MODERN HEAVY METAL: MARKETS, PRACTICES AND CULTURES International Academic Conference 2015 55 THE FORMING OF A METALHEAD: CONSTRUCTING A SUBCULTURAL IDENTITY Anna Baka University of Wrocław, Poland Abstract This article will present the results of a research project that aimed to examine the meanings and mechanisms behind the formation of a metal identity. This report is based on 38 interviews that were conducted at four festivals during the summer of 2014. The article will investigate the ways in which the individual meets the social and the cultural meets the psychological in the context of metal identity forming. Introduction With the spread of postmodernism into the mainstream culture some researchers proclaimed the death of subcultures (e.g., Muggleton, 2004, p. 61), which should now be replaced with styles and a loose sense of affiliation that Maffesoli called neotribal. However, the metal subculture is still alive and well. While some of the metal fans would rather fit into a broader term of a neotribe, Keith Kahn-Harris rightly argues for not discarding the ‘subculture’ term altogether (Kahn-Harris, 2007, pp. 18–19). The research, which was conducted by the Author during the summer of 2014 at a few metal music festivals supports the claim that the identities of metal fans are of subcultural nature. In this report a partial analysis of the interviews collected during the fieldwork will be presented. It will examine the impact that the time and context of joining the metal subculture has on the ways in which fans conceptualise their being metalheads. Then a generalisation about the fundamental ways in which collective metal identity functions will be made. Afterwards the stereotypes that make the identities of metal fans visible to the bystanders will be discussed. The article will conclude with an examination of less evident national differences between the members of the metal subculture. Data collection and processing This report is based on 38 interviews with 72 people at four metal music festivals, namely Masters of Rock in Czech Republic, Metaldays in Slovenia, Brutal Assault in Czech Republic and Summer Breeze in Germany. The interviews with the metal fans took place mostly on the camping grounds designated for the festival goers. The interviews were semi-structured: while there was a set of detailed questions, not all of them were asked, the order of the questions changed to match the conversation flow and the questions were sometimes formulated differently to adjust to different levels of proficiency in English. Also, additional questions were asked and alternative views to those of the interviewees were cited to encourage fuller explanations of their stances.