When you walk through Carleton’s University Centre atrium you’ll often be greeted by the sound of idle chatter, and maybe a flyer or two—other days, by the roar of death metal.
The Metal Ravens are easily one of the most recognized clubs on campus, and not just for their music taste.
Last year, they won the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) Clubs and Societies Award for being the most active campus club. This year, they are celebrating their fifth anniversary.
Luv “Shakes” Tomar conceptualized the idea that became the Metal Ravens during Frosh Week in his first year, in 2011.
“Frosh Week was the worst week of my [university] life, mainly because I missed my parents,” Tomar said. “They were on the other side of the world, in India, and it was the first time I ever did not live with them for a long period of time, and it really got to me.”
Tomar said Frosh Week was a lonely week for him, until he started meeting people who shared his interests.
“I started recognizing people wearing Metallica, [Iron] Maiden, Led Zeppelin and all these band t-shirts and those are of course the first few people on [residence] I started talking to,” Tomar said. “And I was like, let’s start jamming.”
What started out as a casual jamming group became the Metal Ravens, an official campus club, in January 2012.
Since graduating, Tomar said he has taken on somewhat of a mentoring and advising role at the Metal Ravens. He added it was important that he created this group because “metalheads” are a minority on campus.
“There was nothing for us, which is why Frosh sucked,” Tomar said.
“I felt the need to start a community for people like me, who come from the other side of the world,” Tomar said. “So they have people to connect with, people who share the same passion for the type of music we listen to.”
Tomar said he likes metal because of its variety and range of emotion, a quality which he feels is lacking in a lot of mainstream music.
“There’s this huge stigma around metal music about it being angry and aggressive—just really dark,” said the club’s communications officer Michael Cappa Jr. “It’s essentially all over the spectrum.”
Current club president Josh Mele agreed.
“People see metal as high-octane and that’s kind of the point,” Mele said. “It’s a way for you to release that aggression. It’s like wrestling or fighting. It’s a way to get pumped up, but it’s also a way to release.”
Their Facebook page boasts over 300 likes, and Mele estimated the number of active members is around 40 to 50 people.
“We have a formal membership fee that people can pay and it gives them discounts on t-shirts and concerts and you can put it on your co-curricular record that you’re part of a club,” Mele said. He added memberships are valid throughout active members’ time at Carleton.
The membership fee started out at five dollars, but went up to eight because the club was putting on more events.
Some of their events include concerts, open mic nights, pub nights at Ollie’s, and karaoke nights. Last year for International Women’s Day, they organized a Women in Music panel.
“We got female musicians from different genres to just speak about their issues as women in the music industry . . . which was really good,” Tomar said. “There was a lot that I learned and I think all of us learned from it.”
On Feb. 17 the group is hosting a Not So Metal Ravens open mic night at Rooster’s, which will feature musical performances from a variety of genres.
“It’ll be really different,” said social media director Zack Budge. “We’re not just about metal.”
– Photo is provided.
