WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, NOMMO OGO, NECK OF THE WOODS

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM - VENUE - tiina liimu photo

The Venue - July 13, 2014


Wolves in the Throne Room (WITTR), a Washington black metal duo, released Celestite, an experimental synthesizer album on July 8th and followed with a North American tour. Nommo Ogo, a California psychedelic electronic band and Vancouver's own Neck of the Woods (NOTW) were also on the bill.

SEPTICFLESH, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, BLACK CROWN INITIATE, NECRONOMICON

SEPTICFLESH - Rickshaw Theatre -  tiina liimu photo

The Rickshaw Theatre - July 4, 2014 

Conquerors of the World Tour arrived at the Rickshaw lead by Septicflesh from Greece and Fleshgod Apocalypse from Italy.

Black Crown Initiate, a progressive metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania, and Necronomicon, a blackened death metal band from Montreal started the night.“Stench of the Iron Age,” a track from Black Crown Initiate’s first EP, was being played when I found my way to the stage. It began slowly with a beautiful guitar riff and clean vocals but surged into death growls and fast drums. This band knows how to create a balance and the crowd dug it.

SUNDAY MORNING

R.D. Cane photo

Waking up to a new band!

The words “Sunday Morning” may conjure up many images. Waking up in an unfamiliar bed after a distorted Saturday night or be it a slow and gentle sunrise at home, a spiritual experience or be it a sermon of the word. How do two old friends and members of Vancouver’s confrontational ‘90s powerhouse Tankhog rise up to a new musical project? A band recognized by a notorious reputation for onstage and tour havoc. What comes of this, takes on a fateful twist.

NIGHTTERRORS

Sleep is for the weak

The path a band takes to get to a particular line-up is like a fingerprint stamp on a crime scene. Just dig into its origins and each one is unique in its own way. Some come together as an act of faith, others are constructed carefully piece by piece and some are made up of old schoolmates. Nightterrors’ development was marked out along a trail of chance and circumstance.

PIGGY

photo by Ira Hunter

Musical matchmaking: Is Ange the one for Piggy?

Finding a lead singer that fits your local band sometimes is like trying to find a boyfriend or girlfriend in Vancouver: it sucks. The Craigslist Musicians section is the equivalent of Plenty of Fish and both can be a waste of time. You are better off having a friend set you up. That’s what happened for Piggy, formed in late 2010 by Ron Reyes (Red Kross, Black Flag) on guitar and Craig McKimm (Econoline Crush, Little Guitar Army) on drums, and Lisafurr Lloyd (Little Guitar Army, JP5, East Vamps) on bass. They were three lead singers deep into it by 2014 and the position – like some people’s love life – seemed like a revolving door until one of Piggy’s former lead singers mentioned Ange (Lesbian Fist Magnet) as a possible match for Piggy. This is just a good reason to stay friends with all your exes.

SUBCULTURE JULY

Well, well… It seems every time you turn around the various levels of government find a way to stick it to the commoner … Christy Clark’s provincial Liberals’ latest favour for the people is called ‘Happy Hour’ … Now I’ve seen people prematurely rejoicing before realizing that it turns out to be just a cleverly-disguised liquor minimum price increase … I bet they’re backslapping up a storm in the legislature, now that they can spin this as a non-taxation cash grab …

These new minimum prices are at least 10 cents per ounce higher than any other Canadian province … Per ounce! The average beer is about 12 ounces … That’s a $1.20 price hike per beer higher than anywhere else in the country … This is outrageous! … This means that every bar that had cheaper beer prices below five dollars per 20 ounces of draught, now is forced to raise their prices … Of course, the talk about the measurements is in ounces, when most Canadian fluids are marked in millilitres to add to the confusion …