We’re pleased to present you with the full lineup for Heavy NFLD Fest 2024! While you’ve already been privy to a few of the bands performing this year, namely our headliners who are being ferried in from Nova Scotia, to the first few local bands that have been drip fed to you through our Heavy NFLD Fest official Instagram page, we now have confirmation of the full lineup! We’ll be posting the individual dates and which bands are playing when soon. For now, check out the poster above or the full listing below for which artists you can look forward to catching live at this year’s festival!
Bands:
Thousand Knives [Halifax]
Fear and Filth [Cape Breton]
Helsreach [Halifax]
Vertebraeker
The Order of the Precious Blood
Smoke Signals
Of the Black
The Birchmen
Fog Lake
Release the Hounds
Desperta
Paranoia
October Wasp
Liz Fagan Band
The Tangerine Machine
Hag
Dwight
MiR
Sons of an Eastern Moon
Bread Clip
Bog Rot
Chokeslam
Sweet Baby Angels
Kicker
Snitfit
Little Fauna
Giant Giant
Mantra
Dodgeband
Killer9000
Alter
Dates, venues, and cities:
July 19th @ Retro Arcade and Sports Bar – Corner Brook, NL
July 19th @ The Rock House – St. John’s, NL
July 20th @ The Rock House – St. John’s, NL
July 21st @ Pavlov’s Electric Verandah – St. John’s, NL
We missed April by about 25 days but better late than never! On this episode of the Heavy NFLD Official Podcast we return to Riffer Madness with Riffer Madness II, in which we take a deep dive into heavy music inspired by the Devil’s Lettuce, including doom metal, sludge metal, stoner metal, and stoner rock.
This episode was released on May 25th, 2022 and is available through our Bandcamp page. It will be coming to our YouTube channel soon. You can listen to it through our Bandcamp embed below.
Tracklist:
01. Doom ‘An Blue – “Wicked Serotonin” 02. Everose – “Falling” 03. Bongwater 666 – “Untitled III” 04. Grey Fawn – “Psychosomatic” 05. Hag – “At the End of the Ambush” 06. Lucifairy – “Winter Blues” 07. Sarra Cenia – “Better Days” 08. Sea Dogs – “Double Store” 09. Slowpoke – “Stony Iommi” 10. Steel Mountain – “Hell Rider”
Hey ho! Looks like we missed our in review segment for September, but the good news is that this is simply due to the cornucopia of news that has swept in over the past two months. Check out all the stuff that has happened in our local scene through the month of September, 2021!
We also released Episode 34 of our podcast, which you can listen to through Bandcamp or through YouTube. On this episode we delved into some songs that give off distinctly ‘fall’ vibes. The episode is entitled Fall is Here, a reference to the lyrics of the song “Fall” by Voivod.
The third volume of our Heavy Halloween series of the Heavy NFLD Official Podcast is here! On this episode we delve into ten spooky tracks sure to send a shiver down your spine. Currently the podcast is only available on Bandcamp but it will be coming to YouTube soon.
Tracklist:
01. Artach – “She Gathers Leaves” 02. Rick Massie – “A Moment of Darkness” 03. Hag – “The Grim Sleepers” 04. Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Jammers – “Ed Gein’s Quest for Fame” 05. Public Enemy – “Bad Moon Rising” [CCR Cover / Live] 06. Sometimes Houses Like to Sleep – “Geist” 07. Jaded Truth – “Mrs. Frankenstein” [Live] 08. Anal Christ – “The Dungeon is Prowling with Trolls” 09. Stetson Short – “Demon Sitting on Your Chest” 10. Mistwalker – “Halloween Theme” [John Carpenter Cover]
The second installment of Doomed and Stoned in Canada has been released to the public, featuring the likes of Newfoundland heavy riff providers Hag and Puce. The compilation album series by the Portland-based doom metal and stoner rock promotional outlet Doomed and Stoned is now 56 volumes strong, and featured the first Canada-centric entry into the series back in 2014. In 2021 the outlet has followed up the original exploration of the Canadian doom world with this second iteration.
Released on October 5th through Bandcamp, Doomed and Stoned in Canada Volume II boasts 70 tracks from Canadian riff masters like New Brunswick’s Diner Drugs, Montreal’s Dopethrone, and Ottawa’s Sun Below among many others. Hag and Puce open the doors on this album, with Hag providing the song “Funeral” from their 2020 self-titled release, and Puce providing the track “No Absolution” from their 2020 record The Trough.
You can check out the entirety of Doomed and Stoned in Canada Volume II through our Bandcamp embed down below.
It’s that time of the month again, folks. The latest episode of the Heavy NFLD Official Podcast is here. On this episode we celebrate the heralding of the autumn season by playing for you a selection of ten hand-picked tracks collected by yours truly that will help to instill within you the desire to sit around a campfire in a flannel jacket, sip on a mug of hot coffee, watch the golden and blood red leaves fall from the trees, and tell spooky stories to get you in the mood for what follows in October.
This latest episode was named after a lyric in the song “Fall” by Voivod from their EP Post Society. You can listen to Episode 034 through our Bandcamp embed below, and it will soon be on YouTube as well.
PS: All of the recent episodes of the podcast which weren’t on YouTube have since been uploaded recently, correcting a mistake that had been going on for many months in which I would claim that the podcast would be uploaded, only for it to not get done because, hey, I’m a busy guy. But they’re up there now. Anyways, here’s the tracklist for Episode 034.
Tracklist:
01. Allagash – “The Truth is Out There (It’s Getting Closer)” 02. Nocturnal Prayer – “Echoing Thine Molten Might” 03. Quilt – “Charging” 04. Artach – “Jewel Throne” [Celtic Frost Cover] 05. Cathedral Spires – “Charred Steeple” 06. Hag – “The Grim Sleepers” 07. Impaled Upon the Mountains – “Cursed Be the Sons of God” 08. Bad Milk – “Pig Venom” 09. Afterforever – “Breathe” 10. Jaded Truth – “Horus”
As the above statement, posted by the band on September 19th, 2021, indicates, progressive doom metal outfit Hag have parted ways with their drummer, Patrick Tarrant. Tarrant has moved away from the province to attend university in Prince Edward Island, leaving the position of percussionist open.
Hag are currently accepting messages from people who might be interested in filling Tarrant’s position as drummer in the band. If you are interested send them a DM!
The frigid chill of autumn is in the air as we come into the spookiest month of the year and begin to carve the jacks to keep the spirits of the underworld at bay. But before the most metal holiday of the year commences lets take a look back at the month that preceded it, the month in which the last throes of summer die as the slow wasting away of the verdant greens sets in for the equinox.
September was a busy month. Our very own compilation album Burn the Leeches topped the Earshot Charts, the chart system used by Exclaim Magazine to deduce the popularity of music across Canadian radio stations. On top of that we saw Ratpiss announce that they have finally found a guitar player and the one and only Trash Juice reunited after a year of floundering in obscurity.
New music from The Hellfire Club, Monroe, Withered Crops, Artach, Rick Massie and Most Likely Forever graced our ears while Grole, the new side project of Spectral Wound’s Illusory, was also dropped, offering the town of Marystown some much need representation in our scene.
Veritable tons of merch were released this past month, including our very own Heavy NFLD shirts! Speaking of which, if you’d like one, send an e-mail to heavynfld@gmail.com with your shipping address and your preferred size and we’ll get one to you as soon as possible!
We also released the 22nd episode of our Official Podcast which we unfortunately had to cut short due to time constraints, but it’s still available for your listening pleasure. This episode focuses around some of the prog metal that has come out of Newfoundland in the last few years. You can listen to it through our Bandcamp embed below.
Albums Archived Artach – Cold Day in Hell [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Cryoseism [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Ice Raven [Tech Noir Mix] [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Lords of a Frozen Domain [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Night Songs[Cinderella Cover] [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Northward Leading [Single, Black Metal] Artach – Shimmer [Single, Black Metal] Bad Milk – Spitt [LP, Grunge] The Birchmen – Hot L.A. Nights [LP, Progressive Metal] The Hellfire Club – The Hellfire Club [LP, Hard Rock] The Knifes – Pop Country Single (Poisons) [Single, Hardcore Punk] Most Likely Forever + Decay – Natural Born Killers [Single, Nu Metal] Various Artists – A Heavy NFLD Compilation: Burn the Leeches [Compilation] Winterhearth – Riverbed Empire [LP, Black Metal]
Häg (left to right): Andrew Wicks, Adam Hefferman, Keith Harding, Josh Ward, Clair Hipditch
Hag are a five piece atmospheric / progressive doom metal outfit from St. John’s, Newfoundland featuring Clair Hipditch on vocals, Adam Hefferman and Andrew Wicks on guitars, Josh Ward on bass and Keith Harding on drums. The band is fresh off the release of their debut, full length, self-titled studio album which was released on June 5th, 2020. While Harding is present on the record, he has since left the band and has been replaced by Patrick Tarrant.
First off, tell the people who we’re talking to!
AW: I’m Andrew Wicks, guitar player.
AH: And Adam Hefferman, guitar player 2!
How do you guys know each other? Give us a bit of history as to how the band formed and how long you’ve been active.
AW: Me and Heff have known each other for ages, and he was the first to start talking about getting a band going. Heff and Clair know each other from school and stuff so when we actually did start making moves to put together a band, back in 2016 I think, he reached out to her. Josh and I have known each other for years as well, and played in a couple other bands together before HÄG, first Narrows and then Surgeon.
AH: Me and Clair go back to high school! We bonded over basketball and weird art. Wicks and Josh probably came into my life around the same time when I was obsessed with Narrows.
You once went by the name Goon. What led to you changing the name to Häg?
Also, why the umlaut?
AW: Just as we were getting near the final stages of having the album ready we noticed this other band called Goon was gaining some attention and doing fairly well, so we didn’t want to have the same name as them and didn’t want to have to explain which Goon we were and stuff. We thought HÄG had a similar vibe and couldn’t find many other bands with that name at the time on streaming services and so forth. We added the umlaut on a whim, which was good because it turns out there are a few other Hag’s out there haha, so now we can just say we’re the ones with the umlaut. The whole connection to the old hag and sleep paralysis and all that fit with what we go for as well.
You guys are fresh off the release of your debut full length album. What was the writing process like for this record?
AW: I demo all the tunes, usually just guitar parts and some programmed drums, that’s what those old Goon demos are. They’re either tunes I’ve written, or tunes that started from a riff or idea that someone else had that I fleshed out and arranged. Clair would demo a few vocal ideas on those, and between the two of us we’d get to something we liked. It works out great because if one of us is stuck on some section or tune the other person will have something. “Your Skin” actually started from a little demo Clair had of what became the verses, so somewhere there is a haunting piano and vocal version of those verses. Then we brought the songs in the jam room and things got a little more refined, especially the drums. Josh came into the fold after everything else was recorded and just added a new dimension with his bass parts. We just let him do his thing pretty much.
AH: Nothing to add here really. We spent a lot of time crafting the songs for this first record, and it became a pretty big departure from the first demos GOON had done, some of it happened in the room, but most was a product of Wicks finely crafting and arranging his own and our ideas. A big labor of love on his part.
What has the critical reception for the record been like?
AW: Pretty good! All the proper reviews have been really positive and point out that it’s something fairly unique, which means we met one of our main goals.
AH: It’s kind of overwhelming really how positive the reviews have been even just from people listening to the album. You think you are creating something that isn’t mainstream and then you don’t know how reception will be. But the people who love doom rock or metal really love those genres. The support for Clair’s vocal stylings has been so nice.
As stated on your Bandcamp, the drums were recorded at Car Crash Studios in Conception Bay South. What was it like working with them?
AW: It was good, rushed, but good. We only had a few days of studio time budgeted so it was a bit of a marathon for Keith. It would have been nice to play with mic placements and different drum treatments and stuff but there just wasn’t time. But Rob at Car Crash was great, it was pretty chill and relaxed for a fairly rushed recording session.
AH: Word!
What was the recording process like for the rest of the instruments on the record?
AW: Everything else was done at one of our homes, just using a Macbook and a PreSonus interface. For guitars we basically just stuck a 57 in front of the cab, made sure anything that was rattling in the room was removed or whatever, and went for it. The bass was pretty similar, but we used a couple different mics and a DI. We made a makeshift vocal booth in a closet and used a Studio Projects condenser mic for that.
AH: Thanks to our moms for lending us their sweet linen walk in closets. Very supportive of them.
There’s a wide array of influences and styles present on this record. What bands and artists would you say influenced your unique sound?
AW: Well, we say we’re a doom band but really that’s just a genre that our aesthetic kind of connects to. There’s doom influences of course, like Loss, Yob, My Dying Bride, Mizmor, Pilgrim, some of the doomier Darkthrone stuff. Led Zeppelin and Jane’s Addiction are a big influence for me. The sort of majestic and mythical feeling they could evoke and the song arrangements being the major pieces. Also the soundtrack work Goblin did, especially for Suspiria and Deep Red, had a creepy, proggy but trippy vibe that’s very cool. Then there’s Danzig, King Crimson, Weakling, Drukh, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Dead Weather, Nick Cave, and others that have had an impact one way or another. Playing with Narrows and Surgeon definitely had a strong influence as well, both bands had a unique thing going and added to how I look at playing guitar and writing for sure.
AH: I agree with all this.
In terms of individual musicians, who do you look up to as inspirations for your own playing, whether it be vocalists, guitarists, bassists or drummers?
AW: I’m more inspired by songwriting and band interplay than individual playing, so all those influences are there mainly for that. I kind of lost interest in guitar solos in my mid-late teens but I’ve been getting into them again recently, so from that angle some inspirations would be Jimmy Page, Marty Friedman, Frank Zappa, Brian May.
AH: I’m a big St. Vincent and Robert Fripp guy, but I draw a lot more of my influences from more noisy players like The Talking Heads with and without Adrian Belew, Nels Cline of Wilco and The War on Drugs.
We know that drummer Keith Harding is no longer in the band and that Patrick Tarrant has filled the role. How did this lineup change affect the band?
AW: Unfortunately just as we were getting things rolling with Patrick a virus spread across the globe and everything came to a halt, but we had a couple jams before that all started. Those jams were our first time playing live with Patrick and Josh, they’re both killer musicians and the jams were excellent. We were all a bit surprised how quickly things came together, and the energy in the room felt really good. I think it’s gonna be awesome to have Patrick and Josh in on the writing process for our next batch of tunes.
AH: I mean obviously Keith is a monster. Playing with him in Hear/Say and again in this group was a real treat. Playing that long with someone is cool! But, Patrick is filling his shoes very, very nicely and we’re having a whole lot of fun when we get to do stuff together. Happy to have him on board!
Once the situation with COVID-19 is good enough that shows can happen again, do you intend to gig regularly or will you be more of a ‘once in a while’ kind of band?
AW: Probably more ‘once in a while’.
AH: Yeah we are definitely hoping to give some more immersive experiences performance wise, keep it to once in a while, but really make them count.
What’s next on the horizon for Häg?
AW: We did a cover of “Symptom of the Universe” that’s either already out there or will be soon. That recording started during quarantine and was finished up fairly recently, after bubbles expanded and whatnot. It’s a quick and dirty cover but we had some fun with it and put our own little twist on it in some areas. Beyond that, I think the main goal is to get working on new material, which has started to percolate.
AH: We’ve got some stuff in the tank to start developing that I’m pretty excited about, it’s going to be nice to turn our focus that way.
Awesome stuff, folks! Love the record. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at Heavy NFLD.
AW: Thanks a lot, and thanks for supporting us and the local heavy scene!
AH: You’ve been so supportive and incredible, we can’t thank you enough!
The latest episode of our podcast is now available for you to listen to on Bandcamp. On this episode we play new songs from Newfoundland metal groups that have released new music this year, including Winterhearth, Ultimata, Hag and more. We also take a listen to yours truly’s interview with CBC and recount some news regarding the metal world at large, primarily the death of Power Trip vocalist Riley Gale.
You can listen to the episode through our Bandcamp embed below, and soon it will come to our YouTube channel as well.
HeavyNFLD 