Saturday: The Kindred - An Evolution of Thought

     Let's keep the ball rolling with a little bit of proggy-smelling post-hardcore courtesy of the Canadians Formerly Known as Today I Caught the Plague. (I suppose it's been long enough that we should all probably stop making reference to how they used to be called something else, but hey, I needed an intro.)

     The Kindred's sophomore disc Life in Lucidity (their first under the new The Kindred moniker) is more than a year old already, but it's got an energy and a style that still feels fresh to me. It's hard to describe, so here's the deal: I could name a dozen bands that The Kindred and Life in Lucidity remind me of (for example, I get some Coheed and Cambria, some reined-in Mars Volta, some Protest the Hero...), or you could just listen to "An Evolution of Thought" and check 'em out for your own self.

     Of course, the flipside to me still enjoying your record that's been out more than a year is that no matter how fresh it remains, new material can never come soon enough. So, The Kindred, new record, yes?

Twenty Questions* with Aaron from Killitorous

     The August long weekend is upon us already, and the first thing that's made a lot of us around here think is, "where the fuck did July go?" But rather than mourning the rapid demise of the summer, why not celebrate the fact that it's not going to be an age of the earth before you get to read another Twenty Questions interview.

     Well, another Eighteen Questions or so, anyways. This time out I had a chance to fire some e-mails back and forth with one of the dudes from Canadian tech death band Killitorous, and in my fanboyish glee at getting to subject Aaron to my own special brand of electronic interrogation, I missed the fact that Killitorous does in fact have label support now and asked them about it anyways. How embarrassing! (The guys are getting distribution from Galy Distribution in North America and Trendkill in Europe and the UK, by the by)

     Nevertheless, I still have a nearly-full compliment of questions and answers for you to check out, courtesy of one of the guitarists of one of today's up and coming tech death bands. Yeah, yeah, the phrase "up and coming" is a bit of a cliche, but I really think these guys are going to be leaders in their sub-genre. If Party, Grind doesn't grace some end of the year "best of" lists, I'll eat my beard.

     So without further prevaricating about the bush, enjoy some Q&A with Aaron from Killitorous, and be sure to party and/or grind this Civic Holiday.





- LN: For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know who you are, please identify yourself and the band you play for.
     Aaron: My name is Aaron "Shredder" Homma. I play guitar for Killitorous. I also play for Vital Remains, Immersed who is on hiatus and have played with The Kindred and Erimha. I also guitar tech'd for Ill Nino. I've gone around....hahaha

- LN: Tell us a story: how did the band come to be?
     Aaron: I had quit The Kindred (at that time the band was still called Today I Caught The Plague) because I wanted to play way more technical and brutal music. So I started Killitorous, which was my msn messenger tag at the time...haha (old school). This was a longer time ago than anyone thinks....7 years ago.

- LN: You guys play a style of death metal that is, how shall I say, pretty fucking heavy, not to mention pretty tech. Did you guys set out with this sound in mind, or has it evolved over the life of the band?
     Aaron: To be honest...yes, we wanted to be tech and brutal AS FUCK....but still sound like no one, or maybe like everyone....really we wanted to sound like all our favourite bands mixed into one. Which just happens to be brutal and techy.

- LN: Can you tell me about any influences, musical or otherwise, that guided your decision to adopt such a heavy sound?
     Aaron: It's kinda crazy, because we have been around so long that we have such a strange array of music that's influenced the band to have the catalogue of songs we play now.... anything from See You Next Tuesday, Psyopus and I Wrestled a Bear Once to Nile, Cryptopsy and Origin. Really we love so many styles and bands it's hard to say. Basically you should ask us what hasn't influenced us because that would be an easier and less lengthy answer.

- LN: In your videos it looks like you play 6-string guitars with a 4-string bass (ie: a “conventional” tuning setup), and it doesn’t sound like you guys tune down a whole lot, if at all. And yet, you guys have riffs as heavy and badass as anything from a band with extended range instruments and/or super low tuning preferences. So I'm curious, what tuning do you use, and why? Was this a conscious decision or did it just kinda end up that way?
     Aaron: We play in drop C, and the reason is because we play not only high or low. We play the whole guitar, constantly. So we decided to keep the tuning as legible as possible, but still as heavy sounding as possible...so for us Drop C made sense.

 - LN: Your turf according to Facebook, essentially the southern Ontario/Quebec 401 corridor, is basically my neighbourhood too (Kingston here), so I’d like to know if there’re any bands in the area I should know about that I probably don’t already. In your humble opinions, who’s heavy and good in this part of the country?

     Aaron: Too many to ever mention. BUT I will tell you that from what I have seen touring the world, is that we have the BEST calibre of bands, and my personal favourites all reside in NOT only Ontario/Quebec...but the whole country of Canada.

 - LN: Once again according to Facebook it looks like you’ve been playing a few shows lately, but do you have any plans for more extensive touring? Somewhere like, oh I don’t know, say Kingston, would love to have a metal band of your face-melting calibre.

     Aaron: We are doing an Eastern Canada tour in August/Sept. but also we are touring the U.S.A this year....and other places ;) we did sign to a European Label after all!!!

- LN: Your indiegogo campaign looks like it was pretty successful. Would you think about going the same route for album number two?

     Aaron: It depends really on so many things...mainly, when running a band these days it can be hard to make it happen without the support, also for us unless people wanted it, we didn't want to record it or even waste our time. For us a Kickstarter campaign for the album just made sense.

- LN: Speaking of album number two, I know Party, Grind only just came out, but have you guys done any work for your second record? I for one could definitely do with some more Killitorous sooner rather than later.

     Aaron: We have almost finished writing the new album, we are trying to keep things rolling rather than touring the album TOO much. So I'd say we will really start working on it once we are finished the touring cycles for Party, Grind.

- LN: How about a few quick ones, like: favourite Nicholas Cage movie?

     Aaron: Raising Arizona tied with Leaving Las Vegas tied with Faceoff tied with Adaptation.

- LN: Favourite Jim Carrey movie?

     Aaron: Ace Ventura 1, but as he is from the same hometown as me (Newmarket, Ontario, Canada) I must say EVERY movie holds a certain place in my heart.

- LN: The Black Dahlia Murder or Carcass?

     Aaron: Neither, Hall and Oates.

- LN: Arsis or Archspire?

     Aaron: That's is an unfair question, because although I spent majority of my high school comm tech class listening to "We are the Nightmare", Archspire are my boys and one of the bands/group of dudes, myself and my band respect in Canada. UNFAIR, NEXT QUESTION!!!!

- LN: Now for a few of my standard closers: If you could make everyone stop what they’re doing and listen to one song right this minute, what song would it be?

     Aaron: Godking, because I feel it is the perfect blend of everything Killitorous has to offer.

- LN: If you could ask any member of any band any question, who would it be and what would you ask?

     Aaron: Darryl Hall, why did you let the drums be on the off beat in the video for "Private Eyes!?"....aggravating! see link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anLfoy2XsFw

- LN: Dream Tour: who would you guys open for, or who would open for you?

     Aaron: I would love to tour one day with Nile...because they are my fav. metal band ever.

- LN: Almost done. What have you been listening to lately?
     Aaron: In the genre of metal I have been listening to the newest Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation and Unhuman...ALOT but I still listen to really everything, LOVE the new Chromeo, Daft Punk and still can't stop listening to Lana Del Rey.

- LN: Last one! What’s your favourite metal album of all time?
     Aaron: Akeldema by The Faceless.



     And as always, in response to Aaron's awesome answers I say the following:
- good sensible tuning, drop C. Excellent choice.
- I, too, am finding that the longer I write this blog, the more Canadian bands I discover that rival anything being done anywhere else in the world. No matter what your musical flavour of choice, heavy or otherwise, Canada has got you covered.
-Interesting, Face/Off but no Con-Air *or* The Rock...
- the first Ace Ventura movie is indeed the correct answer, although I used to love The Mask when I was a kid. Also, not that it means anything to anyone, I have family in Newmarket, so yay Newmarket!
- I had a hunch that "Arsis or Archspire?" might be a tough one when it occurred to me in all its alliterative glory. I'm glad to have presented you with a conundrum.
- Excellent choice of favourite metal album Aaron.

     That's another Twenty Questions down (rounding up, at least...) and another band added to the Litany of Heroes. Who'll show up at Loud Noises next? You'll just have to wait and see. For now, have a listen to today's Song of the Day for an example of Killitorous doing what they do. You'll be glad you did

The Kindred - A Grand Debate

     Just in case the last couple of days of tech death have left you a little drained, I've decided to ease off the throttle a bit tonight. But don't worry -- things'll still be a little proggy.

     Ottawa band The Kindred are no strangers to the heavy music seen, having been formerly built a bit of a following under the moniker Today I Caught the Plague, but they've only released their debut LP under the new name earlier this year. Nevertheless, all that experience shows: Life in Lucidity doesn't have any debut album jitters or timidity, instead coming across as the work of a band that's confident in its sound.

     "A Grand Debate" is a good example of this, combining some energetic, intricate-but-not-too-intricate guitar work with the dynamic performance of vocalist David Journeaux, who reminds me a bit of Rody from Protest if Rody had a little less range and a lot more raw, unpolished edges. At times The Kindred are musically vaguely reminiscent of Protest the Hero as a band as well, but not at all in a way or to a degree that should prevent you from giving "A Grand Debate" a listen right now. So do it. Go on. Right now.

Pit Report: Protest the Hero

     Like seemingly everything else I put my hand it to it took longer than I'd have liked, but I promised a pit report for Tuesday evening's Protest the Hero show and now I'm here to deliver. So read on, and live vicariously through me!

     Tuesday's show was one of a few impromptu additions to the Volition tour announced after the main dates but taking place before the bulk of the tour -- some pre-tour warm-ups, or something along those lines, is what I think I recall reading in one of the band's Facebook posts. I would guess that this had something to do with the venue choice of  a bar, The Mansions, rather than the comedy club that often hosts shows like this, but honestly, I don't really care. Anything that lets me see Protest in a tiny venue is A-OK in my book.

     The first opening act was a local band called Ponderous Chain, but we elected to go out for dinner before the show and as such only caught the second band on the bill, Salt of the Chief Cornerstone. Regular readers will remember that I featured a song of theirs earlier in the week, "Taken by Storm", and this track was just one of several that captivated the whole room with Salt's energetic performance and it's build-and-release style. I dug it enough that I bought a copy of their EP before the night was out.

     Also before the night was out, of course, was Protest the Hero. Or at least three-fifths of the Protest I've seen before. Drummer Moe has been officially replaced by The Kindred's Mike Ieradi (the drum work on Volition being handled by Lamb of God's Chris Adler, in case you...somehow... hadn't heard) and bassist Arif is sitting this tour out to work on a stage production he's involved with, his spot being filled by the band's producer Cameron McLellan.

     In any event, the boys came on stage to the strains of the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme song and proceeded to rip through a varied set that included tracks from all four of the band's LPs (even Kezia, which doesn't always get a lot of live love from the guys). There was enough old stuff to please longtime fans such as myself, and enough new stuff to remind everyone that they're touring on a new record.

     Highlights of the evening included our close proximity to the barely-elevated stage at all times (thanks to the tiny room at The Mansion) and the crowd's passing Rody crowd-surfing style from the stage to the bar and back for a mid-set brew. Very metal.

     And that's about all she (or me) wrote on this one. Head on over to setlist.fm if you're curious about what tunes the band was rocking on Tuesday. Hopefully Protest will be back to town sooner rather than later, and I for one certainly wouldn't be opposed to more stops in small venues like this one. High energy and intensity + an intimate setting = a good time had by all.

Song of the Day: The Color Morale - Saviorself

     How bitter am I that none of the dates on the Misery Signals Absent Light release tour are close enough for me to make it out this time around? Let me count the ways.

Song of the Day: The Kindred - Decades

     There are a few records labels out there that, for whatever reason, always make the metal news sites front pages. Usually it's because they have a roster of great bands, but whatever the case may be, they're involved in stuff we pay attention to.