Castor, the son of Metallica frontman James Hetfield, has offered his thoughts on Gene Simmons’ “rock is dead” claim, saying rock shows are still a “real thing”

Castor Hetfield of Bastardane

(Image credit: Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic)

If you’ve somehow been living as a hermit for the past ten years and haven’t been exposed to the never-ending stream of commentary about rock music’s lifespan, allow us to give you a quick reminder on where it all began.

In 2014, Kiss legend Gene Simmons claimed that rock is dead, and ever since, the world of heavy music have not ceased their squabbling over whether it’s actually dead or not. Recently, Simmons reaffirmed his views and said to Metal Hammer: “I stand by my words: rock is dead. The people that killed it are fans. Fans killed the thing they loved by downloading and file sharing for free.

“How do you expect somebody who loves the guitar to come into this creative process? You’ve got to reinvent yourself. And so rock is dead.”

James Hetfield's Son Castor Picks His Career-Defining Song

Alrighty then. Now, Castor, the son of Metallica frontman James Hetfield, has weighed in on the argument.

In a recent interview on the Mike Nelson Show with Bastardane, Castor’s band in which he plays drums, the band are asked to reveal their views on Simmons’ infamous assessment. The general consensus? That rock isn’t dead, and we have live music to thank.

Guitarist Ethan Sirotzk says: “He’s lying. It’s bullshit. I think it will come back but be much different. I don’t think a revival is going to be, ‘Oh, the ’80s and ’90s are happening again.’ I think people will draw from that and create something new that will be really big and exciting.”

While Castor adds: “I think there’s a lot of people, that all the shows that they’ve seen live is just some guy with a microphone in front of a computer. I mean, I’m not gonna hate on the music but the live aspect of it — what are you gonna watch?

“There’s quite a few people who, I feel like, have come to one of our shows and been, ‘Wow. This is the first real instrument show I’ve seen and it’s more of a spectacle.’

“And I think people are realising that it’s a real thing and I feel like there’s a lot of appreciation towards it, especially now that there’s a lot of those computer music guys out there. I just think it’s cooler to watch live — more going on — and it just feels more intense. You can mess up — playing guitar, you can mess up. The computer is not gonna mess up.”