Star of Netflix Show Atypical Plays in Death Metal and Grindcore Bands

It has recently come to light that Keir Gilchrist, the actor in the Netflix TV show Atypical who plays Sam Gardner, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, is a devoted metalhead and the frontman of two extreme metal bands. Gilchrist plays in the grindcore band Whelm and death metal outfit Phalanx, and he elaborated on his side career and love of metal in a new feature with Bandcamp.

After showing up hoarse to a shoot for Atypical, the 27-year-old actor had to swear off screaming into microphones while the show is in shooting season. The show’s producers didn’t take too kindly to injuries he sustained on stage, either: “I slipped on beer on the floor and cracked my face on a cinder block that was holding the kick drum, bruising it,” he explains. “That was not received well.”

Gilchrist constantly wrestles with his double identity, telling Bandcamp, “I had this fear that if people found out what kind of stuff I was into, or even how I dressed normally, that it would ruin my [acting] career. And I had another fear that if people in the [metal] scene knew that I acted, they’d be like, ‘You’re a fucking poser. Get the fuck out.’ I was terrified that those two worlds would cross, and I would be ratted out of both scenes.”

The actor is slated to appear the upcoming “home invasion thriller” An Intrusion, which is tied much more closely to the scene we all know and love: the soundtrack was assembled by Weekend Nachos guitarist Andy Nelson and includes music by Body of Light and Full of Hell, and the cast is show wearing t-shirts by Sanction, Dragged Into Sunlight, Wounded Touch, The Red Chord, Masakari, and Cursed.

Read the full article at Bandcamp.