Enterprise of Passion: Robb’s Metal Works Serves Texas for a Decade
By Brooke Palmer
Robb Chavez of Robb's Metal Works
I. An Introduction to Robb
If I had to choose only one word to describe Robb Chavez, it would be “big.” He has a big personality. He has big ambitions and a big drive to reach them. He has a big confidence and a big, unstoppable energy. He has a big heart. He obviously has a big respect for heavy metal. And within this domain, he gives of himself in a big way.
When I recognize the bigness that is Robb, it’s easy to understand how Robb’s Metal Works has grown so much and has stayed so strong over the 10 years of its existence. It seems to me that when a passion is the driving force of something, then that something will always find a way to prevail, and to touch others. And clearly Robb has a passion for metal.
Mix that passion with a degree in business, and, of course, the support of other passionate music lovers, and you’ve got a success story. Starting on San Antonio’s public cable access 10 years ago and graduating to Time Warner’s Stuff TV three years ago, Robb’s Metal Works is, as the name clearly implies, Robb’s own television heavy metal program. A more grass-roots version of Headbanger’s Ball, RMW consists of new metal videos, band interviews, live footage, and Robb’s own music commentary; Riki Rachtman may have looked the part more, but Robb has way more personality.
I first met Robb over a year ago during a phone interview I conducted for the San Antonio Current regarding the 2006 Robb’s Metal Works Showcase with Helstar headlining. I had never conducted an interview over the telephone before and felt a little awkward about the whole thing, but as soon as we got to talking, the awkwardness went away. Did I mention that he is a big talker?
A week later, Robb sends me a package in the mail containing a few burned copies of old Robb’s Metal Works episodes, along with some stickers and tickets to the event. This was my first opportunity to be the recipient of Robb’s generosity, and since meeting him, Robb has given me CDs and t-shirts and has taken me into his home to join his family and crew for plates of BBQ and booze while watching Robb’s Metal Works. His personality seems to enjoy keeping people happy.
The friendship I’ve forged with Robb is a natural one, as both he and I are driven to follow our passions in covering music, him via television and me via writing. And since Invasive Thoughts is a baby compared to Robb’s 10 years on the scene, we were eager to talk with him about the 10th anniversary of Robb’s Metal Works, for who better to learn about the business of promoting a passion from than Robb Chavez?
So one recent Saturday night we met for dinner and cocktails. “You want me to tell you my sordid history?” he asked, emptying our first round of margaritas. I grabbed my journal and let the man tell me his story…..
II. A Demographic History A San Antonio native, born and raised in the projects, Robb has only lived outside of our city for the four years of his undergrad marketing and business studies at BaylorUniversity. “This is where my roots are. I love the culture here, the music scene, all we’ve accomplished here,” he says. Though he lost some of his original friends when he returned from college (not everyone in his neighborhood was happy to see one of their own rise out and move on), he is at home here. Not only does our man host Robb’s Metal Works and all that that job entails, but he also works full time for a college board, and is a family man. He speaks with a childlike glee when telling the story of how he and his wife, Esther, came together. He apparently wooed her after her years-long relationship with his cousin ended. And despite much family uproar and dissidence, the two birthed a son and have stuck together. Coming to creation almost simultaneously, Robb’s son, Cruz, and Robb’s Metal Works have grown up together. III. Robb discovers metal So it goes that the young Robb first discovered heavy metal when he was in the 7th grade. The older brother of a friend of his was in a metal band called Wicked Impact, and at their house, Robb was introduced to the music of a new band called Metallica. “And that was it. I became a huge Metallica fan and it spawned from there,” he explained. Simple enough. Many people have fallen in love with metal this way. But this was only the beginning of a life-long relationship. “I really don’t like any other music,” says Robb. “My wife listens to Tejano and Pop and if we go to a wedding, I may have to dance to a Mexican song, but only after several drinks and tequila shots.” IV. Robb’s Metal Works So how was Robb’s Metal Works first conceived? “Around ’94 or ’95, I used to see some really stupid public access show. There was this guy and girl that were metal heads and they’d smoke pot on the show!” he explained. “But every show they’d play the same Cannibal Corpse video. No kidding, the same video every single show. Heavy metal gets a bum rap that the people who love metal are dumb, inarticulate dope heads. It doesn’t get the true respect as an art form that it deserves. I knew I could represent it better.” His dad gave him an old beat up VHS camera and he started taping shows. The very first Metal Works show aired in June of ‘97 on Time Warner’s public cable access station and featured a band out of LA called Manhole (from there the show grew to focus a lot on local Texas metal as well as popular national names). And Robb has been a very motivated man ever since. Check out this crazy shit: “The first 7 years on public access,” Robb explains, “we played a show every week and we never ran a rerun. Every week for 7 years, I used to video-tape ourselves doing commentary for the show. That helped gain popularity.” The only thing I’ve been able to do consistently every week for the last seven years is take a dump. It hasn’t hurt Robb’s popularity that San Antonio is a metal-loving city. I recognized this fact as soon as I moved here three years ago and started hanging out at places like Bond’s. “San Antonio has always had this metal vibe to it,” says Robb. “In large part that’s due to the impact that a very legendary DJ played, Joe Anthony, ‘the Godfather.’ He was on 95 KISS. He introduced people to Judas Priest, Moxy, Triumph. He died of AIDS and we’ve lost that element forever but since then people’s love for that music has continued. “I meet younger people sometimes who call me ‘the Godfather,’ and that’s a reference to Joe Anthony, and that makes me proud. A lot of people respected him because what he did for the music scene here was really felt and impacted a lot of lives.”
Robb and some of the Metal Works Crew
V.The RMW Crew When talking about his crew, Robb would well up with pride as if he had raised them. “My crew is all about dedication to the show,” he’d say. Robb admitted that a couple years ago he considered retiring RMW to have more time for family and other things. His man Andy Gonzales wouldn’t let it happen. “Andy talked me out of it by his pure passion and drive for the show. He also reminded me of our impact on our metal community,” Robb described. So next time you see Andy out at a show, buy him a drink for ensuring the continued survival of RMW (I could go on, but I’ll let Robb tell his own love stories). Of course Robb’s family has also been instrumental in keeping the show going with their support and encouragement. Robb also had many kind words about his key interviewer, Agnes Denvir. “I always want to have a female element on the show and Agnes is great. She is great on camera, she knows her stuff, and knows a lot about bands. And if she doesn’t know much about a particular band, she’ll do massive research before an interview and throw out stuff about their history,” describes Robb. Agnes is currently taking off time for motherhood until the summer of ‘08.
VI. A True Story At this point in the interview Robb is getting worked up with his storytelling. Here’s one he said I could share: “I have a true story, and you can use it if you want.” Robb pauses, then gets excited. “I’m giving you exclusive, Brooke! “One of the most important people involved [in Robb’s life of metal] is my older brother Gil. He was into Judas Priest, ACDC, Hagar. Judas Priest was the big thing in our house. He had a boom box with an 8-track plugged into the side. “In ’99 we interviewed the new singer, Ripper. When I got confirmed to do the interview, I took my brother with me. He got to meet Tipton and for him that was huge. That night we’re all so excited about going to interview Judas Priest. So I pick up my brother and he brings one of his vintage Judas Priest LPs to have Tipton autograph it. We’re on the way to the show and my brother wants to party. And starts rolling a joint on the LP, and he separates all the seeds and stems. So has the seeds and stems on the LP, and he asks me what he should do with them. ‘Well throw them out the window!’ And then he puts down the window to throw the seeds out, and the whole LP goes out the window! He starts screaming, ‘turn around, turn around! We’ve got to go back and get it!’ But we were on the highway in traffic and I couldn’t turn around! So we never got anything autographed. That’s exclusive right there. Nobody’s ever heard that story.” VII. The Process Over Time To get back on track, I asked Robb about the process. With a project as big and multi-faceted as RMW has become, I wanted to hear about how things have changed and how they’ve stayed the same. “What has always been the forefront of our acumen for doing the show, the most important part, is promoting. So people know when it’s on, know our names, and watch. That hasn’t changed over the years because of my background. “We showcase all types of metal. People who don’t know lump heavy metal into one category. There are so many types of metal: thrash, technical, progressive, death, etc. We’ve always highlighted bands from a variety of genres. We try to keep a god mix for the show. “As far as the operations and mechanics of the show, the editing process improved dramatically when we moved to digital in mid ’05. The commentary of the show has gotten better over the years. I like to express a certain amount of enthusiasm about metal through my dynamics and facial expressions, and that took time to develop over the years. “The move to Stuff TV (a regional cable station) was forced upon us in ‘05 because Time Warner was about to lose their management with public access and the city was going to take over. I was going to have to be off the air for a few months. I wasn’t gonna let this whole debacle put my show off the air. So I researched Stuff TV. “There was a certain level of respect for our show from Time Warner because of its longevity. They knew how much we promote and market on a variety of facets (fliers, web, myspace, etc.). Because of Stuff TV I had to implement this business side which was never there before. It allows us to promote and get some income to put into the show (which is not-for-profit) but it also required us to step it up a notch in our production. All of those things have been good for the show. I wish I could have the show self-sufficient enough to have each episode produced, but we’re not there yet so I’m involved in everything. But I’m also a control freak, which isn’t a good attribute to have, but I am.” Does admitting it make it okay?—I asked his crew but no one would speak up about it.
VIII. The Future “At this point I’m pretty content. I’m not working towards securing a deal with MTV. With as prominent as web video is becoming, you don’t even need that anymore. I get emails from people in Russia and the UK. From South America. All from watching YouTube. The day and age we live in now is so amazing. This afternoon my son and I had a YouTube marathon. He’s on one computer browsing Star Wars spoofs and I’m on the other browsing stuff about aliens.” After a couple more margaritas and a round of shots, the interview began to settle down. I find I’d grown tired from trying to keep up with the man who can talk a mile a minute. Just hearing about everything he does on a regular basis wears me out. Before ending the night, though, I had one final question, from the innocent perspective of a new medium looking up to a veteran. Do you still enjoy all this after all the time and effort that’s put in over the past 10 years? “I get that excitement every show. I always like the crew to get together and watch the fruit of our labor. We do what we do because it’s a heavy metal show. I always try to get he crew together to watch the show at the house, to have food and booze and talk metal.” Amen, my Brother.
