BeatRoute Magazine [AB] print e-edition - [February 2018]

ZEBRA PULSE
ten years on and not a single “song” has been written
Weirdo noise crew probably no longer welcome at MacEwan.
Since their inception, Zebra Pulse has been
straight-out wacky. Looping vibrator
drones, mic-ing a cooking fish in a microwave,
vacuums, popcorn makers, Game Boys, typewriter
percussion among others; Zebra Pulse
will use anything that makes a sound as a tool
for experimentation.
Their first appearance as a three-piece was
at the West Grant MacEwan Community
College campus cafeteria on Valentine’s Day.
“Owen (Strasky) was organizing this open
mic noise performance to kind of fuck with
the music students,” recalls multi-instrumentalist
Parker Thiessen.
“There was one point where the company
that runs the cafeteria tried to shut us down, but
the guitar teacher came and defended the whole
thing like, ‘this is an art school, deal with it!’”
After establishing themselves as Edmonton’s
favourite weirdos during their first four
years as a three-piece, bleep blooper Strasky
describes the change after adding drum guru
Sean MacIntosh.
“When Sean joined he increased the flavour
so much,” says Strasky.
“It was like adding Montreal steak spice
or something. It just brought it all together
‘cause lots of times before we would have
these long nebulouss jams. Sean really brings
a more solid rhythm to everything.”
Nebulous jams aside; there have of course
been ups and downs throughout the group’s
kooky career. Take for example a venue’s decision
to drop them off a bill so a hockey-viewing
crowd wouldn’t be scared away.
“What’s really funny though,” reveals Thiessen,
“is that eventually I had a weekly DJ set
there and they would come talk about Zebra
BY KENNEDY PAWLUK
PHOTO: PEARL GREY
Pulse to me unknowingly, being like ‘Those
guys are never allowed in here.’ I just wanted
to like rip a mask off and be like, ‘It was me
the whole time!’”
“I kept thinking about this nude calendar
release for MacEwan where we stripped down
to our underwear while we played,” explains
third founding member Dave Schaefer. “That
show was full of people who definitely did
not like our music and it was probably super
weird that we stripped throughout the set.
It’s funny this punk and metal bar couldn’t
handle it. We went in thinking it’s a nude
calendar release, so it’ll be a bunch of art students
but instead it ended up being people
in gowns and suits, rich donors to MacEwan
They still stayed and tolerated the whole
thing. We played for two hours.”
Over their ten years Zebra Pulse have
played hundreds of shows. Gigs including
opening for noise legend Merzbow and ‘70s
psych rockets Nick Turner, a child’s first birthday,
an LRT station, and a set at Wunderbar
in diapers. They’ve performed in oversized
blow up suits and are even sometimes nearly
naked, leaving fans weirded out but satisfied.
The band’s ultimate advice: start a bullshit
band with your buds, don’t take it too seriously,
don’t plan too hard, hangout as much
as you can outside of the band, watch Flea’s
instructional bass video from the ‘90s and
never write a song.
Zebra Pulse celebrate their 10th anniversary on
Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Sewing Machine Factory
(Edmonton) with Boothman and Limina. The
show will also feature the reease of Boothman’s
new cassette ‘Boothman vs. Time’ and the
THE ORDER OF CHAOS
metal band writes for passion, not profit
Perfectionism is an element of most creative
minds, but even the most particular
of musicians can find peace with their creations.
Thrash metal four piece The Order of
Chaos are releasing their new EP Night Terror
and it’s the first time John Simon Fallon,
founder and guitarist, has been truly pleased
with the final product.
The band has been an important part of the
metal scene in the greater Edmonton area for
somewhere between 12 and 14 years. Like most
bands, they’ve had their fair share of line-up
changes and challenges, but the passion to
make music outweighs all else. Fallon spoke of
the band’s humble beginnings in the all-ages
punk and metal scene of Stony Plain, chronicling
their transformation all the way to playing
a headlining slot at Midi Festival in China.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded
with great people the whole ride,” says
Fallon. “The labels in Europe that helped us out,
the local promoters who gave us a chance to
play some bigger shows and learn the ropes. It’s
testament to the Alberta music community.”
Over a decade deep into the band’s career,
they’ve released three full-length albums and
two EPs once Night Terror is out this month.
While some may say their sound is indefinable,
one thing is for sure: they can shred. Their
instrumentals feature wild chord progressions
and dexterous speed picking, while vocalist
Amanda Kiernan eases in and out of melodic
purrs, harsh growls and soaring howls.
“We don’t have the elaborate music education
as a lot of the bands in Finland,” explains
Fallon. “Kids over there are trained at a conservatory
level by the age of six, playing incredible
arrangements. For us, we all developed our
The Order of Chaos release ‘Night Demon’ in February.
BY BRITTANY RUDYCK
own style by not having a frame of reference to
what was happening outside our community at
the time. We’re pretty isolated here. So we just
practiced and created something we thought
was special. When we did get into the international
scene, we realized how important that
isolation was to our sound.”
Despite being okay with having an unconventional
sound in the metal world (2011’s
‘Burn These Dreams’ includes a self described
bluesy rock track, “Guns ’n’ Order“), Fallon
insists the band will always write what appeals
to them over writing to appease the marketing
overlords. Although with Night Terror, they may
have found a happy medium.
“I’m generally not happy with anything we
put out. I’m the worst critic of course,” Fallon
admits. “I think that’s why music has always appealed
to me; you can never perfect it. But with
this EP, there was a sense of accomplishment.
We finally developed into the sound we wanted
and we didn’t have to force it.”
Fallon’s understanding and acceptance of the
creative journey being rife with imperfection
and sometimes difficult growth lends itself to a
career worth witnessing.
“I don’t know if anything is going to sound
like Night Terror going forward. But I’m happy
with it. We learned a lot while making this EP;
we became more conscious of who we are as a
band and I think that’s why I feel so proud of it.”
Join The Order of Chaos at the Mercury Room on
Friday, Feb. 23 (Edmonton) for their EP release featuring
Dahlmers Realm, Wolfrik and Sins of Sorrow.
They’re also headlining Femme Fatale at Distortion
on Saturday, Feb. 24 (Calgary) with Caveat, Tessitura,
Traer and more!
PHOTO: BARRETT KLESKO
30 | FEBRUARY 2018 • BEATROUTE ROCKPILE