Stourbridge heavy metal band that inspired Metallica feature in new mural

A fourth striking mural paying homage to Stourbridge’s rich musical heritage has now been completed by the town’s popular street artist Cal.

The multi-media artist has painted the logos of 90s chart stars Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin on prominent walls around the town as all were famously associated with Stourbridge in their beginnings.

Now, he’s completed a fourth large-scale logo - this one celebrating influential heavy metal band Diamond Head - which has been painted on the white wall above Pentographix T-shirt shop in Hagley Road.

Diamond Head, formed in Stourbridge in 1976 by Brian Tatler, and schoolfriends Duncan Scott, Sean Harris and Colin Kimberly, have long been credited with influencing the early sounds of metal giants Metallica and Megadeath as part of a new wave of British heavy metal music back in the 70s.

Cal said of his latest artwork: “It went well. We got it done within - eight to ten days. The weather was really good but it was quite tricky. I'd say it was the trickiest one out of all of them, just to try and get the symmetry and to make sure that it's perfect in every sense, you know, the same on both sides.”

Members of Diamond Head have reportedly given the tribute the thumbs up, having popped to the site to see it for themselves.

Cal said: “A few of the band members have come down, the original band members, and they love it. They're really proud of it, and they're proud of their hometown - proud of Stourbridge. I think it’s the biggest version of their logo they might have seen.”

Sign up our newsletter https://www.expressandstar.com/subscribe/

Next up Cal’s hoping to pay tribute to Led Zeppelin superstar Robert Plant, who went to school in Stourbridge and started out his early music career playing in pubs around the town.

He is also keen to acknowledge some of the town’s rising young musical talent too and has already painted a tribute in one of Stourbridge’s subways to up and coming act Gans who are signed to Pete Doherty's record label.

The band tributes feature on a new Stourbridge Art Map, created by illustrator Stacy Hammond and Cal, and there’ll be an exhibition about it at Cal’s Future Rebel art gallery in Canal Street, Stourbridge, on May 22.