Up and coming local rock and metal bands made their way to the Mutiny Pub on June 15 and 16 to participate in “The Exposed Music Festival.”

The two-day Antioch festival helps local bands gain some exposure by allowing them to play their music in front of a live audience.

The host of the night, Juliya Chernetsky aka Mistress Juliya, has worked on the music network Fuse and hosted programs like Uranium and Slave to the Metal.

Chernetsky feels that these sort of events are necessary in order for this genre of music to grow.

“The purpose of the event is to promote local bands and give them the opportunity to be heard by others,” said Chernetsky.  “The problem with metal bands today is that no one is booking them, so it makes it difficult to get their music out there. This gives bands an opportunity for their music to be heard.”

Christian Francisco, who plays guitar for his band Waking Wonder and considers it to be an instrumental band, admits exposure was one of the reasons why he signed up for the event.

Since all the bands that played at the festival fell into the category of the rock or metal, Francisco’s band definitely stood out.

The band is a trio consisting of bass player Joseph Aguda, drummer Ryan Francisco and guitar player Christian Francisco.

Though the band has no vocals, the spectators did not seem to be bothered by the unique make-up of the band and showed so with a loud cheer.

“The fact they were into it,” said Francisco, “it meant a lot.”

Kryptic Memories from Fairfield played their song “Manifest” at the festival and the crowd bobbed their heads throughout the performance.

“They are a good band,” said John Green of Pittsburgh.  “They are one of the better bands that I have heard tonight.”

Green was also happy to see local bands get a chance to shine in the spotlight.

“It is cool,” Green said.  “Some of these bands work really hard and sometimes they have nothing to show for it in the end.  I know of bands that have been playing for six or seven years and still have not recorded a CD, so to see them perform and get their name out there is great.”

Though it cannot be said for sure if any of the bands at the festival will make it big, showcases like these increase the possibility of getting discovered.

Even though metal does not seem to be high in demand with music fans and the music industry right now, Chernetsky is confident that metal music will eventually find its way back as being a leading music genre.

“Metal music comes in cycles,” she said.  “You have a period of time where you have a lot of really good metal bands all at one time then it seems to fade for a while and then all of a sudden a new generation emerges. I can’t wait for that next generation of artists.”