Powersludge

If math is one universal language, music is the other.
Since the early stages of civilization, music has been an indispensable component of social life in both nomadic and sedentary communities.
The advancement of social progress has brought about the refinement in music, a process which peaked in the early 20th century, when technology took over the production of the music thanks to the invention of sound recording. Since then music has been mostly a commercial phenomenon, steadily losing its melodic nature to be replaced by rhythm, its sophistication by simplicity.
Over the last few decades, many new genres of music were created appealing to various segments of the "market", with these genres also undergoing transformations from within with the passing time.
One of these new genres, heavy metal, is probably the loudest and "angriest" of all.
And it may be quite difficult for a classical music lover who seeks the soothing harmony in, say, Chopin's nocturnes to understand what a heavy metal band might be trying to communicate with a cacophony banged to a listener's head at a deafeningly loud volume.
"Anger" says Shaman Crowe, the lead vocalist and lead guitar of heavy metal band Powersludge.
And that anger, according to Crowe, has a sound justification.
"Heavy metal music has always been the underdog and it has been the underground music. That is where the anger in heavy metal stems from," says Crowe.
"It represents the anger of the underground, of the streets. Look at the technological advances, we are producing handheld computers but we can not solve the problem of homelessness."
"Heavy metal music has always been socially conscious."
And although it might be admittedly very difficult to understand the lyrics of such high volume music, Crowe says heavy metal music does speak about social and even historical issues.
"One can learn much about Russian czars or Egyptian pharoas by listening to Iron Maiden."
But does heavy metal music have to be so loud and intense?
"It has always been an exploitive genre, it has always been over the top and and it's meant to be something almost attainable, yet unattainable," Crowe says.
"Because it is the expression of anger, it has to be heard loud."
Looking back, Crowe recalls early performers of what was then known as "underground music".
Reminded that bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath of the 1970's and even Guns 'N' Roses and AC/DC of the 1990's were not so loud, Crowe mentions the "go big or go home" theory.
And what does that mean?
Crowe says the advance of heavy metal music can only be in the direction of "louder and angrier."
"If you want to make your mark in the world of heavy metal music, you have to go bigger, louder, further."
"Those bands are now classified as Classic Rock bands and to make sure that we are the heavy metal of now, we have to be louder than they were."
But he adds the level of the pitch of the sound does not take away from the fact that "the majority of the musicians playing heavy metal are intelligent, well-spoken, well-educated, interesting and socially conscious people."
With Rusty Gunz on drums and percussion, Matt "The Yeti" Jarmin on rhythm guitar and Rob Fooks playing bass and all of them also contributing backing vocals, Powersludge prepare to set out on their 2010 tour these days to communicate their message of protest against injustice to their audiences in Western Canada.
In the process, they will be making a little loud music, but that is one way for them to make their mark in heavy metal history. - The Weekender (A Stettler Independent Publication)

Powersludge packs the punch of a stiff paralyzer.

The Canadian band’s heady mix of sleazy, late ’80s rock — minus the spandex and big hair — keeps its rabid fans coming back for more.

“I have never signed as many breasts as I have in DarkerThan,” says Shaman Crowe, elaborating on the group’s popularity at home.

“The illustrious kings of booze-induced sleaze,” Powersludge is Crowe, vocals and guitar; Matt "The Yeti" Jarmin, guitar; Rusty Gunz, drums; and Rob Fooks, on bass.

The band writes, records and produces its own material. In 2007, it celebrated the release of the Jägerleizer E.P., the follow-up to its debut, Gimme the Booze E.P. It also embarked on its Huge in Japan Tour, a reference to the band’s apparent popularity in Japan on Last.fm, an Internet radio and music community website based in the United Kingdom.

“We’ll have to go (to Japan) I’m thinking,” muses Crowe. “There are a lot of bands who spend quite a bit of time in Japan. (Members of) Skid Row had a fairly lucrative career there after they broke up.”

“Totalitarian discipline” and an unwavering commitment to making music has held Powersludge together since a mutual friend introduced Gunz and Crowe in April 2004. Crowe, 31, had toured with a lot of death metal bands during his music career, but he also enjoyed the simplicity of straight-up rock ’n roll. Powersludge is an amalgamation of his previous work, he says.

“It’s a lot more fun to play three chords well than 1,200 chords terribly,” Crowe adds with a laugh.

Gunz, a diehard Roughriders fan from Oxbow, Sask., hadn’t pounded the skins publicly for close to eight years when he met Crowe. As the elder statesman of the original band, who will say only that he’s in his 40s, Gunderman been mistaken for the band’s manager or, worse, a father. He shrugs off the comments about his age with good humour.

“It’s not about age, it’s about what’s in your heart,” he says. “If you love doing what you do, it just doesn’t matter.”

Still, there are nights that Gunz wishes that he had taken up the harmonica instead of the drums, because drummers are either setting up or tearing down equipment.

“By the time I’m done tearing down my drums, the girls are all gone and I end up socializing with the barmaids.”

Powersludge’s loud, booze- and bud-infused brand of hard rock will have many people reaching for their earplugs. The band happily provides them at its shows, which, have a tendency to dissolve into melees because everybody “loses their heads” once the music starts. Fans in need of a little sleaze need look no further than the “cleavage cam”, an idea popularized by Motley Crue on its latest tour.

“I ran into a police officer not so long and I told him we were going to be playing in town at the end of October,” says Crowe. “He said, ‘We’ll just stand out the side door and you just throw them out at us.’

“I don’t know what it is, but our hometown shows are history-making events to be cherished.”

Beyond home, the band has played infrequent gigs across Central Alberta and competed in several “Band Warz” events in Calgary. In October, it took a shot at landing a spot in an upcoming reality series and a $1-million recording contract.

While the band would love to move to a larger centre where gigs are more plentiful, Darkerthan has its appeal. The town’s low overhead allows the band to spend its money on better gear for the project rather than rent.

“It’s not about money, it’s not about girls, it’s not about drinking, it’s about making music,” insists Crowe.

Powersludge has high hopes for 2010. It’s working on a bunch of new songs and is planning a tour. The challenge is getting everyone in the studio at the same time.

“A good friend of mine said, ‘If you’re not having fun, you’re wasting my time,’” says Crowe. “We enjoy doing what we do, so when we hit the stage, we try to make sure everybody standing in front of it is having as good a time as we are.”

For more information, visit www.pissoffrecords.com - Central Alberta Life & The Red Deer Advocate

A local band billing themselves as the illustrious kings of booze-induced sleaze will be looking for more fan support this week as they head to Calgary to compete in a battle of the bands that could ultimately lead to a $1 million recording contract.

Powersludge will be taking the stage at Morgan's Pub in Calgary tonight to compete in the Bodog Battle.

The top 10 bands from across the country will be featured in a reality television show where they will continue to compete for the recording contract.

Powersludge frontman Shaman Crowe is optimistic about the group's chances. How to win is simple, he says.

"We go [to Calgary] on the 10th and we kick ass," he said.

Things have been busy for the guys, who include Rusty Gunz on drums, Matt "The Yeti" Jarmin on rythm guitar, Rob Fooks on bass and Crowe as lead vocals and lead guitar.

The band has been together since 2004 and have been touring recently after releasing their first full length CD "Make Mine A Double" and third EP, "Hell's Half Acre".

The band is also finishing a music video, expected to be released in the near future.

"Things are going pretty good," Crowe said. "We're getting lots of opportunities. We just look for more challenges, we're getting a lot of interest over the internet."

That interest has led to the band discovering they have a following in Japan.

"We had to translate [the website] and I have no idea to this day what that website is all about because it's Asian, but for a week Powersludge was number three overall for the month and had five or six songs charting on the top 50 on that particular web page. We had no idea," Crowe said.

"That led us to call our tour that year the 'Huge In Japan Tour'."

He has a little problem describing exactly how the band sounds.

"It is what it is," he said. "The name is the description. We're a lot like Motorhead and AC/DC. We like cheesy guitar lick bands from the '80s and stuff. We don't dress like them guys... we're not a glam rock band. We're, you know, motorcycles, booze, tattoos."

The band will be needing support as they compete in the Bodog Battle. Fans can vote for Powersludge online at the Bodog website www.bodogbattle.com or at the show tonight in Calgary.

"We hope to see you there to offer your support," Crowe said. "If you're unable to make the gig, please take the time to vote... we welcome any support."

Bodog is an independent international record label. The battle of the bands contest comes on the heels of the show's success in the United States where Seattle's Fall From Grace was awarded the $1 million contract. - The Stettler Independent