Groove Series: The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer
Who
The Buzzardline
The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer
When
- June 23, 2017 - Doors at: 8:30pm
Links
Opener: The Buzzardline
ABOUT THE HARPOONIST AND AXE MURDERER
Apocalipstick is the follow up to 2014’s A Real Fine Mess, which received considerable recognition, including a JUNO nomination for ‘Blues Album of the Year’ and a win for ‘Blues Album of the Year’ and ‘Alternative Album of the Year’ at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Their previous release Checkered Past won ‘Blues Act of the Year’ at the SiriumXM Indies in 2013. They’ve had songs featured on television shows such as: CSI, NCIS: New Orleans, Bitten, Killjoys, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, and the aptly named TV movie Lizzie Borden Took An Axe. Apocalipstick has been mastered by Brian Lucey’s Magic Garden (The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Dr. Dog, Lucinda Williams, The Shins) and produced by John Raham, Shawn “The Harpoonist” Hall and Matthew “The Axe Murderer” Rogers.
Apocalipstick begins with the doom-laden warning call of Get Ready. Set to a contrastingly bouncy drumbeat, Shawn “The Harpoonist” Hall alerts us to “Get ready for the hard times / Get ready for the heavy load / Get ready for the who knows what”. “Ben Rogers first sang Get Ready to us by the piano in the basement of my home,” says Hall. “It was instantly familiar to us and embodied this loose campfire-like group vocal thing, which carried right into the recording sessions. The beauty of this song is the impression of hopefulness it leaves you while layered in a bed of chaos.” With the fate of the world certainly in question, Apocalipstick delves into lustful begging with Pretty Please, summoning complete heartbreak in Treat Me Kind, while Nancy and Forever Fool touch on themes of bullying and revenge.
Framed by psychedelic landscapes and world-ending jam-outs, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer ignite the gritty, blues-rock grooves they have been recognized for by adding drummer John Raham (The Be Good Tanyas) and keyboardist Geoff Hilhorst (The Deep Dark Woods) into the melting pot as well as the golden voices of Dawn Pemberton, Andrina Turenne, Alexa Dirks (Begonia), Ben Rogers, Khari Wendell McClelland, Erik Nielsen and Ricardo Khayatte. Add equal parts soulful, sweaty vocals, and biting guitar and you have an album perfect for any doomsday date-night.
The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer are relentless touring artists known for their high-energy, dance-floor-boogying performances. They have recently toured the UK with St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the EU with Dr. Dog and XIXA and the US with Tinariwen. They have also shared the stage with Taj Mahal, Booker T Jones, Mother Mother, The Sheepdogs, and Serena Ryder and have played their fair share of festivals including Winnipeg Folk Fest, Ottawa Blues Fest, Calgary Folk Fest, Montréal Jazz Fest, Vancouver Jazz Fest, Festival D’Été de Québec, Regina Folk Festival and the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.
