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Bison B.C. to Follow Helmet from Sacramento to Redondo Beach…

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 22nd, 2010 by JJ Koczan

…Of course, they’re taking the scenic route, on a tour that will go up and down the West Coast and into Canada for a couple dates. I can only imagine good times will be had by all and that Bison B.C. will demolish audiences are they are apt to do.

As you peruse the PR wire info and tour dates below, make sure you get a look at the description of Helmet‘s sound. I never thought of them as being particularly Zeppelin-esque. Am I wrong on that one? Check it out:

The Vancouver-based band Bison B.C. have just confirmed a two-week plus tour with legendary alternative metal band Helmet, who are known for fusing Zeppelin-esque riffing with a vehement post-hardcore precision, augmented by dense chords and offbeat time signatures. Bison B.C. will join Helmet when the tour kicks off on Wednesday September 8th in Sacramento, CA at Harlow’s Night Club. The tour finishes up on Sunday September 26th at BriXton in Redondo Beach, CA.

Guitarist and vocalist James Farwell comments, “I first started listening to Helmet when I was doing bonelesses and acid drops wasted in back alleys with big pants and small wheels; a long fucking time ago. Now my body is a jerk, but I still think of them when I drop tune — it is a fucking god damn honor to tour with Helmet.”

Sept. 8 Sacramento, CA Harlow’s Night Club
Sept. 10 Oakland, CA The Uptown
Sept. 11 San Jose, CA The Blank Club
Sept. 13 Portland, OR Dante’s
Sept. 14 Seattle, WA Showbox at The Market
Sept. 16 Vancouver, BC Venue
Sept. 18 Edmonton, AB The Starlite Room
Sept. 19 Calgary, AB Dickens Pub
Sept. 21 Casper, WY Downtown Grill & Venue
Sept. 23 Tempe, AZ The Clubhouse
Sept. 24 Santa Ana, CA Galaxy Theatre
Sept. 25 San Diego, CA The Casbah
Sept. 26 Redondo Beach, CA BriXton

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Buried Treasure and Bison Pre-B.C.

Posted in Buried Treasure on October 16th, 2009 by JJ Koczan

Classy.As I assume was the case for a lot of people, Vancouver‘s Bison B.C. hit my radar with the release of their Metal Blade debut full-length, Quiet Earth, last year. After hearing that and rocking euphorically through “These are My Dress Clothes” more times than I care to reveal, I became interested in hearing Quiet Earth‘s predecessor, a 2007 EP called Earthbound.

Admittedly, it was a passive interest. I could have gone online and bought it any time I wanted, but it wasn’t until I saw the band at Planet Caravan in North Carolina that I finally picked up the Forest Records release, and it wasn’t until just today that I finally opened it.

Why the delay? Well, there was no way any of these six songs were going to be “These are My Dress Clothes,” so although I’d paid good money for the EP, the priority level was low. And as is often the case, I feel like an ass because the EP rules. A little more so than on the full-length, Bison (they hadn’t yet added their B.C. at the time) rock with an Entombed-type furor and match it against ballsy Lifesblood-era Mastodon flex noodling. And then there’s “The Curse,” which comes out of nowhere as the fourth track with a shoulder-shimmy riff that could get Satan Himself swing dancing. Good times.

“Dark Skies Above” plods with a monster lock step beast stink and the closing title track (longest of the bunch at 6:19) speeds along nicely while showing off some melodic tendencies and heavily bearded grooves. Earthbound, like Quiet Earth, isn’t about to change my perception of metal — it’s still pretty much in the modern, post-Leviathan vein — but it’s still a plenty enjoyable listen that I probably should have dug into before now. Lesson (probably not) learned.

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Mendozza: Remember When I Said I Would Review You Last? I Lied.

Posted in Reviews on February 9th, 2009 by JJ Koczan

A beast made of smoke, much like the album itself.I’m glad to see someone making better use of a Simpsons reference in their band name than Fall Out Boy, who I personally blame for the last two or three crappy seasons of the show. These Vancouver beast metal bastards come right out of the gate with a Billy Anderson-mixed (translation: “hello guitars”) collection of Melvins-style bombast with vocals pushed out by the same stomach muscles as Scott Kelly‘s and feedback so liberally strewn about the place you’d think it was part of a universal healthcare package.

Anyone who caught wind of Bison B.C.‘s quietly-released record on Metal Blade toward the back end of last year will be pleased to have White Rhino as a companion; the two bands easily fit into the mold of post-Mastodon ’00s stoner metal, even if Mendozza strikes with more aggression and a generally more grizzly approach. There isn’t much musically on the record that’s going to catch a Sleep fan off guard, but if derivative, Mendozza is no less enjoyable with that acknowledged. Read more »

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