Narbona: A Family Built on Heavy Metal
A candid interview with Stewart Billie of the Black Metal band, Narbona.
What started as a way to spend time with his sons during the pandemic has quickly become one of the Navajo Nation’s most talked-about metal bands.
When people hear Narbona for the first time, they might assume the band has been grinding away for years. The songs sound tight. The chemistry feels natural. The live shows draw an increasingly loyal following.
The truth is much simpler.
Narbona began as a father looking for a way to connect with his sons.
“I learned how to play the drums when the pandemic hit,” says drummer and band founder Stuart Billy.
Before Narbona, Billy wasn’t sitting behind a drum kit. He was raising his children, running a jewelry business, and building a life after years of personal struggles. When COVID shut the world down, he saw an opportunity to spend more time with his sons, Lestat and Unity.
Heavy metal had always been part of the household.
“It’s always been Slayer. It’s always been Deicide. It’s always been Cannibal Corpse. It’s always been Morbid Angel.”
The soundtrack was already there. The next step was turning that shared love of music into something bigger.
The result was Narbona.
Today, the band consists of Billy on drums, his sons handling guitars, bass, and vocals, and recent addition Sam from Coyote Canyon on rhythm guitar. While many bands spend years searching for chemistry, Narbona built theirs around family.
That connection can be heard throughout the band’s music, particularly on “Dark Winds Rise,” a song Billy describes as his favorite.
“It’s the first song that I wrote with my kids,” he says.
What makes the track special isn’t just the finished product. It’s the process that created it. Ideas moved naturally between father and sons. Riffs evolved. Arrangements changed. Everyone contributed.
“It was one of the first songs that we actually worked together where everything just glued together instantly.”
That chemistry has translated directly to the stage.
Although Narbona has only been performing as a complete band for about a year, audience response has been immediate. Fans headbang in time with the music. Crowds grow larger with every performance. The energy between band and audience has become one of the group’s biggest motivators.
“When their headbanging is exactly in sync with the drumming and the bass and the guitars, that’s when you know.”
For Billy, that’s the reward.
Not record sales.
Not social media numbers.
The connection.
“The amount of energy that we push out there, those guys just grab it up and expel it right back to us.”
While many new bands struggle to define their identity, Narbona seems comfortable letting the music speak for itself. The group currently has six songs completed and is working toward a full-length release.
A title hasn’t been chosen yet.
Album artwork hasn’t been finalized.
The focus remains where it’s always been: writing the strongest songs possible.
A large part of that responsibility now falls on Unity, who has become one of the band’s primary songwriters.
“At this moment he’s actually sitting in his room writing music.”
That image says a lot about where Narbona is headed.
A father who learned drums to support his sons.
A family united by heavy metal.
A band still finding its voice while building something that feels authentic.
For Stuart Billy, that’s more important than any trend or industry strategy.
The mission is simple.
Write honest music.
Play hard.
Keep getting better.
And if the crowds continue growing along the way, even better.
After only a year together, Narbona already feels like a band with momentum. The scary part for everyone else is that they’re just getting started.
Editors note: This video interview was done at a time when I was still trying to figure which direction to go with the interviews I was doing.
