Mastadon weave the Old Magic

Mammoth metal

Mastodon mix Russian mysticism and elemental magic on Crack the Skye

April 24, 2009 by Christine Leonard

Drawing inspiration from history, classic literature and bad-ass riffs, Mastodon are a metal force to be reckoned with

Atlanta’s Mastodon has a gargantuan reputation to live up to. Over the course of their last three albums, they’ve scaled the mountains of madness, battled Cysquatches and slain Moby Dick. The sludgy prog-rock giants then turned heads when they took part in the Unholy Alliance Tour, conquering North America with the legendary Slayer.

The band has even done some soundtrack work. Avid fans of the cartoon series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Mastodon let loose on the thrash-worthy “Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife” in the opening to Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres. Pursuing such extraordinary artistic avenues continues to be a passion for founding member Bill Kelliher, who equates Mastodon’s increasingly accessible sound to their development as a musical entity.

“We kind of got trapped into a four-album cycle,” Kelliher admits, laughing. “Maybe trapped isn’t the right word — it sort of evolved unintentionally. We later realized that our first full-length, Remission, had lots of fire-oriented tracks on it, like ‘March of the Fire Ants,’ ‘Trainwreck’ and ‘Burning Man.’ We were a pretty fiery band back then, fighting to make a record while working regular jobs. With Leviathan we had the whole aquatic theme. Brann had spent a long plane ride from Hawaii reading Moby Dick and was inspired to explore its themes…. By the time we got to the concepts around the ‘earth’ album, Blood Mountain, our music had a really strong storytelling feel running through it.”

Continuing their mythic journey, the foursome (Kelliher, drummer Brann Dailor, guitarist Brent Hinds and bassist Troy Sanders, who all contribute vocals) have struck elemental gold with their latest offering on Relapse Records. Recorded by the unlikely duo of Bruce Springsteen producer Brendan O’Brien and Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Crack the Skye mingles disparate themes ranging from Russian history to astral projection. Unfurling like something out of one of George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy novels, Crack the Skye’s fantastical plot was conceived and fleshed-out by the Georgia quartet’s drummer, who lost a sister named Skye at a young age. The perfect complement to a larger-than-life sound typified by leaden bass drones, crashing percussion and intricate guitar runs, Brann’s tale revolves around a paraplegic child who travels to outer space, where he encounters the spirit of Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin.

“This time out, we knew we wanted to work with the element of air,” says Kelliher. “We looked at space, wind, time travel, ghosts that fly around in the atmosphere and all the things that tie us to the spiritual realm. There’s a lot of conjuring and talking to the dead, but it’s not blatantly obvious. Our lyrics are open to interpretation; we allow our audiences to draw their own parallels and conclusions.”

The one thing everyone can agree on is Mastodon’s signature cover art, which has been consistently stunning. “From Day 1 our artist, Paul [Romano], has really tapped into our music. The art he produces is fed off the tones of the ideas we use. We are so fortunate to have so many songs and riffs inside us and countless ideas and energies to draw from — it’s a big well of talent.”

Despite the bizarre nature of their artistic leanings, Mastodon’s popularity has exceeded the realms of heavy metal and overflowed into the mainstream. Racking up fans and royalties at a brisk rate, the lumbering behemoth has sunk its tusks into other markets. In addition to licensing songs to two commercials for the U.S. army (let’s not dwell on those), they’ve embraced the video game market, selling tunes like “Sleeping Giant,” “Blood and Thunder” and “Colony of Birchmen” to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series.

“I understand the attraction to gaming,” Kelliher confirms. “Just like listening to music, emulating playing an instrument lets you go into a fantasy world. I don’t play video games that much — I’m 38 years old and I’m living the fantasy!”

Mastodon performs with Intronaut & Kylesa MacEwan Ballroom  

Degrassi DJs at the Head of the Class

Zit Remedy 2.0

Degrassi vets tour behind their turntables

Published March 19, 2009 by Christine Leonard

Amanda Stepto played Spike in Degrassi Junior High. Now she's a DJ!?

Spike and Caitlyn from nigh-legendary Canadian TV series Degrassi Junior High are once again making waves, this time as record-spinning divas. Known in their civilian lives as Amanda Stepto and Stacie Mistysyn, the two actresses cut their DJ teeth a year ago when they started appearing at In Between Days, a monthly ’80s-themed night at The Annex Wreckroom in Toronto. Under the tutelage of the club’s veteran scratch-master Shawn MacDonald, DJs Demanda (Stepto) and Mistycious (Mistysyn) have honed their skills at the turntables and cultivated a passion for sharing their enduring affection for the songs that made up the soundtrack of their youth, even if there’s still a certain amount of on-the-job learning.

“I think when some people see the poster for our DJ nights they don’t realize that Stacie and I are actually using the equipment,” says Stepto. “I mean, it’s not exactly what we’re known for. The technical aspect of the DJ booth is definitely not my forte. The “real DJs” we perform with take it all in stride when something goes wrong, but when I screw up, I practically have a panic attack! Sometimes I get really nervous about performing for a live crowd. When you pick out a set, it kind of tells a little story about you. If people don’t like your songs, it’s kind of like they’re saying they don’t like you.”

Once she’s gotten over those initial butterflies, though, Stepto relishes the opportunity to connect with her audience. Schmoozing with fans in between their 30-minute sets, the ’80s queens hold court as they rotate their MC duties with the more experienced DJ Shawn and special guest Djorge. Balancing the need to keep things moving on the dance floor while catering to the expectations of a public that adores them for their TV roles, Stepto acknowledges that the duo’s musical tastes are often set aside. Still, you’ll be relieved to hear that the rebel icon still remains true to her punk rock roots — according to Stepto, her record collection contains the same music she has always identified with.

“If I played a set of just my kind of music, I would probably clear the dance floor,” she chuckles. “Personally, I still listen to all the bands I’ve always loved: Sick of it All, NOFX, Social Distortion. I still have all my old cassettes. I like to keep everything.”

“I try to tailor my set to fit the setting and mood of the evening,” she continues. “In the winter, I might play more Goth-y stuff like Sisters of Mercy and The Cure, but when it’s the college crowd, you know they’ll want to hear Poison. We get so many requests when we’re DJing that we can hardly keep up. It’s funny, because some people get downright belligerent when you don’t play their song. I’ve come to realize you can’t please everyone. It’s like, we’ve got 300 requests and only three hours to play them in. You do the math!”

Tripping the light fantastic and whisking their audience back to a happier place in time, DJs Spike and Caitlyn make it OK to like Martha and the Muffins again, even if it is just for one evening. Proving that they’re indeed more than one-trick ponies cashing in on a nostalgic trend, Stepto and Mistysyn are also currently labouring to launch their own TV comedy show called OverXposed. Until it airs, if you’re looking for an instant dose of nostalgia, you can always enjoy old episodes of the original Degrassi Junior High on DVD.

Degrassi Jr. High Spring Fling with DJ sets by In Between Days (Spike & Caitlin) and DJ Big Daddy Deyotte at Broken City March 21, 2009

CRADLE OF FILTH - An interview with Paul Allender by Christine Leonard-Cripps

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

England’s biggest metal band likes it filthy

 Cradle of Filth  on tour with Satyricon & Septic Flesh

There’s a certain morbid allure to Cradle of Filth that no self-respecting 17-year-old metal fan can resist. The dual pleasures of simultaneously pissing off one’s parental units whilst basking in the funerary glory of the band’s gothic symphonies is a two-headed demon of mythic proportions, to be sure. Embracing the innocence of youth along with the trappings of liturgical symbolism older than history itself, Cradle of Filth evolved out of the primordial sludge that festered around their hometown of Suffolk, England in the early ’90s. Audiences were lured in by the band’s acute sense of timing, sophisticated melodies and forthright heavy metal sound, all overwritten by singer Dani Filth’s signature howls. Sharing a so-called singing Suffolk accent — marked by a wide pitch range and a high-rising intonation at the end of sentences — lead guitarist and veteran member Paul Allender speaks in a notably broad Midland rhythm that is perfect for a metal-head, right down to the Spinal Tap drawl. Although, what he says isn’t always all that metal.

“I have the notorious reputation for being able to sleep through anything,” says Allender. “That tends to be how I cope with things when we’re on the road. Everybody is off snowboarding, and I’m stuck on the bus because our insurance won’t cover me getting busted up on the ski slopes. They’re like ‘Those hands? No way!’ So, that means that I don’t get to see as much of the places we perform in as I might like, but to me it’s more important that I’m completely energized when I hit the stage every night. I mean, that’s what it’s really about, isn’t it?”

That drive has led Cradle to produce black metal albums of the highest calibre, despite being haunted by label conflicts (the band has had issues with both Sony and Cacophonous Records), financial ruin, legal woes and a seemingly never-ending war of attrition amongst bandmates. Cementing their status as gods of the heavy metal underworld with legendary releases such as The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, Cruelty and the Beast, Thornography and last year’s Godspeed on Devil’s Thunder, Filth and Allender have ironed out past differences into a battle-hardened friendship.

“The way we see it, it doesn’t matter what the label thinks,” says a defiant Allender. “We’ve always done what we wanted, contracts or no. We’d politely tell our label ‘It’s got fuck all to do with you,’ even when we were on Sony. We run the show ourselves. It’s always been about freedom, and I think that comes across in our music. Working without constraints allows for more flowing. We do it all by feel and without an agenda.”

Other developments have seen the elite metal group incorporate female vocals into their mix — most notably those of their new “satanic advisor,” Sarah Jezebel Deva, who replaced Andrea Meyer after her short run with the band. Content whether performing as a six or seven-piece, Cradle always digs deep to bring their living nightmare to the stage. Gathering their collective sense of creative inspiration from Gothic literature, classical mythology and horror films, the grim collective enjoys adding a dash of the dramatic to their performances — something their audiences have come to appreciate, admire and, in some cases, demand.

“We just did three shows in a row in Mexico where we played to a packed stadium of three-and-a-half thousand people every night,” Allender recalls. “They were singing our songs from the time they were standing in line, and even cheered our road crew through the whole set-up process. The amount of support they showed us was totally unbelievable. They were so appreciative and so into it that they refused to leave after our encore and still stayed around as the stage was dismantled. I think that when it comes to seeing live music, a lot of us are really spoiled for choice, but those kids are just so hungry for it. We’d go anywhere in the world to perform for people who love metal that much.”

by Christine Leonard

Originally published in Fast Forward Magazine January 29, 2009

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

Where the buffalo roam

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

Published November 20, 2008  by Christine Leonard 

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.”

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

Published October 16, 2008  by Christine Leonard

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.”