Category: Live Bait

ENSIFERUM, FINNTROLL, and ROTTEN SOUND
February 17, 2011
@ the Zoo
By D.C.S. Murray
Last night I lived out a fantasy that I’ve had since I was about sixteen years old, to see Finnish folk-metal act Finntroll perform live. Finntroll play a unique variety of extreme metal blended with traditional Finnish polka music called ‘Humppa’, they sing about the exploits of the troll-king ‘Rivfader’ and they dress up in full troll regalia when they perform live. Combined with the opening band Ensiferum (also Finnish, but these guys dress up and sing about Iron-age warriors instead of Trolls). I was sure that I was headed into a dark and nerdy place that would leave me in desperate need of some D&D afterward. I was definitely surprised.
The show was happening at the Zoo, a venue that I ashamedly had never been to before. Due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict I arrived late, missing the first band, Barren Earth. We entered just as “Rotten Sound” was getting into full-swing. Even though they were by far the least nerdy band there I do have to mention these guys. It was grind music at it’s absolute best; uber-fast and ultra-heavy, ballsy enough to break straight into a D-beat for no reason at all, and mature enough not to be wearing corpse-paint and Mayhem t-shirts. They were the exact opposite reason I was there, nonetheless I enjoyed it immensely and would definitely recommend them to anyone who is bored of entry-level death-metal and fashioncore.
After a short cigarette break and several very confused partial conversations, we found out that Finntroll would be coming on first and playing a shorter set due to the entire band being under the weather. This was about when I noticed it: You would think that a show where three out of the four acts have something or other to do with ancient mythology the crowd would be a rather homogenous group of 18 to 20-something males who all knew each other from Comic-Con, but as I stood staring at the excited faces I saw something very different. Woolen-capped hipster babes sat astride the shoulders of behemoth vikings, and men who looked like my 51-year-old father sporting celtic-knot t-shirts were playing pool with long haired death metal kids. On my way to the bathroom I accidentally bumped into a very-large biker type and almost spilled his beer. Being the spineless whelp I am, apologies began tumbling forth from my mouth. He smiled, let out a hearty-laugh and said the smartest thing I’d heard all night. “Don’t worry about it, Bro. We’re all here for the same thing.” It was true, as I made my way through the crowd and the band began to play my fantasy commenced and everyone in the audience became one.
Guitarist Skrymer was sporting war paint that curled down his face, chest, and back like the gnarled roots of Yggdrasil while vocalist Vreth commanded us to do his bidding from his perch on top of the monitor. Snot poured from the nostrils of these men like fountains and dark bags under their eyes were apparent through the make-up but that only seemed to make them play more intensely. Though their set was only about 45 minutes and consisted of a lot of new material that I was unfamiliar with, every moment of Finntroll’s performance was engrossing. Filled with chunky polka bass beats and some seriously soviet vocal breakdowns, they proved that a little influenza will not stop an army of angry Trolls. I emerged from the mosh-pit drenched with the collective perspiration of what now felt like my family. I was 16 again.
My last surprise of the night came in the form of Ensiferum, the band that was supposed to open for Finntroll. I had earlier dismissed Ensiferum as “uninspired garbage metal that all sounds the same.” I would like to take this moment to apologize to Ensiferum and all of their fans. They were not only fast-loud and loaded with songs about traversing the frozen wasteland (a subject that we’re all too familiar with) but they also have melodies simple enough that anyone in the audience can and are encouraged to sing along with. The musicianship was complex but not masturbatory. Even though the lyrical themes are so specific, the music and the atmosphere of this band seemed to grab everyone in the room, get them blood-drunk and rally them together into a rag-tag army of misfits.
In summation, Rotten Sound gave me something to think about, Finntroll gave me release and Ensiferum gave me a swift kick in the ass that I won’t soon forget.

Wintersleep & Ra Ra Riot
@ the Garrick
Saturday, November 20
By Victoria King

No matter what part of the country you are from, so long as you were born under the Maple Leaf sun you are instantly claimed as Canadian. As a musician, whatever success you encounter and however many Junos you win, you can bet that your hometown will honour you with a ceremonial street inauguration or concert venue to stand in your honour. As it stands, I would be willing to bet that the guys from Wintersleep may go through this in 20 years or so. Following the great Canadian music stigma of ‘WTF, they’re Canadian,’ Wintersleep recently released their fourth album New Inheritors, and made a stop in Winnipeg along with Ra Ra Riot on November 22.

For starters, I will be honest in admitting that I had never listened to Ra Ra Riot before that evening. I expected something loud and rowdy, as hinted to by their name, yet I was hesitant when I saw the band take the stage. Although they looked more like the type of kids that would be chilling outside the Garrick rather than playing onstage, this was definitely a giant “I told you so” moment. RRR kicked off the night with “Boy.” If you haven’t heard it, take it from me,  I don’t suggest you listen to it in public. Trying to contain my bobbing head and bouncing knees at a socially acceptable pace was a difficult task, but I was thankful to see that I wasn’t the only one in the crowd who was totally down for RRR.  They played a solid opening, and for those in the crowd who resisted the urge to dance; fail.

The stage for the night was minimal, excluding the stuffed dog sporting a wrestling belt, which was left as the one big question mark of the night. “Drunk on Aluminum” was the first track of the evening. Seriously, it was so good. The set included “Astronaut,” “Dead Letter and the Infinite Yes,” “Black Camera,” “Preservation,” “Weighty Ghost” and “Echo Location.” To be frank, I was actually quite surprised how much hard these guys rocked live. I went in expecting a balanced mix of an indie rock/folk sound, but definitely got more than I expected in terms of an indie rock influence. The guitar came through so strong while the vocals maintained the same raw quality that makes their music so recognizable. On a side note, their was a pretty great ’Peg city moment when lead vocalist Paul Murphy asserted, “Pretty cold in Winnipeg” only to be replied by “This ain’t nothin’!” by some dude in the audience. To whoever did so, major cool points. “Oblivion”, “Laser Beams” and “Breath Normal, Nerves Normal” made up the encore, along with Murphy’s “Thank you Winnipeg, this was fucking awesome!”

The one gripe I do need make about the night is in regards to whoever was in charge of the sound system. For at least the first seven songs, the sound at front stage was pretty shitty, with the guitar seeming to drown out nearly everything else. I refused to accept the possibility that the band may not be as awesome live as on recording, so I checked out the middle of the venue. Turns out it was just the front of the stage, as the middle sounded great. Kinda craptastic on my part, but still a solid show.
With that said, it is my prediction that Wintersleep will end up being one of those awesome bands that will forever be clumped in with all other eclectic Canadian groups; and while they may play in your cities and perform for your award shows, at the end of the day they’re still from our east coast.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
Oct 11 2010
Pyramid Cabaret

Now you must understand that the gig was totally amazing. Guitarist from Victim’s Family, Bassist and Drummer from Rollins band (and the drummer played with Helios Creed ex-Chrome), plus this kid on guitar named Kimo who did all these weird affected sounds like East Bay Ray. They played for almost 2 hours, got two encores, did tons of songs from the album plus a bunch of unrecorded songs and “Cal Uber Alles,” “Lets Lynch the Landlord,” “Holiday in Cambodia” and “Bleed for Me”!!!!!! The only bad thing about the show was the last song – some shitty lollapalooooka-like grunge thing that went on far too long – it is also the last song on the album – sheeesh what a stinker! The five or so fights – including a guy totally knocked out cold by a douche who hit him five times in the head with his fist from behind right in front of Jello who stopped the show temporarily- also sucked ass big time. I took the day totally off, so I didn’t see yer email until now. I called you on the way to the show, but I figured you either had a family thing or would be there, but alas the former was the case. Jello was in a crusty mood – not quite happy with his rider meal – he apparently hates yams and wonders why we celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada. He also wanted to know if any Canadian troops were deployed in Iraq while he was warming up backstage. He asked if his T-Shirt was appropriate. It had a slogan on it that only activists could love. He was amazing on stage. Great show!
-From Anon to Anon