Heavy Filth
Gig Seeker Pro

Heavy Filth

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF
Band Metal Rock

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Canadian Music Week 2009"

Tonight was the first live performance ever for this female-fronted foursome. The shouts of Heavy Filth started before the band hit the stage, and immediately after they finished their last song. These girls were here to rock, and so was the crowd. They went through a short set of songs that showcased the vocals of Maija Martin. The heavy base was owned by Kristyn Dunnion (Miss Kitty Galore), who showed little concern about this inaugural performance. - Juicy Stuff


"Director Bruce McDonald Turns Film Inspiration into Toronto Charity Gig Featuring Lioness, Heavy Filth, Ghost Is Dancing"

Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, The Tracey Fragments, Hard Core Logo) is currently back in the director’s chair. This time around, the film is called Trigger and it’s about two female ex-bandmates reuniting to play a benefit show.

In anticipation of the film, McDonald, the film’s stars (Molly Parker, Tracy Wright and Don McKellar) and New Real Films are putting on an event called “For Florence,” which is, well, a benefit show.

This Valentine’s Day, some of what the event’s press release calls “Toronto's finest female talent” will grace the stage of the city’s Mod Club, both to help McDonald and co. shoot some of their upcoming film and to raise money for the Salvation Army's Florence Booth House Women’s Shelter (723 Queen Street West).

Performers will include Lioness, Heavy Filth, One Hundred Dollar Duets, the Ghost Is Dancing, Carmen Elle, Foxfire, Lisa Lobsinger of Broken Social Scene/Reverie Sound Revue, Hooded Fang, Alex Olsen and Jessica Lalonde.

The most interesting performance for those itching to check out Trigger will be by the film’s fictitious band. That’s right: actors Molly Parker and Tracy Wright will take to the stage to perform as the band they play in the film, where they’ll play their fictitious hit from the ’90s: “Standing Alongside Gone.” The song is actually an unreleased track by early Canadian rockers Cookie Duster that was licensed for the film.

The show starts at 8:30 p.m. this Sunday (February 14) and will be free, but donations of any amount will go straight to the Florence Booth House Women’s Shelter.
- Exclaim


"Heavy Filth plays Toronto and Montreal"

Heavy Filth aims to make your heart ache and your ears bleed. The all-female, queer heavy-metal band, formed in the summer of 2008, isn't interested in "happy, squishy pop music," according to band member Maija Martin.

"We want to write songs that are reflective of a darker queer experience," she says.

The Toronto band, made up of Maija Martin, Stu Marvel, Miss Kitty Galore and Annie Ouellette, recently released their first EP. Their song "Maximum Damage" can be heard in Bruce McDonald's film Trigger, coming out this fall.

Xtra sat down with Martin to talk heartbreak, alienation and the unexpected thrills of moving up in Google searches.


XTRA: How did you choose the band's name?

MARTIN: We wanted it to sound heavy. We wanted it to sound ballsy. I did a Google search for "Heavy Filth" to see what would come up before we picked the name. There was a quote from a woman in the States who was talking about how there was gay content at her library or something and she referred to it as being "heavy filth." And so I thought that was apropos.

What's interesting now is that if you try to Google "heavy filth" that woman doesn't come up anymore. That was an unintended effect!


XTRA: Why do you think it's important to do queer metal?

MARTIN: There's a certain kind of gay experience that's represented culturally that doesn't always speak to us. There's a perception around women's music that it's all gonna be acoustic and there's gonna be beautiful harmonies and that kind of thing. I also like to listen to that kind of music but that's not always what I want to listen to and that's not how I want people to see me as a performer.

I think for us a lot of the songs are about heartbreak and sadness and how you can feel alienated. It's sort of the darker side of gay. It's not all fun and games and dance parties. There can be a lot of hurt and there can be a lot of people feeling alienated from the community as well.

I'm making us sound like depressed freaks! But I do think that, in general in the world we live in, there's a lot of shying away from the more difficult feelings. That's what we wanted to explore in this band.


XTRA: Have you experienced discrimination as a female metal band?

MARTIN: I don't think it's discrimination, but it really is just a male genre.

I was on the bus the other day and there was this guy wearing a shirt that said "Legends of Rock." It had the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and it had all these people on there and they were all dudes! Why isn't Patti Smith on there? There are other people who were hugely influential who are not dudes who did amazing, groundbreaking work that we just don't recognize.

Women in metal also get kind of rubbed out. It's not that there aren't women who play metal, it's just that they're seen as less important.


XTRA: What are your fans like?

MARTIN: It's funny because we sort of have two different genres. There's the punk metal scene, which is pretty guy-heavy, and then there's the gay scene. It's interesting when you get those two communities coming together. It actually works really well.


XTRA: Tell me about your upcoming gig in Montreal.

MARTIN: This is our first Montreal gig. We're really excited because we all lived in Montreal at one point or another.

We're playing with other gay metal bands, which is going to be awesome. Usually we're playing with other metal bands that are not gay and all dudes. Or we're playing in a gay context where it's a real mish-mash of genres. It's so great that we're playing in a gay metal environment.
- Xtra


Discography

Heavy Filth EP 2010

Photos

Bio

Heavy metal frenzy is what heavy filth is all about. Animale’s (SHLONK, The Qweefs, Beatrix) crazy tight drumming, the intricate and cocksure guitar riffs of Maija Martin (the Gay, I Mudder Accordion) and Stu Marvel (Lindsay, the harmony mobilization project), and the dirty, distorted bass lines of Miss Kitty Galore (subterranean rumbles) are guaranteed to make your knees weak and your ears bleed.

Heavy Filth's music is featured in the Bruce McDonald film Trigger.