Navajo band, OPVP work to organize show in Window Rock

Posted by Christopher S. Pineo | May 19, 2016 | Music |

WINDOW ROCK

The Office of the President and Vice President are putting support behind a Navajo heavy metal band as a way of supporting young people and families.

The band “I Dont Konform” sat down recently with Vice President Jonathan Nez to discuss logistics for an upcoming show that will help the band raise funds for a trip to Europe.

“Helping out the young artists and performers here with their trip is what the Office of the President and Vice President is wanting to do,” said Nez. “There’s a lot of talent the on Navajo Nation.”

The show will be held at the Window Rock Navajo Tribal Park on May 21.

Five bands are confirmed – including IDK, Born of Winter, Unsheathe, Death Mantra, and Mutilated Tyrant – for half-hour sets at the show, which will cost $10 for entry and $5 for Navajo students with a student ID.

During the trip in March, IDK will record with heavy metal producer and engineer Flemming Rasmussen, who worked with Metallica to produce a distinctive sound heard in songs like “One,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “Master of Puppets.”

Jerold Cecil, the band manager for IDK, said the band’s trip is an untapped resource for the Navajo Nation with regard to showing other cultures what the lives of Navajo young people are like today. In fact, he had lived in Europe himself and often acted as a bulwark against stereotypes, when he spoke with his acquaintances there.

“I tell them I live in a teepee,” he said, as he laughed. “It’s two floors and it has Wi-Fi in it.”