Rockin' With Cool Canadian Kids: The HMP Showcase Tour Comes to Vancouver

Earlier this month, on the 4th of June, I was invited to the HMP Recording and Development's showcase tour when it stopped in Vancouver's suburb of New Westminster. This cross Canada tour, which had a western leg and an eastern leg and literally went from one coast to another, showcased some of the talent this young and up-and-coming record label has to offer.  You can read more about HMP here; they are a Vancouver-based company with acts from all over Canada signed to them, with a large variety of music: metal, rock, pop, country, and even hip hop. I was grateful to get on the guest list so I could feast my ears on (mostly) new-to-me music.

There were 10 acts altogether, and New West's Columbia Theatre was abuzz with activity when I arrived and took my seat. Artists were to-ing and fro-ing all over the place, the door to the back stage and green rooms was in constant motion, and there was a big sound check going on, led by rock band JFR's front man, Jean-Francois Roy.

The showcase's co-headliner featured Edmonton industrial metal act KingDoom, which had a special guest playing with them for the western leg of the tour, Chris Vrenna.  Vrenna, if you don't know, was Nine Inch Nails' drummer and also drummer for Marilyn Manson, and he's also a producer, who actually produced KingDoom's new self-titled CD.  Apparently, he's a grammy winner.

The other head liner was Canadian hip hop artist, Poppy Seed.

But the big draw for me personally was seeing a band I've become quite fond of recently, Celestial Ruin, who signed with HMP in the late spring.

But before we get to that, let's go through the line-up and give some link love to the other bands on the night's bill.

The evening was emceed by Fall of Cain mainman Travis Dean, who was charismatic and very enthusiastic as he cruised through the evening introducing everyone.

Draaka Rouge

First up, a metal guitar soloist, Draaka Rouge, who hails from Victoria, BC, and who plays his own unique brand of progressive metal. His guitar playing was extremely impressive; his hand was a constant blur as he shredded it up!  He also had a very cool guitar, it reminded me of a Ferrari, bright red and shiny.

Next up was Vancouver hip hop artist Stray One, from Vancouver suburb, Langley.  AKA Nicholas James Bergeron, he performed a couple of songs (all the sets were very short leading up to the headliners) that were OK as far as I could tell - I am not a hip hop person at all, but I liked his subject matter.

Third was rock artist Joelle, who has a new album out called "Pillar of Stone", and fourth up was another rock act called Burning Daisy, featuring an Irish-born singer named Liz. I really liked this band a lot, be sure to check them out!

At the midway point of the evening, Travis went through costume change to sing for his band, Fall of Cain (their HMP page is here). Hailing from Victoria, this band sits somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal on the musical spectrum, and had lots of great stage presence.  Travis was a great performer and wore these funky steampunk-ish sunglasses.  This is definitely a band to be on the lookout for, they were excellent!

Following Fall of Cain, Jean-Francois got up to perform with his band, the HMP showcases house band, JFR. Based in Edmonton, this is another band to watch out for - they were great live and did a fantastic set.  They even have a music video out for one of their singles, "Take Me As I Am."

The seventh band was a last minute addition to the bill, a Vancouver-based band called Crashing Angels.  OK, this band actually surprised me.  Never heard of them, and when they were doing their set-up, I could tell that they were significantly older than all the other bands playing.  I was a little skeptical, when I saw them, expecting perhaps something more traditional and perhaps blander than what I got, which was an excellent set of hard rock!  Vocalist Dean Marshall Pilkey was purely awesome - he just killed it, and this was one of my favourite performances of the night!  This band has had the same line-up for 11 years, incidentally, and I'm going to have to see if I can catch them live again because I enjoyed them that much.

KingDoom

After a bit of an intermission, the three big bands were up next, starting off with KingDoom, accompanied by Chris Vrenna on a second drum kit. He was the big name "draw" of the night, and indeed the western leg of the tour.  KingDoom live was amazing, not ifs ands or buts. They were tight, intense, and you could tell that they'd worked a lot on their live performance because they looked and sounded very slick and well-produced.  However, I didn't see the point of Chris Vrenna being there behind the second drum kit...he seemed a little extraneous, and he didn't look to me like he had a lot of heart while playing, especially compared to the band's main drummer, Boom-Boom (at least that's what their FB page says his name is).  Apparently KingDoom is popular on the Edmonton scene as their show was sold out in that city (and also of note, that Edmonton show was shown around the world on pay per view).  I really enjoyed KingDoom's set; it was fun and energetic, and I even liked them so much I purchased their CD off iTunes.  It's a pretty good CD, though industrial metal is not exactly my thing, but I enjoyed it a lot.  Singer Lex Justice is an excellent performer with a lot of energy and presence.  As headliner, they played a full set and it totally got the place going.

Larissa Dawn of Celestial Ruin

And then my favourite local metal band, Celestial Ruin was up to play a four song set.  I have previously written about Celestial Ruin for Sonic Cathedral, and you can read about that experience here. As I mention in that piece, CR is definitely a band to see live because their live performances are fantastic. Singer Larissa Dawn was once again resplendent in a gorgeous gown and she gave a very animated and compelling performance.  Their set included their own metal version of Europe's "The Final Countdown" and a song that is not on their debut album, Awakening, called "Sense of Exile". This show featured the band's new guitarist Carlo Sepe, who was just recently hired shortly after the Cirque Nocturna evening I linked to.  He did a great job, considering he'd been with the band less than two months and his first show with the band was on the tour's previous stop in Victoria the night before. The band's set once again had the audience up and headbanging and hopping around, and was a lot of fun. I totally encourage anyone in the Vancouver area to check out Celestial Ruin live if they can; their next gig is at the Media Club in downtown Vancouver on July 14.

Finally, after about three hours of music, the final act was on, and that was the aforementioned co-headliner, Poppy Seed.  As he took the stage, a couple of scantily clad dancers undulated down the two aisles of the theatre and took up spots right up in front of the stage and started dancing away to something obviously choreographed.  As I said, I'm not a hip hop person, and I have to be honest, this was not a good way to end the evening for me.  I didn't enjoy Poppy Seed at all and found him rather slow and boring.  It was late, and I had to skytrain back to my suburban lair, so I ended up leaving during this guy's set.  I feel slightly guilty about it...But I did get to have a last-minute chat with some of Celestial Ruin's members and that was nice.

So overall, this was a great evening of music and entertainment!  Thanks to HMP for inviting me, and thanks to all the bands and artists for a memorable evening.

Gig Review: Sabaton at The Venue in Vancouver, BC

Last night was a highly anticipated evening on my calendar.  Ever since seeing Sabaton kill it opening for Evergrey in October 2011, and being blown away by their performance, I knew I'd spend the money to see them again if they ever came to my part of the world.  And they did.  The gig was announced a few months ago and I put it on my calendar in big letters, hardly able to wait.  Last night's show in Vancouver was the only Canadian date on Sabaton's current North American headlining tour, and even though I was having a shitty day and nearly talked myself out of going, I'm so glad I pulled myself together and attended.  It was fucking brilliant.

Using local support acts throughout the tour, last night's bill included Vancouver indy band Unleash the Archers and Kelowna's Empyria, a prog band signed with Nightmare records.  Doors opened at 8:00 and there was a modest line-up.  Because I've been sick, I didn't get to Scrape Records to purchase my ticket for $15, and instead plunked down $20 at the door.  Lesson learned: go get the ticket from the local metal shop instead of winging it on show night - you'll save money and support the record store.  In the end, the cost didn't matter; I'd plunk down twice that to see Sabaton again.

That first Sabaton show in Vancouver was also held at The Venue, located on the theatre strip on Granville St.  I'm not the biggest fan of The Venue - the floors are sticky, the floor isn't raked, and there is minimal seating for when you want to get off your feet for a while.  But I like I a hell of a lot better than the Rickshaw, where most metal acts perform when they come to Vangroovy.  But one thing that is good about The Venue is that the merch stands are in a common sense place, unlike at the Rickshaw where they are too close to the pit and always a pain in the ass to get to.

Anyway, bitching about the venue aside, as soon as I got inside I visited the merch tables of Empyria and Unleash the Archers, happy to see that Brittney Slays, UtA's vocalist, was manning the table.  I knew I had to say hi; my colleague at Sonic Cathedral, Robin Stryker, would have admonished me for not doing so, since Robin is a huge UtA fan and has had the pleasure of interviewing Brittney.  Also, my colleague at Black Wind Metal, Kevin, interviewed UtA for that site, so I had to go and say hi and introduce myself just to say that I had.  Brittney was doing her vocal warm-ups at the station as she handled money, and when I had the chance to speak to her, she was very lovely to chat to and very gracious.  In the end, I'm glad I got over some of my social anxieties and approached her; she is totally approachable, as is the band's bassist, who came to assist her.

Incidentally, I didn't recognize any of the house music that was playing before the show started, but there was one familiar song: Nightwish's "Storytime."  That made me happy, and I don't care who heard me singing along!

Brittney Slayes of UtA

Taking the stage first was Uta, and they did so at about 8:45.  For about half an hour, I'd staked out a spot to the right of the stage just under the giant hanging speakers.  This is a typical strategy of mine at gigs since I like to take pix.  When UtA took the stage there was a huge whoop from the crowd.  This band definitely has a following of significance and the crowd was happy to see them.  When Brittney began to sing, I was blown away.  She is so powerful she almost outsings the band.  I have all of UtA's releases (their most recent is an EP that's now available on iTunes) and let me tell you, she sounds so much more amazing live.  She is so dynamic and charismatic when she's belting out their tunes right in front of you.  I'm not exaggerating when I say I was blown away - it was a fantastic performance, complete with tons of windmill headbanging and the whole lot.  If you ever get a chance to see UtA live, DO IT!  They certainly won me over and Brittney how has a new fangirl.

My only beef about this set is that I didn't get many good photos because some 7 foot tall schmuck decided to plant himself right in front of me, obscuring my view.  Fuck man, if you're that tall, go farther back and let the shorter people see properly!

Empyria

Next up was Kelowna's Empyria (pronounced empire-ee-ah).  Like I said, they're a prog metal band, and I thought they were OK.  Some of the members had very enthusiastic family members in the crowd, and that was fun to watch.  The music got better as they played further into their set, and I found myself getting into it more and more the farther the set went.  Overall, not exactly my cup of tea vocal-wise, but I respect this band for coming as far as it has in the time its been together, and it's definitely nothing to sneeze about to open for freaking Sabaton, so props to them.

And props to Sabaton for going the route of choosing local bands to open for them.  I think that's pretty classy. (Not to mention less expensive, which I totally realize.)

Finally, the set up and last minute sound checks for Sabaton were done, and the lights dimmed...and it was on.

As with the last Vancouver gig, the band chose fellow Swedes, Europe, to provide their intro music, and it was the same song, "The Final Countdown."  Loved it!  Then all went dark, and bursting onto the stage was Sabaton's new drummer, Robban Bäck, completely shirtless.  He took a bow then sat behind his kit, and then came the banging out of the intro to "Ghost Division."  Singer Joakim Broden jumped onto the stage and started belting out the lyrics and pounding around like he embodied the music.

Sabaton takes the stage!

If there is one thing I can say about Sabaton live, and I realize this isn't particularly creative, but it's all I can come up with because words are hard to come up with for this stuff, it's that they are larger than life.  All their movements are so full of energy that their stage presence is nothing like I have ever seen before.  They are all so into their music that they literally embody it.

For those of you who don't follow the band, they have three new members after a split a while back, and I wondered how they new members would be on stage.  And it turns out that they were just as awesome as the previous incarnation of Sabaton.  Guitars are split between Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund seemingly pretty evenly, which was nice to see because it gave each musician a chance to shine in front of the crowd with their shredding abilities.  The only band member Sabaton hasn't replaced is Daniel Myr, the keyboardist; instead, they must be using a backing tape, which was fine.  I would like to see the keys played live, though!

The set list included all the usual faves, "40-1", "Primo Victoria", and stuff from the current album, Carolus Rex.  A few times, Joakim invited the crowd to help choose the songs, giving us a choice between two and taking a vote by most noise made.  "White Death" from Coat of Arms was chosen that way, as was the "Carolean's Prayer", which was sung in Swedish, since Joakim told the crowd that they'd had lots of feedback from fans requesting a song sung in the band's native language.  Other songs were "Poltava", "The Art of War" and "Gott Mit Uns."  I can't remember everything on the set list.

As for the crowd, it was ridiculous!  I'm so glad I staked out my claim early because I kept getting pushed forward.  It was nuts, but nuts in a good way.  There were no assholes doing the stupid wall of death or running around in a circle attacking each other with inflatable swords, hammers, or axes - thank God.  Everyone was very well behaved and there just for the music and the band, and it was great.  The band was very gracious about the reception, Joakim holding his arm out to show us his goosebumps.

Another great thing about this show was the simple lighting.  Some shows over light, IMO.  Sabaton keeps it pretty simple with not too much strobe lighting and not too much oddly coloured lighting, and a the lighting is mostly from overhead, which is very important if you're trying to take photos.  The Rickshaw has the worst lighting ever and I get a lot of crappy shots just because of the lighting.  Last night I got some OK shots but it wasn't because of the lighting, it was because no one on stage stood still long enough to get a decent pic!

Sabaton wound things up with "Metal Crüe" from Attero Dominatus (they also did the title track earlier on in the show).  And that was it.  It was over after about 70 minutes.  Joakim was so sweaty during his performance that he kept ducking behind the big skull curtain to towel off and re-hydrate.

On a personal note, I was very uplifted by this show.  It was the best show by far that I've been to (not that I've been to tons but it outdoes those that I have been to) since I started going to shows in 2011 when I moved out of the boonies where no one comes to play. UtA knocked it out of the park, Empyria was entertaining, and Sabaton were just too killer for words in this language.  And oh, the hotness of Joakim Broden!  Oh, how I wanted to burnish his breastplate!  But alas - I couldn't stay to hob nob at the merch table (if they even did that); it was past midnight and I had a long commute home on transit ahead of me back to my suburban lair.

I'm so glad I went.  It totally bouyed my mood, and it was the best $20 I've ever spent.  I will go and see this band at every opportunity I get because there is no show like it at all!

Edit @ 10:10pm, Feb. 20, 2013:  OMFG!  I just found out that the drummer at this gig was not Robban Bäck, but none other than Snowy Shaw!  I can't believe I saw Snowy Shaw live and in the flesh and I didn't even realize it!  I am blown away!

Gig reviews: Katatonia live at O2 Islington Academy, 10 December 2012

Katatonia has always been on my ‘must see list'. Swedish alternative metal band performed on 10 December at O2 Islington Academy in London. I’ve been Katatonia’s fan since 2006, when I accidentally discovered them on MySpace.The first song I heard was ‘Dissolving Bonds’ and still remains one of my favourite Katatonia’s songs.

I have never heard of Katatonia’s support bands before. American rockers Junius were first to go on the stage and played 6 songs. I was positively surprised by this band and already ordered their latest album 'Reports From the Threshold of Death'. The only little disappointment was the inability to hear Joseph properly. Guitars and drums were too loud. So thanks to Junius and my own idiocy it's still ringing in my left ear. And I'm writing this after 10 days.  Here's my favourite song 'Betray the Grave'.

About 15 minutes later French Alcest were ready to play. Again, I had no idea what to expect from them and when 2 girls standing next to me asked if I don't mind to swop my place with them because they want to see Neige better, I didn't object. As Junius also Alcest played 6 songs and after 30 minutes they packed their stuff and left the stage. I must admit their songs didn't really make a big impression on me and the only song I checked later on is 'Percées De Lumière’.

As girls promised after Alcest finished, we swopped our places again. About 21:20 Katatonia came on the stage. They started with the song 'The Parting' from their latest album 'Dead End Kings'. I didn't check their setlist on setlist.fm so I had no idea, which songs will be performed that night. To my pleasure, boys didn't forget that they released some albums 8 years ago, as some bands play songs from their last 3 or 4 albums only, sometimes not even that, and included songs from almost every album they have released so far. Jonas sounded great the entire gig. Also I could hear him much better than Joseph and Neige. I was really surprised that although being on tour since November and playing almost 2 month in row, Jonas sounded exactly like on the CDs. A huge thumbs up from me, for sure. Anders, Per and Niklas were running around like mad. So good to see everyone had a blast. The highlights of the evening were my all-time favourite songs 'Omerta', 'Ghost Of the Sun' and 'Strained'.

All in all, it was a bloody brilliant night. Before I left my house I read on FB that the gig was officially sold out. Although, sold out means only 220 'people in the house, in this case it felt like there were thousands of us. Thank You Katatonia for great evening and see you as soon as possible!

Setlist:

 1. The Parting

 2. Buildings

 3. Deliberation

 4. My Twin

 5. Burn the Remembrance

 6. The Racing Heart

 7. Lethean

 8. Teargas

 9. Strained

10. The Longest Year

11. Soil's Song

12. Omerta

13. Sweet Nurse

14. Dead House

15. Ghost Of the Sun

16. July

17. Day and Then the Shade

Encore:

18. Dead Letters

19. Forsaken

20. Leaders

Gig review: Nightwish live at O2 Academy Brixton 5/11/2012

Nightwish played their only gig in London on 5 November 2012 at O2 Academy Brixton and I was there. The last time saw Nightwish was back in 2005. I was very happy to see them again beacuase I decided to skip the Dark Passion Tour. And of course I was looking forward to see Anette live. But as we all know by now Anette is no longer member of the band and Floor Jansen (ReVamp, After Forever) joined Nightwish to help them to finish the on-going Imaginaerum tour. 

So there I was queuing since 4:30pm waiting for the doors to open at 7pm. There was already a bigger crowd there. I actually felt a bit strange, because I decided to go on my own but I don’t regret it. The first surprise of the evening came before the concert itself. One guy started to shout that O2 network costumers will have a priority line so therefore will get inside sooner. Lucky me I am O2 costumer so basically I got inside the venue before the poor people who were freezing there in the cold longer than I did. Might be not fair but some witty people went to Poundland to buy O2 SIM cards. Easy solution.

The doors opened at 6:55pm and when I got inside the venue I could decide whether to go to 4^th row or lean against a “bar’’ and be safe or go and sit at the balcony. I decided to play it safe and lean against the bar. It was also a practical solution in case I will need to take off my coat I could safely put my coat on it. And here comes the second surprise of the evening. It was rather cold in the venue.  Air-condition was on almost all the time so I wore my coat all evening. But I’m happy for that. I hate when venues are hot.

I managed to get a good spot. I was in the middle so I could see the stage without big problem. Even people in front of me were shorter so everything seemed perfect. But not for long.

Pain was the support act and the only one. They got on the stage at 7:45pm and played for 45mins. I am not very familiar with Pain songs. But I recognised two of them. “Dirty Woman” and my favourite “Shut Your Mouth”. The last named was also the last song of their set. I think Pain was a good support act. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea but their performance heated up the crowd bit. Peter is very funny guy and he did interact with the crowd well. I might go and see them in February when they play in London again.

And now we had this, what seemed to be never-ending waiting, for Nightwish. And now follows a little rant. Why the hell you 6 feet tall guy push your ass through everybody just to get better spot ending up in 8^th row standing in front of 3 girls who are pretty short, who had stood there well before you came and when they dare to tell you to move a bit because they can’t see anything at all you start to swear at them?? And then standing there like a bloody statue taking a couple of photos and making faces like what am I doing here??? Thank God he didn't stand in front of me. But I was a bit unlucky as well. There was a tiny little gap in front of me and guess what happened? Another idiot came and squeezed there. This time it was girl who wasn't as tall as that guy but she definitely ruined my perfect view. But there was no point in saying anything. I just didn't want to end up with a black eye. 

At about 9:10pm the lights went off and the intro ‘Roll Tide’ started to play. From then on I experienced something called ‘the shortest 90minutes of my life’.

After the intro ‘Storytime’ was on. Floor came on the stage and a big roar echoed around the venue. I believe she just owned the whole evening. The setlist was the same one as they played in Manchester night before. Mostly, it was a mix of ‘Once’ and ‘Imaginaerum’ songs with a classic ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’. To be honest I was a little bit glad that Anette wasn’t there that night. Don’t get me wrong. I have always supported Anette and am curious to hear her solo album, but most of her ‘oldies’ versions were simply bad. She just lacks power. And power is a key point in most of the oldies. Floor did an amazing job on oldies. She might struggle a little bit with ‘Ever Dream’ but she didn’t use her operatic voice. Actually, she used her operatic voice only on ‘Dark Chest of Wonders’ and ‘Ghost Love Score’ but you could barely hear that. She also pulled ‘Imaginaerum’ songs off very well, too. One song I couldn’t stand live was ‘Amaranth’.  Anette struggled with it a lot but Floor managed to make this song listenable. She even added a little twist to the song. The way she sings ‘the Never-Fading Rain in your heart’ sounds really great. ‘Scaretale’ was the song I was really looking forward to hear live. Anette sings this one incredibly. After watching YT’s videos of Floor singing this song I was skeptical  I didn’t expect Floor to be able to pull it off the ‘’theatrical’’ way as Anette did. But she did it. She even growled! The acoustic set was very nice also. Many people complain about ‘Slow, Love, Slow’ and ‘Nemo’. I don’t really mind that. Another surprise of the evening was ‘Last of the Wilds’. When I listen to ‘Dark Passion Play’ I always skip this song. I find the studio version very boring but man it is a great live song. Almost everyone was jumping up and down. It’s really good song to add a bit of speed or even wake up some people after the acoustic set. Definitely, the highlight of the night was ‘Ghost Love Score’. Floor sounds really superb. Although, she doesn’t sing this song operatically throughout, she does add some operatic vocals here and there. 

‘Last Ride of the Day’ was indeed the last song played by band. I find this song to be a good one to close a successful night with. And Monday night was successful without any doubt. The band was all smiles throughout the night. Marco and also Floor were very talkative. Generally, they all seemed to be very relaxed and happy. I believe they enjoyed the night as much as most of us did.

Truth to be said, I didn’t miss Anette much or better said at all. As I said I have supported her right from the beginning but her live performance was just bad. Although, people say she improved her   live performance a lot since 2007, most of her ‘oldies’ versions were bad. I think I need only one hand to name the old songs I like with her vocals. With Floor on the board now, the justice was done to them, finally. And she doesn’t even sing them the ‘original’ way. I enjoyed Floor’s performance a lot. She is an incredible singer and knows how to put the show on.  The crowd loved her yesterday. And when I said that I don’t want her in Nightwish that was probably the biggest nonsense I have ever said. Being a witness to what happened yesterday I have to say I want her to stay with Nightwish. I will be disappointed if she doesn’t but whoever will be Nightwish’s new singer I feel sorry for her already. She won’t be compared to Tarja and Anette only but even to Floor. And given the circumstances Floor has had to face and how well she is handling it, whoever comes next will have it very tough. 

Setlist: 

Intro: Crimson Tide

1. Storytime

2. Dark Chest of Wonders

3. Wish I Had an Angel

4. Amaranth

5. Scaretale

6. Slow, Love, Slow

7. I Want My Tears Back

8. The Islander

9. Nemo (acoustic)

10. Last of the Wilds

11. Planet Hell

12. Ghost River

13. Ever Dream

14. Over the Hills and Far Away

15. Ghost Love Score

16. Last Ride of the Day

Outro: Imaginaerum

FYI: These photos are mine and since I took them with my BlackBerry mobile phone, they are very bad quality. 

Agalloch, with Eight Bells and Taurus, July 13, 2012

Yes, I went to see Agalloch a month ago.  Why have I not written about this sooner?  Well, it's been a trying summer for me and I'm behind with everything.  Obviously, it would be ideal for me to have written this closer to the time it happened rather than a month later, with things fresh in my mind, but alas, sometimes that doesn't always happen.

I went to this gig, at the Rickshaw, which is located in BC's most infamous neighbourhood, the DTES, quite spontaneously.  I didn't find out they were even playing until the Monday evening before, and I knew I had plans for early Saturday morning.  I was not keen on getting home by transit at 2am and then having to get up for another event only a matter of hours later.  But I was really wanting to see Agalloch, since I know they don't tour much.  I'm not even a huge Agalloch fan, but I have a friend who is and I know she adores them, and has even followed them around on mini tours in the EU.  This was a show that might be a one and only occurrence for me, and she encouraged me to go.  So, as my roommate packed up to go for a date, I prepared myself to go to the gig, alone, in the DTES.  It was a bit of a ride on the wild side, considering the transit trip home and the event next day.  But what the hell?  I had nothing better to do, the cover was $20, and I thought it would be a good experience.

Haley Weiner of Eight Bells 

And it was...an experience.  I walked through the DTES alone, something that isn't generally recommended, and got to the gig at 8:45.  I wasn't familiar with either opening act, the first being a band called Eight Bells, and the second being called Taurus.  Both were bands from from Portland, Oregon, where Agalloch is from.

In fact, these two bands turned out to be one of the most interesting parts of the evening.  Both are female fronted; in fact, Taurus is a female duo.  While neither plays my cup of tea musically, I was impressed with them both live.  Granted I came to the gig late and missed most of Eight Bells' set, but as soon as I sat myself down and started listening, I regretted not coming earlier.

But Taurus stole the evening for me.  They play a type of metal I am not into at all, sludgy, drony stuff that didn't seem to me to have much rhyme or reason, and very little in terms of vocals.  Basically, we have a guitarist and a drummer, and some electronic thingy making the vocals all echoey.  But the thing about it was that their set, which consisted of the two tracks from their EP Life (which I wound up buying eventually), included not only a visual component comprised of a silent video show on a screen to the side of the stage, but the music was bookended with a voice over narration featuring a guy named John Cage, apparently a composer of some distinction I'd never heard of before.  Well, I know who he is now.  The speaking parts in Taurus's set can be heard in this YouTube video, and when combined with the music of Taurus, I had quite the transforming experience.  The narrative by Cage provided a lot of context for me, and it really made the music make sense to me, whereas, had it been just on its own, I think I would  have been lost.  But I found the set quite mesmerizing.  I was really impressed by the sophistication and power of this band, and I appreciate that I was introduced to another metal subgenre in such an enjoyable way.

Agalloch

Agalloch came on stage at about 10:20.  This is where things get a bit weird.  The Rickshaw, I found out later on FB, was trying out there new fog machine that night (along with some new lighting, which was cool), but also, Agalloch is apparently into incense - big time.  When they were set up, a guy (who turned out to be lead singer & guitarist John Haughm) came onto stage with a bunch of stuff I couldn't recongnize, but I thought it at first to be candles.  I thought maybe he was setting up an altar or something.  But no, it was, it turned out, two very large pyres of incense.  Now, for reasons I don't know, the Rickshaw had curtained off about 2/3 of the seating in the theatre and there was only a narrow curtained hallway to enter and exit the gig space from.  The gig was very well-attended with a good 200+ people there, but we were all crammed into a very small space.  When I was there last for the Arkona/Korpiklaani gig in December, all of the seating was available and there were two entrances/exits.  It was as hot night, but if they were hoping to save on A/C I don't know how effective just curtaining off extra seating was.  But what I can say is that the air quality in the room was absolutely awful.  The new fog machine combined with the incense, plus all the humanity, plus the stench of booze and pot...the air was like a heavy stew you could slurp up and chew.  It was terrible.  And it really affected my enjoyment of the gig.

Agalloch's music was great to listen to live.  I'd heard some of their studio work, but their live performance was much more engaging and emotional.  Lead guitarist Don Anderson was very animated, and the bass player, Jason Walton, was also interesting to watch.

As I said the gig was well-attended, and it seemed to me to have an older, more mature crowd than I'm used to seeing at these things.  Previous gigs I've attended have included a lot of 19 year olds in odd make-up and dressed in scene kid type clothing.  This crowd was there for Agalloch and they obviously knew the band well and appreciated the show.  There was one woman there dressed in a skimpy dress, 5" stilettos, and a mink stole (of all things!) and one over the top metal chick who texted on her cell all night in a chair not far from mine, but other than that, the people watching wasn't that interesting.

I couldn't stay until the bitter end because I had to make sure I caught a certain bus home.  It turned out to be a very interesting transit ride home, but that is a story for another time.

I am very glad I went to the gig.  I had a good time even though I was by myself.  I had the delightful surprise of discovering two new female fronted bands, and I enjoyed Agalloch a lot.

Next up at the Rickshaw is Korpiklaani - again! this will be their 2nd headlining show in Vancouver in less than a year - WTF? - supported by Tyr.  I am going to go and see Tyr (Korpiklaani doesn't do much for me but I really like Tyr) on Sept. 9, and then on Sept. 21 Swallow the Sun is supporting Kreator.  I just hope the Rickshaw sorts out its air quality issues.  That was very unpleasant, but then again, I don't think Korpiklaani or Tyr or these other bands are known for their incense use.

The full Flickr set - such as it is; I don't have a fancy camera that takes good pics in these dim environments - is here.

Losing My Metal Gig Virginity!

On Monday, the long-anticipated day came: Sabaton played in Vancouver.  This Swedish power metal band, which plays and sings about the both the futility and heroism of war (they are a “war metal” band), has long been on my bucket list of bands to see live, after watching tons of YouTube videos of them playing at places like Wacken, etc.  On Monday, they came through Canada’s west coast (as so few on my fave bands do) opening for Swedish power/prog metallers Evergrey.  When the dates were announced in March, I knew this was an opportunity I had to take advantage of, and living in the sticks at the time, I began to scheme about how to get from Boonieland to Vancouver for the gig.  A surprise gift from a good friend yielded tickets and someone to accompany me so I didn’t have to go alone and feel like a loser.


I had just moved to the coast on Friday, for crying out loud, and the move itself was incredibly taxing.  It was hard to look forward to this gig because I had so much going on and I was extremely stressed.  But on the day of, I felt better, my cat was in good hands for the night (my friend came from out of town for this gig and we were staying at a hotel in downtown Van, and I was able to relax and look forward to the evening.

The lineup included The Absense, whom I’d never heard of, and since I was short on time before the gig, I wasn’t able to research.  I figured it would be a better use of my time to go late to the gig and miss this band in favour of meeting up with my brother & SIL for a pre-show libation at a nearby bar.  I also wanted to miss Powerglove; video game metal is not up my alley at all.  I was mildly curious about Blackguard, a Montreal band whom I’d heard previously was excellent live, and whom I know to be a hard-working, hard-touring band worthy of checking out.  

The stage at The Venue.  The big face belongs to the Evergrey set-up.

My friend and I arrived at The Venue at 8pm and The Absence was just finishing up.  I heard enough to know I’d made a good call by showing up late.  The next to take stage was Blackguard, which irked me because I’d hoped Powerglove would be before them & I could bow out after getting my wrist stamped at the door (BTW, I was also IDed at the door, which made my day because I haven’t been IDed in nearly 17 years).  I got to see the sound mixing board up close & personal and get an idea of what The Venue was like.  It was dark.  It had 3 bars and sticky floors.  There was a cool colour-changing wall.

There was a considerable amount of debate on my part as to what to wear to this gig, and after consulting some of my co-writers at Black Wind Metal, I learned that it was kosher to wear another band’s shirt to a gig, as long as the genres weren’t terribly misaligned.   Because my Nightwish shirt was both long-sleeved and not necessarily in the same genre as anyone playing that night, I went instead with my Sonata Arctica t-shirt, purchased nearly a year ago in Calgary.  I saw a lot of other shirts that night: Behemoth, Amon Amarth, Iced Earth, Cannibal Corpse, AC/DC and others.  There was a lot of great people- watching there.  There were scene girls and girls with black tutus on, one chick with a big bow in her hair and a black and white flouncy skirt with a polka-dotted jacket, and a very straight-laced, serious-looking guy with tight jeans, a white v-neck sweater, big glasses - and a murse.  He looked very out of the place.

Anyway, here is my band-by-band run-down.

Blackguard: not my cup of tea musically because their vocals are all growly.  Live, I couldn’t understand a word that came out of the singer's mouth, but I was impressed by the synchronized windmill headbanging the singer & guitarists frequently broke into.  Their power and stage presence was excellent.  Their tiny female drummer totally rocked it.  But the vocals got lost in the overall sound of the band an that was disappointing.

Powerglove:  As they were doing their sound check, they also brought out some props, one included a large, life-sized cut-out of a green monster with gnashing teeth. As the band went onto stage in the dark, I could tell there was something coming on that was higher than the band with a bit of a wave to it.  A butterfly, perhaps? No, it was a pair of skull-capped pennants with the band’s name on them - attached to the drummer somehow.  It was very strange.  When the lights came on at the start of playing, I saw that the band members had all dressed up in costumes that reminded me of Klingon gear mixed with a bit of the caveman look (horns & shit, not to mention the scull-capped pennants) and with some WWF championship belts.  It took me a while to process this...There were a lot of Powerglove fans there - barely over the drinking age of 19, which is what you have to be in order to get to a gig like this.  During their set, out came the inflatable giant mallets and inflatable swords, which were dispersed to the crowd, who went crazy for them.  There might have been some beatdowns.  Bizarre!  They were mainly instrumental which was great, though the one guitarist looked like he was 12 and had no stage presence.  Mind you, he wore the most ridiculous costume of all: he had big tusky horns sticking out of his shoulders.  After they were done, off went the green monster & skull-capped pennants.  Their fans held fast to their inflatable props.  Oh yeah, and it was during Powerglove that the weed came out!

Joakim Broden of Sabaton

Sabaton:  Now we’re talking.  I had found a good place near the bar in a back corner, with seats, so one of us could always look after our stuff since there was no coat check.  But this was Sabaton and I wanted to get closer of course!  I took off while my friend looked after my things and got as far forward as I could without getting too close to the rowdy crowd up front.  Turned out I had a great vantage point for photographing Joakim Broden in action, as well as the fill-in bassis, Emile, I think his name was.  Before they came on stage, the place went dark and on came “The Final Countdown” by fellow Swedes, Europe.  That brought me back.  Then the lights came on, and there they were, pounding out “Ghost Division.”  Seeing them live was just such a great experience.  They are powerful, animated, and so energetic live.  Joakim is way hotter live, too.  He wore a muscle shirt, showing off ripped biceps that totally indicated this guy is a big-time weight lifter.  His thighs were huge.  It was impressive, I must say.  I used to weight lift and was married to a body builder, so big muscle-y men impress me.  His skin also quickly became covered in an attractive sheen of sweat.  I could barely keep my eyes off him.  I took about a bazillion pictures.

I can’t remember the entire set list.  “Primo Victoria” was one song, and they wrapped their set up with “Metalizer.”  The crowd was amazing.  I didn’t think there would be too many Sabaton fans there, but they by far had the biggest and most enthusiastic crowd of the evening, and Joakim remarked several times at how impressed they were that they were in a new country and a new city and they were receiving such a warm welcome.

Sabaton!

One exchange stood out, and why wouldn’t it?  Before the second to last song, Joakim said, “And now we have some very serious business to discuss: my penis.”  This elicited a bit of a roar from the crowd (which was mostly male).  When he heard that he said, “Well, I didn’t say it was big business!”  I was like, where did that come from???  It was funny, but odd!

During “Metalizer,” someone got out a big beach ball and threw it up into the crowd and everyone batted it around.  One girl behind me headbanged so hard she was nearly whipping me with her hair.  For this song, Joakim took off his ever-present sunglasses - at last!  And - there was a wall of death!  It was a very small one, and it looked completely absurd, but it was there!  

Sabaton’s time on stage was too short.  I think it was 7 - 8 songs.  But the crowd was so into it and I was so into it I just wanted it to go on and on...

And the whole time I was up there, fist pumping and horns-upping, I was so grateful that I had this opportunity.  It made the hassle of my move completely worth it.

And then I got to meet some of them!  They were at their merch table in the lobby after their set!   I hesitated about going back there because of my shyness and nerves.  But I had to take this opportunity...so I went.  I left my stuff with my friend and I went back to the merch table.  Immediately, Daniel Mÿhr was right at the door as I walked in.  He’s the keyboardist.  We had a chat!  He noted my Sonata Arctica t-shirt after I told him this was my first metal gig.  He was surprised and when I said Sabaton was on my bucket list, he said, “But you’re wearing a Sonata Arctica shirt!”  I said, “Yeah, well it was a choice between this and a longsleeved Nightwish shirt.”  He nodded and said he understood.  I asked him some questions about touring and the set list and mentioned to him that my fave Sabaton song is “Union (Slopes of St. Benedict)” and he said that they haven’t played that one live in 3 years.

And then I spotted Joakim...Immediately I became very nervous and I could feel my heart in my throat.  For me, this was like meeting a big celebrity.  I waited very patiently as he was surrounded by a crowd of different people, but eventually I stepped forward and offered my hand for him to shake.  He was shorter than I’d expected.  I said nice to meet you and thank you for the great performance, and then it got very awkward...Yep, I was tongue-tied.  Instead of mentioning the Van Canto video, I mentioned that this was my first metal gig and he seemed very surprised and asked me how I came to this one.  I gave him a garbled answer I can’t even repeat, saying something about living in the boonies and being far away from Vancouver, where not many of my favourite bands come anyway, but I don’t know if he understood me because he kind of gave me an odd look and then got distracted with other fangirls and people wanting autographs etc. and I just stood there a moment longer before realizing my time was up, so I just thanked him again and left.  I went away feeling stupid and embarrassed, but also, as a reporter and writer for a paper, I’m used to people wanting to talk to me, dammit!  He wouldn’t have known that, though.  Anyway...not an ideal interaction and the space was so crowded I was having a hard time coping with the noise, so I just went back to my place where my friend was waiting, patting myself on the back that yeah, I did go up to the guy and shake his hand, which for me took some guts (since I don’t have many), and reassured myself that he probably wouldn’t remember me or the awkward exchange anyway.  

Tom Englund of Evergrey.

Everygrey: This band I wasn’t particularly familiar with.  I listened once to their most recent album, Glorious Collision and I did enjoy it.  They were really good live, but we wound up not staying for their full performance because their lighting was driving me up the wall and making my friend dizzy.  That was disappointing because I thought they had a lot of soul and emotion on stage.  Sabaton had pretty straightforward lighting, but Evergrey had a bunch of effects with their lighting that really annoyed me.  My friend and I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, so we left about halfway through.  I felt really guilty about this because after Sabaton, the crowd thinned considerably and was decidedly less enthusiastic.


Summary: Fantastic experience.  Good call with getting ear plugs; my ears would have been bleeding after Blackguard if I hadn’t worn any. I am so glad I went and so grateful that my friend was there with me.  It wasn’t her cup of tea at all, but she was a total trooper.  If you’re a Sabaton fan, I totally recommend seeing them live because they are pure power to watch and experience, and I was so happy I had this opportunity.  And I look forward to more opportunities like this in the future now that I’m down on the coast.  In fact, I plan on attending the Arkona gig in December, where they open for Korpiklaani (whom I’m not really into).  That might even involve an interview for Sonic Cathedral’s web zine.

You can see all my photos of the gig here.

Guest Post: Unimpressive Dream Theater/Iron Maiden Gig Experience*

*CanuckFan's note: My friend Nancy, who is married to a metalhead, Tom, trekked from Calgary to Edmonton to see Dream Theater and Iron Maiden this past weekend. She wrote to me with a lengthy description of her experience during the gig, and I thought it was worth posting here. I was quite surprised at a lot of what she had to say...

I am a relative newbie where concerts are concerned. I saw Alice Cooper and KISS as my first concerts in 1999 and 2000. Then, essentially, nothing until last year when my husband decided we needed to attend everyone “he” wants to see, so in the last year or so I have seen (in no particular order): Black Label Society, Slayer/Megadeth, Papa Roach/Buck Cherry, Offspring, Buck Cherry/Kiss, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper/Rob Zombie, (I am sure there have been others) and most recently Iron Maiden.

I must explain. For the most part, I listen to “radio-friendly” music. Recently I have been, predominately thanks to you [CanuckFan], breaking out of that bubble to foray into European female-fronted metal(ish) bands. So, in seeing many of the above bands, I do not know a lot of their stuff so I am reliant on a show. Such is the case with Iron Maiden. Of course I knew the big stuff i.e. Run to the Hills, I’m Running Free, Number of the Beast, with my favourite song by them being Can I Play With Madness.

I don’t expect much, especially knowing I may or may not like the music or the content of the show as I tend to be a bit of a prude *laughs*. An example would be Slayer/Megadeth. Tom really wanted to see Slayer and I was more of a Megadeth fan. We watched and were impressed with Slayer but left before Megadeth was over, we were that disappointed (and we NEVER leave before the end of a show!) KISS, both times I saw them, totally blew me away. We all know they are not really talented musicians or singers, but their stage show totally makes up for it. Motley Crue, even though I did not like that Vince was running around so much he couldn’t catch his breath to sing, the stage show was amazing. Even Offspring, being a less popular band in a smaller venue, completely engaged the crowd from start to finish (I have never seen an audience so energized to the very end like that!)

Which brings me to Iron Maiden. Everyone I know who had seen them (usually both in the 80’s as well as more recently) informed me they put on an awesome show. I was prepared to be amazed because they have had nearly thirty years to perfect their show. I was SO excited! Dream Theater was okay. Their music seemed good (I knew two songs) but halfway through EVERY SONG the lead singer went behind the speakers (drinking?) and five minute instrumentals ensued. It just became too much. As they played on the singer was staggering across the stage more and more. Good thing they didn’t have a longer set. *laughs*

I was surprised when Dream Theater left and the crew did not cover the stage other than the curtain which was already there. We saw an awful lot of the setting up which should have been an indication. I did not know any of the songs in the regular set (see above) so I cannot tell you what they played. By the fourth song in I was thinking it’s quite far in for them to be starting a “show”. The second last song they brought their most recent incarnation of “Eddie” out on stage. It was so obviously a man on stilts in a costume. “He” just wandered around the stage flailing “his” arms. At one point Dave (? guitarist) emulated like he was shooting “him” with his guitar, but truly, this was the most action all night. Bruce spent the show running around the stage and dancing quite badly. The only songs I recognized were two of the three in the encore. They did NOT play my fave which nearly devastated me (I made up for it by playing it on the trip home.)

We spent approximately $80/ticket as well as the trip from Calgary to Edmonton and back (when we bought the tix, Calgary was not listed on the tour as yet.) An easy few hundred dollars on a half-assed performance.

Tom, my husband, went to the Calgary show last night and said it was a clone of the Edmonton show.

Granted, these guys are in their 50’s and are maybe slowing down, but so are KISS and Crue. One concern I have seeing all these bands who had their heyday twenty or thirty years ago is they have release a lot since they were really popular and want to play that stuff. As I tend to lean commercial (*gasp*) I don’t know much of the “newer” stuff (i.e. going to see Meatloaf in August and that scares the heck out of me!)