Woodhawk: Soaring beyond the sun

Woodhawk launch their full length 

Beyond the Sun

by Christine Leonard

27 March 2017

 If Woodhawk was the boy next door, they’d be that denim-clad rogue who revved his motorbike in the driveway on Sunday mornings and dumped you on the eve of your Junior Prom. Or, at least that’s how you’d imagine the events leading up to bassist Mike Badmington and guitarist Turner Midzain’s first time on stage together in Grade 9. Fast-forward to Halloween of 2014 and they’re showing off a tight-but-curvy six-track debut album with a title to match their band’s smokin’ new moniker, Woodhawk.  Breaking hearts and throwing sparks, the freewheeling trio may have experimented with different percussionists, but it was the heavy ‘n’ steady Kevin Nelson (Nosis, Doberman) who rose above the throng.

“We kind of pretended that the part before Kevin never happened,” says Midzain. “There’s no bad blood, or anything. I just think we didn’t figure out which direction we were going until Kevin joined the band. Honestly, since he started with us in September of 2015 we’ve got more momentum and found what we wanted to do.”

So… it was you and not them after all. Not surprising really, given Midzain and Badmington’s playful approach to laying down stony causeways and volleying big, bold riffs back and forth between them, it was only a matter of time before someone snapped them up.

“Kevin had been to a bunch of our shows and knocked at our door asking to join the band after hearing about us through the grapevine at our mutual barbershop,” recalls a well-coiffed Badmington.

“He came in, and had a bit of catching up to learn some of the previous stuff, but we pretty much started writing right away. And the rest is… Woodhawk!”

Anchored by Nelson’s technical prowess and capacity for effortlessly shifting from ‘70s grooves to punked-up blues, the collaborative three-piece has already been trying out material from their upcoming full-length album, Beyond the Sun, in live performance. Staying close to the realms of fantasy and science fiction, the much-anticipated album appropriately features the cosmic designs of artist Mark Kowalchuk.

“This album represents a year’s worth of our writing and pushes into a more evolved sound,” articulates Badmington. “I think it was more about trying to avoid restricting ourselves and seeing what we could do.”

Trusting their instincts, Woodhawk traveled to Vancouver to recording their forthcoming LP with producer Jesse Gander, who graciously received the band at his Rain City Recorders facility.

“The quality that he can produce instantly was amazing! I’ve never seen someone work a studio so quickly,” Midzain recalls. “So, it was exciting from day one, because we knew it was going to be a big sounding album. Every day we woke up ready to record and we actually ended up finishing a couple of days ahead of time.”

By his account, one good thing about having time to burn was that it gave Woodhawk the opportunity to explore the hospitality of the abundant breweries that surrounded Gander’s studio. The other benefit was that it freed the energetic threesome up to accept the gig of a lifetime. So far.

“Jesse stopped me mid-take while we were recording and said ‘Hold on, you’ve got to check your phone. They’re calling you to open for Airbourne at The Commodore Ballroom tomorrow!’”
The memory is clearly sweet.
“Trying to focus after that was kind of hard; we tried not to shit our pants and managed to finished the recording.”

Woodhawk release Beyond the Sun in Edmonton on Friday, April 7th at the Sewing Machine Factory in Edmonton with Mothercraft and Iron Eyes. They perform at the Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club on Saturday, April 8th in Calgary album release with Chron Goblin and Mothercraft. 

Hammerdrone Reaps a Dark Harvest

Hammerdrone: Releasing the Seeds of Destruction

by Christine Leonard
20 March 2017

 It’s the kind of thing you’d read about in a spy novel, or at least that’s how Hammerdrone’s lead vocalist Graham Harris (Reverend Kill, Genepool, Rotschreck) first stumbled upon the clandestine tendrils of Operation Dark Harvest. Spurred on by the enigmatic trail, Harris would uncover a grassroots rebellion that had some serious dirt under its fingernails.
“I read a fair amount of crime fiction and Scottish author Ian Rankin makes a passing reference to the Dark Harvest Commandos (a proto-SNLA faction) in one of his novels. And I thought, ’Who the hell are they?’ I looked them up and came across an obscure and interesting piece of history that I’d never heard of,” says Harris of inspiration behind the title track of the melodic death metal group’s forthcoming LP.

Sources reveal that in 1981, a group of microbiologists from Scottish universities visited the condemned isle and removed 300 pounds of soil contaminated with anthrax spores. Infected by the British Government during World War II, the deadly toxification wrought upon Gruinard proved that Churchill could decimate a German city in the same fashion. The radical scientists threatened to distribute their dark harvest “at appropriate points that will ensure the rapid loss of indifference of the government and the equally rapid education of the general public,” according to letters the group sent to local newspapers.

Drawing its defiant name from that little-known act of civil disobedience, Dark Harvest is but the latest in a litany of hackle-raising releases from the Calgary-based Hammerdrone.
“When the guys wrote the music for Dark Harvest, it just came together really nicely and tied together a lot of the political themes on the album. ‘Join the Resistance!’ That’s our tag line for playing-up on the idea of ecologically minded terrorists. We wanted to make a political statement. I’m quite in favour of holding the government to account for its promises and actions, so I think there’s something to be said for that!”

Originally forged back in 2010, the intimidatingly intense outfit’s exploratory EPs A Demon Rising (2012) and Wraiths On the Horizon (2013) laid the groundwork for the Promethean ambition of their first full-length release, Clone of Europa, which materialized in 2014. Unfortunately, that victory was clouded by hardship, as the disruptive forces of the mass Calgary flood of 2013 besieged the band. Stepping away from the musical canvas, Harris was left to wonder if Hammerdrone would survive the turbulence that had heaved their world upside-down.

“My wife got transferred to Brisbane, Australia with her work in 2014 and I went too,” explains Harris, who welcomed a baby daughter while living abroad.
“It was kind of a two-year period of globetrotting for me and so from a band perspective, we didn’t know if we were going to continue to be. But we pretty much had the second album all written and we were determined that we were going to record it.”

Proving that long-distance relationships can yield tangible results, Harris found new ways to collaborate on the calamitous Dark Harvest with Hammerdrone bandmates, lead guitarist/songwriter Rick Cardellini, drummer Vinnie Cardellini (Reverend Kill) and guitarist/vocalist Curtis Beardy (Krepitus), while living overseas. Although frequently compared to the likes of Amon Amarth and Behemoth, Harris and company believe in clearing their own footpath when it comes to defining Hammerdrone’s apocalyptic tone and temperament.

“That’s the beautiful side of introducing technology into your music; you’re able to cross 12,500 miles and continue to record together,” Harris confirms.
The most recent addition to Hammerdrone’s arsenal, bassist Teran Wyer (Krepitus, Numenorean) was recruited to the fold for his winning persona and aptitude for anchoring the most aggressive of combos. According to Harris, Wyer’s weighty presence on Dark Harvest heaps another layer of anthemic heaviness upon Hammerdrone’s soylent machinations.

“After we recorded Clones of Europa we really need to find someone solid. Vinnie and I used to play with Teran in Reverend Kill, we knew his style, and what a great guy he is. Once we realized how much he was enjoying playing bass it was an easy choice to slot our good friend in.”

He confirms, “We have a very permanent line-up now.”

Hammerdrone release Dark Harvest on March 24th at Vern’s in Calgary with Votov, Concrete Funeral, and Widow’s Peak.

Plumtree re-issue all three albums!!! : preview

Plumtree ‘90s Halifax pop trio re-issue all three albums on vinyl

by Christine Leonard
9 March 2017

Hindsight may be 20/20, but you can bet your boyfriend jeans that ‘90s Halifax popsters Plumtree didn’t anticipate a full-blown vinyl resurgence when they released their bomp-and-strum-filled sophomore album, Plumtree Predicts the Future, way back in 1997. Cinnamon Toast Records was a good fit for the sweetly introspective group, at the time. The existential ensemble quickly blossomed thanks to tours with the likes of Duotang, the Inbreds and Thrush Hermit, along with appearances at Halifax Pop Explosion! and Edgefest that pushed them further into the national spotlight. An original sister-act, Plumtree’s willowy emanations stem from Carla and Lynette Gillis’ (Absolutely Nothing) love of pop-punk melodies and playful rhythms. With Carla on guitars and vocals and Lynette picking up the drumsticks, Amanda Braden stepped up to provide supporting guitar and vocals while BFFs Nina Martin and Catriona Sturton would fill out the East Coast quartet, by respectively taking up the position of bassist.

It was a whirlwind decade for the band who wrote the song “Scott Pilgrim,” which inspired fan Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel and the subsequent film of the same name. Innocent despite their infamy, their kitchen haircuts and Noxzema-fresh faces declared Plumtree’s notable potential and hunger for personal liberty defined the edge of that fading millennium.

An unexpected, but well-deserved, flashback to those carefree days is set to arrive threefold. Thanks to a lavish remastering at Toronto’s Lacquer Channel, all three of Plumtree’s full-length albums are ready to roll off the line in vinyl format for the first time. Mass Teen Fainting (1995), Plumtree Predicts the Future (1997), and This Day Won’t Last At All (2000) have all be immortalized in acrylic and reissued under the auspices of Label Obscura and featuring new artwork by Yorodeo.

You can almost feel the wind in your hair as you travel down memory lane with the Gillis girls’ effortless harmonies, twisted humour and ridiculously catchy love notes echoing in your ears. Though cut short in 2000, Plumtree’s long lost oeuvre will ensure that future generations can cozy up to a career characterized by a cheeky band next-door appeal. As Ferris cautioned, “life moves pretty fast.” More so these days, but once you stop and look around you’ll discover that the biggest challenge ahead will be bringing that record player on your next road trip.