METAL, HEART, AND STONE //

Sponsors: Project Holds, Asana

Local area(s): Boat Rock, Little River Canyon, Rocktown, Red River Gorge

Proudest sends: TunaTown (5.12d), RRG; Bionic Lab Rats (direct sit; v8), Rocktown, GA; onsight soloing spree last summer at Lover’s Leap, CA

When I first met the Berkeley, California native Shadow Ayala, it felt like I was encountering a long-lost friend. A nomad, the 37-year-old has been on the road since he was 8. He found climbing six years ago, adding it to his roster of interests/ occupations, like touring the states in a metal band and shooting photographs as though it was a life’s journal. Shadow now makes his (temporary) home in the Southern jungles surrounding Miguel’s Pizza (where he works “sling the sweet slices,” he says), at the Red River Gorge. Most late afternoons, you can find him chilling with his dog, Sumo, and conversing around the campfire. In the mornings, he wakes early and heads out in search of new stone, or to work a project in the Red’s big, steep, sandstone "hollers."

Recently, you’ve been working on musical scores for Victory Productions climbing videos. How long have you been making music, and what got you started?
I’ve been writing music ever since I was a little kid. There was always a piano in my family, and my parents gave me a Casio keyboard with drum pads when I was 12. Before that, I’d rock the drums on couch pillows while watching TV.

I heard you were part of a heavy metal band called Sinisstar, which toured with various mainstream bands around the turn of the millennium. Tell us a little bit about this. . . .
Sinisstar landed a song as an unsigned band on the Heavy Metal 2000 movie soundtrack. Our achievement started an insane bidding war within the industry. Sinisstar eventually signed with a major label for an astronomical amount of money and made a record called “Future Shock.” While touring for a few years, we had to fight a legal battle with the label to have “Future Shock” released. Without love from the label, Sinisstar eventually parted ways and the band was dropped. There has been talk of a doom project with my homeboy Edgemont in the future.

Are your tattoos and piercings for stage presence or personal reasons?
Tattoos have always been kinda personal to me. You just don’t ask people about their tattoos in the neighborhood that I grew up in. It’s kinda like pointing out someone’s flaw, if they have one. I removed all my piercings while working as a bike messenger, so I could slip through the metal detectors of the federal and state buildings without stopping. I never put them back in. Image has never been very important to me. I’ve been more focused on being in tune with the self, the moment, and overcoming my weaknesses. The outside may be nice to look at, but the inside is where the integrity lives.

What initially got you into the climbing scene and what’s kept you in it?
Just flat out fun, man! I always joke that it’s such a rough life, but then I crack a smile ‘cause I know I’m living the dream. Even if the dream is being a climbing bum, writing songs on the laptop in the middle of the boulder field.

What do you like most about the climbing community (besides climbing)?
It’s like a giant mosh pit — if you fall down, there’s usually someone there to pick your ass back up again. I also like how people are steering away from the names and numbers garble these days. It’s incredibly nice when your hangin’ out with a group of climbers and no one is talking about climbing.

You’ve had some images published in UCMag in the past — are you still into photography?
Sniper mode is the dope jam! I am a little bummed right now ‘cause I had to sell my photo rig. I ran out of dinero while I was in the city and had to fetch that pretty penny to make it to the Red. One day I’ll have a camera again, but I seem to have a lot of music opportunities right now to keep me busy, so it’s all good.