Knuckleduster
Winnipeg-based Knuckleduster plays gritty rock and roll. The band is a collective of four musicians drawing on distinct influences to produce a powerful stage show that highlights soaring guitar riffs and vocal arrangements not often duplicated elsewhere. The ‘Reuniversary’ billing acknowledges a hiatus from the live stage and 20 years since the band first started playing the original music scene across Canada. The show is a reunion and an anniversary celebration wrapped into one!
Knuckleduster has produced three full-length, independently released albums, appeared on two nationally distributed compilation albums, released an 8-track ep (yup, you read that correctly), successfully aired a video on MuchMusic (when that was considered a feat), and embarked on two tours.
More recently, the cult classics “Christmas Song” and “Ricky”, as well as other live highlights and video collections, can be viewed on YouTube. Lost that Knuckleduster CD? Ditched CDs altogether? No worries. The back catalog of their lps and the seasonal single “Christmas Song” are currently available on all major download and streaming sites.
Taking it one step further, an ep-length collection of beautifully mixed and mastered new songs will be released in time for the show and available for immediate download or streaming enjoyment. It’s not a CD release party, but it will feel like one.
Knuckleduster returns to the stage on May 26th at The Park Theatre to celebrate 20 years!
Do Facebook stuff here: https://www.facebook.com/Knuckleduster-241505889250576/
Knuckleduster’s WebsiteWakefyre
Wakefyre is a hardcore, rock-punk band borne from the streets of Winnipeg and Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. Wakefyre was formed amid the frigid winters and balmy summers of the north; in places where a common love of music and the need for personal expression initially drove two childhood friends with a shared musical past (Bradbury and Crooks) to reunite and further explore a new path following their first project together, Dreadnaut. Dreadnaut, a driving, energetic musical experience that became a cornerstone of the Winnipeg metal scene, remains a crowd favourite that has influenced a generation of musicians in Winnipeg. But it was not to end there.
Discovering a renewed passion for writing infectious material, Bradbury and Crooks set out to find other likeminded musicians to redefine the local music scene. Enter bassist Jay Fryza. Fryza cut his teeth on the Winnipeg music scene and played a succession of increasingly prolific gigs (in bands such as XengineX and Godsize) which gained a growing following that culminated in XengineX’s album being mastered by the legendary Tom Baker. When family responsibility led Fryza to relocate to Thompson, happenstance and reputation led Bradbury and Crooks to Fryza. With a core of musicians now assembled, the group set out to hone their sound and style into the finely tuned machine that is Wakefyre.
Fortune again smiled on them when at the ‘eleventh hour’, in advance of a local, high-profile gig opening for Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, the boys found themselves in desperate need of a drummer. Fryza immediately called his bandmate Jeff Haney from local favourites The Bonnie Situation, a band known for performing an eclectic mix of cover tunes and creative, original rock and roll. Growing up in Thompson, Haney had played in a multitude of bands such as the punk/noise stalwarts The Binge Livers as well as the funk mainstays Northern Dysfunktion. Eager to take on the challenge, Haney jumped at the chance to join up with Wakefyre and give rock and roll a solid boot in the ass.
Five days and 27 rehearsal hours later, the group emerged triumphantly to take Thompson by storm and ‘knock the crowd out’ with a high octane set of enthusiastic rock and roll. Thompson had never seen anything like it! Davide Direnzo, drummer for Red Rider told the band afterward that he sat backstage listening to them and loved what he heard. “You guys rock!”, he said.
Wakefyre has released “Volume 1”, an album of high-energy, hardcore, rock-punk that will not disappoint which is currently available on all major download and streaming sites. Their first video “Cold World” is so new it is currently being finished and will likely be available worldwide by the time most of you have read this. Do not miss an opportunity to see Wakefyre live!
Facebook link to Wakefyre’s main website right now: https://www.facebook.com/wakefyre/
Link to Wakefyre’s bandcamp for music: https://wakefyre.bandcamp.com/releases
Wicked Gift
Wicked Gift has been flying the flag for hard rock since 2013.
Brought together by their love for melodic, skillful, loud music from across generations, they have accumulated a collection of songs varied in their scope and approach. Ever developing their sound, skill and identity, they have spent the majority of last year recording; a release is expected later in 2018.