What lies behind a mask? It’s a question that’s shadowed the public’s view of anonymous figures from pop culture and politics since before we’ve been able to paint faces on cave walls. What compels someone to hide their face? To Norfolk’s enigmatic Punk duo, Balaclava, it’s a question they’re all too familiar with. To find out what it’s like to walk the world with two faces, NTKO’s Mitch spoke to Balaclava’s resident Guitarist and all-around badass, ‘B’ about punk ideology, the optics of superficiality, and filming Jesus in a mannequin graveyard…

Big hair, big performances, and huge personalities: 1980’s Los Angeles was the neon-drenched cradle for a new breed of music that would rock the world from its East-Coast epicentre for more than a decade, and shake the entire rock and metal genres for years to come. Building on the foundations of performers like Alice Cooper and David Bowie, hair metal (or glam metal) takes the artistry and frustrations of the 1970’s and cranks the intensity up to 11; acid-bright colours, thunderous live shows, and enough hairspray and musical talent to light the world on fire caught the metal scene by the mouth with its shamelessly loud, proud…