Sunday 9 November 2008

Bison B.C. : Bringing on the Eco-Metal Thunder!

Where the buffalo roam

Bison, B.C. 100% metal, with 50% less evil




More than just a top-heavy bovine, Bison B.C. is the latest Canadian heavy metal band to be signed to the illustrious Metal Blade Records. From their humble East Vancouver origins, the hard-hitting quartet initially tested broader waters with a limited-release album on Forest Records in 2007. From the self-congratulatory raunchiness of the opening cut “Stokasarus” to the post-grunge fervour of “Cancer Rat,” Earthbound set ears ablaze with its cascading guitar runs and high-hat lightning. To prove that they were more than a one-trick pony, the boys headed to The Hive Studios in Burnaby, B.C. to produce their first full-length for their new California-based label. Quiet Earth was released in September of 2008, winning additional praise for the band, who had already earned a reputation for their intense live performances.

    “I think we were a lot more confident going into the recording process this time around,” says Bison B.C.’s darkly handsome vocalist and guitarist Dan And. “I still can’t believe we added strings into some of our arrangements. We just thought it would be interesting to throw something ridiculous into the middle of things, and we ended up really liking how it came out.”

    Though they were worried the album wouldn’t be “evil enough” to join the elite ranks of hardcore metal, Bison B.C. found solace in the accommodating nature of their record label. “Just give us a heavy metal album,” the folks at Metal Blade had said, and the band delivered. The new album boasts unique instrumental arrangements that coalesce into one glorious Black Sabbath-meets-Melvins cacophony and the result is magnificent.

    “We used cello and violin on two tracks — ‘Wendigo Pt. 1 (Quest for Fire)’ and the last song on the album, ‘Quiet Earth,’” And says. “I’m Metis, and as a child, I heard the story of the Wendigo. It scared the shit out of me! It’s an Algonquin legend about a cannibal spirit that needs to eat flesh. It’s a fuckin’ evil Sasquatch monster that wants to take over your soul. Terrifying! So I decided I needed to write a three-part song about it. Parts one and two made it onto the album, but the third part of the story has yet to be told.”

    As determined as they were to tell their stories, the band actually had second thoughts about launching their musical careers in a genre fraught with negative stereotypes and oversized egos. Some have labeled them an “eco-metal” band, but And considers their approach to a typically machismo-laden genre to be Bison B.C.’s distinctly Canadian way of holding a looking glass up to society.

    “Our music isn’t angry; it’s more about frustration with modern civilization and culture,” the songwriter explains. “Nothing is more brutal than the laws of nature, and that’s where we’re coming from. We grew up listening to punk on the West Coast… but I had to distance myself from the scene because the mosh pits were getting so violent, I couldn’t stand it anymore. For that very reason, we had to seriously ask ourselves if we even wanted to be in a heavy metal band. Wouldn’t it be great if more people just came to shows just to chill out, bang their heads and enjoy the music? I think it’s possible.”

Thursday 9 October 2008

GOGOL BORDELLO - Interview with Eugene Hutz by Christine Leonard-Cripps

Full-Tilt Punk Rock Polka Party


Gypsy punks Gogol Bordello get their kicks at Brazilian Carnival

Thriving on the infinite variety of cultures found in their home state of New York, the ragtag group of gypsies who make up the multi-ethnic punk rock sensation Gogol Bordello bring a black market of musical influences to stage with every explosive performance. The band, famous for their dynamic musical arrangements and bizarre theatrical performances, formed in 1999 under the direction of lead singer Eugene Hutz, who had lived the life of a refugee in Poland, Hungary, Austria and Italy after being evacuated from the Ukraine in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Settling in the U.S. in 1993, Hutz joined forces with a group of like-minded musicians largely of eastern European descent. Their collaboration would result in a folk-punk experiment that’s taken the world by storm.

“Big crowds, small crowds it makes no difference to us,” says Hutz, who recently performed a Tom Waits tribute with Primus bass player Les Claypool and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett at the Bonnaroo music festival. “We purposefully make a point of playing smaller gigs just so we can bring back that atom-smasher mentality to the big stage. We believe in transforming negatives to positives by getting people to voluntarily take part in the creative process and switch their masks. Some critics keep comparing us to a circus act, just because we wear costumes and have an accordion, which is complete bullshit! We have nothing to do with fucking circuses; everything we do is in a minor key. If anything, what we do is more like a Brazilian carnival.”

In fact, Hutz has been pursuing a newfound love of all things Brazilian. He recently travelled to that country, where he spent some quality time with his friend, composer-musician Manu Chao. While abroad, Hutz discovered a variety of indigenous Brazilian instruments, which he eagerly purchased for his ever-growing orchestra back in New York. Next to hanging out with Sepultra’s Max Cavelera, Hutz reports that the highlight of his South American spree came when Manu Chao introduced him to his favourite band, Mundo Livre.


“I’m already planning my next trip to Brazil,” Hutz reports. “I’m ready for another full-on collaborative vacation. Winter is usually the time when I like to go into the studio to record, and I’ve already written the next album based on the material I worked on in Brazil. That is not to say this will be a bossa nova or samba album. I believe in influences, not flavours. There will be no flavours. It’s more about studying the connections and the textures of being in a place. It is like a documentary taken firsthand and turned into music. My journeys become part of my experience. The universe is expanding and so is me, baby!”

Pushing the envelope and venturing into new artistic realms comes naturally to the intrepid vocalist, who has been tapped by none other than Madonna to star in her directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom. The singer’s charisma makes him a natural choice for movies (there’s already been a film character loosely based on him — the Russian rocker Eugene in 2006’s Wristcutters: A Love Story). Combined with his band’s cathartic sense of humour and an energetic cast of players who deliver a dizzying barrage of musical styles and sensibilities, Gogol Bordello is a folk-punk juggernaut of epic proportions.

Christine Leonard
Originally published October 9, 2008 in Fast Forward Magazine


Bloc Party : Dance Like Everyone is Watching

Intimacy issues

Dance-rockers Bloc Party get confrontational


Published October 16, 2008 by Christine Leonard

Creating dance music that can’t be danced to is a totally counterintuitive idea. Yet, as strange as it seems, it is a working formula for Britain’s Bloc Party. Equipped with a distinctive sound that incorporates elements of indie rock, pop, ’80s new wave and ’90s electronica, the London-based quartet has worked hard to carve a niche for themselves in Europe and North America. Cultivating a style built on heartsick lyrics and heavenly guitar runs, Bloc Party’s efforts led to their debut album, Silent Alarm, which broke on BBC Radio in 2005 and was soon certified platinum on the U.K. charts. Garnering comparisons to bands such as The Cure, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and Joy Division, Silent Alarm was voted the year’s best album by leading Brit music mag New Musical Express. Perhaps more significantly, the album also featured the track “Helicopter,” which was used in the movie Grandma’s Boy and appears on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: On Tour.

Propelled into the international spotlight by the unprecedented success of “Helicopters,” Bloc Party began to lay the groundwork for their second album, A Weekend in the City. Upping the ante with the addition of electronic samples and multiple overdubs, singer-guitarist Kele Okereke, guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong turned to producer Garret “Jackknife” Lee in order to perfect their old-meets-new aesthetic. Their collaboration paid off big time. The album’s first single, “The Prayer,” became the band’s highest-charting single, confirming both the appeal of their ’80s-inspired sound and their staying power as a group.

“Some people might think of our style as being nostalgic, but really we’re just looking for what’s strongest in a given type of music,” says Moakes. “While we are conscious of the music we grew up on, it seems backwards to try to re-create it. There were really only a handful of acts that I could really stand — that whole retro-Beatles thing is boring to us.”

Aiming to entertain themselves as well as their audience, Bloc Party has continued to add new instruments and skill sets to their ever-expanding repertoire. Pushing themselves to new limits on their recently released third album, Intimacy, Moakes and company dug deep to write material that challenges them even as it reaches back to the raw, unguarded innocence of their earlier compositions.

“If our first album was a pastel and our second album was a black-and-white, then this new album is definitely neon,” Moakes says.

“In the past, we’ve battled with our ideas by piling them on top of one another. It muddied the waters. People thought it signaled that we were a band that wasn’t necessarily interested in guitars. And, in fact, that was the case. With Intimacy, we set out to do something more vibrant, immediate, confrontational and visceral. The whole record was a challenge; we tried to keep it simple…. It’s made me a much better musician.”

Wolf Parade Bites Back

Principle players

Despite frustration over a leaked album, Wolf Parade take the high road



Growing up in the tiny West Coast island town of Lake Cowichan, British Columbia, Dan Boeckner dared to dream big, but even he is impressed that he has come so far in a relatively short time. Cutting his musical teeth in Victoria’s underground scene, the intrepid singer-songwriter and guitarist cultivated his triple threat of talents with a handful of indie bands, including Atlas Strategic, with whom he recorded Rapture, Ye Minions! in 2000. Atlas put Boeckner on the map, so to speak, and upon the band’s dissolution, he made the move to Montreal where he connected with fellow British Columbian Spencer Krug (Swan Lake, Frog Eyes), who was studying creative writing and music at Concordia University. The two joined forces in early 2003 to form Wolf Parade, a keyboard-infused, indie-pop dynamo that threatened to redefine mainstream rock ’n’ roll once and for all.

“We’ve always just jammed out when it comes to songwriting,” Boeckner says of the band’s freewheeling approach to composing. “Things just kind of happen automatically when we give ourselves the absolute freedom to explore and feel the sound out. It’s not good enough if we’re not playing what we want. In that way, we have become more esthetically focused than ever as a band. We don’t ever want to ‘agendize’ our recording process. We want to deliver a product that’s real, and that usually means refusing to decide on the arrangement for a song until we’ve taken it on the road and tested it in front of a live crowd. ”

No strangers to public exposure, Boeckner and Wolf Parade were thrust into the spotlight shortly after their formation when they booked their first gig as the opening act for Arcade Fire. Taking it all in stride, Wolf Parade strutted into the studio, where they laid down their chivalrous debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, with Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock behind the mixing board. Remarkably, the hard-working members of Wolf Parade still find the time to dabble in multiple side projects including Islands, Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown and Boeckner’s own Handsome Furs. 

Delighting in variety for variety’s sake, Boeckner has donated his time to the satirical North American Halloween Prevention Initiative and contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Halloween?" The fact that both Krug and Boeckner are so willing to give of themselves only emphasizes the gravity of a recent debacle that overshadowed the official launch of the burgeoning Canadian act’s 2008 full-length album, At Mount Zoomer. Like many artists, Wolf Parade’s album leaked before its official release date. Unlike most artists, the band was vocal about their frustrations.

“I know how speedy the hype is; isolated obsessive nerds [talk] to each other every day on forums that know more about what I’m doing than I do. And, they’re eerily accurate, too. It’s so fucking wrong,” he chuckles. 

 “It’s not passing judgment, that’s just the way I think it works. People don’t line up outside record stores to buy albums anymore, and that’s what happened with At Mount Zoomer. Some fucking so-and-so uploaded a watermarked promo copy of the album a couple of weeks before the release date. Never mind that making that record cost the band a lot of money, but how could someone be so arrogant as to take someone’s personal work and rip them off like that? It’s fucking annoying. Especially for an indie band like us, we’re not fucking Timbaland here — we don’t get those $2 million advances! I’d love to say ‘You know what? Fuck it! I’m going to put my albums up on the web for free.’ But, like many other musicians, we rely on record sales just so we can keep on touring and recording. We couldn’t exist otherwise. So, it cuts both ways.”

Thursday 26 June 2008

DIVINE BROWN: To love is Divine

R&B singer Divine Brown reveals her roots



Appearing at Jack Singer Concert Hall June 26, 2008


They say there’s no love like old-school love, and few Canadian singer-songwriters know this better than R&B prodigy Divine Brown. Brown (formerly known as Divine Earth Essence) saw 2005 become the new “summer of love” as the single from her self-titled debut poured from patio speakers and car stereos across the country. Enchanting audiences with her impressive five-octave vocal range and penchant for dance-worthy grooves, the runaway hit “Old Skool Love” heralded Brown’s arrival on the scene and brought her soulful sound to the attention of millions. Urban pop and reggae fans alike flocked to Brown’s rock-steady beat, finding common ground in her soulful melodies, soaring intonations and playful rhythms. Ever conscious of paying homage to her musical roots, Brown hopes that her modern songwriting style strikes a familiar chord with listeners of all ages.

“I’m all about drawing on older forms of soul and funk to create something fresh and unique,” Brown explains. “Just as hip hop borrows from older sounds, I love and respect all genres and use them to create new art forms. If people like pop, then there’s something for them in my music, or if they’re from an older generation and like The Platters, then they’ll enjoy it, too. More than anything else, music triggers feelings and memories for me. When I was growing up as a child, Sunday was always ‘soul music’ day around our house; sitting around in the sunshine listening to Al Green. I hope people get that emotional connection when they listen to my music.”

Accustomed to recording her innermost reflections in song — she’s had a passion for writing lyrics since the age of 14 — Brown took a hands-on approach when it came time to think about producing her next full-length CD. With 12 freshly penned original tunes at the ready, she headed back into the studio in late 2007 to record her new album, The Love Chronicles. A heartfelt tribute to the artists who have influenced and inspired her (including Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner and Anita Baker), The Love Chronicles faithfully traces the gradual evolution of R&B music throughout the decades.

“It was an extraordinary experience putting the album together,” says Brown. “I wanted live musicians in the studio with me, so I flew [in] some people I had worked with in the past to play drums, bass, strings and horns. It was a surprisingly easy way to work. I imagine the experience is something like what Chaka Khan and Rufus [Thomas] would have done in their day.

“I also brought in guest producers to help give each track the feeling of a different era. For example, “Lay It On the Line” is kind of a doo-wop throwback with contemporary production. Some of the tracks were recorded directly to tape to give them that warm, vintage, analog sound. I had a lot of fun writing The Love Chronicles, because love is such a complex topic. There are so many aspects to explore. This time I just wanted to lay it on the line.”

A veteran of Toronto productions of Rent and Ain’t Misbehavin’, Brown is accustomed to setting the room alight with her fiery stage presence and powerful vocals. The tables were turned, however, when a recent shoot for her smouldering new single “Lay It On the Line” had to been relocated due to temperatures even more extreme than the ones her performances generate.

“We just filmed the video for ‘Lay It On the Line’ at Fox Studios with director Paul Boyd [Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain, Sting, Ice T],” says Brown. “We were supposed to do it at Universal Studios, but then they had that massive fire on their lot. It was really coincidental, here I am flying into L..A. with the burning fire that Divine Brown brings and here the place is already in ashes.”

Thursday 10 April 2008

Dimmu Borgir - Sven "Silenoz" Atle Kopperud Interviewed by Christine Leonard-Cripps

Dark Fortresses

Dimmu Borgir preach the black metal gospel



As foreboding as the jagged spires of volcanic rock that bear their name, symphonic black metal juggernaut Dimmu Borgir make an indelible impression on those who come to behold them. Translated as “dark cities” or “black castles” in the Old Norse-Icelandic language, the twisted peaks and hellish valleys of this otherworldly geomorphic landscape are the perfect metaphor for a band that prides themselves on their Norwegian heritage even as they rebel against everything their compatriots hold sacred. With nine full-length studio albums and just as many singles and EPs to their credit, they were the first black-metal band to have a No. 1 album in their homeland.

“It’s weird but cool,” says founding guitarist Silenoz, a.k.a. Sven Atle Kopperud, of their hard-won success. “It’s something that even I wouldn’t think could happen 10 years ago. We are very grateful to do what we do and to be able to make the life we want for ourselves. I think it’s important that we continue to expand as a metal band in an honest and natural way. We’ve never compromised. We have our own ideas, and we won’t be pushed around by any label. We’re just too stubborn for that!”

Honesty, and the discovery of one’s true nature, is the theme that pervades Dimmu Borgir’s most recent studio effort, 2007’s In Sorte Diaboli (which means “in league with the devil”). Chiefly a concept-driven album, In Sorte Diaboli tells the foreboding tale of a devout Christian acolyte who traces his bloodlines to Satan, ultimately leading him to reject the church. Not a topic to be taken lightly, especially in the band’s native country of Norway where the population is 95 per cent Lutheran. Silenoz and his fellow Dimmu Borgir members haven’t been shy about voicing their convictions when it comes to their preference for Satanism, and are delightfully quick to use the H word when referring to what they see as an unwanted and invading influence.

“Looking back, I can see that there is actually a lot of personal stuff in [In Sorte Diaboli’s] lyrics, but I didn’t realize it until after the whole thing had been written,” Silenoz says. “It brings me back to my childhood growing up in the Bible Belt. Those early experiences certainly sparked my hatred towards organized religion. We believe that it’s important to get to the bottom of things; to ask the extremely critical questions. We’re not like some Muslim or Christian who goes by ‘the book.’ The answers aren’t in any book. It’s not that simple. People ask us why we hate the church, and it’s so much harder to explain to someone who’s from outside Norway. Basically, it goes back to having Christianity thrown down our throats a thousand years ago. It’s always in the back of our heads how our people were treated. Like all the conflicts in the world, it can be traced directly back to religion. As long as there is religion in the world there will be no peace. ”

by Christine Leonard

Saturday 1 March 2008

Serj Tankian Interview

Serj Tankian surges forward
America’s angriest Armenian 
wants to elect the dead

He’s certainly come a long way — from living a traditional Armenian childhood in Lebanon, to studying marketing at the University of California, to fronting one of world’s hottest-selling, stadium-fillingest hardcore outfits, System of a Down. Still, for Serj Tankian, it’s not a question of how far you’ve come, but how far you’re willing to go.

Setting the stage for a combined career of metal god and political gadfly, Tankian and his crew of angry Armenians (a.k.a. SOAD) captured the attention of a generation by channelling anxiety and outrage into blistering thrash punctuated with Tankian’s operatic rap-singing. Taking on issues from genocide to suicide over the course of five internationally renowned albums released between 1998 and 2005, Tankian is also the centre of filmmaker Carla Garapedian’s award-winning documentary Screamers.

“It’s primarily a film about the denial of the Armenian genocide,” Tankian explains, “but it also addresses other areas in the world today that are receiving the same treatment. It is a very exciting time, because we [in the U.S.] have the opportunity to elect the first non-white [or] non-male president. But, no matter who’s president, we all have a responsibility to collect knowledge and work towards a world we all want to live in.”

Never one to rest on his laurels, Tankian has recently written and produced a long-anticipated solo album, Elect the Dead. While his former bandmates may have been unsettled by his sudden desire to work with classical instrumentation, it was Tankian himself who was ultimately most surprised by the final result.

“I wasn’t planning on making a rock record, but that’s the way it turned out,” the singer-songwriter says with a chuckle. “I poured over hundreds of records and musical pieces — orchestral, classical, electronic, hip hop, goth, experimental, ballads — and these songs just worked out to be rock songs. I was playing around with dynamic orchestral music written for piano and strings, letting my stream of consciousness lead me, and at a certain point I was surprised because everything was becoming much more dramatic and powerful sounding. I thought ‘Wow! Cool. We’re going rock!’”

Taking his one-man orchestral rock opus out into the public spotlight presented a new challenge. Many of the album’s songs were created on the fly with guest artists and friendly neighbourhood musicians popping in and out of Tankian’s studio to put their own unique stamp on his self-proclaimed “art album.” Every track on Elect the Dead will eventually be accompanied by its own video, each from a different director. To bring his vision to life, Tankian has rounded up a road-worthy dream team to take on the task of re-creating his album live. Dubbing themselves the FCC (or Flying Cunts of Chaos) in a direct snub to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Tankian will be touring North America with Dan Monti, Mario Pagliarulo, Troy Ziegler, Erwin Khachikian and Primus’s Larry LaLonde, along with opening act Fair to Midland, on Tankian’s own Serjikal Strike record label.

“I put together the FCC to help me out on tour,” he says. “I’m really thankful for all they’ve done to make this the best show it can be. We like to give a classier kind of presentation when we perform. We’re known for wearing tuxedos and top hats. It’s kind of a taste of the English-gentleman-meets-Vaudeville.”

With a ready smile and without the begrudging glad-handing typical for a figure of his popularity, Tankain has a well-earned reputation as a really nice guy. Perhaps it is this willingness to meet humanity and all its woes head-on that has kept him engaged in social activism. Tankian continues the dialogue, promoting causes like Amnesty International and tracking his own efforts to run a “green” tour, on his homepage, www.serjtankian.com. It’s clear that Tankian is always willing to take things further.

By Christine Leonard
Originally published March 12, 2008 in FFWD Magazine


Friday 1 February 2008

Silverstein - Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Silverstein takes Tokyo

Canuck screamo-rockers head overseas


February 1, 2008
by Christine Leonard



They say that once you’ve made it in Japan, the rest of the world will fall in line. Even if it doesn’t, hey, you’ll always be big in Japan. Flexing their screamo-rock muscle and swooping down on the metropolis of Tokyo with Mothra-like fury, post-hardcore pundits Silverstein were all-too eager to bring their bold Canadian tidings to the land of the rising sun.

“It was awesome,” says drummer Paul Koehler of the band’s recent whirlwind nine-day tour of Nihon. “This is the second time we’ve been to Japan, which is incredible. Now that we’re kinda familiar with the place, we have friends to visit, specific things we want to do and places we want to visit. The more you go back, the more you get out of the experience. Especially when you’re in a place that’s so culturally different. The more different the better.”

Kicking back and taking in the scenery was just one highlight of Silverstein’s return voyage. Reconnecting with some of their favourite tour mates, the group performed before massively enthusiastic crowds who knew every word of their infectiously defiant lyrics. Along with vocalist Shane Told, guitarists Josh Bradford and Neil Boshart and bassist Bill Hamilton, Koehler confirms that playing live and connecting with audiences face-to-face has been the single most rewarding aspect of their careers to date.

“We just wrapped up a two-and-a-half-week run in Australia before we landed in Japan,” Koehler reports. “It’s been crazy, but fun. The kids are so energetic. The fans in Japan are unlike those anywhere else on Earth. So respectful and not totally hung up on images and gimmicks.”

Shrugging off their long-running trademark of being the sole Canadian band at any given multi-act hardcore concert series, Silverstein has steadily worked to build on the ironclad foundations they’ve laid out for themselves with their previous full-length albums, When Broken is Easily Fixed and Discovering the Waterfront. Striking while the iron was hot, they released the aptly titled Arrivals and Departures in July of last year. Their third turn on Victory Records debuted at No. 25 on the Billboard 200, commanding attention with its stark fusion of angst, anger and intelligence, and eventually topping the indie charts. According to Koehler, Arrivals and Departures represents a new outlook for a road-hardened Silverstein and a more mature approach to their collective craft.

“We’ve been through some pretty drastic and dramatic events over the past two years,” he explains. 

“[Arrivals] references the changes and stops we’ve been through in our own personal relationships, people entering and leaving our lives. We touch on some negativity, but we try to stay level-headed. We’re all pretty happy in our lives and realize that we have some young and impressionable fans out there. It’s great that we have this opportunity to try to share our music as a source of escapism, but we also want to use images and emotions to better ourselves and improve the lives of others. We really want to be a force for positivity and overcoming hardships.”

Holding their heads high and keeping up the good fight, Silverstein are prepared to embark on a full-scale North American tour, a comfortable home-coming for a quintet that bravely rose to meet a challenge of another sort when they recently found themselves at the mercy of Japanese-style hospitality.

“One night in Tokyo, our hosts, the local Japanese promoters, invited all of us out to an authentic restaurant,” a teetotalling Koehler recalls. 

“It was a beautiful dinner, and they just kept piling on the food and drink. These guys are considered very respectable in the music industry, and they can really put it away. They dropped quite a few sake bombs on us over the course of the evening. We enjoy immersing ourselves in foreign cultures, but these guys were on a mission to destroy us!”

Silverstein with Protest the Hero, Ill Scarlett & Devil Wears Prada at MacEwan Hall