Much like the feeling of stumbling upon a rare gem while sifting through crates of used vinyl at your local indie record shop, brand new projects or not, the accidental discovery of a killer local band can give that exact same feeling of triumph. Therefore I am driven to share my finds with you in this brand new weekly SRG column deemed, "NW NOISE". This column will aim to champion and profile Seattle bands that you should know, and eventually branch off to hit upon bands that call our neighboring NW regions (i.e. PDX, Vancouver B.C.) home as well. Hope you dig!
REQUIN (pronounced "wreck-WAH") came to my attention by pure luck and by basically being in the right place at the right time. It turned out staying for the late night entertainment in the El Corazon lounge following the crushing Narrows performance back on January 22nd was an excellent decision. Yeah, REQUIN isn't a brand new project, and yes it's true they've been apart of a number of excellently billed shows around town in recent times. Even with this known quantity they are still currently residing in modest obscurity after two years as a band, and deserve your full attention.
I was immediately taken by REQUIN’s no-bullshit take on the time honored art of hardcore music. The band was no holds barred, undeniably musical, and with impunity and aggression pretty much lived up to the demeanor of their great white, razor toothed namesake ala Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick”. It also didn't hurt that local jack-of-all-trades Aaron Edge was holding down bass duties either. The set was short but also punishing, as you will see from the video below.
This is a video from that El Corazon performance (1/22/10):
Many bands exist only to write and play the heavy, aggressive music that they want to hear, and according to vocalist Wolfgang "Erik" Ratzlaff-- REQUIN is just such a band. REQUIN make heavy music purely because they love it, and it just so happens they also do it very well.
Here is everything I dug up to help you become acquainted with this weeks spotlighted band-- REQUIN, and I highly recommend making it a point to check out their next Seattle show, March 16th at The Morgue in Georgetown.
Info:
Ex and current members of: Aphiskkyu-Bot, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Grievous, Iamthethorn, the Mark Sparkles, Oops I Stepped in Some Christ, People We Hate, Shit Gets Smashed, Tsuga, 976-Murder
Members:
Wolfgang: throat & communication / Pamela: guitar & knocking things over / Ben: kit & other throat / Aaron: low end & art
History:
Wolfgang recounts the story of REQUIN's origins:
"The band started in April of 2008, and is a pretty typical incestuous Seattle band story. Pam and I previously played in a band called Aphiskkyu-Bot. After the band broke up we wanted to play with our old friend Ben (who was actually the original singer in Aphiskkyu-Bot). We knew we wanted to play similar music to what they had already been playing, (the technical kind of hardcore we grew up on), but wanted to streamline it a little and make it more direct and aggressive.
At the same time, Aaron Edge (Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, ex-IAMTHETHORN, ex-Grievous, ex-Himsa) asked me to start a recording project where he would play all the instruments and I was recruited to do vocals. As it went down, the night I went down to Aaron's practice space to listen to what he was working on, Pam and Ben were practicing 2 spaces down the hall, writing the 2 songs that would eventually be on the 7" (which is available now at REQUIN shows). As it goes I told Aaron I was heading down the hall, and he asked if he could come listen. He dug what he heard and asked if he could play bass, thus REQUIN was born. "
Discography:
REQUIN: "Deformities in the Key of D" CD:
This collection will include two tracks from our split 7", two from the "Oodles of Brutals" live cassette + three more goodies, currently unreleased! Out early 2010, we hope. It will be limited to only 100 hand-numbered copies.
REQUIN/Same-Sex Dictator split 7" :
Available at most Seattle-area record stores and on our merch tables. One massive beast of a song by them on the A-side, and two pissed off ragers by us on the B-side. Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies.
REQUIN: "Oodles of Brutals":
Upcoming Shows:Mar 5 2010 8:00pm CABIN TAVERN (21+) - Bellingham, Washington
Mar 16 2010 8:00pm MORGUE - Seattle, Washington
Apr 10 2010 8:00pm JOSEPHINE - Seattle, Washington
Apr 28 2010 8:00pm DUNES (21+) - Portland, Oregon
Links:
MySpace
such a killer band, finally a damn good write up!
ReplyDeleteThanks Into the Storm! See you on Monday if all goes as planned.
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