Ace MacKay-Smith and Vinyl Ritchie are DJs, party-planners and generally your quintessential ski-town-epic-party-people. Having them contributing to 33MAG is an honour and I couldn't have been more stoked when Ace forwarded over this show review for local "porn metal" band Penetration with this message:
"So sorry for the delay!!!! I wrote a preliminary bit but then passed it off to Scott (Vinyl Ritchie) cause I kinda got stuck and because he is much more qualified to write about metal, skaters, and brew. He came to the show too and I helped him edit it. Also, here is the gallery of photo from the show, they're kinda rough looking, just like the night. haha."
Story by Vinyl Ritchie - Photos by Ace
French Canada has a long, rich bloodline of metal bands. Birthplace of tech/prog metal heavies such as Dead Brain Cells, Voivod,and Martyr, just to name a few. In fact, some heads consider Montreal and Quebec to be the mecca for technical metal, and rightfully so. Albeit not as tech as the aforementioned bands, a trio of French expats now calling Whistler home are carrying on this rich tradition of headbanging and booze.
Whistler Sk8 park rats and self-proclaimed lordsofpornmetal@gmail.com, aka Penetration, are filling a musical void in Whistler's over-saturated DJ nightlife. If headbanging and booze is your deal then you must check out Penetration. "Never too fast, never too slow", Penetration's heavy/sludgy assault is a mandatory soundtrack for breaking away from all that dumb club dj glam shit. Penetration are thirsty, gracious hosts inspired by their enthusiastic mosh pit, loyal local following, and the great Canadian past time of guzzling brew. In fact, one of their songs is called 4 Kegs. Cheeky vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Turbide toasted the crowd numerous times and even did a comical homage to beer, declaring in a thick French-Canadian accent, ''Dis nex song is about drinking a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of beer." And drink a lot of beer they did. It was amazing that the rhythm section consisting of Brett Nakamoto on bass and drummer Guillaume Gagne-Emond could lock in and keep time as tight as they did for the whole show, and without taking a pee break! Consummate professionals. For the encore, Penetration even covered an old Misfits tune, and then partied off into the night in search of more brew and babes.
Gotta give a shout out to the Savage Beagle in Whistler for trying something different and hosting this night. Most of the clubs in Whistler have lame top 40 djs all doing the same whack shit. The dudes in Penetration and the opening band from Squamish BC (whose name I didn't catch, but played a great heavy opening set) can really play their instruments, and need more venues to showcase their raw talent. To fill a club on a Tuesday night with voracious metalheads, these guys must be doing something right.
Like Penetration's battle cry declares, more "headbanging and booze" please!
