These women are about to play Glastonbury. That should be no surprise given their nation is mad about metal

CNN —

Thrash metal trio Voice of Baceprot have come a long way since their teen years attending an Islamic school in Indonesia, where they first discovered System of a Down on a teacher’s computer and fell in love with heavy metal music.

Earlier this week the band touched down in Britain ahead of their highest profile gig to date, joining the likes of Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Sza to play at the 2024 Glastonbury festival. They will be the first Indonesian band ever to play at the iconic event.

Guitarist and vocalist Firda “Marsya” Kurnia said the band was “super nervous and excited” to bring their brand of Sundanese metal music to a global stage on Friday and told CNN that they were also planning on camping to get into the spirit of the world-renowned event.

“We are here and ready to rock out at Glastonbury,” she said. “Our set is going to be something different and show (the world) Indonesia and Indonesian culture.”

Dressed in skinny jeans and headscarves, Marsya and her bandmates drummer Euis Siti Aisyah and bassist Widi Rahmawati are a far cry from the average heavy metal band.

But in many ways their embrace of thrash metal – Baceprot means “loud” in Sundanese – shouldn’t be surprising. In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, metal has long been tremendously popular.

“Heavy metal is a way of life in Indonesia and Voice of Baceprot (VOB) has proven against all odds that women too can play and rock out just as hard,” Pri Ario Damar, dean of the performing arts faculty at the Jakarta Institute of Arts – and a self-professed metalhead – told CNN.

“They are young, exciting and represent a new brand of Indonesian metal.”

The band on stage at The New Parish venue on August 18, 2023 in Oakland,