But there’s no shortcut for putting in the hours. He told me, “In a negotiation, the guy who has prepared more usually wins.” Enrique has always been a fan of heavy metal music and any “extreme music.” Growing up in Phoenix may have helped foster this, as he tells me that “Arizona is the most metal state in the country.” Metal magazine Kerrang! supports his theory... “Fueled by living in a landscape out of a sci-fi novel with temperatures that rival those of Hell itself, and fostered by marginalized groups living in a largely conservative area, Arizona’s metal scene is not only creatively fertile, but also pure in its appreciation of heaviness.”
FINDING SILENCE IN THE MUSIC
In 2017, Enrique started a new business venture that combined three of his biggest passions: metal, tattoos, and business. He founded and is the current CEO of Project M Group, a digital media and e-commerce company focused on the metal and tattoo artforms. (Incidentally, the “M” stands for monetization, not metal.) Project M purchased Revolver magazine, an aging pillar in the rock-publication industry. Enrique was a subscriber long before he owned it. “Our world of rock and metal is actually much bigger than people understand in terms of dollars... It’s super vibrant... Yet the media that serves it is just kind of old school.” The plan was to refurbish and relaunch the magazine, with an added digital ad agency layered on top. Since the acquisition, Revolver ’s audience has increased 1,500%. “I’m very passionate about heavy music.” Enrique finds loud metal music calming... Studies have shown that listening to extreme kinds of music helps to purge emotions like anger and depression, and it acts to sooth people with traumatic pasts. He heard the band Tool playing in a record store in 1991 and fell in love... He’s since seen Tool live in concert 47 times. Tool is known for their 15-minute-plus songs, and although Enrique tells me he doesn’t actually listen to the lyrics, the music is like therapy to him... “Their songs are like these giant narratives where you can really lose yourself. Look, I
“A Tool song is like smoking a cigar and drinking a fine wine or some absinthe for a whole evening.”
American Consequences
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