Dead Quiet - Silent Interview from Beyond the Grave

Dead Quiet Shut Up and Ship Out

By Christine Leonard

Photo: Asia Fairbanks

Explosive heavy rock quartet Dead Quiet is powering up for their Downtown Canada Tour, and charismatically chaotic lead vocalist/guitarist Kevin Keegan is bursting with anticipation.

“I love performing and as a performer you put on a little bit of a character. I’m an actor as well, so I kind of treat it the same way when I get on stage. It’s still me out there but it’s a version of me that’s a little cartooned and over the top,” he says. “It’s all part of what the music does to me and makes me want to do the things I do. It’s pretty organic and it always comes from a place of exorcising some demons.”

Keegan’s magnetic personality is fuelled by his willingness to go over the top on stage. His antics and dramatic range have become a mainstay of Dead Quiet’s riveting performances and are a big part of why they’ve amassed a Canadian cult following.

That’s not to say Dead Quiet is a one-man-band. Since their huge 2017 release, Grand Rites (Artoffact Records), they’ve been steadily experimenting with new elements to expand their heavy repertoire in anticipation of a new album this October.

“The new album is going to be more or less the tone of Grand Rites. It’ll be polished to an extent, but still raw and heavy and real sounding. I’ve always been a fan of 70s style Hammond organ in rock music and I’ve really wanted a keyboard player since day one. It adds texture and thickens up the melodies — it’s definitely crucial now.”

Self-directed Keegan has come to rely on his instincts as a songwriter and as well as his bandmates to bring each composition to its full potential. The more democratic style of songwriting has opened up new horizons for Dead Quiet’s traditionally heavy sound.

“I’ll bring the guys the blueprints or skeleton of a song and they always have ideas. We work really well as a team and that’s sort of blossomed for this line-up. It’s become symbiotic, which is really nice for me. I’ve learned to lean on my dudes more.”

Dead Quiet perform Wednesday, May 8 at The Palomino (Calgary), Saturday, May 11 at Gordon Yellowfly Memorial Arbour (Siksika Nation) and Saturday, May 18 at SBC Restaurant (Vancouver)

10th, May 2019 

in • Alberta, MUSIC

Album Review: Black Mountain – Destroyer

Black Mountain
Destroyer
[Dine Alone]

If you’ve been missing the clean refreshing taste of Canada’s psych-rock darlings Black Mountain, the time is now to rejoice. Destroyer has arrived just in time to quench your summertime blues and transport you to their silver mothership in the sky.

Far from an abandonment of their 70s space rock roots, Destroyer pulls its sinister title from the 1985 Dodge speed demon of the same name.

Peeling away from the post with the Sabbathy overture “Future Shade,” the expanded ensemble lays a fuzz-covered offering on the cybernetic altar of “Horns Arising.”

Video game monitors tumble down the hillside like granite boulders and levitate in a field of static electricity on “Closer to the Edge” and the lackadaisical Beatles meltdown, “Pretty Little Lazies.”

Hip-thrust hustle and string bending swagger rule the galaxy on the mercurial “High Rise” and “License to Drive,” while the leather-wrapped “Boogie Lover” oozes with nocturnal heaviness. Reboot and unwind with “FD 72” Black Mountain’s zero-G tribute to the man who fell to Earth and then returns to launch sequence and starts all over again.

By Christine Leonard

06th, May 2019

in • Record Reviews, REVIEWS

Album Review: L7 – Scatter the Rats

L7
Scatter the Rats
[Blackheart Records]

It’s been 20 years since L7, the cultish Los Angeles collective, released their last album, Slap-Happy, but vocalist/guitarist Donita Sparks and friends haven’t struck the revolution off their to-do lists.
Scatter the Rats is a street-smart 11-floor elevator ride complete with leather fringe, mirror balls and a giant bag of cocaine.

Ballsy Sunset Strip sizzlers like the surfy “Burn Baby” and “Fighting the Crave” showcase marquee grooves and flash bomb riffs, while roadhouse ramblers “Prototype” and “Murky Water Cafe” betray a brittle frailty.

Shades of a newly made-over identity emerge on the sweetly suburban “Holding Pattern,” but domesticity is short-lived as they dive back into the gutter with “Cool About Easy” and revel in the grimy catcall of a title track.

Revving into high gear for “Ouija Board Lies” and “Garbage Truck” the jaded foursome summons a western-tinged punk rock momentum that will ultimately leave you passed out on your front lawn come morning.

If this anarcho-femme punk band goes down in history for one thing it will undoubtedly be their 1992 smash hit “Shit List,” but coincidentally Scatter The Rats continues with the perfect anthem for the modern #MeToo era.

By Christine Leonard

06th, May 2019

 • Record Reviews, REVIEWS

Proto-metalheads The Well - An In-depth Interview

The Well Are Laughing
into the Darkness

by Christine Leonard

Photo: Andy Ray Lemon

A broken romance left Ian Graham staring into the void ahead of Austin-based proto-metal band The Well’s third album, Death and Consolation. Searching for some meaning while butting up against existential considerations, Graham took a couple of unexpected hits to the ego.

But the seasoned frontman’s approach to dealing with adversity is one that rolls with the punches while delivering some mortal blows of his own.

“Things have changed a lot over the past two years and that’s just how life is. Death and then some consolation, wherever you can find it,” he says. “We have no relationship with death as a living thing. We have paths, or maps, or shit like that, but we’re all just trying to fight off our fear of the complete unknown.”

Shouting into the abyss, The Well’s new album marks a powerful progression in the band’s primal metal style. Created with bassist Lisa Alley and drummer Jason Sullivan, Graham’s new material arrives cloaked in smoke and blood, and a little existential dread.

“We are ghosts riding around in skeletons. We are the scary things that we’re worried about,” he explains. “There weren’t a lot of preconceptions going into the studio this time. I do things in a metaphorical way. I never reveal what’s actually happening in life.”

Gothic literature and ancient history provided ample inspiration for Death and Consolation’s eerie chapters. Graham spent hours scouring his library for tales of terror and wonder to flesh out his metaphors, writing oozing, bluesy songs as a means to escape the emotional quicksand in which he found himself and working with the idea of death as a rebirth, the inward-turned out.

“It had to do with the death of a relationship, but also because of my own actions. Stuff like that. There’s some longing in it, I guess, and maybe regret in dealing with things. And anger! There are some kind of murdery things going on there and that’s always fun to play with when you’re in a bad mood.”

Deceptively humourous, irreverent, melodic and groovy, the album’s doomy disposition shouldn’t be mistaken for pessimism or misanthropy. On the contrary, The Well’s stony exterior and larger-than-life stage presence is intended to be just that, a work of poetic fiction.

“I love dark music, I always have. Whether it’s Joy Division or Slayer, it always made me happy and it makes me happy to make these things too,” Graham humbly relates. “Everything’s posturing, everything’s persona. I see through all that bullshit. That’s what human beings do. I don’t buy it. It’s usually the most sensitive people who are hiding that.”

The Well perform Saturday, May 11 at Static Juniper (Vancouver), Sunday, May 12 at The Palomino (Calgary), Monday, May 13 at Temple (Edmonton) and Tuesday, May 14 The Windsor (Winnipeg).

01st, May 2019

in • Alberta, MUSIC

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2019 - Preview

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo Set To Party Like It’s 1985

by Christine Leonard

Calling all wannabe Ghostbusters, Stormtroopers and Avengers, the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is pledging to take attendees back to the future! Already celebrating its 14th year, the highly anticipated annual event is primed to welcome an impressive roster of cultural icons and stars of silver and small screens for their 2019 edition.

“I think one of the big marquee things that we’ve got is Michael J. Fox is coming through Calgary. He was supposed to come out last year, but due to medical issues, he just couldn’t make it. He was like ‘I’ve got to make good on this promise to come out to Calgary,’” says director Kandrix Foong, who emphasizes that the Expo isn’t just about science fiction and fantasy franchises.

“The thing we’ve always done with our shows is divide and conquer. Part of our objective is – if you bring a whole family then there’s something for everyone. Dad might be a big Star Trek fan, Mom might be a Vampire Diaries fan and the kids will have other stuff that they are into, as well. So, this is not just one genre or one thing. It is definitely about entertainment in general and we definitely like the idea of exposing people to different forms and genres of entertainment.”

Capitalizing on the fandom surrounding the hottest movies and television shows of today, the Expo introduces emergent trends and artists while showcasing classic characters and treasured titles of yesteryear. It’s a balance that keeps cosplayers and collectors coming back to the four-day marathon of pop media time and again, with over 90,000 people passing through its gates in 2018.

“There’s a lot of depth in terms of the types of celebrities and guests that we bring out. I think every year we bring out 80 to 100 different kinds of guests and you just get a chance to meet the people who are actually working in this industry.”

The year 1985 will be alive and well as the cast of Back to the Future are joined by members of the original Goonies crew. Additionally, the new Hellboy David Harbour will be appearing, as will Shazam’s Zachary Levi, Dr. Who’s Catherine Tate, Baywatch babe Pam Anderson and Robocop’s Peter Weller. And, don’t forget TV’s Wonder Woman, Linda Carter will be presenting “This Life. My Music. My Story.” as a special ticketed event.

“We definitely do offer a broad mix. There are a lot of classic guests who are still very active in what they’re doing and it’s just good to see,” confirms Foong.

Fans and guests will be granted the opportunity to walk-the-walk again this year as the enormously popular POW! (Parade of Wonders) is set to saunter through Calgary’s downtown core on the morning of Friday, April 26.

“It’s like when the Flames are on a championship run, you can feel the energy and momentum throughout the city. Now you’re proud that this is what’s going on in your own backyard!”

The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo runs from April 25 to 27 at Stampede Park (Calgary)https://www.calgaryexpo.com/en/home.html

25th, April 2019

in • Alberta, CITY

Single Premiere: The Baseborn Band – “Pray It Away”

Single Premiere:
The Baseborn Band
“Pray It Away”

by Christine Leonard

Tanked-up on an unfaltering lust for belting out high-wattage blues, the moonlight howlers who call themselves The Baseborn Band have been treading that fine line between boot-stomping Saturday night dance parties and Sunday morning comedowns since 2017.

Habitually feasting on the hair of the dog that bit them, boisterous lead singer/guitarist Lowell Van Carroll (Wolf Teeth, Insufficient Funds), metrognome/bassist Kuba Van der Pol (D.O.A., The Sweaters) and infernal combustion engine/drummer Dallas Lobb (The Electric Revival, Pervcore) dig deep to generate an impassioned autobiography of hard-rockin’ tunes.

“Some you’d listen to while your drunk and passed out in a ditch and others are ones that will get you movin’ and jumping around,” explains Van Carroll.

The Baseborn Band’s self-titled debut packs a whiskey and diesel wallop. It’s an impressive measure of the trio’s heavy-blues horsepower and burning appetite for staging roof-raising live performances. The album’s standout single, “Pray It Away,” expertly captures the essence of good intentions gone bad. Something the rough-and-tumble outfit not only identifies with but also readily confesses to in song whenever the opportunity presents itself! Channelling spiritual influencers ranging from Tom Waits to Motörhead, The Baseborn Band will school you on how to shake hands with your personal demons and tap into the potential of your inner Lemmy.

The Baseborn Band performs live on The Baseborn Band performs with Mammoth Grove, Denimachine, Bloated Pig and others at 420Fest on April 18 at County Line Saloon (Calgary)

16th, April 2019 

in • Alberta, • Rockpile, MUSIC

To Infinity And Beyond, Gone Cosmic - Interview

Gone Cosmic Travel

 Sideways In Time

By Christine Leonard

Photo: Mario Montes

Coming of age in an erratic era, vocalist Abbie Thurgood, lead singer of the breakout band Gone Cosmic, has found herself grappling with the same issues that confront other millennials facing their mid-twenties. Already an accomplished songwriter and recording artist by her teens, she had spent time honing her solo style and building up her musical I.Q. performing in acts such as The Torchettes. Yet she was still restless.

“I was going through a lot of changes during this time,” Thurgood confides. “My life completely shifted in every direction. My work, my love life, my band life – everything did a 180. I was going through this process of wondering why my brain was reacting to things and certain situations, why I was making the choices I was making and what’s bringing me to the point I’m at now.”

The stars aligned and Thurgood found herself in the enviable position of being presented with a body of deeply groovy instrumental compositions that was just begging for her vocal enhancements. The catch? These were no run of the mill verse-and-chorus rock songs. Amassed by the collision of veteran Calgary players, guitarist Devin “Darty” Purdy and bassist Brett Whittingham of Chron Goblin and drummer Marcello Castronuovo of Witchstone, Gone Cosmic’s lysergic catalogue ranges the interstellar abyss between freeform metal and heavy jazz.

“It’s insane. I remember the first time I heard the basement demos. I ended up sitting there for five hours and breaking it all down song by song and making notes on where the deadlocks went into cool stargazy bridges,” she recounts in vivid detail. “All of the songs were a challenge. I love this style of music and I love the heavier stuff, but I’ve never written to it. I was like, ‘Okay, how do I completely step out of my element and throw myself into this?’ It was a matter of finding and placing the melodies, which came rather naturally despite the fact that it was all chaos!”

Taming the turmoil that boils beneath the surface, Thurgood’s agency over Gone Cosmic’s volatile atoms has resulted in a supersonic psych-rock synergy of controlled detonations and harrowing lyrical odysseys.

“I think the intimidation factor for me was that these are heavy, punchy, crazy tracks and coming from a doo-wop, soul and a little bit of rock background ultimately my voice wasn’t pushed to what it is now,” Thurgood observes. “It would be easy to get lost within what the instruments are doing, so it needed to have that powerful grasp. I started to do my best to go bigger and bring the power through the vocals and actually getting that attention because even though I was comfy, I know I have this growl and I have this intensity.”

Bottling that rocket-fuelled energy, Gone Cosmic ventured to OCL Studios in September of 2018, when the golden wheat of Earth was at its highest. There the quartet captured the eight complex and compelling tracks that make up their forthcoming full-length debut, Sideways in Time (Kozmik Artifactz), with the oversight of engineer/producer Josh Rob Gwilliam.

“It was the madness of the songs. It wasn’t formulaic. It may never be. It completely came down to the art of what we wanted to create. And it came through beautifully,” reflects Thurgood. “I was thinking ‘Okay. This is my genre!’ Even as a singer-songwriter back in the day when I went down to Nashville. People were asking ‘What’s your genre?’ I had no idea. ‘I’m not country. I’m not blues. I don’t know.’ So, this is the first time it works!”

Space out at Gone Cosmic’s album release party with All Hands on Jane and The Ashley Hundred April 12 at The Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club (Calgary), April 13 at Bohemia (Edmonton), April 14 at Bo’s Bar & Stage (Red Deer), April 19 at Amigos Cantina (Saskatoon), April 20 at German Club (Regina), May 3 at Wheelies (Victoria) and May 4 at SBC Restaurant (Vancouver)

10th, April 2019  

in • AB - Features, • Alberta, • Rockpile, FEATURED, MUSIC