Band called idiedtrying brings color to black metal with latest record

J. Anthony (Tony) Goff — the frontman of one-man metal band, idiedtrying — is not allowed to give less than 110%. To give less would be to go against the ideals stated in the all-lowercase name he’s identified with over the past 23 years.

It’s clear Goff’s passion for music and showmanship runs deep with idiedtrying’s visceral multimedia shows, where the music, while paramount, is seemingly secondary to the lights and videos heightening the audience’s immersive experience. He often breaks down behind the mic, incessantly thanking those who showed up, hardly mentioning his doubters. Each performance, he expels every ounce of sweat available to him.

Lately, each idiedtrying show has been billed more like an event than just another bar show — which they’re not anyway since many of them take place in movie theaters, with horror flicks to follow. But with the release of idiedtrying’s new record, “Gimme Color / Volume One,” from I Am What I Am Recordings, Goff is bringing the energy of Cross-Media Theater — the music-then-movie events he’s been putting on since 2017 — to a stacked metal bill, minus the movie.

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idiedtrying’s record release show is Saturday, May 24 at the Fairborn Phoenix. Special guests Absent the Mind, Nick Wheeler, Norm Lilly, and Time is Now will also be performing.

The release event will be filmed and will serve as idiedtrying’s next concert film, which will eventually be released on Blu-ray and streaming.

Within metal, there are trappings and pigeonholes, like all-black clothes, all-black instruments, and an overwhelming sense that everything is bleak. But, as heavy as some of the music on “Gimme Color” gets — and believe you me, the guttural screams and ripping guitars make it pretty heavy — Goff knows, empirically, that life isn’t black and white.

“I like art and I like color. I want every shade,” he said. “There was a period of time when hardcore bands were trying to see who could be more pissed off. Yeah, that’s cool, but what about the other 20 emotions I feel every single day?”

Goff is also a big pro wrestling fan. The album’s name derives from the wrestling term “getting color,” referring to when wrestlers intentionally cause a minor in-ring bloodbath to create more dramatic visuals in a match, effectively going into that next step of reality when reality is being questioned.

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Each of the six songs on the album, produced by Goff, has a color that correlates to each song’s title, as shown on the back cover art that looks like a VHS box set — “Bath Towel Cape” gets “autumn red,” while “Beware Them Weirdos” gets “blue whack-a-doo.”

“Gimme Color” encompasses the past as much as the future, with direct references from Goff’s childhood. He describes it like having a backpack of all the things that made you who you are, that gets you to where you’re going.

Physical copies of the album also come with the bonus track, “To Carry On…” The interesting thing about the use of the ellipses is Goff’s inclination toward building anticipation between his releases and shows. There are often “to be continued…”-adjacent title cards on his music videos, akin to those found in the 1960s Adam West “Batman” series, as if he’s previewing upcoming storylines.

“It keeps them waiting,” Goff said. “I’ve always liked leaving everything open. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but there is something there that makes you kind of go, Wait, where is this going? I like to have everything be interconnected, because this is a journey that I’m on, and I’m taking everybody with me.”

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Goff also treats every song like an album; many are as long as short EPs, some as long as LPs. The first five songs on “Gimme Color” are currently out with music videos. Although a lyric video for the sixth song, “Throwing Knives,” a 28-minute opus, has yet to be finished. Not dropping a heavy load of heavy songs in one fell swoop allows people to zone in to one thing for a certain period of time, which is likely why “Gimme Color” has been eight-plus years in the making.

Since 2002, idiedtrying has closed each show with “Swallowing Swords,” Goff’s late-mother’s favorite idiedtrying song. She once suggested he write a sequel, which explains the existence of the second blade-based song, “Throwing Knives.” Similar in structure, with a Buddy Guy-inspired blues section, “Throwing Knives” is the sequel that his mother always wanted. And, for the first time ever, it can be heard on “Gimme Color,” and will likely make it into Goff’s new, highly curated, thought-out shows.

Before idiedtrying reformed as a one-man metal band fronted by Tony Goff, the band was deemed too metal for hardcore, too weird for metal, and too long-winded for punk. But a wide gamut of people now show up for idiedtrying because it is a scene unto itself: a scene of people with popcorn on their laps and buttered-up, heavy metal devil horns above their heads.

“A lot of people don’t have people to turn to, or places to go,” Goff said. “You don’t have to be accepted by anybody else. There’s enough room for everybody to do whatever they want. My whole thing, for a really long time now, has been trying to express gratitude back to these people, and to basically anybody who’s listening.”

Tony Goff gives metal a little color, 110% of the time.

Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.