August 15th 2013
The Vat
Red Deer, AB
Part The First.
In a strange turn of events I somehow managed to show up early to a gig, odd I know. By doing so; however, I was able to chat a bit with some of the cats playing, and the dudes who were putting the gig on (of thorn & vine promotions) and actually grab a seat near the soundboard, possibly my favourite place to sit in most venues, and really get a feel for the Vat as a room. Now, I'm no stranger to this pub, in the past six months I've actually reviewed two shows in this venue, this time however is a little different, as I was actually invited to do so. The Vat is a strange place, one full of interesting little stories and odds and ends, like years ago it was actually part of a brewery, and in the early 90s one of the lone shake shops in Red Deer was actually located just around the corner from it, the skate shop is now gone, but the Vat is still here.
Tonights crowd looks good. Seriously good.
Full disclaimer; I love metal, not all metal, but METAL, yet oddly i'm not fond of metal shows.. so really this could go either way, but from what I can tell early in the evening these cats were all raised on Pantera III, I take that as a good sign.
Side note; Of Thorn and Vine Promotions noted that one of the Red Deer scenes regulars was recently diagnosed with cancer, so they setup a little donation box by the door, and are also tossing some cash from the sale of merch towards the fund, all money raised to be given towards any medical, Rx, or other costs & expenses the cat may currently be enduring.
LEAVE THE LIVING
The new stage lights bathe the band in a deep blood red glow, a paper mache man sits between the double kick drums, staring blankly at us all, his mouth open, silently screaming, with his hand ever affixed to his ears. Frontman, Justin Shadows, oozes charisma & energy bounding about the stage, capturing the attention of the crowd. The crowd that has worked its way out from somewhere, and growing with every song played.
Their second song "Undone" comes right out of Metallica's "and justice for all" playbook. Starting slow, and epic guitar battle, drums thundering behind that could loosen bowel movements, thud-stick bass that is more then happy to take us for a walk down a dark alley, and likely leave us there after appropriating our valuables, by the time the verse hits I've come to realize that these boys also have Slayer in their blood. The front row of windmill headbangers more then happy to keep up to pace with the intense energy coming off the stage.
After wrapping up the second tune, doing a plug for the other bands on the bill (West of Hell, The Order of Chaos), and mentioning tossing a bit of coin into the bucket for their buddy facing down the big C, we're back into the fight.
Often times with a two guitarist band, it is obvious who is the lead, and who is the rhythm. Not here, not tonight. Both of these cats quickly remind me that i'm a bit of a hack, though I've never spent weekends locked away in my room playing arpeggios, doing finger practices, and learning old blues licks, after this, I'm thinking its time I reconsider. It's panned out, they're level EPIC, I'm sitting somewhere just past level 1.. Now, this isn't Malmsteen, it's not Steve Vai, it's not solo's for the sake of guitar solo's a la Van Halen, These guitars know their place in a song, they make it all work. They transition it beyond a riff.
Our low end heros hold it all together, with what sounds to be something right out of Robert Trujillo's mind. The thud-stick lines bread somewhere between Suicidal Tendencies and his current work with Metallica. The drums, dear god the DRUMS, I haven't been let down, if this cat is ever without a band I'm gonna need his number. Sure there are more cymbals then I would ever know what to do with, a simple snare drum, a couple high toms, the usual floor tom, and TWO kick/bass drums, This cat is bringing the thunder.
That creepy paper mache old man ever more the fitting as one can imagine him screaming "get off my lawn" with this beast right behind him.
Near the end of the set we're treated to a DEATH (From Detroit) cover. Having just missed seeing them at the Pawn Shop in Edmonton a few months back, I was eager to hear how this would pan out. Now if I didn't know the tune, I'd be hunting down the original, Leave The Living nailed it, made me aware of what I missed out on, but also made it their own with a take on the vocals that, although different from what one may expect, worked so well.
I'll be making sure to check these dudes out again.
- Jim Nowhere
Hang tight for Pt. 2 hitting the web in a couple days.
---
facebook pages:
THE VAT - https://www.facebook.com/groups/14147269650/
LEAVE THE LIVING - https://www.facebook.com/leavetheliving
OF THORN AND VINE - https://www.facebook.com/OTAVPromotions
Showing posts with label Red Deer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Deer. Show all posts
9.12.2013
8.13.2013
...they're just a bunch of kids with growing pains, they'll probably be doctors and lawyers someday.
Let me set the scene for you, it's mid evening on August 12th 2013 and I'm headed down to this little venue in Red Deer, AB called Slumland Theatre. They've been around now for just over a year, I think, located on Ross St just west of Allrose Skateboards, but to find them, you have to go around back.. where there is plenty of parking, a faded no skateboarding sign, and then a small sign above a door, it reads SLUMLAND. They're an all ages + licensed venue run by a super rad chick, and a whole lot of volunteers.
As usual I'm late to arrive, but looks like I'm the only one who is as there is a good crowd out tonight, and considering its a monday, this tells me a lot about what is going to be going down. There were a few folks milling about when I pulled up, and the sound of Saskatchewan's The Man And His Machine was echoing up the stairwell. This of course means that I missed Edmonton's Lucid Skies, a band currently on a reunion tour, and one that I've actually never seen play. So as I wander towards the door, and quickly send a reply message to Slumland Theatre's owner Desiree to let her know that I've arrived, the live music stops, I hear a swell of crowd cheering, and then.. a flood of people heading out for fresh air, the need to cool off, and probably smoke a cigarette.
I have now missed the first two bands.
So; Lucid Skies & The Man and His Machine for this I apologize I'm not accustomed to early shows, or ones that even start on time, and sets that are super quick.
Sea Of Dead Serpents
Next up is Red Deer's newest "Hardcore" band Sea Of Dead Serpents, a lot of the nights turn out was there for them, parents of band members, co-workers, random folk just wanting to see something new, people that probably would never have checked out the venue if it wasn't for this. Probably close to seventy people when all is said and done, though that does include members of the other bands, and myself... Hopefully this is a sign that the venue will be able to stick around for a while.
First thoughts; Sea of Dead Serpents is a grimy guitar, distorted bass, double kick on the drums, and screeching vocals. So this is what the kids are calling Hardcore. The drummer & another member of the band are related to Desiree, brothers in fact, though their placement on the bill wasn't due to that family bond, they deserved second billing. Before starting up they dedicate their set to the singers mom who, without giving or going into much detail, has spent the last couple nights in the ICU ar Red Deer Hospital, He wants us to understand how painful this situation can be, for anyone.
Then the first song starts, sixty seconds long and a wall of noize bathes over us, the aural equivalent of a show to the groin. Quite enjoyable, if you're into that sort of thing, or so I'm told. I'm not into the shoe to the groin, but I'm starting to get into what they're doing. Structured like a hybrid of Fugazi, the pAper chAse, early (read: the good part) Korn, and Fucked Up. Furious lead riffs that owe a lot to Greg Ginn, drums that finally provide me with proof that double kick can actually work, and a fuzzed out bass holding down the low end. Their frontman & vocalist stands tall, ever the general in this audio assault his voice is gruff, his screams shrill, but yet you can actually understand what the hell he is saying.
Four songs in and the microphone has died, it wouldn't be a punk show without some sort of technical difficulties... A quick cable and microphone change and we're back in business. "I wanna see this whole place move. Don't be a bunch of fucking pussies!" the General exclaims, owing as much to the Cancer Bats as to King Buzzo and Keith Morris, before the energy from the band explodes from off stage and into the audience. Up front a mosh pit has been going since the second song, and now a circle pit has formed within this tight space, even the cats hanging out at the back are bobbing their heads and looking to get in on the action. Though with the songs being so short, :50 - 1:20 minutes, it makes it hard to keep the crowd flowing in this chaotic fashion.
One can tell that Sea Of Dead Serpents is working on it, as we currently get a short spiel before each tune, trying to keep the crowd hyped. Not yet putting songs into blocks to keep things flowing, also not quite sure how to approach the people wanting more, but as this is only their second or their show it'll come. The stage presence is already there, and I'm kinda digging it. They saved, in my opinion, probably their best song for last, it's a little longer then the others and shows that they aren't a one trick pony, showing the yet to be realized potential this band has. Once they have a recording, it could easily find a place on any throwback to 90s "grind-core" compilation someone may want to compile.
BONFIRE
Aka, or perhaps formerly, or maybe featuring members of, Hhogwash. I never actually asked, or bothered to sort it out, maybe I will in the future. While waiting for the rest of the band to finish soundcheck, and for people to come back down into the venue, their frontman scours the room. Looking for something, searching for anything, his eyes scan the room, like a wolf searching for prey.
I'm already excited.
Bonfire hails from the desolate wastelands of Saskatoon, SK. They're currently on tour with Lucid Skies and The Man and His Machine, bringing their brand of Punk/Hardcore/Post-Hardcore westward trying to spread the message. They start off their set with a feedback drenched cacophony and a slow dirge. I find myself wondering "Why, or more so how, I've never heard them before? Why haven't they played a gig with Black Mastiff and Rebuild/Repair at DV8? How come Cody (from Exoskeleton) never told me about them?" and then the song ramps up, most of the people have trickled back in, and the room become alive. Goth grrls, Punks, Metal heads, that girl named Mute, all rocking out. I wouldn't call it moshing, there was no pit, but it wasn't quite dancing either... much more primal, some strange hybrid of hippy love movements and the bodies intense desire to become one with the music.
Lets discuss the band for a moment, we'll start with the bass. Looking as much like a 1991 Krist Novoselic, as someone who isn't nearly as tall can, shoeless and bouncing about on stage. To his right, our left, the singer, channeling a 1985 long haired Henry Rollins, intimidating. No fear of the audience, he chooses to join them, at random, throughout the set. His guttural vocals are juxtaposed with his soft spoken and friendly between song banter. Next in this circle is their guitarist, lost in his own world, between facing the wall, his amp, and the drummer... he is all over the stage. Think Billy Tallent, not the band, lurching and wandering bumping into Joe Dick. Then when finally facing the crowd going crazy, I become afraid for that thin line telecaster he has chosen for his weapon. He plays it like it owes him money, a lot of money, and has a guitar tone that would probably make D. Boon smile. Now behind all of this sits our man tending the skins, the oft forgotten about drummer. If you saw him on the street you'd never suspect he was in a band, you might mistake him for a mormon missionary, he might be actually... I don't know him, and we never spoke, so unless they band informs me I'll never know. Yet here, in his element, behind the kit, he truly is on a mission, preaching a different sort of gospel, the gospel of Donny Paycheck (Zeke) and the gospel of Matt Camron (Scratch Acid, Soundgarden, others...) If he was a local cat, or I had any plans of moving to Saskatoon, I'd try and steal him for a project or two.
All of this combines into a rather beautiful mess. One that I enjoy. One that I can't take home because they don't have any albums with them. Though they've been dropping songs online over the past couple weeks, and will be putting more up over the next few as well, getting people hyped about a new album they have coming out. Bread from Flipper and Low, The Melvins and Harvey Milk, if this is the future of Hardcore, or Post-Hardcore, or whatever genre people are calling it, I need to check out more shows. I'm beginning to wonder if (eastern Canada's) Kittens are going to be playing next, its just that kind of night.
At the end of it, as the last note fades from our ears, Bonfire looks drained, exhausted, they have given us everything that each of them has in them, the look about to fall apart. The crowd, not quite done with them, screams and yells, demanding one more song.... it almost happens, but something just didn't work, the exhaustion has won out, and had they managed to do another track I suspect that the exhaustion would have taken all of us as well.
- Jim Nowhere
---1.5--2222-------------
Slumland Theatre - http://www.facebook.com/slumlandpromotions
Lucid Skies - http://www.facebook.com/LUCIDSKIES780
The Man And His Machine - http://www.facebook.com/themanandhismachine
Bonfire - http://www.facebook.com/BonfireSK
Cross posted on DeadCity.ca/press
I have now missed the first two bands.
So; Lucid Skies & The Man and His Machine for this I apologize I'm not accustomed to early shows, or ones that even start on time, and sets that are super quick.
Sea Of Dead Serpents
Next up is Red Deer's newest "Hardcore" band Sea Of Dead Serpents, a lot of the nights turn out was there for them, parents of band members, co-workers, random folk just wanting to see something new, people that probably would never have checked out the venue if it wasn't for this. Probably close to seventy people when all is said and done, though that does include members of the other bands, and myself... Hopefully this is a sign that the venue will be able to stick around for a while.
First thoughts; Sea of Dead Serpents is a grimy guitar, distorted bass, double kick on the drums, and screeching vocals. So this is what the kids are calling Hardcore. The drummer & another member of the band are related to Desiree, brothers in fact, though their placement on the bill wasn't due to that family bond, they deserved second billing. Before starting up they dedicate their set to the singers mom who, without giving or going into much detail, has spent the last couple nights in the ICU ar Red Deer Hospital, He wants us to understand how painful this situation can be, for anyone.
Then the first song starts, sixty seconds long and a wall of noize bathes over us, the aural equivalent of a show to the groin. Quite enjoyable, if you're into that sort of thing, or so I'm told. I'm not into the shoe to the groin, but I'm starting to get into what they're doing. Structured like a hybrid of Fugazi, the pAper chAse, early (read: the good part) Korn, and Fucked Up. Furious lead riffs that owe a lot to Greg Ginn, drums that finally provide me with proof that double kick can actually work, and a fuzzed out bass holding down the low end. Their frontman & vocalist stands tall, ever the general in this audio assault his voice is gruff, his screams shrill, but yet you can actually understand what the hell he is saying.
Four songs in and the microphone has died, it wouldn't be a punk show without some sort of technical difficulties... A quick cable and microphone change and we're back in business. "I wanna see this whole place move. Don't be a bunch of fucking pussies!" the General exclaims, owing as much to the Cancer Bats as to King Buzzo and Keith Morris, before the energy from the band explodes from off stage and into the audience. Up front a mosh pit has been going since the second song, and now a circle pit has formed within this tight space, even the cats hanging out at the back are bobbing their heads and looking to get in on the action. Though with the songs being so short, :50 - 1:20 minutes, it makes it hard to keep the crowd flowing in this chaotic fashion.
One can tell that Sea Of Dead Serpents is working on it, as we currently get a short spiel before each tune, trying to keep the crowd hyped. Not yet putting songs into blocks to keep things flowing, also not quite sure how to approach the people wanting more, but as this is only their second or their show it'll come. The stage presence is already there, and I'm kinda digging it. They saved, in my opinion, probably their best song for last, it's a little longer then the others and shows that they aren't a one trick pony, showing the yet to be realized potential this band has. Once they have a recording, it could easily find a place on any throwback to 90s "grind-core" compilation someone may want to compile.
BONFIRE
Aka, or perhaps formerly, or maybe featuring members of, Hhogwash. I never actually asked, or bothered to sort it out, maybe I will in the future. While waiting for the rest of the band to finish soundcheck, and for people to come back down into the venue, their frontman scours the room. Looking for something, searching for anything, his eyes scan the room, like a wolf searching for prey.
I'm already excited.
Bonfire hails from the desolate wastelands of Saskatoon, SK. They're currently on tour with Lucid Skies and The Man and His Machine, bringing their brand of Punk/Hardcore/Post-Hardcore westward trying to spread the message. They start off their set with a feedback drenched cacophony and a slow dirge. I find myself wondering "Why, or more so how, I've never heard them before? Why haven't they played a gig with Black Mastiff and Rebuild/Repair at DV8? How come Cody (from Exoskeleton) never told me about them?" and then the song ramps up, most of the people have trickled back in, and the room become alive. Goth grrls, Punks, Metal heads, that girl named Mute, all rocking out. I wouldn't call it moshing, there was no pit, but it wasn't quite dancing either... much more primal, some strange hybrid of hippy love movements and the bodies intense desire to become one with the music.
Lets discuss the band for a moment, we'll start with the bass. Looking as much like a 1991 Krist Novoselic, as someone who isn't nearly as tall can, shoeless and bouncing about on stage. To his right, our left, the singer, channeling a 1985 long haired Henry Rollins, intimidating. No fear of the audience, he chooses to join them, at random, throughout the set. His guttural vocals are juxtaposed with his soft spoken and friendly between song banter. Next in this circle is their guitarist, lost in his own world, between facing the wall, his amp, and the drummer... he is all over the stage. Think Billy Tallent, not the band, lurching and wandering bumping into Joe Dick. Then when finally facing the crowd going crazy, I become afraid for that thin line telecaster he has chosen for his weapon. He plays it like it owes him money, a lot of money, and has a guitar tone that would probably make D. Boon smile. Now behind all of this sits our man tending the skins, the oft forgotten about drummer. If you saw him on the street you'd never suspect he was in a band, you might mistake him for a mormon missionary, he might be actually... I don't know him, and we never spoke, so unless they band informs me I'll never know. Yet here, in his element, behind the kit, he truly is on a mission, preaching a different sort of gospel, the gospel of Donny Paycheck (Zeke) and the gospel of Matt Camron (Scratch Acid, Soundgarden, others...) If he was a local cat, or I had any plans of moving to Saskatoon, I'd try and steal him for a project or two.
All of this combines into a rather beautiful mess. One that I enjoy. One that I can't take home because they don't have any albums with them. Though they've been dropping songs online over the past couple weeks, and will be putting more up over the next few as well, getting people hyped about a new album they have coming out. Bread from Flipper and Low, The Melvins and Harvey Milk, if this is the future of Hardcore, or Post-Hardcore, or whatever genre people are calling it, I need to check out more shows. I'm beginning to wonder if (eastern Canada's) Kittens are going to be playing next, its just that kind of night.
At the end of it, as the last note fades from our ears, Bonfire looks drained, exhausted, they have given us everything that each of them has in them, the look about to fall apart. The crowd, not quite done with them, screams and yells, demanding one more song.... it almost happens, but something just didn't work, the exhaustion has won out, and had they managed to do another track I suspect that the exhaustion would have taken all of us as well.
- Jim Nowhere
---1.5--2222-------------
Slumland Theatre - http://www.facebook.com/slumlandpromotions
Lucid Skies - http://www.facebook.com/LUCIDSKIES780
The Man And His Machine - http://www.facebook.com/themanandhismachine
Bonfire - http://www.facebook.com/BonfireSK
Cross posted on DeadCity.ca/press
5.29.2013
Allrose Skateboards turns 21...
I'm a bit of a packrat when it comes to old broken skateboards and just memorable items. But this one is special to me, it was my first non-whale tail deck. at some point in time in gr. 7 (1992/3) I had a buddy take me over to this new underground skateshop a couple kids had started out of their parents basement.
Well here we are 21 years later, I've spent god knows how much money in that shop, DJ'd a skate comp for them back in 2002/3 and they just moved into a stellar new location (they have been out of the basement for a v. long time now) and are celebrating 21 years of Being in business, it's the oldest still open skateshop in Red Deer, AB. Still skater owned and skater run. so here is to at least 21 more Allrose Skateboards! Good luck with the new local on Ross St. (about 200' south of the previous location, give or take..)
still supporting the little guys..
- Jim Nowhere
----
Allrose Skateboards - http://www.allrose.ca
4.08.2013
DIY skate ethic still alive in my home town.
The kids are out digging out the park, bringing obstacles, and doing everything they can to get started on the skate season. On the north side of the town the city has stalled on building the new park. They started last fall, obviously gave up for the winter, and haven't started back at it yet. Mind I did visit the site on Easter weekend saturday. After sneaking through a fence, snapping some shots, this little dude busts me and tells me how illegal it is to be taking photos and wandering about..
Somewhere along the line while hanging at the park I had overheard that they were gonna start up a collection to help fund getting a new deck for one of the local rats. Me i was just about ready to retire the deck I was on, purely because I have a new one I want to setup, so I made the dude a deal, if he could find a skate tool, and handed me back my wheels, trucks, & hardware, the deck was his.
- Jim Nowhere
---178---
4.01.2013
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