BEGGAR
With music vicious war zones, these sludge metallers are a unique new force
WORDS: MATT MILLS
AS DISAPPOINTING AS it is, being in a heavy metal band is rarely a full-time job. If you want enough cash to record in a studio or tour nationwide, you are likely to need a nine-to-five for that financial backbone, and bands from Slayer to Conjurer have all known it. In Jake Leyland’s case, he’s moonlighted as the guitarist for sludge metal nasties Beggar since their formation in 2011; by day, however, he works for humanitarian healthcare organisation Médecins Sans Frontières, spending up to half of his year in the world’s harshest war zones.
“I started working with Médecins Sans Frontières in 2016,” the musician says. “I do what’s called ‘health promotion’, which is going around and saying, ‘This is who we are, this is why we’re here, and we’ll be coming back every week to give vaccines.’