Bad Reputation 2 Year Anniversary Party Was a (Head)Banger

“Just follow the magic call,” King Diamond advised metalheads looking to gather in their masses (just like witches at…well, you know) on Mercyful Fate’s 1984 classic “Come to the Sabbath.” Alas, those guiding strains have long been difficult to detect in Miami — or were before Lily Beckmann launched the improbably successful monthly punk, metal, rock n’ roll, and motorcycles confab Bad Reputation at the Corner in downtown, which celebrated its two-year anniversary with a blowout party on October 30 featuring “Vice City Hooligan Rock” purveyors Pena Maxima and tattooist Joey McFlowy.

“When Lily reached out to me about starting Bad Reputation, it sounded like a good time, but from my own experience I thought the chances of it becoming a staple night in this city was slim,” Miami metal legend Rick Smith — drummer for landmark South Florida bands Torche, Cavity, Wrong, and others, as well as Bad Reputation’s resident DJ — says. “I’ve been trying to curate hard rock, metal and punk nights in Miami for over twenty years, and it’s been the steepest uphill battle, I swear. Somehow Lily made this work, and the night fully developed into one of the most fun events for rockers and bikers in Miami.” 

It really is a dark miracle: Summoned into existence in the very shadow of the decidedly un-metal E11EVEN nightclub, Bad Reputation is more than a mere cattle call of heavy bands— though that can be great, too, of course, if already covered elsewhere in the city. This is a holistic celebration around metal heavy culture, complete with rows of revving motorcycles, a brilliantly curated playlist courtesy Stevens that jumps from lost-to-time demo obscurities to imprinted-on-your-DNA bangers, special events, one spotlight live set, and a chance to network with like-minded people who bring shred-level air guitar and on-beat grim nods rather than business cards.

Bad Reputation is, in short, the popular meme — “Metalheads are nice people cosplaying as mean people, while hippies are mean people cosplaying as nice people” — come to life.

“I chose the name in honor of the Thin Lizzy song ‘Bad Reputation,’” Beckmann shares. “But, also, because the rock and metal scenes have kind of a bad reputation with those who have never really experienced it. In reality, most metalheads and bikers are the nicest, coolest people you’ll ever meet, people who will literally give you the leather jacket off their back if you need it.”

Beckmann herself knows what it is like to experience the welcoming nature of Greater Metaldom firsthand. Born in New York, she grew up a self-described “classic rock fanatic,” building a record collection that swung from Bowie to Neil Young. At nineteen Beckmann moved to Miami solo and bounced around a bit before settling into the bar industry, working at Magic City rock n’ roll beachheads Las Rosas and Gramps. “I learned pretty quickly that metal music makes me happy,” she says, the Black Sabbath flying angel tattoo on her arm providing an implicit exclamation mark. “Maybe that sounds cheesy to say but, then again, I learned, also pretty quickly, that metal makes a lot of people happy.” 

When Beckmann took a position in 2019 first as a bartender and then eventually as General Manager of the cozy, proletarian New Orleans-inspired old school neighborhood bar The Corner, the idea of a night dedicated to her beloved underground rock and metal began to blossom. “The Miami rock scene may be relatively small, but it is devoted,” she says, pointing out that Bad Reputation is about lifting up a niche not dominating an electronica-heavy city-wide market. “There are a million bars and clubs you can walk into and hear Bad Bunny playing, but not too many playing Mercyful Fate. Could I book a popular house DJ and make a quick buck? Probably. But we are a really small local business. And, while making money is great, you get involved in a really small business, first and foremost, to build a community where people can really get to know one another and have a place to belong.” 

It’s not merely about getting people in the door, in other words, but about what awaits on the other side. 

Turns out it was a good bet. Bad Reputation has had an organic, slow and steady build over the last two years, a mix of regulars and new faces repping at every party. And while there’s much to be said for the fact that Beckmann — who puts a colossal amount of work into every iteration — is spearheading a much-needed effort to increase the number of women-led spaces and events in Miami, the metal impresario gives major credit to her partner in crime, Smith. “He brings a lot of metal and rock heart and soul to this,” she says. “I’ve been introduced to so much amazing music through him. His sets are the perfect mix of ‘I love this song!’ staples and ‘I can’t believe I never heard this incredible track!’ deep cuts.”

“I’m very proud to be such a big contributor to it,” Smith says, “and I hope we can continue this tradition far into the future!”

Why not? It’s a tale as old as…well, maybe not time itself, but at least one that stretches back to 1983’s anthem “Metal Militia” by a then-fledgling Metallica, on which James Hetfield sang of trying to get a message to isolated and atomized metalheads “through the mist and the madness” — a description that fits, among other things, massive techno clubs. (It’s a song the now not-so-fledgling band most recently performed at Hard Rock in Hollywood back in ’22, by the way.) And, further, this stanza seems very Bad Reputation apropos:

“We are as one, yes, we are all the same
Fighting for one cause
Leather and metal are our uniforms
Protecting what we are
Joining together to take on the world with our heavy metal 
Spreading the message to everyone here: ‘Come let yourself go.'”