Oakland musician and jewelry designer Alexandra Crockett spent years photographing her metal rocker friends dressed in stereotypical garb — sleeveless black shirts and studded leather vests over exposed arm tattoos. The unexpected wrinkle? Crockett’s subjects all posed with their kitty cats. powerHouse is publishing her collection of more than 700 photos in Metal Cats, due May 2014.
Allison P Davis of New York magazine interviewed Ms.Crockett, who is a PhD student in an undisclosed field of study. Davis asked Crockett if all her subjects were open to being so vulnerable with their cats. Crockett replied: “There were a couple of people that I wanted to photograph, who gave me the excuse ‘I don’t know if it goes along with the persona of our band.’ It’s such a douche-y statement, but I didn’t waste my time trying to convince them otherwise.” In other words, there are metal rock monsters out there–savage, brutal guitar slayers–who really don’t want you to know that after the show, they just want to curl up with their kitty cats.
