This is the Los Angeles based heavy metal band Butcher Babies.
Let’s just get the obvious out of the way so we can focus on the music. Or not.
The band features two beyond hot sex-pots as dual-vocalists that go by the names of Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey.
These two are NOT afraid to use their sexuality to promote themselves and their band. The two are notorious for appearing topless on stage, sans some strategically placed nipple tape. Their original intent was an homage to the late punk queen Wendy O. Williams (Plasmatics) as is the band’s name which was taken from the Williams written song, “Butcher Baby”.
But after numerous years of the provocative look, the girls have retired the tape. Dammit. (*included below is a video of the band covering Pantera’s ‘Fucking Hostile’ featuring a performance in said nipple tape, because you know you wanted to see that. Don’t lie.)
What might have been perceived as a cheap gimmick was soon blasted to bits once a fair chance was given to the bands music. Heavily influenced by other aggressive acts like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Guns N Roses, and Pantera… credit goes to the full band for melding the multiple points of entry into the delivery of a nu-school type metal.
Jason Klein (bass), Henry Flury (guitar), and Chris Warner (drums) are probably left in the dark behind the spotlight that seems to focus in like a couple of high beams (get it?) on the voluptuous vixens, but it is their music that gives the foundation upon which the girls scream at the world.
All cheap sexist jokes aside, (the metal community can be emotionally masochistic at times), these front-women really do have their metal chops honed and deliver their rock with full intensity.
Something Century Media records was quick to notice, signing the band within a year after the release of their self-produced EP.
Side note, the same year the band dropped their first music, singer Carla Harvey also released a “Butcher Babies” comic book at the San Diego Comic Con in 2011, greatly increasing the bands nerd cred. Which is actually important in true metal communities… show me a hard core metal head, and I’ll show you a guy who has a Dungeons & Dragons “Monster Manual” somewhere in his house.
Their live show has been described as: “…a loud crashing blend of heavy metal, punk and thrash that recalls Pantera,” with a stage show that embodies the horror antics of Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. “Carla and Heidi don’t merely sing: they assault the crowd with a blinding flash of aggression and abuse. And the crowd loves them for it.”
In 2012, the band went into the studio with producer Josh Wilbur (Gojira, Lamb of God, Hatebreed) and recorded their debut album, “Goliath“.
The first assault from the album to be released was the raucously grinding, “I Smell A Massacre”.
The band followed up with the sludgy and tension filled crusher, “The Deathsurround”.
A lot of touring and some high profile shows fueled both the bands desire as well as their rapidly growing fan-base.
And this is where Butcher Babies deserve their credit in the metal community. The gang is willing to get in a van and tour. Big festivals, little clubs, anything in between… the band brings the high intensity shows wherever they play.
Butcher Babies came out with their second album, “Take It Like A Man” in August of 2015.
Regarding the title, singer Carla Harvey said:
“We all come from different places and backgrounds, but every member of this band had to fight to be the person he or she is today. That’s the whole basis for the record. It’s not a gender thing. It’s the inner strength you have to find in order to pull your boots up and keep moving forward, whatever the situation may be.”
The first single was the horror-inspired and circus-laced, “Monsters Ball”. The track also showcases some of the verbal quickness the girls employ as they drag their voices through sandpaper growls and howling rage. The visual style also taps into movies like “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, “House of 1000 Corpses”, and “The Devil’s Rejects”… all of which the band has mentioned in interviews as being highly influential upon their style.
The follow-up single release is the straight pounding rocker, “Never Go Back”.
“Mr. Slowdeath” off the bands first self-produced EP.
In Spring of 2016, the band was tapped as opening support for the Cradle of Filth tour. And with an unavoidable Covid-hiatus aside… this unit tours. A lot. They hit the clubs. Respect. Find them. Take someone to the show… but don’t tell them what they are about to see. Then just watch them try and wrap their fragile, egg-shell minds around Butcher Babies.
Because, you might get to witness something like this… as promised… nipple tape and ‘Fucking Hostile’… with knives strapped to their mics. Very Metal. ***Sadly, this video has been removed. It exists. Somewhere. It’s pretty cool. Here is the best I could find for your degenerate asses…
