Thrash talk: Heavy-metal-loving Virginia legislator co-hosts ‘Liquid Metal’ radio show on SiriusXM

Del. Danica Roem still gets chills when recalling her all-time favorite heavy metal performance.

She was in Germany in 2013 at Wacken Open Air, one of the largest annual metal festivals in the world. Floor Jansen, lead vocalist of Nightwish, was performing “Ghost Love Score.”

“She hits this above the treble clef high ‘f’ sharp and she holds this note,” Roem said. “She holds her left hand up in the air and she sings — and talking about it right now has just sent goose bumps up my arms.”

It may not be what some people expect from a state legislator, but Roem is a self-described metal head. Listeners to a SiriusXM radio station may have caught the Manassas Democrat talking about her love of music this weekend as she co-hosted the “Liquid Metal with Jose” radio show, with host Jose Mangin.

Roem, 37, who’s been a fan of heavy metal music since high school, said she played some of her favorite hits from Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Arch Enemy, and also discussed her new memoir, “Burn the Page.”

“It’s audio rebellion,” said Roem, explaining why she loves discussing metal. “There’s so much technicality in music to begin with that you just don’t find the diversity in metal in any other genre of music.”

Roem, who also co-hosted with Mangin in 2019, said they connected shortly after she won her seat in the House of Delegates five years ago.

“Jose was so excited when I won my first campaign in 2017 and he talked about me on the radio, so I reached out to him,” she said, explaining Mangin was excited to see a fellow metal-head take office. Roem had talked publicly about her love of heavy metal.

Roem added that she became hooked on metal after attending Ozzfest in Virginia as a teenager in 1999.

Since then, Roem, the nation’s first openly transgender state legislator, estimated she’s been to hundreds of concerts across the globe. And she doesn’t just sit on the sidelines; she also was a vocalist for Cab Ride Home, a Northern Virginia thrash metal band that disbanded in 2017.

While her love of metal may be somewhat unorthodox for a politician, Roem said she doesn’t mind going against the grain.

“When I ran for office in 2017, I did not come from central casting,” she said. “I was a transgender, metal head, reporter, yogini, vegetarian stepmom who was unemployed, uninsured and driving a $324 Dodge Shadow.”

Given that she’s been elected three times, Roem added that it appears her constituents appreciate her authenticity.

“(Heavy metal) is part of my identity,” she said. “I will always have a heavy metal heart; that will never change.”

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com, 757-835-1487