Local metal enthusiast, Erik Wray is working hard to elevate Kelowna’s own extreme music scene, with the creation of his online podcast and multimedia platform, Metal as Medicine.

Having been heavily invested in the genre for the majority of his life, Wray ventured off to Finland in 2005 to fully immerse himself in the culture of it all.

“In the late 90s there really wasn’t much of a culture here in Western Canada or Kelowna specifically, so I ended up moving to Europe,” said Wray.

Photo credit: Metal as Medicine

During his time in the metal capital of the world, Wray fully submerged himself in the scene going on to work with various musicians and creating his own full-length black metal record prior to his return to the Okanagan.

After reuniting with his Okanagan roots, Wray noticed a shift in his city.

What had once been a nearly non-existent scene had grown, welcoming bands who played all types of European metal styles from power to death, and everything in between.

“I decided that because I have always been involved with the European scene, even while living here, that I was going to dive head first into the Okanagan, British Columbia, Western Canadian scene.”

“I wanted to document my experience with meeting the bands, the people and getting to know the music,” added Wray.

And with that, a few years, and a lot of planning later, the Metal as Medicine podcast and blog came to life — filling a void within the local music community.

Photo credit: Metal as Medicine
 

“I had originally planned to do it myself. Document the shows I was going to, explore bands and help to give more exposure to European acts for listeners [here], as well as cover local bands to give listeners outside of the Okanagan a chance to learn.”

Once he got started, Wray soon realized this would be no small feat and enlisted the help of his middle school best friend, Terence Smith, who is also working hard to gain recognition for Kelowna’s more niche markets through his work with the Okanagan Tattoo Show.

“As I had been connecting with people and discussing ideas, I realized that there is a real hole here that needs to be filled, I figured it was going to something too big for one person to just tackle,” said Wray.

Metal as Medicine made their debut on March 6, 2019, in an episode that featured an interview with local death metal act, Death Machine.

Photo credit: NowMediaSpencer Budworth of Death Machine at Wacken Battle Kelowna

“I'm not a journalist or anything like that, I don't have any experience with it but I just wanted to get to know the people,” he explained. “They (Death Machine) came over to my place and into my dining room, which is my little makeshift studio and it was a really cool experience."

"We got to meet them personally and get an idea of what it's like behind the scenes and what the people in the scene and the culture are like to help give better exposure to it,” he added.

Wray attributes a large portion of his drive to bring Metal as Medicine to life to the support of other people involved in the scene and the talent that resides in the Okanagan.  

Photo credit: Metal as Medicine

“It’s been fantastic because everybody has been so absolutely friendly and I’ve had no problem at all finding my place, meeting new people and making connections,” he said. 

“I noticed there is an underlying, burning fire for this desire to create art and having seen that I decided I wanted to help give those involved more exposure on a national level or even on a global level.”

“The whole idea is to showcase what we’ve got here in hopes that people from outside of the area will take notice. ”

According to Wray, since the launch of the first episode Metal as Medicine has already gained a cozy audience in Canada and the U.S., with some listeners even hailing from far off lands such as Spain and Italy.

Photo credit: Metal as Medicine

In addition to the recurring podcasts, Wray often posts to an accompanying blog to delve deeper into the performances and bands he sees by sharing photos, videos and thoughts on the budding talent.

“I thought it would be really neat to film the bands and their live performance because there is no better way to get exposure for a band than high-quality video,” said Wray.

Wray not only hopes to highlight the musicians that live or travel through Kelowna, but those who are tirelessly working alongside him to bring the city’s underground metal scene to light.

“I think the best way to get the heavy metal scene exposure is for everyone to work together. The Kelowna scene is small, but everybody is super dedicated and friendly — if there are new faces we don’t recognize we always say “come on in,”

“I’m hoping to keep the positive influence going because I think if we all have positive attitudes we can get something really good going. I think that we have something special here that if we work hard, it can make it bigger,”

You can stay up to date with Metal as Medicine and their journey to shining the spotlight on all things metal through Facebook, their website or any streaming platform.