30 Day Music Challenge, Day 29: A Song from My Childhood

I grew up on music pretty much the polar opposite of metal: my dad was a military man with Victorian sensibilities, so we listened to an awful lot of military marching band music and waltzes. I AM NOT KIDDING. Also, classic movie soundtracks, like Chariots of Fire. We also listened to a lot of Nana Mouskouri and Mireille Mathieu. Again, I am not kidding! My parents also adored Roger Whittaker and The Irish Rovers. Actually, I can credit the Irish Rovers for interesting me in Celtic music, Irish culture, and folk music in general, and I still have a really soft spot for Roger Whittaker.

I don't think I ever heard any metal until I was about 12 or 13 (which would have been about 1986), the height of hair metal/glam metal. I can't list all the bands from that era that I listened to, but I can tell you the one that amused my parents no end: Twisted Sister. They thought these guys were hilarious! We had this show in Canada back then that came on the CBC at 5pm every week night called Video Hits. They used to play this video every so often and it always got my parents' attention and we all had a family laugh!

Metal from Canada: Savage Blade

I initially wanted to start a Metal from Canada site, similar to Metal from Finland, but once I started looking into it I saw that A) it would be extremely time consuming, and B) it wouldn't be a very busy site. While there are quite a good number of metal bands in Canada, heavy metal is still a sub-culture here; it's nowhere near mainstream at all. Also, the hub of metal in Canada is in the province of Quebec, with a few pockets here and there in other parts of the east, and a smattering of bands, very few and far between, in the west. The more well-known names hailing from Canada, like The Agonist and UnExpect, for instance, I am not super fond of.

But I have found some gems, and lo and behold, even here in The Boondocks, there is decent metal! Let me introduce you to Savage Blade!

I first came across this band in Metal Archives, and when I mentioned them to my brother, a local businessman, he said he knew them because his company had done some work for them. However, I got distracted with little things like life, and it wasn't until a recent trip to the lovely city of Nelson, the hometown of Savage Blade, that I realized I should take some time to look into this band further. As I window shopped along the main street, there were all kinds of posters advertising Savage Blade's new album, We Are the Hammer.

Let me say that Nelson, and The Boondocks in general, is not a heavy metal mecca whatsoever. Nelson itself is known as being the local mecca for "alternative lifestyles," meaning it is a haven for hippies, draft dodgers, artists, pot activists, organic farmers, vegans, Buddhists, yogis, poets & writers - you name it. While Nelson might be the cultural epicentre of The Boondocks, the rest of the area is kind of redneck central. And rednecks are known for their shitty country/pop/rap music, amongst other things.

Given all this, Savage Blade has been an excellent discovery for me. Their vocalist is very skilled, and someone told me he's actually a jazz singer of some note, as well. And their music, classified as power metal with NWOBHM and classic Glam Metal influence, is astoundingly good.

They are streaming their entire album on their web site, so you can take a listen here.

Here are a couple of teasers for you from YouTube.





The bummer is, now that I know about these guys, they don't seem to be putting on any local shows I can attend! This is so typical of living in the boonies!

In all seriousness, Savage Blade has signed a record deal with a German label and, from what I have been told by my source, they are going to be touring Europe. If you are over there and get a chance to check these guys out, please do, and let me know how it goes!

EDIT: SHIT! They are playing in Nelson on April 24 but I have to work!!!!!!! Just my luck!!!!!!!