Devin Townsend with Grand Master - The Pyramid Cabaret Dec. 4th, 2011

Ah, the Pyramid! Not a bad venue at all, but as I mentioned earlier, the last time I set foot in the Pyramid was for Anvil. It was quite the appropriate auditorium, so to speak. The stage isn't huge, it's rather intimate, but the entire bar space itself is ginormous. The qualm I might have, is the lack of anything to do but drink and sit around, because there are no pool tables, but there are video slot machines. In the summer, the patio isn't bad to hang out on, and I only bring up these features because a really, really displeasing band played between the stellar Grand Master and Devin Townsend. If there was at least pool to engage in, we may have been able to ignore it, but instead, my comrades and I resorted to going outside into the cold to avoid the awful "music" we heard. The female vocalist can be described as screechy or "chipmunk sounding" and I can't even remember the band's name, which is likely for the best. But seriously, they were booed right off stage after their set, which I may have seen only happen to a band once before.

Some mysterious person over the P.A. system announced the coming of Grand Master, and also demanded we make some noise so that Devin could hear us from the bus. As I looked upon the drum set, there was a peculiar set of small toms and then some chimes beside it. I knew this was going to be a dynamic percussionist and I grew excited for this band I had heard about from Todd, who is friends with Grand Master.

Mr. Schaefer

The three-piece appeared, and introduced themselves, and as I looked at their set-list, they were only going to be playing four songs! The vocalist/bassist Alec Schaefer had a lot of control for someone with such an outgoing but clever personality and the progressive style of metal they played really flowed through him. The technical aspect of their music was progressive power metal, and sometimes reminded me of Evil Survives, but without the pipes of Axe n' Smash. I can't get over how impressive Matt Kathler is on drums, and how the whole band was camp and playful on stage while playing this amazing progressive metal. The four songs they played felt like they lasted an entire set time of fourty-five minutes to an hour.  I could have listened and watched them for another two hours and I very quickly yelled at them that they were AWESOME. Their next album is set to be released in April, which is very exciting!

After Grand Master's set, I went right to their merch table to check for their goodies. White shirts and black shirts, but no women's shirts, as well as some CD's and even a promo poster that was about 7x9. I received one of these prints for free and a demo CD that isn't of the best quality, but it's free! I got them to sign the print and then draw an undesirable squiggle on their faces such as unibrows and moustaches. I really do appreciate their good humour and humility, despite their appendages literally overflowing with skill.

As I mentioned before, the lack of a barrier and the smaller stage size makes this a more intimate concert, and so taking pictures of this band was particularly easy. The crowd was even docile enough so that I could freely walk from any side to get shots. The lighting was excellent for this show as well, so no smokey or distortioned visual problems came into effect. Devin Townsend was an easy target for pictures because he worked the stage so evenly, and was on the edge even accepting head pats and puppets. Yes, they were selling Ziltoid puppets at the merch, as well as christmas ornaments and unusual t-shirts with Devin riding a mirthy bicycle.

Between the sets of the atrocious band who shall not be named and Devy's band of the bearded and bald, there was a lovely slideshow of photoshopped pictures, with Devin Townsend's glorious mug gracing such pictures as the Mona Lisa.

Many, many funny pictures later, Devy finally appeared to the left of the stage and hailed over the recordings that introduced him. Devin seemed particularly happy that night, and it really showed with his spread out approach to the crowd, which very quickly huddled the stage when he appeared. Yes, it seemed Devin Townsend was the warm little center of the universe, and he didn't lap it up- he gulped it down.

His set was slightly different than the one he played in July and he started with Truth instead of ZTO. The antics are never the same with Devy, and the puppets were raised in droves- praising the great bald composer who graces our time. He even swore at my drummer's puppet, then quickly apologized and kissed it. The encore was three songs long, with the possible fourth- Bad Devil, but the crowd wasn't quite rowdy enough to earn the last song, I suppose. I ended up shaking his hand and telling him my brains were kind of on the floor because he blew my mind. I took a picture for a fellow fan, so hopefully someday he finds my page and sees his mug on the internet, for all to see! Devin also occasionally wore a fan's Ziltoid cap, which can be seen in my Devin Townsend and Grand Master album here---> https://picasaweb.google.com/113056343942734663331/GrandMasterAndDevinTownsend

Korpiklaani and Arkona - The Park Theater Nov. 29th, 2011

The bill for this show had two other bands that I barely missed. I assumed the doors were at 8:30, but the show started a bit before that. One of which was a band called Polkadot Cadaver. Sounds a bit tongue in cheek don't it? The other was Forged in Flame from Ohio, which is a relatively new band of the stoner metal variety. Perhaps I'll review them another time, but as for now, I must apologize for only being able to cover the last two bands on the bill.

Nike boots! From Russia perhaps?

I came in at the beginning of the impressive Arkona's set- which was a good time to head in there. I had never encountered Arkona before, and had only heard a few things about them, albeit, good things. They were clad in Russian garb, which were men's shirts called Kosovortka's, and their vocalist was dressed along with a wolf skin. Their style was distinctively pagan folk metal of the Ruski variety, and they are very heavily influenced by their mother land's folklore. I was a little taken aback at their vocalist, whom was admittedly very tiny and androgynous. My friend and I were asking ourselves what the gender was, which hardly mattered, because they kicked ass. As I soon found out, their vocalist was a woman named Masha, and my suspicions of her being a young man were put down to rest. The fact that she was female made their performance that much more impressive and memorable, and it also made sense that the boots she wore were Nikes. Yeah, Nikes!

Arkona consisted of some unique elements, like a wind instrument player named Vladimir and occasionally a big skin drum that Masha would bang on. The wind instruments included a bagpipe, a traditional horn, a recorder and other flute-like instruments. It accented the traditional but heavy music that filled the room and gave them an authentic pagan feel. Their guitarist Sergei had very good stage presence that often complimented Masha's aggressive presence on stage, because she was certainly all over the place. Ruslan, their bassist often stayed put where he was and didn't bother to headbang too much, but that isn't to say he didn't play well. We could hear Ruslan very evenly with the rest of the band, and I do believe that the acoustic possibilities of The Park Theater are great, because some performances and acts mix so well for sound.

Arkona was doing so much in their performance, it was impossible to leave the room, in fear of missing something entertaining. I strongly recommend seeing them whenever they come back, because it's still such a unique occurence for a female-fronted band to command an audience with such ferocity and grace. Women are coming up in metal, and it's time to take notice and appreciate the sexy possibilities!

After Arkona their was, of course, Korpiklaani- hailing all the way from Finnland and hailing with a bottle of Vodka in their hands. Korpiklaani? One might need to drink heavily while seeing them, not because their perfomance sucks, but because their performance inspires the consumption of alcohol with great mirth. Fiddle, Accordian, Guitars, Bass and Drums is what this entertaining group consists of, and the heart and soul really comes from Scandinavia's reputation for loving booze. Every culture appreciates booze differently- for example: North America's iconic John Thorogood and The Destroyer's made drinking alone sound like the best way to get drunk, and AC/DC epitimized getting hammered, except for that whole asphyxiating on your own vomit thing. Anyhow, that is neither here nor there!

Korpiklaani was perpetually partying on stage, with a groovy set of songs that went from tale-telling of being born in the woods, to their love of booze and beyond. The only one who didn't look like he was fun was the accordian player, Juho, who was just stone-faced the entire time. Maybe the trip hasn't been very good to him? Everyone else looked like they enjoyed the tour thoroughly, especially Jonne, but it's his job to have a good time all the time. My favourite part was the coupling of Vodka and their Motorhead cover of Iron Fist!  They also got into the Tequila and Jonne threw off (not literally) his guitar and began to get rowdy on stage, as well as letting members of the crowd sing into the mic. The song Tequila was dedicated to a guy, whom quite flatly said "They really do have more songs than just Vodka." Only because the crowd kept demanding it, even though they had already played it!

There was some delightful drinking on stage, and plenty of dancing and singing. How can it not be a party atmosphere when there's a violinist playing folk metal tunes with a dread-headed Finn leaning against his back for support? I ask these questions only because if you haven't seen Korpiklaani yet, then you haven't lived. If you have grown tired of these metal gigs, than you may as well be tired of life. There's something awe-inspiring about a band that can get on stage and make a crowd smile while also compelling them to slam into each other with a skip in their step. I'll also admit that there were a lot of drinks being spilled, and I was hit with at least three different kinds of alcohol. Thank goodness Korpiklaani laminates their set-lists, but that meant they weren't handing them to anyone.

I would also like to give a special shout-out to Korpiklaani's very dedicated and friendly roadie. Larger than life, but obviously full of mirth and tolerant of this rambunctious band.  However, he really didn't like it when I ran on stage to get the drummer's pictures. But it wasn't like I was going to do it twice, and I never, ever try and take away from the performance. Be as surreptitious as possible when running on ANY stage while a performance is taking place.

                                                                 PICTURE DUMP!

TEQUILA!

Do not want...

Inverted Serenity - Newest Echoes

The Winnipeg metal "scene", so to speak, is actually a rather tight network of friends and acquaintances who appreciate all the combined efforts to bring the best metal to this city. Supporting our local bands is the foundation for future global notoriety, and a lot of bands need to be exposed by anything they can, to be recognized, even in a city of less than a million inhabitants. Winnipeg is the kind of city where everyone knows someone in a band. The music is just everywhere! Maybe that does mean Winnipeg deserves the "cultural capital of Canada" stamp that Winnipeggers often believe is garnered by our high proportion of first nation dwellers.

As I dabble in the art of concert photography, I have gained some attention from metalheads, and now have an exciting new task! Reviewing the newest recordings of some of the freshest metal Winnipeg has to offer. A friend of mine that I met back in July, by the name of Benjamin Deveau, asked me after the Korpiklaani show, to do a write-up on his band's recordings. I couldn't turn down another opportunity to show my skill and appreciation for metal. They won their ten hour studio time from a Battle of The Bands competition and their goal was to record approximately four songs, but there was only enough time to get two done. So how could this be a long write-up? Well, come on! It's brand new! So here goes-

The two songs that are actually of very decent quality are called Scapegoat and Repent or Perish, and were recorded at a studio called Private Ear. The first song Scapegoat strikes me as being an unforgiving song accosting the weak or closed-minded.

"I will not
let you back out of this,
You complain of my different ways,
But your own faults you dismiss"

Pretty much every metalhead can relate to this thinking, and regardless of age and social standing, every person encounters a bigot. Anna's vocal styles most closely resemble Carpathian Full Moon, which is a fairly obscure band, but that's who I immediately think of. Anna also plays the keyboard and seems to be quite the visionary for this group. Scapegoat is a pretty crunchy tune with plenty of headbangability to it. The song itself is well constructed, but not overly technical and has a catching tone to it. I might also add the arbitrary point of saying that any song just over four minutes is really very listenable. Let's be honest, it feels like a marathon listening to something for more than nine or ten minutes, and I feel sort of cheated when a killer track is under three minutes. The sweet spot is really about four and a half, and I can happily say both Scapegoat and Repent or Perish are right around that length.

Repent or Perish is once again written in the first person perspective, which reaches out for the freedom of spirit that I gather most metalheads feel is necassary for expression. Anna pretty much kicks my ass at being the vocalist for a metal band. You can't even tell the vocalist is female, it's seamless and smooth- not to mention well-pronounced! Her presence is really in the track, and I can't help but respect her.

"I have a soul
That doesn’t need an outer source of control!"


This track also features Drew and Tom doing backing vocals that are most notable at the end of the track. No fear, just some pounding metal from a good old basement. This was a very skillfully recorded track with Ben's drum trigger being combined with a mic and a sub-kick to get that clear and consistent thump. The only mixing change I might have made is perhaps turning up either guitar, which are sometimes completely drowned out by the drums, but are generally distinguishable and tasty sounding! Of course I strongly recommend checking out Inverted Serenity, hailing all the way from eastern Manitoba!

In the basement that may have inspired it all

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPr0RvotEHY&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inverted-Serenity/341555090513?sk=info

Punk Education via Trouser Mouth viewing and Documentary

In an effort to broaden my horizons and to continue to have an educated opinion on culture and music, I went along with a good friend of mine from Kickboxing to a cookie-cutter version of a punk show. I shouldn't say cookie-cutter, because Trouser Mouth is really far from having duplications, or being a duplicate.

The Cinematheque is a quaint and warm little theater in the Winnipeg Exchange district, and was offering a unique experience of having a live band open for a documentary about the Vancouver punk scene: Bloodied but Unbowed. This was the perfect introduction to punk, from a metalheads point of view. Punk is something that I've never been able to jump into, or appreciate on an artistic level, but experiencing something like a dual , that was educational, and insightful, really helped me understand the allure. Punks and Metalheads may often cross over, in their bid to shed themselves of the conventional music festivities. Often employing strange stage theatrics and outfits that might gain a tongue-in-cheek laugh reaction. In Trouser Mouth's case: Black nylon pantyhose as masks on stage.

This three-piece was unrelenting in their constant stream of short, but catching songs about dog's shitting on the radio, drinking and generally being well... punk. The small crowd that was obviously already well acquainted with Trouser Mouth made friendly and acceptably funny, but unfriendly comments to the performers on- and occasionally off the stage. My friend Shannon is delighted by Trouser Mouth and raves about them all the time. I realize I must see them in their true environment of a fully-fledged punk show. In return, I| get to throw Shannon into a metal show of my choosing.

Trouser Mouth: