80s Metal in Modern Day Detroit: A Conversation with Alan Mares of Wanted
Interview ★ Kenzie Gay ★ @kenzwrites ★ 1k words
Detroit, Michigan. It’s the most musical city in the entire mitten state, oozing with rich history whether it be the sounds of Motown, the garage rock movement of Jack White/The White Stripes, or the current uprise in indie and lo-fi acts. Metal, though, appears to be a less tapped-into style within the scene of Motor City, and this brings us to Wanted: a hard/heavy metal band that pulls inspirations from the genre’s abundance in the 1980s. The group, though young, has been making serious strides over the last two years both in and outside of Detroit. Composed of Sterling Primeau (vox), Alan Mares (lead guitar), Paul Slezak (bass), Chris Rajt (drums), and Christian Shonts (rhythm guitar), we had the chance to speak with Alan about the band’s past, present, and future.
(left) Wanted via Instagram ★ (right) Alan Mares via Instagram
Can you walk through the creative process of your most recent release, ‘Under the Law’?
Under The Law was essentially us nose diving fully into our traditional heavy metal side, following our inspirations of Judas Priest, Armored Saint, while still retaining some of our more recurring characteristics like the big harmonies and catchy choruses. The core meaning of the song came from being a standout in terms of trends in the music scene. At the time of when this song was being written, we were seeing a lot of this new wave of old school thrash hitting online. Some of the members were kind of playing with the idea of maybe dipping our toes in what was going on. I wrote this song to show that we’re gonna do what we were brought here to do and we’re gonna make it work. I have some personal conflicts that went into this as well, such as coming from an immigrant family and not putting all my focus on getting that degree, or what’s the future of the band if I don’t sound like everybody else on the radio. This song means a lot to me and I’m happy that we had the people that did find it, find joy in listening to it as well.
How do you feel about the evolution of heavy rock and metal over the years, and where do you see the genre heading in the future?
We feel like in terms of what we like, there’s been an absence of it in a lot of the “core” metal genre’s of today. We love driving riffs, we love melodic vocals, we love huge choruses, we also really like that grainy production that a lot of our favorite bands have. You listen to a lot of new metal that is hitting charts and it has that “factory finish” production. Which is great for those who want that. Clearly a lot of people love it. What I have noticed is that hardcore is becoming bigger than it might’ve been 5 years ago. I think artists will gravitate towards that.
How do you deal with creative burnout or pressure to produce when you’re not feeling inspired?
Creative burnout only happens when we stop meeting up as a band. There will be times where we won’t meet due to some personal life obstacles that we’re all ready to get over with, and those are the times where we can feel that we’re missing something. I personally will never stop writing, in three years of being in this band I’ve probably built a vault of 200 songs on my phone. It’s what I do everyday and I’ve had that fire going since the beginning.
What’s one thing about the metal community that you think the wider music world often misunderstands?
I feel like the world lumps metal into one sound, and for that reason won’t really dig and find that accommodating sound to their own taste. With that generalization a lot of people will just write the community off as a bunch of angry guys who are super exclusive. We’ve noticed that our shows have been an opening for that new crowd. A lot of people who come for the first time to our shows will latch on and become fans of the opening bands as well.
How important are visuals (music videos, wardrobe, album art, etc.) to the band?
Visuals are incredibly important to us. We don’t prioritize more than the music, but in order to market something you need visuals. We feel our album art, single art, photoshoots, stage presence all really reflect our sound, and really personifies it even more with the listener.
Who are your biggest influences from a sound standpoint?
Our biggest influences range from Dokken, Ratt, Judas Priest, Van Halen, Armored Saint, Queensrÿche. It naturally shifts with each album, and it depends on what we’re listening to at the time.
If you could give an aspiring rock/metal musician one piece of advice, what would it be?
Write with people who share your same vision, don’t fall short on promoting, and make sure to not bite off more than you can chew too early on.
In 2022, your debut album ‘Chain Reaction’ came out then 2023 brought on your sophomore record, ‘Late Attraction’. Can we expect another album/ep or any other projects (tour, music video, etc.) this year?
We have an album coming out this year, scoping out for late spring early/summer of 2025. It will have two music videos for the initial single releases. We’ve been prepping a huge release for this album, just waiting on logistics to be finalized so we can start finalizing drop dates/announcements.
After this interview, Wanted has three scheduled shows in Michigan that fans can catch. The first is this weekend (as of publishing) at Lansing’s historic Grewal Hall, the second is on March 12th at Sanctuary in Detroit alongside bands Exhorder, Herakleion, and Void, and the third is in Westland at Token Longue to celebrate fellow metal group Faded and their album release on March 29th.
Apart from shows, listeners can expect an album in the coming months of 2025 and merch is always available on the group’s Bandcamp (below).
