05.05.2016 Views

BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - May 2016

BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper based in Western Canada with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise.

BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper based in Western Canada with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise.

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

BLESSED<br />

Fraser Valley quartet cursed by ambition<br />

by Joshua Erickson<br />

Unbeknownst to many, the Fraser<br />

Valley has become a creative hub,<br />

producing a large number of fantastic<br />

bands over the past two decades. This<br />

passion and creativity in the scene has laid<br />

the groundwork for a band like Blessed to<br />

exist. Based out of Abbotsford, Blessed are<br />

a four piece post-punk band that have big<br />

things in mind for their future and the talent<br />

With major momentum behind the band, it is #blessed to be Blessed right now.<br />

HEAD WOUND CITY<br />

all grown up but still screaming<br />

“I recounting the recording process for<br />

hadn’t screamed like that in years,” says<br />

Head Wound City singer Jordan Blilie,<br />

A New Wave of Violence, out <strong>May</strong> 13 on Vice<br />

Records. That may be true, but vocally the<br />

35-year-old hardcore vet has never been in<br />

better shape. Whereas his younger Blood<br />

Brothers-era self only managed to record<br />

line-by-line, due to the strain and intensity of<br />

the process, this time around he was eventually<br />

doing entire takes straight through.<br />

Guitarists Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)<br />

and Cody Votolato, drummer Gabe Serbian,<br />

and bassist Justin Pearson spent roughly<br />

eight days in early 2015 recording the album<br />

in San Diego with producer Ross Robinson.<br />

Blilie and Robinson spent another six weeks<br />

writing lyrics and recording vocals to get the<br />

frontman up to the producer’s demands. “He<br />

wanted my voice to be in the shape it would<br />

get if I’d been three weeks or a month into<br />

tour. So I just went over to his house every<br />

day and did vocals until my voice blew out.”<br />

There have been monumental changes in<br />

the decade since Head Wound City released<br />

their self-titled debut album. The follow-up<br />

is also a milestone for Blilie’s adult life.<br />

During recording he discovered that his<br />

wife was expecting their first child. Furthermore,<br />

the musician was between semesters<br />

at UCLA, where he is completing<br />

his English degree. “I just really wanted to<br />

and songwriting to back it up. Consisting of<br />

Drew Riekman, Reuben Houweling, Mitchell<br />

Trainor, and Jake Holmes, the band’s<br />

collective resume of projects include, but<br />

is not limited to, GSTS!, Open Letters, Oh<br />

No! Yoko, Relentless Ben, and Little Wild.<br />

For principle songwriter and guitarist/vocalist<br />

Drew Riekman though, Blessed is a<br />

fresh start and a departure from his days<br />

photo: Jaimi Wainright<br />

as the frontman of a wild hardcore band.<br />

“This band has been a culmination of a<br />

long time of wanting to walk away from<br />

music based around ‘how fast can I play, how<br />

energetic can we be, how crazy can we be<br />

live.’ Blessed [comes from] an angle where<br />

we stopped writing towards ‘how good is this<br />

going to be live,’ and more towards ‘how great<br />

of a record can we make?’ and worry about<br />

how it will translate live later,” says Riekman.<br />

Blessed are getting ready to release their<br />

debut self titled EP on <strong>May</strong> 20 and it has been<br />

a long time in the making. With the band’s<br />

first single, “Waving Hand,” premiering on<br />

Noisey on April 8 and second single “Feel”<br />

premiering on Stereogum on April 25, the<br />

momentum behind the band is growing.<br />

Recorded at The Barn with Curtis Buckoll<br />

from Rain City Studios, the EP is as tense<br />

and loud as it is sparse and beautiful. All<br />

this is the result of a song they recorded<br />

a week after forming the band. A decision<br />

that has haunted the band to this day.<br />

“‘Swim’ is kind of one of those songs<br />

that has really cursed us. In a way that it<br />

doesn’t represent who we are as a band at<br />

all anymore. The first day we ever jammed<br />

together, we wrote [‘Swim’] and a week later<br />

we recorded it,” elaborates Riekman. “And,<br />

because it has taken us a year and a half to<br />

write and record this EP, the only song we<br />

were showing people was ‘Swim’ and then<br />

study something I was passionate about.<br />

I’ve always loved writing [and] studying<br />

books in a classroom setting.” In 2004 the<br />

singer dropped out of college when things<br />

started picking up for his former band, The<br />

Blood Brothers, who quickly shrieked their<br />

way to the top of the emo/screamo ranks.<br />

Blilie’s penchant for working under stress<br />

and time constraints may prove to be a helpful<br />

skill set for his studies. It’s a definite departure<br />

from his pace a decade ago, when the<br />

band felt it had all the time in the world to get<br />

distracted by the “minutiae of the process.”<br />

Their new approach comes through on A<br />

New Wave of Violence, which is teeming with<br />

the urgency and imminence of coordinating<br />

four musicians leading grown-up lives, pursuing<br />

their separate ventures on the heels of a<br />

“staggeringly violent year here in the States.”<br />

Blilie continues, “Seemingly every week you’d<br />

see on the national news a new case of police<br />

violence against unarmed black men, women,<br />

children. You only really need to have a small<br />

amount of awareness of the world around<br />

you to be presented with violence daily.”<br />

The sentiment also resonated with New<br />

York shredder Zinner, who suggested<br />

the album title “completely independent<br />

of reading anything that I had written. It<br />

cemented the record to right now.”<br />

Whereas their first album has an element of<br />

silliness to it in the song titles and lyrical content,<br />

this time Blilie made a concerted effort to<br />

create something more substantial, an honest<br />

portrayal of his mindset that he’s proud of.<br />

But the album isn’t all seriousness. There is<br />

still evidence of anti-authority snottiness and<br />

a glint of irony on “Head Wound City, USA.”<br />

The song possesses a “brutal repetition...that<br />

lent itself to having somewhat anthemic lyrics”<br />

and is about a fruitless search for refuge.<br />

Its title, however, is explained as such: “I liked<br />

the kind of brashness and audacity of having<br />

a song titled with the name of the band.”<br />

we have people coming out to our shows being<br />

like ‘I listened to your song and it doesn’t<br />

sound anything like you live,’ and we have to<br />

say ‘Oh, sorry,’” say Riekman with a laugh.<br />

Blessed’s plans don’t end with their EP<br />

though. That is just the beginning. The band<br />

has ambitious touring plans, a goal to play 100<br />

shows by the end of year, 60 of them being in<br />

The United States. While the band’s US tour<br />

itinerary is still in the works, in <strong>May</strong> they will<br />

be heading off on a 27 date tour that will see<br />

them cross Canada covering everywhere<br />

from Victoria, BC to St. Johns, Newfoundland.<br />

While the name may seem to allude to<br />

being religious in a sort of sense, that is<br />

not the case. In fact, the band simply chose<br />

the name because they all liked the sound<br />

of it and it wasn’t already taken. I guess<br />

you could say the band are #blessed.<br />

“Coming up with a band name is such a<br />

hard thing for a band to do, and when we<br />

found that [Blessed] wasn’t taken by anyone,<br />

we set out with it” says Riekman. On<br />

the plus side, the band hopes this may make<br />

crossing the boarder into The States easier<br />

for them, a spot where many Vancouver<br />

bands before have been held up or denied.<br />

“We can just tell them we are a Christian<br />

band. It might help. It’s worth a shot.”<br />

Blessed release their self titled<br />

EP everywhere on <strong>May</strong> 20<br />

With members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Locust, and Blood Brothers, Head Wound City are not for the faint of heart.<br />

Blilie may have graduated from Blood<br />

Brother to actual father, but he hasn’t outgrown<br />

a good sense of humour or hopefulness.<br />

“When I was younger it was very easy<br />

to give in to a very fatalistic world view and<br />

that’s just not something I want to carry with<br />

me when I’m trying to demonstrate love and<br />

compassion to a being that is taking every<br />

one of their cues from his mom and myself.”<br />

Head Wound City perform at<br />

the Imperial on <strong>May</strong> 27.<br />

by Thalia Stopa<br />

photo: Eva Michon<br />

<strong>May</strong> <strong>2016</strong> MUSIC<br />

9

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!