By D.W. Lee 18.11.2009
There’s a new band poised to become the Montreal music scene’s next big export. And no, it’s not another ten-piece tight-pants indie collective. The band is Barn Burner, who play a brand of heavy, greasy, riff-rock more at home on the flipside of the Montreal scene – the metal underground. They’ve just been signed to the legendary Metal Blade Records, which will re-release their debut album, Bangers, in early 2010.
Barn Burner is a relatively young band; the members’ average age is 25 and they have only been together for three years. Far from being wet behind the ears, however, Barn Burner knew how to work hard and get the ball rolling right away. “I’ve been a metalhead since I was nine,” guitarist, lead vocalist and main songwriter Kevin Keaglesmith tells me over the phone. “I’ve been playing in bands since I was in high school and touring since I finished high school. [...] Everybody in this band has played in bands before, and that helped a lot.”
Barn Burner started touring with numerous jaunts into Ontario, and soon found themselves on a cross Canada tour with fellow Montreal riff-monsters Priestess – all before they released their first CD.
Bangers was recorded at Mountain City studios in Montreal with producer Adrian Popovich who, in addition to his experience as producer to Sam Roberts and the Dears, played guitar with legendary rockers Tricky Woo. The album stayed in limbo for about a year before being picked up by Montreal label New Romance for Kids this spring, and released this past summer.
Bangers received a lot of good press. The sound of the album is raw without being lo-fi, heavy and full while still maintaining an organic feel. This, combined with the fact that the songs themselves are all balls to the wall riff-rockers, led reviewers to peg the band as old school. They were regularly compared to classic bands, for better or worse.
“We like to see ourselves as part of a new movement of this kind of riff based music,” says Kevin. “Reviews always describe us as this meets that, you know Fu Manchu meets Iron Maiden, and stuff like that. We’re not going to deny those older influences, but we’re also into a lot of modern stuff, more progressive metal and extreme death metal that I think bleeds into our music.”
As heavy as the record is, when it came out Barn Burner didn’t know if people would see them as a metal band, and certainly didn’t expect to be picked up by one the world’s foremost metal labels. “We did a few mailouts when we finished the record,” says Kevin, “and we didn’t even send to Metal Blade, because we figured they were too metal to put out a band like us.”
Barn Burner’s hardworking DIY ethic got them onto Metal Blade’s radar. “Looking back, we can kind of see how it got hooked up. But when the offer first came it seemed to be totally out of the blue.” In March 2010, Metal Blade will be giving a worldwide release to a remixed and remastered version of Bangers, also featuring two new tracks.
In the meantime, the band’s work ethic hasn’t diminished, and they’re not letting this kind of recognition change their modus operandi. “Getting on an awesome label is only half the battle,” Kevin explains. The band is continuing to book their own tours for the time being, and is already nearly finished writing a second album. “We’re still working the same way we did when we started.”
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