BaptationN: A Look Inside Tacoma’s Local Heavy Metal Scene

According to Lash, the best part about being in BaptationN is their live shows. The first BaptationN show I went to was in early June at the Spanish Ballroom in Tacoma. I had met Lash a couple months earlier and quickly learned that she was in a band; I had listened to a few of their band’s demos on Bandcamp, so I had a general idea of the kind of music they made. Despite this, I had no idea what to expect. I was beyond excited, partly because it was my first local show since quarantine (although up to that point I had never gone to a local show that made music of this caliber and intensity), but more so because I was infinitely curious to experience what BaptationN was truly like, aside from their online demos and the occasional low-quality video of past shows on their Instagram page (@baptationn.) As soon as they started playing, I became enthralled. Watching Lash up onstage performing was a window to a side of her that was incredibly alluring to me. Onstage, she seems to become completely taken over by the music and fully immersed in her lyrics. “When I’m onstage, it feels like a whole different world. I feel like I become a whole different person,” Lash remarked. And from an audience standpoint, I completely agree. Everything from her uncanny stage presence to the nonplus nature of her singing over the heavy, panic-inducing guitar, bass and drums instantly captivates the audience.

On September 3rd of this year I attended the one year anniversary show of the Poser Pleasure Party. It was meticulously planned, considerably more so than the first. Lash’s whole backyard had been overtaken by sound equipment, instruments, lights, decorations, a plethora of ramshackle rugs as a makeshift stage and signs posted about, giving directions and laying out the rules of the show (because the show was in a residential neighborhood it was advertised to be a drug and alcohol free environment, as a courtesy to Lash’s family as well as the neighbors who so kindly put up with the rowdy teenagers and tumultuous music. Unfortunately, people did not follow said rule.) The crowd was restless and wild. There is something so turbulent about the energy at a BaptationN show. The anticipation, watching the soundcheck foretasting the show, everything heightened all leading up to the very moment the band begins playing. The hold that Lash and McQueen have over the audience is quite impressive. Everyone in the crowd screams along to the parts of the songs that are remotely desirable. Heads are violently banging, and bodies are colliding into each other as the chaos of the music ensues.

Being in a mosh pit is exhilarating, but at the same time utterly and completely terrifying. Picture this: you are surrounded by a sea of sweaty strangers, you’ve been standing for so long that you’ve begun to lose feeling in your feet, yet you look down to find them still dancing along to the music. Getting tossed around, back and forth with bodies swirling around you like human bumper cars. All while the lethal noise of BaptationN fills your ears and shakes you to your core. I am mystified by the sense of togetherness that moshing creates. As intense as it might sound, there is a underlying notion of community umoung the chaos. Moshing can make people feel free and connected. Now I am not saying that after reading this, you should go out and just slam into your friends for fun. This activity can at times get out of hand if the participants are not familiar with it, or if their primary goal is to harm others. But I want to recognize that when practiced safely and with caution, moshing can be an almost therapeutic experience. From my point of view, it creates a sense of belonging. When you are in the midst of a mosh pit, you have the freedom to release all your built up emotions, and to dance like nobody is watching. This may sound contradictory because you are in fact surrounded by people, but the thing is the people around you are also doing the same. There is no judgement afoot. You can move and dance without care about who is watching and how silly you might look. It’s quite freeing, releasing yourself from the confines of self doubt and insecurity, not worrying about how you might be perceived to others.

These ideas correspond with some of the ideologies of punk culture, that being individual freedom and accepting doctrine. Coming from someone who is an outsider observing the punk and metal scene I find the overall culture so fascinating. The fashion, history, ideologies and the other forms of expression like art, literature and films. Unfortunately, the punk and metal scene can also often be extremely problematic. Everything from the the praise of an indifferent and apathetic outlook on life, to the utter lack of representation for POC, women and queer folk. In popluar bands, but more so with the people behind the scenes running the shows, they are almost always older white men. Breaking those stereotypes, BaptationN aims to prove that they can make the same music to the same extent, if not even better in a field primarily dominated by cisgender white men. They want people to take the band seriously, regardless of Lash and McQueen’s age and identity.