Pervcore: As Raunchy as They Wanna Be

Pervcore:
a weighty yet agile
six-piece raunchcore ensemble

by Christine Leonard

30 July 2017

You don’t have to be Tammy Wynette to know that sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, but that doesn’t mean you have to whine about it. Not when you can yell it at the top of your lungs while strange men guzzle draft beer from your cleavage. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Meet Pervcore, the most inappropriate band at your friendly neighbourhood BBQ. Good thing they’re usually the ones hosting.

“The band obviously likes to have fun and is a sleaze-thrash party band and that reputation is still intact, but everybody realizes that we’re trying to put on a performance and equality counts,” says guitarist Mike Davies (2/3 of Nothing).

“I think of this band as being akin to something like Nashville Pussy; we’re all about entertainment and empowerment. The musical content has evolved to the point where you can’t really perform properly with 15 beers in your system. Everybody’s still having a good time, but it’s more about putting on a great show.”

Since being formed four years ago by co-vocalists TerraLee Doolittle and Emi Van Der Pol, Pervcore has become a genre-defining band that puts female talent upfront without pulling any punches.

“It’s how I get my anger out,” says newlywed Doolittle. “For example, the song “Get Fucked” is based on a true story. Some guy hit me with a bat, so I got up and hit him right back. Take that!”

Backed up by the instrumental support of Davies, along with Emi’s bassist/spouse, Kuba Van Der Pol (he took her name, how cool is that?) and TerraLee’s husband/percussionist Dallas Lobb (Electric Revival), and founding guitarist Craig Kubitzki, the band began generating some seriously vitriolic material.

“Craig makes up the metal contingent and I would be the punk rock component,” veteran string-slinger Davies elaborates.

“Like any good thrash band, we’re a punk-metal crossover. Most of the songwriting is done from the punk rock side of things and then it gets spiced up with some Iron Maiden-esque split guitar solos. We take the three-chord punk thing and put a really big melodic spin on it. Then you throw in the two female powerhouses and the dynamic of the two works together really well. They’re both tremendously vocally talented and have huge range and presence.”

Romancing audiences as a weighty yet agile six-piece raunchcore ensemble, Pervcore thrives on blurring that fine line between the provocative and the profane. Stepping off the curb on their forthcoming release, Tales from the Gutter Volume I, the sextet is primed to seduce new fans and reward the old with a combination of guile and gusto that has to be seen, heard and perhaps even tasted live to be truly appreciated.

“I get a lot of feedback from girls about how they love what we say and the way we say it,” reports vocalist Van Der Pol. “A lot of the lyrics and song content are based on things that a lot of girls want to say, but don’t normally get to, because of politeness.” 

Pervcore releases Tales from the Gutter Volume I will be released at Distortion on August 5 (Calgary). 

Melvins: King Buzzo Doubles-Down on New Album

King Buzzo : 

"I don’t know what you’re used to, 

but we had a good time making it!”

by Christine Leonard
10 July 2017

If memory serves, the last time yours truly spoke with Roger “King Buzzo” Osborne of the legendary sludge rock outfit The Melvins, it was 2010 and the Godfather of Grunge was contemplating the merits of finally having made the Billboard Magazine’s list of the 200 top-selling albums. The actual number of records sold on that effort was nominal (say 3000 units), but the implications of the hardcore punk act traversing the lamestream and gaining commercial appeal was far greater. At the time, Buzzo estimated that such an achievement could only be a prelude to the end of the world as we know it.

“I don’t think music’s any worse or better than it ever was. I like music as much as I ever have. I don’t’ think that there was ever a ‘Golden Era.’ But there are very few bands that I actually really endorse. There never was,” Buzzo confirms.

“I like all kinds of new stuff, but I also like the same stuff I liked when I was 13. I never quit liking a band I really liked. I never grew out of stuff. Now there’s this huge expanse of stuff that I like, but I’m not afraid of liking new music or old music. Not at all. It’s either good or bad it’s not anything other than that. If it was good, to me, and it came from 1965 that’s great, or 1985, or 2015 it makes little or no difference to me.”

Seven years on, The Melvins are still pumping out obtuse yet intense albums with remarkable frequency. Remarkable because group that originally arose in Montesano, Washington back in 1983 is showing no signs of slowing down in their old age if anything they’re picking up speed in their old age.

“Yes, that’s kind of the point,” Buzzo agrees.

“I feel like we are afforded the opportunity to make music for a living and with that, to me, comes a responsibility of holding up my end of the bargain. Which is that I will continue to work and make music as long as I can. We’ve done a lot of work, and it’s difficult because you don’t want to do the same thing over, and over, and over again. So, we try to work differently, as well. Sometimes that’s exciting and sometimes it’s not. Essentially, I like doing what I’m doing. I’m going to continue what I’m doing but beyond that. I don’t’ really need motivation. I mean, it’s nice to have records where you listen to them and it makes you want to make your own records, but it doesn’t always happen. You never know where inspiration is going to come from.”

Hedging away from the everyday, The Melvins recognize the inherent value of stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. Lately that’s meant taking on monumental challenges that have drawn the exuberantly heavy band into the locus of an album/soundtrack/filmmaking enterprise that has been as demanding as it has rewarding. But despite the inherent risks of going out on an artistic limb, Buzzo remains steadfast in his convictions and comportment when it comes to boldly going where no band has gone before.

“We’re not afraid. No, no, no. What’s the worst that could happen? I’m only really trying to please myself,” Buzzo admits.

“People take that as meaning I don’t’ care what the audience thinks and that’s not true. I care what they think, but I make music that I like figuring that other people will like it too. I would never make something that I intentionally wouldn’t like. I have to like it. If I stand behind it, I think other people will stand behind it and I don’t see anything wrong with that. I figure that’s really the key: making music that you like.”

Using that skeleton key to unlock the next chapter in his discography, Buzzo doubled his efforts and his output to produce The Melvins’ latest, a dramatic dual-release titled A Walk With Love And Death. A multifaceted release, the album consists of a dark stand-alone LP called Death and a moody film score LP called Love.

“It’s an album, as well as a soundtrack, and it’s all called A Walk With Love And Death, which is a little confusing for people, but we’re used to that,” he muses. For what is this life, if not a walk with both love and death?

“Fair enough. I guess you could stroll with love and death. The two halves are very different and there’s something on there for everyone. Maybe. Depending on what you’re used to. I don’t know what you’re used to, but we had a good time making it. It was a huge undertaking and we put a lot of work into it. The film is getting made right now as we speak. It’ll be out at some point and time with a different edited-version of the soundtrack.”

Surprisingly, this release marks the first double-album from the 34-year old band that has brought us such headnodding classics as Ozma (1989), Bullhead (1991), Houdini (1993), Stoner Witch (1994), and more recently The Bride Screamed Murder (2010) and Basses Loaded (2016). All along the road, the collective work ethic of long-time friends and band members; drummer/vocalist Dale Crover (who performed and recorded with Acid King, Nirvana, Hank Williams III), bassist/vocalist Jared Warren (Big Business, The Whip, Karp) and drummer/vocalist Coady Willis (Murder City Devils, Dead Low Tide, Big Business) has allowed King Buzzo free reign to surmount the trivial and fully explore his artistic intentions.

“It’s always interesting to me when people say things like ‘I don’t like your new material.’ Well, it’s not necessarily new. Some of the stuff on the soundtrack album we’ve had for a while and there’s one song on the other album (“Yuthanagia/Euthanasia”), which is a song that we’ve had since the early ‘90s that just never made it on to an album. It was on a 7-inch, it was on a flexi-disc, back then, so it’s the first time we put it on the record.”

Having finished the album and awaiting the imminent completion of the accompanying short film, directed by Jesse Nieminen, which shares its name with the twinned albums, Buzzo is eager to progress to his next benchmark assignment. Motivated and interested in the business of making music, Buzzo’s ability to overcome procrastination, forego the trappings of fame (he’s notoriously private), and remain true to his vision has set Melvins apart, and above, for decades. And while some musicians tend to look back on their storied professions with a certain degree of misty-eyed nostalgia, Buzzo isn’t one for dwelling on the past.

“We’re going to play some material off our new album, but we have a lot of records. You can’t play everything, so we had to kind of pick and choose what’s going to fit into the set and we’re working that out right now. So, who knows? Some songs I like more than others, but I don’t’ listen to my own music. We make the albums, like A Walk With Love And Death, and by the time it comes out I’m done with it. I’ll have moved on to the next thing, whatever that may be, ‘cuz we finished it months and months ago. When you finish a project, you’ve just gotta let it go out into the world and let someone else have it.”

The Melvins perform July 17 at Union Hall (Edmonton) and July 18 at The Marquee (Calgary).

Sled Island 2017 Recap

by Christine Leonard

Sled Island 2017 Day One Recap
June 21st, 2017

Les Filles De Illighadad – King Eddy

It was standing room only at the King Eddy, adjacent to the National Music Centre, last night with an abundance of attendees putting the hallowed venue at capacity by 10pm. Already drained from a few hours of Sledding, a good number of guests at the Day 1 event opted to camp out on the floor in front of the stage, backpacks and legs akimbo. Unflustered by this miming of the Prince’s Island tarpies, the lovely and demure Les Filles de Illighadad methodically built their Saharan atmosphere one melodic incantation at a time.

Couched in the age-old tradition of women’s ritual healing songs, the West African troupe layered Alamnou Akrouni’s compelling Tuareg vocal refrains with the airy chords of Fatou Seidi Ghali’s ishumar acoustic guitars. The repetitive simplicity of the lyrical structures and polytonal harmonies cast a hypnotic yet lively spell that eventually prompted even the weariest of hand-clappers to rise to their feet. This elevated reverie permitted the rest of the crowd to move in, as electric guitars introduced a heightened energy to the room. Honouring the uniqueness and authenticity of these highly-focused performers, Calgary’s Home of the Blues was soon pulsating to the beat of a very different drum. The Sahel sounds of Talamnou Akrouni’s tende drum, with its throaty, worry-dulling throb, was improvised in the most inventive way: by replacing the large wooden mortar and wetted goatskin with what appeared to be a halved basketball floating in a tub of water. So, you think you’re pretty DIY, punk? You ain’t got nothing on these talented ladies of Tahoua.

Maria Takeuchi – Commonwealth (Main Floor)

A close encounter with a utopian future, Sled Island Day 1 had a late-night set by Maria Takeuchi (aka ÉMU aka Maria Japyellow) that released a cascade of light and sound that spread through Commonwealth like the mercurial white rabbits of Izumo. Twisting dials and crooning softly into her microphone, the multi-instrumentalist, who makes her home in Brooklyn, New York having moved from small-town Japan, fused modal loops and quavering beats while imaginary birds chirped from their metallic branches. Perched before a screen of shapeshifting animated faces and fronted by a sinuous chrome mannequin, Takeuchi’s inward-gazing creations conjured the multifaceted gateway god, Janus. Surreal yet intuitively laid-out, her delicate, feathery vocalizations combined with the careful tending of her digital dreamscapes made for a Zen-like yet visually Blade Runner-esque listening experience.

Sled Island 2017 Day Two Recap
June 22nd, 2017

Nosferatu with Shooting Guns Live Score – Globe Cinema

The waning light of day couldn’t deter the creatures of the night from attending the not-to-be-missed film screening and musical performance at the Globe Cinema on Thursday. Shooting Guns of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan did an exemplary job of adding a live soundtrack to the 1922 German horror classic, Nosferatu. Director F.W. Murnau himself would have marveled at the emotive intensity and attention to detail the six-piece (normally seven-piece) band, known for their sprawling stoner rock instrumentals, lavished on his retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula yarn. The psych-rock troupe has already finessed the soundtracks to both Wolfcop movies, so the fact that they were recording the soundtrack for Wolfcop II while rehearsing this mind-blowing live score serves to exemplify their dedication to elevating art for art’s sake.

Gongs, flutes, synths and strings supported every nuanced facial expression and creaking ship mast to the point that the audience was tempted to forget they had a live orchestra in front of them. The crowning terror of Max Schreck’s Count Orlok was given grim eminence by goosebump-raising crescendos that conveyed a very authentic sense dread and fear that movie-goers of the ‘20s would have felt, but not had the benefit of hearing. That immense pleasure was reserved for Sled Island attendees, thank you very much! Moving through the 90-minute silent film, with a commendable appreciation of the time and place in which it was created, Shooting Guns breathed new life into a celluloid corpse and conjured an immortal piece of artwork.

Sheenah Ko, Eschatons, Saxsyndrum, Same/Same, Black Thunder, Woodhawk, Chron Goblin – Palomino (Main Floor/Downstairs)

Our first question for Chron Goblin was “why was your set only four and a half minutes long?” Or, so it would seem as the downtown smokehouse’s patio doors were thrown open and the usual cellar-dwellers were invited to perform above ground. Unfortunately, this wasn’t high enough. So, they tossed up a wall of lysergic visual projections to bring an amped-up ‘Rad Games in your own backyard’ flair to the affair. Was this what Desertfest fans were treated to in the UK last month? Chronic X is coming in hot with new songs, agent orange exploding jungles, BMX riders, neon paintball splatters, sci-fi vivisection and an incendiary towheaded singer. Oh, my. This was not your neighborhood garden variety Chron Goblin show, after all. No, this was Chron Goblin on steroids, or perhaps hyped-up on guitar-rock goofballs, and ready to slap their “Every day I’m Grinding” bumper sticker across your smiling face. A recuperative energy drink in sonic form, the increasingly-accomplished foursome treated their hometown crowd to an explosive show while revealing the hidden potential of a well-loved venue. My second question for Chron Goblin would be “Why can I still see this show every time I blink?”

Sled Island 2017 Day Three Recap
June 23rd, 2017

Steal Shit Do Drugs, Deathsticks – Tubby Dog

A little rain and a whole lotta punk-rock were the perfect condiments for a late-night snack attack at Tubby Dog on Sled Island’s Friday. Things got pretty dog-gone crazy as Seattle’s reckless youth, Steal Shit Do Drugs, unleashed a barrage of fiery numbers that turned up the heat and emptied every seat. Brought to his knees by the intensity of the moment, tortured vocalist Kennedy Carda lived up to the band’s name by crashing through a battery of brusque, but stylish, smash-and-grab numbers; ensnaring the sweat and shower dampened audience’s affections in the process. Intermission called for onion rings the size of bagels and a post-show interrogation of the lead singer which may have involved the purchase of an Elvis T-shirt.

Next up at Tubb’s All-Ages Garage & Grill, the two-piece Deathsticks brought their bad influence to the venue’s arcade glow in quick order. A bash and pop entity of another kind, the outfit’s straight forward approach to blasting out powerful guitar-drum duet dirges was both enthusiastic and confident. A much-appreciated kick in the adrenaline glad, their spunky energy provided the acute hit of peer-pressure needed to push Sledders on into the depths of the evening. And the XL cuppa cola didn’t hurt either! Thanks, Peterborough Padawans, you’ve made us want to go home and think about our lives. Eventually.

Wilt, Wolves in the Throne Room – Dickens Pub

Sled Island’s inhabitants were primed and ready for another dose of heavy metal and that’s exactly what they received when Winnipeg’s Wilt took to the stage at Dickens on Friday night. Bathed in a bilious green light the Manitoban metalheads unleashed a monstrous yet technically excellent set that filled the room with palpable tension. Ball-of-your-feet riffs that rose and fell like acidic tidal waves washed over the crowd setting tympanic membranes and arteries aflutter. Moving monoliths and minds with their melding of fantastical and futuristic mores, Wilt exhibited an extraordinary sense of balance as they navigated through shadowy sonic forests without losing sight of the mountains looming on the horizon.

On the topic of communing with nature, elemental wizards Wolves in the Throne Room brought a little piece of Olympia, Washington to Sled Island. And then set it on fire. You know you’re in for a metal show that’s a slightly out of the ordinary when the performer’s pregame ritual involves 20 minutes of smudging the space with sage and cedar smoke. Mmmmm… you can really taste the earth!

That unfreshening accomplished, the deluxe version of the normally three-wolf pack, slowly eased into their organic doom ablutions. Accompanied by an additional guitarist, Peregrine Somerville (Sadhaka), and keyboardist, Brittany McConnell (Wolf Serpent), Wolves in the Throne Room’s already massive sound effectively expanded three-fold, enveloping the packed house in a cloud of artful aggression. A tapestry of tear-jerkingly beautiful reveries and throat-ripping onslaughts, their long and wandering songs pulled influences from throughout the heavy metal canon and bent them to their collective will. A flurry of flying fur and howling alpha-male vocals, the scope and scale of their reach would undoubtedly leave any would-be usurper no alternative but to turn tail and run.

Sled Island 2017 Day Four Recap
June 24th, 2017

FOONYAP, ANAMAI, Thor & Friends – Studio Bell (Performance Hall)

The National Music Centre gave weary Sledders a soft place to land on Saturday night as Calgary’s last empress, FOONYAP, held court in the impressive Studio Bell Performance Hall with its rich wood paneling, royal blue upholstery and unmistakable new car smell. Do you hear that? It’s the world’s tiniest violin and FOONYAP is playing it just for you! Holding the audience’s rapt attention, the meticulous soloist accompanied herself on violin and mando-guitar, layering tones and tempos using loops and samples she cleverly recorded on the spot. Vocals that echoed traditional Chinese opera and then shifted to coquettish French poetry lent a quavering beauty to an esoteric and minimalist pre-swan song.


The second act of the evening was the Torontonian two-piece ANAMAI. Made up of Anna Mayberry (HSY) and David Psutka (Egyptrixx), ANAMAI kept the lights down low as their rumble and reverb filled shoegaze soundscapes rolled across the floor like so much mist and fog. The wetness of the room’s acoustics, as FOONYAP put it, effectively captured and amplified the nautical qualities of duo’s lovelorn laments. Captain Mayberry’s guitar took on the role of bass as Psutka’s watery rhythms rode her wake through unexpected melodies and nonlinear lyrical structures that followed their own starry charts.


Proof that Sled Island really is the Lady Byng trophy winner of festivals, Saturday’s nicest concert, Thor & Friends, attracted some of Sled’s heaviest hitters to attend. A mixed-bag of pass holders and pack samplers arrived throughout the night in anticipation of Thor Harris’ return to the Island. Known for his percussive contributions to Swans and Ben Frost, the multi-instrumentalist welcomed some eight “friends” to join him for a polyphonic spree. Settling gratefully into the theatre’s padded seats, the crowd, who’d aged a decade since Tuesday, enjoyed a pleasantly light and airy marimba and xylophone set that was entirely on point for the interpretive museum’s environment.


Furry shoulder-to-shoulder, a fedora-topped Thor encouraged his band members to join him in an exercise in visual, if not musical diversity. At times Thor switched to the clarinet as the rag-tag ensemble functioned through a series of similar-sounding Plinko symphonies, which benefitted mightily from the addition of strings by FOONYAP and stand-up bassist Aaron. There was also a stunning interpretive dancer in a reductive hospital gown, for those who required a kinetic translation. The rest of the ensemble included a French horn player and two unamplified individuals, who’s contributions were entirely lost in the subterfuge of bow swings and Korged-up key strikes. Backed by a bucolic video montage of fields and forests, birds and bees, Thor & Friends worked up a happy-go-plucky nine-person hum that rose through the NMC’s nine interlocking towers like a warm summer breeze.

by Christine Leonard

MONO: Can’t Get No Satisfaction

MONO: Once More With Feeling

by Christine Leonard
19 June 2017

“I think music is a gift from God. I want to portray core human natures, such as light and darkness, and life and death through our music.”

Trade-specialists when it comes to splitting subatomic particles of sound, Tokyo’s Mono (stylized as MONO) is no stranger to the polyharmonic era of post-rock dissonance. Equal-parts pleasure and art-house, the innovative commune of musicians has been generating massive volumes of their unique sonic philosophy since the end of the last century. According to founding member Takaakira “Taka” Goto (electric guitar, glockenspiel) approaching music from a position of humility and reflection is Mono’s gateway to producing mindful music.

“For me, a composition is a process of going deep inside of my heart. I pull out a bright, shining, soul-like inspiration from the dark abyss, and construct them into songs,” explains Taka. “It’s an important process to continue to remain true to myself, and by getting saved by my own songs, it assures me that it’s ok for me to continue to live and there is a reason for me to continue to be who I am. By writing down all those feelings into songs, there is this definite feeling that you can sympathize with all the people in the world through our music.”

The curiosity stirred by the spores of Mono’s early emanations, Under the Pipal Tree (2001 Tzadik Records) and One Step More and You Die (2002 Music Mine Inc.), rapidly mushroomed under the Temporary Residence Ltd. Record label, resulting in a heavy & heavenly run of releases; Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined (2004), You Are There (2006) and later Hymn to the Immortal Wind (2009). An earthshaking live album, Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra, followed in 2010 and in October 2016 Mono revealed their latest (and perhaps most ambitious) creation to date, the symphonic Requiem for Hell.

“I have always been hugely inspired by classical music’s deep spirituality that composers like Beethoven and Mahler had been portraying from back in the day. It’s been my lifelong wish to make them co-exist with Rock music’s big energy and destructiveness,” Taka explains. “I have actually never learned music properly in my life. Whenever I compared myself to some of the other great composers in history, I have never felt truly satisfied with my own process. But I noticed something one day. I think that kind of incompleteness is my true originality. I think this kind of originality is the most important thing.”

Interweaving metallic technicality and lyrical humanity into one undulating flesh fractal is child’s play compared to standing out in a city with 6,224 people per km2. Fortunately, Taka and bandmates, Hideki “Yoda” Suematsu (electric guitar, glockenspiel), Tamaki Kunishi (bass guitar, electric guitar, piano, glockenspiel), and Yasunori Takada (drum kit, glockenspiel, synthesizer) have learned to dive below the surface to liberate the immortal muse within the machine.

“I’m personally more drawn towards things that you can’t see, rather than things you can see. I think music is a gift from God. I want to portray core human natures, such as light and darkness, and life and death through our music. Every time I write for an album, I always try to do something new and grow, instead of repeating what I have done in the past. This is an interesting feeling. It almost feels like creating a great cathedral over my lifetime… I want our show to be an emotional turning point of life, almost like gaining a new life experience through our music after witnessing our show.”

MONO perform at Sled Island June 21-25th [Calgary]

Wolves in the Throne Room: Out of the Ashes

Wolves in the Throne Room: 

Black Cascade in the Studio

by Christine Leonard
13 June 2017

It’s been five long years since black metal shapeshifters Wolves in the Throne Room last wrapped the stage in their dark embrace. Ending their half-decade hiatus with a tour of Europe and the East Coast of the U.S., the Cascadian metal act has proven as surefooted as ever in their return thanks to the natural healing powers of the verdant Pacific Northwest.

“All of us need a bit of time to rest and recuperate, and gather energy and inspiration,” explains drummer/bassist/synth-player Aaron Weaver.

“For my part, that meant walking in the woods every day and go swimming in the saltwater as much as possible. I’ve come to realize that if your life is a fire that has everything in it then music is just the leftovers. So, it’s important to me to spend time really living life in order to really play our music from the heart instead of just going through the motions.”

Steadfast in refusing to be driven by materialism or the need to observe genre-prescribed iconography, Wolves in the Throne Room have traveled many miles since the appearance of their debut album Diadem of 12 Stars (2006). Subsequent releases on Southern Lord Records, including Two Hunters (2007) and Black Cascade (2009), aided in winning ominous repute for the band’s turbulent heavy metal epics. Elementally bonded through the sacred vibrations of Washington’s wildness to his spiritual-brother guitarist-vocalist Kody Keyworth and his biological brother (who is also the band’s lead vocalist-guitarist, Nathan Weaver), Aaron believes in bringing a little piece of heaven on Earth to every Wolves in the Throne Room appearance.

“It’s super important for us that the music emanates from a place. It emanates from our home. That the thing that first attracted me to Scandinavian black metal.

It seemed so clear to me that such music could arise from no other landscape than a wild, and rocky, and forlorn, and cold northern landscape. And I love music that is stamped with the imprint of the land it comes from. It’s just a beautiful thing to me when the artists are specifically calling upon the spirit of the landscape to animate the music,” he explains.

“When we travel, it’s our intention to bring that spirit with us, which we do by burning cedar or sage, and by literally bringing objects from home to carry that energy, and actively trying to conjure the spirits that inform our music. Our music comes out of an interaction with Spirit; the spirit of the salmon or the spirit of the cedar tree. These totemic spirits that are so powerful here, where we live. And, it’s my hope to be able to share some of that magic with the people who come to see our shows.”

The mystical outfit’s fifth studio album Celestial Lineage (2011) saw the Weaver brothers drowning nascent folk and punk influences in a soul-scouring doom undercurrent. Launched in 2014 under their own label Artemisia Records, the follow-up album Celestite, was an ambient-synth experiment born of the lupine clan’s desire to return to the cavernous realms of their previous LP in drone form. Following their intuition, the band of brothers has recently adopted two new (touring) pack members, who share their monastic regard for yoga and vegetarianism, generating a fresh outlook on the practice of spreading their proverbial ashes.

“The biggest change we’ve got is three guitars on stage now, which makes a huge difference. In the past, our sound has been somewhat stripped-down and a bit raw, and we’re really excited to perform a more fully-realized live sound,” says Weaver.
“The person who’s going to be playing guitar with us is a really old friend of ours named, Peregrine Somerville (Sadhaka). We also have an amazing woman, Brittany McConnell, from the Idaho band Wolf Serpent, playing keyboards and doing additional percussion.”

According to Weaver, audiences can (still) expect to join Wolves in the Throne Room on a cathartic and exhausting journey through heartbreak and triumph. George R.R. would certainly approve!

“We aim to create an immersive atmosphere, which means the everyday ‘monkey mind’ is put aside for a while, and we can just be fully in the present with the music, and give ourselves space to be surprised by the what feelings will emerge and what visions will arise. It’s a situation where space and time are going to be torn open. People may be inspired to go wild. There’s possession that occurs and that’s understandable and desirable.”

 Wolves in the Throne Room perform at Dickens on June 23 during Sled Island.

The Herbaliser Interviewed by Christine Leonard-Cripps

The Dank Soul of The Herbaliser

Cinematic hip hop and funk outfit fully embraces its old-school sound.

“People need to know there are four of us in The Herbaliser, rather than two guys playing with decks,” declares horn-player Ralph Lamb. “We’re more than that now. We’re going back to the idea of musicians. The Herbaliser is very much about the live band.”

This is the message. It’s been proclaimed in press releases prior to the release of the band’s new album, Same As It Never Was, and noted in interviews whenever the question of a “new direction” comes up. Throughout his interview with Fast Forward, Lamb stays on this message, emphasizing the band aspect of The Herbaliser. This is his chance to correct history. He was there from the beginning, helping Ollie Teeba and Jake Wherry put together the demo for Ninja Tunes that launched their careers. He’s worked with the two for over eight years, playing the trumpet and the flugelhorn on every album and tour since 1999’s Very Mercenary. He’s helped shape the cinematic soul sound that defines The Herbaliser by writing and arranging songs. It’s time for some credit, even if it means leaving behind the label that launched the band’s career.

“That was the main thrust of [the label move],” admits Lamb. “We were at Ninja Tunes for 12 years. Now, it’s a new beginning. It’s a whole different thing now.”

The label move means more than just leaving behind Ninja Tune’s DJ-centric culture. It marks a united front for the band, a chance to reinvigorate themselves as pop music embraces a gentrified facsimile of Motown. The addition of Jessica Darling as The Herbaliser’s featured vocalist could be seen as the band’s attempt to put up their own picket fences in the suburbs of Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson. Darling, a 22-year-old London-born singer whose raw vocals recall classic funk singers like Marva Whitney, joins a growing list of young white women who sound as if they’ve cannibalized the vocal chords of dead black soul singers twice their age. Lamb, though, dismisses the notion that The Herbaliser is aiming for mainstream acceptance.

“That might happen, but it’s not something we’re going for,” he says. “We’ve always worked just under the radar of pop music, which has given us longevity. We have a strong fan base, but when you step into the pop world, you’re in danger of becoming a one-hit wonder.

“And we always were thinking about writing songs for a vocalist. Jess is a feature on this album and probably the next album. She’s very good, immensely talented and unknown. She just fills a void in The Herbaliser. We wrote songs specifically for her with The Herbaliser vibe, and it’s really working. As long as it keeps working for us we’ll keep it up, but you know The Herbaliser. We’ll still feature other people.”

Even if the band finds mainstream acceptance, The Herbaliser are wary of being labelled a pop band, or of any label for that matter. In the past, the band has shirked the electronica and trip hop labels that they feel have dogged them even to this day. Rather, they want recognition for laying down some of the groundwork for the current soul revival in pop music. After all, they were spinning and sampling soul grooves back when Amy Winehouse was just discovering crack cocaine in a high school toilet. Soul has always been a part of The Herbaliser.

“We’ve been doing live instrumentation for a long time — since 1998,” says Lamb. “We were one of the first ones on the Ninja Tunes label to put a live band together. It’s still about the funk and hip hop. It still has that cinematic sound. It’s still The Herbaliser.”

by Christine Leonard

Originally November 20, 2008  published in FastForward Magazine. 

Cro-Mags: No gods. No idols. No stagediving.

Cro-Mags : Ain't No Knuckledraggers

by Christine Leonard
18 May 2017

 It’s not easy catching up with John ‘Bloodclot’ Joseph McGowan. The triathlete, hardcore pundit and frontman to the legendary punk outfit Cro-Mags has been a provocative mover-shaker since the early ‘80s and yet still possesses enough endurance to run an Ironman marathon and then crowd surf until dawn. McGowan’s current trifecta of Herculean tasks includes recording with his other band (Bloodclot), crisscrossing the country to perform with his long-time act and promoting the re-release of his soul-baring 2007 autobiography The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon. All this has left him with little time for distractions.

“Sorry, I’m on the road,” McGowan explains of his elusiveness.

“I left my phone in one place in L.A. and then I was running around and then I had a meeting where I had to have my phone off.”

And, his wallet?

Safely chained to his leg, thanks.

“That’s funny, I was just in El Segundo! We stayed at Venice Beach, but we went to the veggie restaurants in El Segundo. Not a place I really wanna live… It’s not my style; I love New York.”

Yes, he does love New York. And if a McGowan-led walking tour of the boroughs doesn’t confirm it, then the gritty accounts provided in his paperback will.

Despite having been published a decade ago, interest in McGowan’s ascension to punk rock infamy has not cooled.

“Well, it’s been 10 years and I always wanted to put out more copies,” he notes.

“We did 10,000 copies on our own, but everybody’s been askin’, because it’s hard to get and people were charging three or four hundred dollars for it online and ripping people off. So, I thought, ‘alright let’s put out a digital edition and a small print run so everybody can get a copy.’ And then, you know, I had to update some stuff, put in some new pictures and a new afterword to bring it up to date a little bit. I also redid the audiobook which is 19 hours!”

Editing his autobiography again brought up some vivid memories for the headstrong singer, but it also reaffirmed that the past, no matter how checkered, is still very much a part of his everyday existence.

“I guess if anything, that’s what you can take away from my whole story. You’ve got to fight through the bad stuff in life and not give up. And that’s kinda been my story since I was a kid.”

Crediting his Hare Krishna background and a vegan lifestyle with setting him on the path to spiritual contentment, the straight-edged vocalist’s focus remains firmly fixed on uplifting the band’s performance and reputation.

“My role is to just do what I’ve always done, and that is go out and play the songs to the best of my ability and not make excuses. That’s why I choose to stay sober and bring that energy to the stage every night. And that’s why who’s in the band is and who ain’t ain’t. It’s for a reason that this line-up exists. We’ve got (drummer) Mackie Jayson who played on the records, and (guitarist) A.J. Novello been in the band since ‘92, and Craig Scully (Sick of It All), or this cat Casey who fills in when he’s not available,” John Joseph continues. “And, I was there since ‘81.”

Okay. Here we go.

“Although a lot of people say it was ‘84. It wasn’t. It was ‘81 when the band first started.”

It’s the original punk rock soap opera. Who started what when? Everyone has their own version of events, but all concerned agree that Cro-Mag’s September 1986 debut Age of Quarrel, and to a lesser degree 1989’s Best Wishes (both on Profile Records), embodied and informed the emerging East Coast hardcore scene. The raw and raucous, yet true-to-life, songs attracted ardent fans and left an indelible impression (cough) on fellow musicians with their street-savvy punk/metal riffs.

“It’s taken a while with all of the damage that was done to the band by other individuals doing crummy shows and starting fights with fans and doing stupid shit,” rails McGowan. “It’s taken a good 10 years to build the good name of the Cro-Mags back and that’s what we’ve done. That’s why the last two runs that we did were completely sold-out every night, ‘cuz they know that we’re gonna come out there and, we’re not gonna talk shit, we’re just gonna play music. And that’s what people want.”

Cro-Mags perform May 26 at the Needle Vinyl Tavern (Edmonton), May 27 at the Marquee Beer Market & Stage (Calgary), and on Sunday, May 28 at the Rickshaw (Vancouver).