Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Teens listen to Ill Omen perform at Southside 220 on March 18.

Joey Coleman is the drummer with the band Madrone.

A line of teenage girls bang their heads as Ill Omen, a Roanoke hardcore metal band, performs.

Out in rural Roanoke County, off U.S. 220, drivers and riders can feel the volume as they approach an old roadhouse a few miles south of the Roanoke city limit.

The sign overhead spells out "TATTOO," but the noise indicates there is something else going on.

A guttural moan of vocals escapes the building, underpinned by a grinding, distorted guitar attack and slamming drums. A piercing wail quickly follows the moan.

Inside, about 30 people, mostly high-school-age kids, sling their heads and pump their arms as a Lynchburg band -- death metal/thrash purveyors The Pear of Anguish -- holds musical court.

It's a typical weeknight at Southside 220 and its upstairs neighbor, Black Label Tattoos. And some of the best heavy rock bands in the country play the room on a regular basis, performing for kids who love their style of music but have no place nearby to hear it live.

In fact, Southside 220 is the only all-ages venue in the Roanoke area these days. Past venues have had trouble with violence, but co-owner John Flint said he's doing all he can to make this new joint a safe place to hang out.

At one point during the five-band show on March 18, a couple of young men get a little too involved in pushing each other around the room. Flint moves in on them quickly, grabbing one man's arm in his left hand, the other's in his right. He smoothly maneuvers them out of view.

They return in a couple of minutes, significantly more mellow.

"Most of the time, people respect," Flint said. "But there are guys ... and you just have to get them straightened out."

Two peas in a pod

Southside 220 is in the basement at 7963 Franklin Road, between Clearbrook and Boones Mill. Black Label Tattoos is upstairs. Flint said the music is basically an advertisement for the tattoo parlor.

That idea appeals to The Pear of Anguish, whose lead singer, Kenny Wells, has a tat from the shop.

"If it weren't for music and tattoos, we'd be pretty much screwed," said Pear guitarist Dane Coppola, 25.

The ink isn't just for the local bands. Hartford, Conn.'s The Breathing Process headlined the show that night. The death- and black-metal act, veterans of international touring, play Southside 220 for a lower fee and get tattoos in exchange.

Guitarist Jordan Milner, 22, and singer John LaFreniere, 24, were both sporting recent work done upstairs. They said the artists are great, and that one of them, apprentice (and Southside 220 business partner) Frieda Masters, has the lightest touch of anyone who has inked them.

"We said at the beginning that if they hooked us up, we'll hook them up," LaFreniere said. "We really like it here."

Milner added: "I'd gladly sacrifice some dollars to play shows for kids and get tattoos."

For five bands that night, the venue was charging $10. The shows start early: "Mostly high school kids come here, and they can't stay out late," Masters said. Southside 220 does not serve alcohol, but patrons can buy sodas, chips and other snacks at the shows, which happen most weekend nights and some weeknights.

It was The Breathing Process' second Southside 220 show. The band arrived not long after midnight that day, and Flint let them stay upstairs in the parlor, where they could shoot pool and play arcade games.

"I woke up this morning in a tattoo chair," Milner said. "It was the best night of sleep I'd had in weeks."

The kids wanna rock

During a break in the action, three Lord Botetourt High School students stood outside and talked about what draws them to Southside 220. Danielle Boger, 17, Veronica Ames, 16, and Allie Carr, 16, said there are no other girls at their school with similar musical interests.

They prefer the hyper-intense energy of their favorite bands, such as Roanoke-based Show Me A Hero, to the teen-pop of Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers.

They wouldn't be caught at a JoBro show, "Unless I can throw bottle caps at them," Danielle said. "If I can throw a cap at their heads, I'll do it."

Later, back inside, Ill Omen singer Anthony Houser exhorts the crowd to move closer to the stage.

"We wanna make friends," Houser yells, then points toward Danielle, Veronica and Allie. "You in the pink hair and yellow jacket, get up here!"

That would be Allie. Flint walks up to them and encourages them to move closer. They join a pack of about 15 people, mostly girls, all headbanging.

Black Label Tattoos, which began its existence a couple of years ago on Williamson Road, has been in its new location, complete with hard rock venue, for about four months, said co-owner and tattoo artist Paul Dhooghe, 36. He said Flint and Masters, 23, came up with the idea of adding the venue. Flint said he has used the music connections he made during his years of singing and touring with the bands False Evolution and NEMA ("amen" backward, Flint said of the band, which played Christian music) to bring in bands from all over the country, as well as plenty of local talent.

"It's jumping pretty good," Dhooghe said.

The venue doesn't clear a profit from the shows, but that's beside the point, Flint said.

"In essence, we make money because we're generating business for the shop," he said. "A lot of people coming out for the shows are our customers."

Flint and his friends are in it for the long haul. He's so proud of the environment, he invites parents inside when they drop off their children.

"And some of them come in," he said. "But then we don't see them again."

It's just too loud.