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Editorials

THE HEAVY METAL GANGS OF WADEYE

 Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 12:00pm by

Earlier this year, the folks at VBS.tv heard faint rumblings of a remote Aboriginal township in Australia with a heavy metal gang problem. According to reports, Wadeye (population 2,232) was basically run by violent, spear-wielding gangs with names like the the Judas Priest Boys, Metallica and Evil Warriors. A team of Vice reporters went to see for themselves and documented the trip on video.

This is an incredibly interesting documentary that I highly recommend watching if you’ve got the time.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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  • Itheus

    I watched this a couple weeks back and found it immensely entertaining. The scene at the “disco” is especially enthralling.

    • The Roan

      my words exactly.

  • William Grimmkvlt

    These gangs are pussies compared to the Van Buren Boys.

  • Double D

    Metalsucks linking to Vice.(?) Never thought I’d see the day…

  • Baldish

    Very interesting videos. Thanks for sharing. Maybe America needs to take lessons from them and bring all the genres together to be peaceful.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-OConnor/1491245262 Colin O’Connor

    Thanks Vince. That was good.

  • canea

    The disco was epic. Was that a Megadeth song the Megadeth Mob was scratching their crotches to? I’m not current on my Megadeth…Those guys were clearly the winners though.

    Oh, and watch out for the Evanescence Mob down there by the river…

    • Baldish

      No, in the end credits they said they couldnt use the songs they actually played because of licensing. They just put their own songs in.

  • Genial Gentile

    While a lot of these Vice docs are pretty hit-or-miss, this one delivered. I’m always amazed at the strange ways that western culture is re-interpreted.

  • SomeKid

    That was an hour well spent. Thanks for sharing.

  • Rachel

    Wow this was a really interesting. One thing I was curious about was the commerce of the area. I mean, all these young adults had to have jobs to afford their Iron Maiden and Slayer gear. For that matter, they needed computers to buy this stuff online, because it’s not like a Hot Topic sits smack in the middle of an Australian dessert.

    • Alex_P

      My guess is that it’s obtained from trips to Darwin. Darwin’s fairly big, so they’d have merch stores, a metal scene, etc.

      • John

        Id be very surprised if they had jobs. In most of these areas theyre all on the dole. The govt pays for everything. I dont think these dipshit hipsters filming the doco realise just how fucking violent and horrible these “communities” can be. Its a damn shame how much aboriginal culture has been fucked up.

        • Vikki Riley

          Hey John
          The people of Wadeye are subject to the Federal Intervention. That means half their dole money is converted to a plastic card they have to use in the supermarket. No there are no jobs there mate.
          Except for white do gooders at the school who are on big salaries and do bugger all in terms of teaching literacy.
          Violent? Horrible? You’ve never gone to the outer suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney obviously where its totally fucked and dysfunctional. Wadeye is a place where aboriginal culture is pretty strong.
          Languages intact.
          You clearly have not visited there.

          Vikki

  • http://www.flamingtusk.com Zosimus

    My primary feeling by the end of the doc was HOLY SHIT ALL THESE PEOPLE NEED TO START BANDS. I, myself, would loooooove to hear some brutal-ass aborigine metal.

  • dametalz

    some band definately needs to go out there and play for these guys haha

    • LeroyDragon

      your totally right. Im gonna get Double Dragon to play for these cats.

  • xpurposex

    Wadeye? And I thought I had pink eye….

    HEY-OH!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-Showalter/100000592087843 Anthony Showalter

    That was a trip to watch, but they weren’t killing each other so it wasn’t THAT interesting. Ha! But the Madonna gang? That was just wierd.

  • http://www.tuhdeh.net Tom

    Incredibly interesting! Very entertaining to watch. Great post man!

  • Sud

    Heavy metal unites… That is all

  • Facebook User

    These guys are what Juggalos wish they could be, except with better taste.

  • dot

    genius move to remove violence! take away the alcohol, allow the weed! i can agree to that.

  • Ashley

    “Content Unavailable”

    i’m guessing this is due to the fact i’m not in the good ol’ US, I thought the web was supposed to be staying neutral? Anyway, is this documentary available anywhere else? Looks interesting…

    • dot

      i’m not from the u.s. but i can watch it just fine.

      • Ashley

        you’re right, just tried it again and it works fine. Not sure what the problem was

  • Lord Shay

    really interesting doc :)

  • large jockstrap

    I think i know where i’m going for my holidays after uni next year! (I’m from melbourne, australia, same place as the journos)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gabsung-Lim/568375471 Gabsung Lim

    the exodus mob were the coolest imo and the honky tonk guy hahahaha.

  • CYN1C

    Cool stuff man. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/William-Morley/618112437 William Morley

    Is this actually fucking real?

  • Sean

    Those hipster cocksucker documentary film-makers are so fucking weak. They don’t realize the aboriginie gangs/groups took heavy metal music and incorporated it into their own culture and are actually doing something original as far as trying to find their own identities/keep their culture going because technically speaking…..they’re the people that time forgot.

    “Music seems to be an important thing to these people”

    NO SHIT YOU FUCKING COLLEGE TRUST FUND HIPSTER COCKSUCKER. DON’T THEY TEACH YOU THAT IN ANTHROPOLOGY 101?

    • Ida

      Yup, what he said

  • Bret

    That was very cool. I can’t believe I watched the whole thing. One thing though, i didn’t see the Poison Mob. I would have like to see them dance to ‘Every Turd Has its Corn’.

  • beardy

    latfh

    • corpsegrinder

      These guys are more metal than half of us could ever dream to be.

      • Ida

        Absolute garbage. Your comment shows your ignorance.

  • noodle

    hey guys. that was really interesting to watch. I actually live in Wadeye right now and it was quite interesting to watch that and see people i see on a day to day basis. as for the tshirts they get them from the local store which is where they get most of their clothes from. I love the fact that they love their music so much and every second person under the age of 30 has a mp3 player attached to their head which i found quite surprising when i got here. The gang names a rather interesting too, I heard there was once a Britney Spears gang……….

  • Ida

    Typical Dumb city folk. Don’t have a single clue. Never been to the NT before, probably never been out of Melbourne either. How this crap made it onto T.V. is anybodies guess.

  • Ian Knightley

    I wonder if these people knew that Rob Halford was gay, would still belong to the Judas Priest gang.
    Actually do they even know who Rob Halford and Ian Hill are ?