Sacramento has occupied space within the large world of heavy music with just two names: Deftones and Tesla. The former, an alternative rock band with metal influence, was a major player in the same mid/late '90s scene that consisted of Korn, Limp Bizkit and, to a lesser extent, Tool. Tesla is arguably the first mainstream band out of Sacramento to be branded “heavy metal," releasing albums throughout the late '80s and '90s and making a comeback in recent years with a three-album streak in 2007.

But what about the bands in Sacramento's underground music scene? The one who ply their trade in the underground -- playing to a devoted local following of kids interested in complex, modern heavy music -- and looking to expand their names to scenes outside the city’s boundaries.

The current state of underground metal operates within the parameters of any other niche genre. A number of labels specializing in the music release the material with essentially no direct financial benefit to the band. Instead, acts make moderate profit from hard touring, selling merchandise at shows and converting new people to their music, thus ensuring more shows with larger crowds.

With labels acting as stepping stones to (hoped for) bigger things, artists must balance the work they love with other demands.

Maintaining this delicate act is a rite of passage for any act looking to get to the next level. For three local bands, each in their own stage of the journey, the pursuit of getting paid for what they love to do continues to push them along.

Brian Curtin, guitarist of young metal band Malevolent, said his interest in playing music began like many in the current generation of musicians.

“My older brother played guitar and he listened to a lot of Tool,” said Curtin. “That kind of inspired me to get into playing guitar. I joined the Stairway to Stardom program [at Skip‘s Music] in 2003 and I got together with Greg, our drummer.”

For an ambitious musician looking to start a band, Stairway to Stardom proved to be a perfect jumping-off point not only for one’s musical career, but for learning the dynamics of participating in a group of differing personalities with a similar desire to make music.

“It’s eight weeks and about $250 to 300 for the whole summer, and you get placed in a band with musicians of a similar age group, experience level and stylistic interests as you,” said Curtin. “They give you a coach, generally a pro musician from that area. I think it’s a great program because it’s one of the only ones that shows you what it’s actually like to be in a band.”

Malevolent has released on demo, Diabolical Machinations, and has finished an album in hopes of attracting label attention.

“We feel like we are relatively new to the game and we have only been on one tour,” said Curtin. “It’s getting to the point where we need to make changes before we start shopping our s***. And we are preparing to send out our demo as a press pack and trying to get signed.”

Curtin, 20, is realistic about his band’s future in the metal scene. He seems to have adopted a “one day at a time” ethos to success.

“The way we look at it is that you don’t want to jump in without knowing,” said Curtin. “Because if you make this badass album and you have somebody watching you who could hook you up later down the line and you f*** up and you’re not ready to do what you’re supposed to do, then all is for naught, and it’s back to square one.

"We have worked very hard on playing the music precisely and we pushed ourselves way harder than we have in the past on the new album.”

Labels and Contracts

Chris Barnum, drummer/vocalist for Dismal Lapse, has reached that next level. In late 2007, Barnum and his band (at that time known as Bled) signed to Deepsend Records, a small metal label based in Maine. Unfortunately, Dismal Lapse’s road to success had one major speed bump.

“At the end of that year [2007], the band The Bled contacted us before our national tour and told us they were going to go after us for the name,” said Barnum. “So even though we had the name longer than they have, they had money for lawyers because they’re signed by a huge label and we aren't.

"We got screwed out of our name and were not able to sell our merch and our CD didn’t come out in time for our tour since it had to stop being pressed because it had the wrong name on it.”

Without the money to fight the larger band, Barnum decided to cut his losses and change the name.

“It was kind of a troublesome start with Deepsend because we had this name change and didn’t have the CD for the tour, so that hurt our exposure,” said Barnum. "We’re trying to get on a bigger label so we can get on better tours and not have to do all the work ourselves.”

The band’s contract ended recently with the release of its debut full-length album, Eon Fragmentation. Dismal Lapse signed to a one-album deal only, so they are free to look for another label.

“We really want to find a home on Willowtip Records,” said Barnum. “There are a lot of bands we consider good who are on there. And we would get some money for tours, but like I said, we’re not greedy people, but we’d just like to be musicians and not have to worry about all the business that we’ve had to deal with for the past nine years.”

Bled started in 1999 with Barnum on guitar and vocals and numerous lineups filling in around him. After yet another drummer left the band in 2006, Barnum decided to make the switch to drums with no prior experience.

“I kind of expressed interest in playing but never took it seriously. But when we lost our drummer for the last time, I got a cheap drum kit and started practicing every day,” said Barnum. “I’m kind of a driven person and when I want something, I go for it."

Learning the drums was not challenging for Barnum, nor is it unusual for metal musicians to change instruments in a band out of necessity. What is unusual is that Barnum continued kept his duties as the vocalist while he honed his skills behind the kit, ensuring the band would stay a trio. In the studio, Barnum has the freedom to sing without having to play at the same time, but live, he employs a headset microphone to growl along to Dismal Lapse’s technically demanding songs while keeping time.

“Evan [guitarist] writes a lot of the riffs now that he’s fully implemented in the band,” said Barnum. “As we progress, I’m writing less guitar parts because he is writing more stuff that I really enjoy playing to now.”

John Abernathy, lead guitarist and founder of Conducting From the Grave, is much like Barnum in that he has been the leader of his band since the beginning, and he also had to overcome problems just before releasing his debut album.

“We recorded our album, When Legends Become Dust, with our old vocalist, Drew [Winter]," said Abernathy. "But we didn’t really get along with him on the tour for that record. We called our current vocalist, Lou Tanuis, because we had stayed with him when we toured out in Connecticut and he wanted to sing for us. We had to rerecord the album with him. Sumerian Records told us, ‘You guys will do a lot better' because the studio we went to originally wasn’t very professional.”

Conducting From the Grave formed in 2003 after Abernathy graduated high school and many of the friends he played music with left town for college. He decided to pursue music and set out to find new members.

“I got an eight-track tape recorder and I just started recording guitar tracks on my practice amp,” said Abernathy. "'When Two Blood Types Coalesce’ from the EP was the first song I wrote. And I shopped those tapes around to drummers who wanted to play that type of music and the band was formed.”

Conducting From the Grave signed to Sumerian Records on the strength of its self-released EP, Trials of the Forsaken, and two demos.

“Sumerian seemed like the coolest beginning record label, so that’s why we signed with them,” said Abernathy. “The guys who own that run the Summer Slaughter tour. Also, huge bands were coming from there and getting great opportunities like The Faceless and Born of Osiris, and we thought, ‘If they can do that for those metal bands, let’s see what they can do for us.’”

The band and label had a rocky beginning, similar to Dismal Lapse’s first months with Deepsend. According to Abernathy, the deal almost fell apart, but he and his band are relieved at the results.

“We signed a really cool deal because it’s only for two albums, so if we’re not happy after the second album we can go somewhere else,” said Abernathy. “If we wanted to now, we could shop around and find another label to buy us out of our contract.

“Sumerian kind of put us on the back burner with this album and they admitted to that, and said, ‘Hey, you guys had a frontman change and dropped from some tours because of [the change].’ In the summer of 2008 we were supposed to do a tour with Whitechapel and A Different Breed of Killer but we had to drop that to rerecord the album. So they didn’t promote the album that well."