28 Jul 2016

Insane Clown Posse / Filthy Animals / Drezden / Brok Homz

Live @ Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg
July 6, 2016

First ICP Winnipeg show in living memory. As a fan in my youth who has fallen off of late I couldn't allow myself to miss this opportunity. Finally the clowns have sorted out the criminal issues that have made crossing the border so troublesome in the past. The mindset going into this show was decidedly optimistic.

Juggalos chanting 'family’, face painted clowns roaming the streets for blocks in every direction. Definitely the scariest crowd at a show I have ever seen, up there beyond Kid Rock or Dauphin's infamous Countryfest.

First act on is a rapper hailing from Fort Frances. Not sure where exactly that is and didn't catch the guy’s name, but googling suggests he is Brok Homz of the Ontario Fort Frances. He wears a mask of the sort you see in the film You're Next or worn by WWE’s Wyatt family. I have now seen two masked rappers live in my life, and safe to say this guy is not quite on the level of MF DOOM. Backing track suggests the sort of standard horrorcore fare favoured by Psychopathic Records, but the performance seemed like it didn't do the studio work justice. Out of breath and lacking energy, Homz spent nearly as much time on water breaks (while the beat is going) as he did rapping. Mostly focusing on repetitive hooks, when it came to the verses he was the hype man to his own track, mostly coming in at the end of his lines rather than taking charge and rapping the full bars. Not sure if this was an off night or if the guy is new to performing live, but it seemed clear he has some work to do if he wants to entertain at this level. Even a presumably easily pleased crowd of Juggalos seemed largely nonplussed. To be fair, the mask stayed on all night so apologies to the real Mr. Homz if this was an imposter.

Drezden and his hype man took the stage like Jay Z and Kanye West by comparison. Full of excitement and confidence, they put on a full set of what I would consider the typical modern Winnipeg hip hop sound. Nice to see an act like this get a chance on a fairly high profile gig. I didn’t catch the hype man’s name, but I did share an awkward fist bump/handshake with him on the sidewalk afterwards.

At this point we have already been at the show for about two hours, three hours past the doors opening time. We have seen a 15 minute set and a 30 minute set. Time for a rare Molson Dry, the cheapest can of beer on the menu tonight. Shortly after the first sip a foreboding announcement is made: Violent J is in the house, but Shaggy is not. Shaggy is getting a flight from somewhere as we speak, and is expected to arrive at the venue for 1230-1245. Uh oh.

With Filthy Animals on next and a lengthy delay sure to precede them, we determine it is time for a coffee. Across the bridge to Tim Hortons for that and a muffin, and to kill an hour or so with the free Wi-Fi. Arriving back at the venue around 1145, Filthy Animals are entering the final phases of their performance. One of the great mysteries of the Winnipeg music scene is how these guys end up opening for just about every rapper of note that comes through town despite having seemingly zero following beyond the walls of this building. I never see them putting out records or doing headline shows or anything, yet somehow I’ve seen them three times despite making no effort on my part to do so. The city is practically saturated with competent acts in this genre, many of which surely have at least as large a following. Why not try one of them some time? At least we got Drezden.

Following Filthy Animals, the VIPs line up for the meet and greet they have paid extra for (at $55 just to get in the door this is not a cheap gig as it is). Following a series of sporadic progress updates, we are told that Shaggy has finally arrived at the venue shortly after 1am. Time to kick off this party, finally!

Nope, time for the meet and greet. We peasants who have merely paid the general admission price wait and watch as the VIP line slowly and painfully inches towards the backstage curtain where ICP hides. Occasional camera flashes are the only evidence we have to determine if the duo are in fact present. This VIP procession continues for about an hour. Through all this, the crowd is getting restless. Chants heard include “what the fuck”, “this is bullshit” and “money back.” Finally, some 3 hours after we would reasonably expect the show to start ICP reveals themselves. We stayed for 30 minutes but by this time anticipation had turned to annoyance and the exodus to the exit had to be enjoined. From what I saw they played exclusively early tracks, nothing less than a decade old, which is to be expected and appreciated for what is effectively (if not also literally) their first ever concert here. The usual clown entourage with Faygo hijinks. Those who did not have to work the next day surely enjoyed themselves, but for me this is the last time these clowns get my money.

17 Apr 2016

Terrorizer / Immortal Possession / Begrime Exemious / Flash Out / West Of Hell / Plague

Manitoba Metalfest 2016 (Day 1)
Live @ The Park Theatre, Winnipeg
April 15, 2016



Plague

Dangly key and dickeycore.  Fast, straight-up crusty cruchy dbeat grind.  Pretty great.



West Of Hell

They tried every trick in the book to get the crowd going but nobody was having it.Grinding metal to make sparks fly, bouncy balls, fake snow (in house? do they take those things on tour with them?), Roman leggionaire helmet, smoke gun.  The guy was like Carrot Top out there.  Fast Judas Priest speed metal, pretty thrashy.  Good but a tough sell tonight for a very sober-looking early crowd that was looking to grind.






Flash Out

Fast fastcore.  Crowd is back into it.  At one point it seems a guitar lead got tripped over and the amp and head collapsed in a heap on the stage.  Lost the guitar for a bit but the army of techs that would make regular appearences from here on out were able to resurrect it.  Never seen that before.  Great stuff (the band, I mean).




Begrime Exemious

Don't know what that means.  Touring band from Alberta.  Claims to have played the city three times last year, crowd still loves them.  Generally fast blackened thrash kind of stuff.  Nice guitar work, definitely the most melodically adventurous of the bands so far but still brutal.  I wonder if bands who play fast and shreddy and thrashy gravitate towards the flying V guitars based on historical aesthetic influence alone. Then I wonder if the appearance of these guitars influences which conceptual genre space that I as a listener place them in.  I suppose once the tradition is established it perpetuates itself.








Immortal Possession

The second Immortal Possession concert in two decades.  Laying off the intros and interludes for the most part.  Exactly what you would expect from an early 90s demo death metal project from the guy who went on to bring us Serrated Scalpel and Psychotic Gardening before touring with Broken Hope.  I've also seen him with prog metallers Grand Master, so I guess he likes to branch out a little bit.  Anyway, just what you would expect from that guy - meaning primitive, raw, virtually hook-less old school death.  Simple, lots of repetition, brutal. Crowd standing in approval, moving to some significant moshing by the second half of the set.  Tons of drum kit problems, at different points I believe three guys were up there working on it.  Seemed to be trouble centered around the high hat pedal area.  Despite the technical distractions from the would-be ritualistic atmosphere, still a fantastic set.  Come back, play some shows, do an album.  The city needs a band like this to come out once or twice a year.  There is a real appetite for the raw, brutal death and grind. Let's embrace it.










Terrorizer

Played World Downfall and a new song.  Major moshing, riff city.  More drum technical difficulties (with a completely different kit now).  Tons of fun. Second time seeing them for me, but I was far more sober and appreciative this time around.

Great show up and down, apart from the somewhat puzzling inclusion of West Of Hell.  Next year go all out for metalfest, one death/grind/black night and one with the melodic stuff for the kids and guitarists.