Some of the area’s heaviest bands hit the CSAC stage this week.
The Charlotte Street Arts Centre heats up this weekend with the latest production from Underground Alliance. The Winter War – a four band evening of fist pounding metal – will include performances by some of the area’s heaviest of heavies including Seigebreaker, Wasteland Zombies, Blueprints and Winter’s Howl.
Each band will be playing (or releasing) new music at the February 5 show. Here’s the lowdown on each group slated to perform:
For the past few months, Seigebreaker have been locked away recording tracks for an upcoming five track EP. Fans of the band can expect to hear the EP played in its entirety as part of the band’s set.
“Siegebreaker has really been focusing on two things for the past few months,” said founder Dale Lyons, “the upcoming EP, while writing and rehearsing new material.
“The mixes for the EP we have heard from our engineer Jake [Duffie] have been amazing. We are at the small detail, nit-picky point of a mix, so we’re definitely not too far away from release now. Five songs at a running time of about 27 minutes. First we will release it digitally, then on a physical disc at some point in 2016.”
For those unversed in the sounds of Seigebreaker, check out Cold Black Eye.
The last part of December saw Wasteland Zombies in the Underground Alliance recording studio with engineer Jake Duffie, rerecording some older material. Having reformed in 2015 after nearly twenty years, original members Chris Waddell and Glen Brown have solidified the band’s lineup with the addition of Rick Brown on guitar, Jake Taylor on bass and former Age of Daze guitarist Jamie Norrad replacing founding member Ray Robinson who bowed out of the group last July.
“We essentially have three new members who all bring a bit of a different take to the old songs,” said Waddell. “We rerecorded some older material to better reflect the band as it is today. Nothing wrong with the past recordings or how the songs were written, it’s just the old recordings are now dated. They were ripped from a cassette so the quality was sub-par.”
Spread Your Wings, arguably the band’s most defining track, was one of two songs to get a revised recording last month.
“We had the radio debut of Spread Your Wings last week on CHSR,” said Waddell, “and we’ll be releasing the track 4AM next Friday at the Charlotte Street Arts Center show. The two tracks we recorded will be released digitally for now.”
The band currently have two additional performances booked so far in 2016, playing Doaktown on Saturday February 27 and in Saint John on April 16.
“We have plans to get some shirts done and eventually,” said Waddell. “We may put the two recorded tracks on CD at a later time plus we hope to get some time to hunker down and write some new material.”
More new music is also on the way from Blueprints. The band is currently wrapping up recording for the upcoming EP.
“We have been busy recording our first EP titled Rebirth,” said Blueprints’ Dave Peterpaul. “No official release date has been made, but were aiming for early/mid spring 2016. We have seven tracks including a re-recorded version of our song Rebirth. It’s been five months since we last hit the stage so we’re pretty pumped to play a show after a long brake. We also can’t wait to see Winters Howl, Siegebreaker and Wasteland Zombies. For The Winter War, we will be playing most of the songs that will be on the EP.”
Last but certainly not least, newcomers Winter’s Howl will make their live debut.
The band got its start back in 2013 as a continuation of an earlier project. Speaking collectively through a statement released to Grid City Magazine in advance of this weekend’s show, the group’s members – Coyote (guitar), Winters (bass), Galactic Wolf (drums) and CuJo (vocals) reported, “This is our very first gig. Plans for this year include recording an EP and even further down the road, more merchandise. Our general plan for the year is to play as many shows as possible and establish a reputation for as a hardworking serious band and the greatest punk rockers in the city. We are a wolf pack… and we are hungry.”
The Winter War | Charlotte Street Arts Centre | February 5, 2016 | 7 p.m. | $5 at the door | View Event
