Meet Ray Van Horn, Jr.:
Ray’s affinity for heavy metal began as a teenager in 1982. His writing pursuits began at age 15, and after many rejections, he eventually published short fiction in various periodicals and anthologies. He won Quantum Muse’s fiction contest in 1999. He spent six years writing his debut novel, Mentor, which was published in 2002. During this time, Ray was also a hockey journalist, local newspaper reporter and music reviewer for various papers. As metal music was being a resurgence in North America, his passion for the genre was re-energized as he began interviewing musicians for an ongoing non-fiction project.
That ultimately led him to the Goth/punk/electronic magazine Legends in 2003. With a handful of industry interviews under his belt, Ray began writing for multiple websites and magazines, starting with Pitriff.com and quickly building his portfolio to where he currently writes for many outlets, in addition to conducting concert photography. Ray also currently does freelance writing and photography for Metromix, an affiliate of The Baltimore Sun, as well a local newspaper, the Northern News. Ray recently played a zombie in the independent horror film, Bane.
Experience:
To date Ray has conducted over 300 interviews with metal and punk musicians, in addition to horror film actors and directors, plus visual artists. He has also written over 600 CD and DVD reviews. After cutting his teeth with Legends magazine, Ray has become a regular writer for Metal Maniacs, AMP, Hails & Horns, Unrestrained and Impose magazines. In the past, he has written for Pit, Caustic Truths, Loud Fast Rules and Angst magazines. Ray was the host of AMP magazine’s metal column “Death From Below” from 2005 to 2008, as well as Pit magazine’s “Artists of the Macabre” series.
Ray has been a regular web contributor to Pitriff.com, Music Dish.com, Rough Edge.com, Metal Injection, Pivotal Rage.com, Live4Metal.com, AllThingsMetal.net, Maelstrom and Inside Metal.net. Additionally, Ray writes movie and music reviews for DVD Review.com. Aside from joining the About.com team, Ray is starting work with Skynet Media and Joonbug Productions for their soon-to-be-launched site Velvet Sky. Ray also hosts his own blogsite,
The Metal Minute, which is affiliated with the None Louder.com network.
From Ray:
You’d have to have lived the original metal scene in the eighties to really appreciate how far it’s all come now. My generation paid this one’s dues in many unspoken ways, but the satisfying reality is that metal is hot on a global level once again and though I’m approaching middle age, I’m blessed to be reliving my youth, which the majority of my generation has failed to accomplish, despite its love of nostalgia.
To truly be in the moment once again is to submit yourself in whole, and as I’ve had the opportunity to serve the music community that defined my teenaged years, I’m grateful to have interviewed the majority of the people who stared down at me from my walls in the eighties, and to have the privilege to get to know some of today’s brightest hopefuls in the metal scene. I used to daydream of speaking with Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, Ronnie James Dio and Judas Priest, considering the level of difficulty it was to break into music journalism back in the day.
Daydreams became reality and now each day I’m in this game is a blessing and the more people I meet and talk with makes me happy that the sacrifices I and my family have made to reach this level and beyond has been worth it.
