of music over here."
 
Weston believes such a venue is necessary not just to the Oklahoma metal scene, but to keep the state from being six years behind everybody else nationally and globally.
 
"You have all these subgenres of metal that have gotten so big and constantly pushing the envelope," Weston said. "A lot of people say it's a fad and that it's gonna go away. It has outlived nu metal and it's even outlived grunge." "Joshua Michael Torres

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