One of heavy metal music’s veteran ambassadors has set out to prove there are still new ideas to explore in what’s becoming a mature genre. 

As the former frontman of Pantera and the current vocalist for the New Orleans-based supergroup Down, Philip H. Anselmo could have tapped into one of his many creative wells from the past 25 years in the music business for his debut solo album Walk Through Exits Only, which dropped on July 16.

After nearly 10 years on Division Avenue, volunteer run music venue and art gallery The Division Avenue Arts Collective (The DAAC) is being forced to close its doors on Aug. 1 due to a change in building ownership.

• Grand Rapids
• Division Avenue Arts Collective
• Breathe Owl Breathe
• La Dispute

Like with her music, ZZ Ward follows a classic style by incorporating fedoras into her wardrobe, paying homage to her blues heroes like Robert Johnson, while adding a twist of her own. "I have, like, 60 fedoras," Ward said.

"I started singing in a blues band when I was 12 and I would always wear a fedora because it would remind me of the blues. So I wear a fedora to pay homage to the blues artists that I grew up listening to."

• Grand Rapids
• ZZ Ward
• The Pyramid Scheme

Founders makes damn good beer. That's not a secret, especially to those of us right here in West Michigan. But word has gotten out, and in the company's short 16-year history, its reach has already spread to 25 states.

Musician and producer Tommy Schichtel likes to think of himself as a mad scientist when he's in the recording studio. He admits he can lose hours experimenting in his analog-only studio, Goon Lagoon, based in Grand Rapids' North side.

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Ultraviolet Hippopotamus is a behemoth of the road, a formidable force on the national progressive jam band scene. The instrumentally adroit Grand Rapids rock band travels coast to coast, playing 150 to 200 shows a year.

Let's face it — playing music doesn't always bring in the paper. Many of West Michigan's finest musicians tend to 9 to 5 jobs to pay the bills. We followed six musicians to their day jobs and found out what they do when they’re offstage.

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• slideshow

While it may not be by design, Matt Ten Clay’s workspace is fitting. Ten Clay, 32, owns, operates and sometimes lives out his recording studio, Amber Lit Audio.

• music issue

Mastodon is in every way a gargantuan presence in the metal world, so it's only fitting the band's name is that of a mammoth.

When Pennsylvania-based singer/songwriter Koji was looking for a place to write his first full-length album, he chose Grand Rapids. But why travel all the way to Grand Rapids to create such an important milestone of his career?

• Grand Rapids
• Koji
• La Dipsute
• Pyramid Scheme