My name is Darren Cowan. I am editor Metal Ship English. I live in Georgetown, Texas--which is near Austin. Austin is the capital of our massive state and proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World," so I'm always attending live shows of my fave metal acts or taking in the massive local scene (check out my buds in Engaged in Mutilating from San Antonio, they have a page on Metal Ship!)

I live in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin--the state's capital. I have written for over 10 publications including a newspaper, martial arts magazine, and around six metal ezines/portals including The Gauntlet, Blistering.com, and Metal Mayhem UK. I'm serious about my metal, and I love to write. I have an English degree from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. I used to teach English in middle and high school public schools.

I've been a metal head since early teens and liked some classic/hair metal as a kid in the '80s. Certain friends in Michigan turned me onto metal around age 15-17, started going to shows at 16. My first metal show was Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies on the Headbanger's Ball tour back in 92 or so.

I mostly liked mainstream metal through high school, but bands like King Diamond, Slayer, Danzig turned me onto metal's darker side. Around 1993, I started listening to famous death metal like Entombed, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Deicide. Then I watched "Traces of Death II," and heard the soundtrack which included Grave, Unleashed, Asphyx and Morgoth and became a much bigger fan of Death Metal.

I first discovered black metal in 1995 when I watched pioneering cult USBM black metal artist Masochist play in Lansing, Michigan. About a year later, I read a Spin article about Norwegian Black Metal as well as an underground magazine interview with Samoth of Emperor and I had to check out Norwegian black metal. Then, I was hooked!

Since discovering European metal, I've gotten more into doom and folk.

Favorite metal experiences: Milwaukee Metal Fest 1998 (first appearances in North America by Emperor, Mayhem, Sodom, Impaled Nazarene), plus Mercyful Fate, Suffocation, The Chasm, Death (Richard Christy just joined), Six Feet Under, Crowbar and a bunch of other killer bands, Danzig on Danzig III second leg tour, Emperor on first US tour with Borknagar, Witchery and Peccatum in tow; plus...too many to recall!

Best band interviews I've conducted: Suicidal Tendencies, Testament, King Diamond, Ihsahn, Green Carnation, Dismember, Unleashed, Pestilence, Winds, Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Devin Townsend, Municipal Waste, Gwar, Richard Christy (Death, Iced Earth), Monster Magnet, Burzum, Kreator, Destruction and Deicide