It’s safe to say that the next generation of metal and rock is alive and well. 11-year-old Cole Parsons went viral thanks to his crazy shredding skills on the guitar.
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While it’s unknown if he won his talent show or not, Parsons won the internet with his metal guitar riffs. The middle-schooler played an original song for his classmates. After the video went viral, several famous bands such as Motley Crue, 3 Doors Down and others sent Parsons props.
Wearing an Alice in Chains shirt, Parsons looked like a natural on the guitar. He played some heavy-sounding notes for his classmates.
Speaking with WSAZ 3, Parsons found his new-found fame to be be exciting. He told the outlet, “It’s crazy, to be honest.” Parsons’s father Josh said he started teaching his son to play the guitar when he was 5-years-old.
“I’d always put one towards him as soon as he was old enough to reach out for one,” Josh said. “He just kind of grabbed it, and I didn’t have to do much after that.”
Parsons’s mother Nici posted the video online. The family was surprised when it ended up going viral. In another video, Parsons performed Motley Crue’s “Shout At The Devil.” The band actually responded appreciating Parsons’s skills. They wrote, “Yessss!”
11-Year-Old Cole Parsons Garners Fans
“Every morning I wake up and say how many more views did we get?” Nici said. “I didn’t think we’d get to where we are, all because of one video.”
Parsons has taken on other songs from bans such as System of a Down, Deftones, and Pantera. However, what really got people buzzing was Parsons’ original song. For many, it sounded like it was taken straight from a future album.
One person responded to the video saying that a label needs to get Parsons in the studio pronto. They wrote, “Someone get this guy in a studio, I’d love a full version on streaming platforms.”
Another compared him to the band Metallica, writing, “This is like an intro to something Metallica wrote in 1980s this kid is king.”
Another expressed surprise that it was an original. They wrote, “I actually thought this was a famous song i had never heard of! This is insane!”
Parsons also had some advice to share for anyone looking to follow in his footsteps — “Practice each day, and don’t give up.”
[Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images]
