Ryan Kostel
It has long been an opinion of mine that most heavy metal (specifically the genre’s more “extreme” manifestations of the past 30 years) played by heavy metal people tends to be not very good. Instead the punks have long been the ones with a firm grip on the dynamics of making heavy ugly music.
The evidence to support this is mountainous. Napalm Death used to be a punk band. King Diamond used to be in a punk band. Quorthon from Bathory cites punk bands from the U.K. as being a primary influence on his first recordings. Look at a picture of any classic thrash band like Metallica and you are sure to see T-shirts festooned not with the logos of their metal brethren but classic hardcore punk bands like GBH Discharge or Anti Cimex. I hold fast in this opinion. After a year in hibernation Calgary act Savage Streets have surfaced from the sewer to confirm my beliefs.
The group returns with Blackrat/Witchstone’s Ian Lemke taking over lead guitar duties. Lemke recalls the embryonic period leading up to his induction saying he and the band were “drunk in the alley behind Vern’s yelling solos at each other.” The group’s guitar torture technician adds that he’d “been a fan of Savage Streets for a long time.”
Drummer Mike Nosanchuk says it was a natural decision. “Even when [original lead guitarist Michael White] was still in the band we’d talked about bringing Ian in. He’s a good buddy who plays in bands that we appreciate and respect. We’re all pretty driven and everybody’s mindset just seemed to be in the right spot to reconvene. We’ve had a lot of people bugging us too.”
Though Savage Streets was laying dormant the members kept relatively busy with Nosanchuk drumming for local old-school crossover Crystal Mess and indulging in the darker sleazier side of things with bass player Joe McSween in Fornication — a band not dissimilar to Lemke’s Blackrat. Vocalist Cam Shook has been handling vocal duties for hardcore punks Traumatized.
With a new member in tow and some time away from the project the band has changed both dynamically and in regards to their sound. “The songs now are a little more straight-to-the-point” says Nosanchuk. “Shorter definitely. Less driven around soloing and just trying to write a good song. We’re not striving to write short songs but if that’s what happens then that’s what happens.”
“And the thing about the solos…” Lemke adds. “I’ve never been a lead guitarist. In Blackrat I play leads but only because it’s like ‘Well you can’t have a band without guitar solos’ y’know? So when there are guitar solos it’s strictly just blues-based needs-to-be-there kind of a thing. I mean when I started playing with these guys Blackrat were sort of in hiatus-mode…. So I was happy to be playing fast music again but also felt like I kind of had to focus a lot more.”
There’s definitely a punk edge to Savage Streets something they don’t shy away from. A penchant for minimal concise songwriting the utilitarian use of devices such as the guitar solo and an ambitious DIY work-ethic seem to confirm this. “The metal scene here is shit. Hardcore and punk are more from the heart more straight ahead and closer to what we’re trying to do playing old-school death metal” says Nosanchuk.
This weekend Savage Streets will open for legendary New York hardcore group Cro-Mags at Republik something they’re all quite happy about. Nosanchuk who sported a giant green mohawk when I first met him 10 years ago says “If you stared 14-year-old me in the face and told him ‘You’re going to be opening for the Cro-Mags’ I’d probably tell you to go fuck yourself. Age of Quarrel is an absolute classic no questions about it. I think it’s awesome that a band like us is getting billed with the Cro-Mags.”
As their catalogue of new material continues to grow there are plans afoot for a Savage Streets EP engineered by Garbage of the World producer Luis Ergon.
SAVAGE STREETS perform on Saturday February 21 at Republik with CRO-MAGS.
