This project started during the early days of 2020. While I have been working in the entertainment industry for many years, I seriously reevaluated many aspects of my life and the goals I had set for myself. Work had come to a standstill. Many thoughts of projects and things to do with my time kept coming into my head, but one never seemed to leave. A children's book for Moms & Dads who were into metal music. The very few people I mentioned said, that's a great idea.
After taking some online courses and consultations, I still had my doubts, but there was no turning back. I reached out to my good friend Sean Cantor to see if he would be interested in being a part of this project. As someone who is deeply into metal music and has a wealth of knowledge regarding all genres, I felt he would be a good fit to help me talk through the storyline.
Next was to find an illustrator. I had plenty of resources to pull from, but none of those would quite get the feel I was going after, plus I didn't need to scare the kids either! So by chance, Sean had worked with Matty T (aka Karmavoid) on a project. I reached out to him, and it was a perfect fit. As a fellow metalhead, he understood where I came from with the story and was excellent to work with. Once I saw the first couple of draft, s I was so excited and nervous that I wanted to start telling everyone. But I live by the creed, that if you start speaking to too many people about a project, oftentimes nothing comes of it.
What took so long!?
It was 2022, the Entertainment Industry was bac, k and I was busier than ever. I had zero time to work on it. It was a bummer, but the project took a back seat for man, y many months. There were times I felt like scrapping it, taking the losses, and just saying, it just wasn't meant to be. Then it just comes up in my head, the wishes & dreams I want this to help a young kid and family discover metal music and not be afraid of it.
So I get back to the drawing board and work with Karmavoid, and we go back and forth for months getting the illustration just how I envisioned it. All the artwork is done in mid-2023, and I am still incredibly busy. It took another back seat for months, but I finally had some time to reflect while on a long flight back from Europe, and I said to myself, it's now or never. Do it by the end of 2024 or scrap it.
Well, here it is, I hope your child enjoys it and sheds a different light on what some of those odd kids in school or a community may just be trying to become someone that is in a band and on an album cover they were enamored by.
I hope it brings a new perspective for children and helps them embrace their musical interests.
Rob Castaneda - Author
