Celestial Ruin

    Vancouver's large indie music scene is the home of up-and-coming symphonic metal band, Celestial Ruin. The band's drummer, Adam Todd, came up with the name to reflect the band's sound. "The name itself refers to our style of music, heavenly destruction. Hard rock with beautiful vocals and melodies, yet with a heavier, darker edge."
    There is a lot of rock music in the Vancouver indie scene, but nothing like Celestial Ruin. The band hopes to bring a predominantly European style of music into the front of the Canadian rock scene.

    The idea for the band came to be nearly 7 years ago. Adam Todd had quit the music project he was working on and searched for a vocalist. With a specific sound in mind, he auditioned several vocalists, but came out empty handed. Through a friend, Adam came across Larissa Dawn. She had been performing at a karaoke bar for five years and had performed in the local theatre, including a role in the long-running hit, Tony N' Tina's Wedding. Larissa performed "Somebody to Love" by Queen and "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga for Adam and he decided she was the sound he needed.
    The next member to be recruited was their keyboardist, Nathan Loflin, who has a BA in music and an experience with orchestration, score writing, and writing symphonies. The two remaining members, Logan Constant (guitar) and Mike "Dikk" Dagenais (bass) would be recruited via Craigslist.

    Some of the band's influences include Within Temptation, Nightwish, and Epica and are regularly compared to goth rock band, Evanescence. "We all have individual influences, but as a band and the sound we are going for is in close relation to these originators of the genre."
    "Our sound can vary from soft and haunting to heavy and destructive. When it comes to themes or messages, we love fantasy and mythology so there are various reference to many of these in our songs; such as 'The Hunted' about a girl in love with a werewolf, 'From Beneath You' is about zombies, and 'Underground' is about a girl who was buried alive, in a matter of speaking."

    The band has played all over, including The Media Club, a local hot spot for the rock scene, The Princeton Pub, The Penthouse, former performance space for the likes of Etta James and Nat King Cole. The band has an upcoming Halloween show on October 29th at The Railway Club and will be playing the large fantasy fair, Nerdfest, on November 19th at The Rickshaw.
    "Nerdfest is an incredible fantasy fair being held in downtown Vancouver. It will feature three bands, sword fighters, belly dancers, actors and even a Magic the Gathering station. The Rickshaw is where all the large symphonic metal bands play when they come to town. We are super excited! It's a huge event and there will be tons of people there, and seeing as we all have an inner nerd, it's like home sweet home, ha!"

    The band is currently working on their debut album, The Awakening which is set to be released in February 2012. "The debut album is gonna be killer! The music is something we are all very proud of. Every song tells a story and is unique in it's own way. Larissa Dawn prides herself on the fact that no two songs sound alike."
    The band is also very excited to be working with multi-platinum music producer, Kevin Hamilton, who has worked with Moist and various other Canadian musicians and television projects. "Working with Kevin has been nothing short of a pleasure. He is incredible professional, extremely experienced. He is true to our vision of the music, but has some amazing ideas and perspective on the sounds and how each part is vital to the sounds and overall effect of the music. We are a theatrical project and he understands how to bring that to life."

    The band has been lucky to have garnered so much interest. They have been published in several different publications, including up-and-coming online magazine, Get Live, and local newspapers. "Adam has always been very hard at work looking into possible publications that would be interested in our sound."
    The band has a lot planned for the near future. "We have been submitted to the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise for January 2012 and are awaiting to see if we have been selected as one of the performing bands. We'll focus on finishing the album and also plan to start local touring in late spring. Of course we always write new music, we are always creating, but in the end we are all just crazy musicians and plan to have fun every step of the way."
    Unfortunately, Logan Constant has decided to part ways with the band, but the band will reveal the new guitarist in the near future. "Celestial Ruin has since released Logan of all contractual obligations and wish him all the best in his future career in music." Be sure to like the band on Facebook!

My Own Chaos

    "Every single one of us seems to have our own glitches, our fears, our phobias, mainly our own personal chaos that get in the way of our everyday existence." Says Vancouver metal band, My Own Chaos. "Chaos is all around us. It is a way of life."
    The band came together a few years ago, back in 2008, and got their start in the divided music scene of Vancouver. "The local Vancouver music scene is quite divided compared to most cities across the country. In Victoria for instance, you see the punk guys at the metal show, the metal guys at the punk show, etc. Although diverse, Vancouver seems to be pretty divided in that respect, even according to subgenre.  It would be nice to see it meld together a bit more across genre, but its still a great scene.  Lots of musicians in this city as well. We try to get out and support as many shows as possible"

(Photo: Lisa Bayer)

    Connie Chaos, the band vocalist, and guitarist, Oleg Za worked together in the band Splatter. They decided to start a new music project so they recruited Connie's long-time friend, Eric Wolf, to play bass. Eric brought on guitarist, Alex Dubreuil from Quebec to join the project. The band then turned to show organizer, Steve-O for their drumming needs.
    Collectively, the band's influences range from metal legends like Pantera and Slayer to bands like Nightwish, Otep, and Motorhead. The band creates a heavy and aggresive sound while still keeping it melodic.

(Photo: Lisa Bayer)

    In mid-June, the band released their self-titled album and recieved positive reviews online. "We couldnt be happier with the album.  We wanted that 'big' sound. Its a good feeling to know that people enjoy and relate to what you are creating."
    The album was very personal for Connie, who wrote the album about her divorce. "It is my form of therapy. That was a difficult thing to go through, but this album helped me heal myself. Had I not gone through what I went through, this album would have never existed. There was no way I would have been able to reach deep inside myself and describe exactly what was going on inside my head. I had to take a very honest, deep look within myself which is hard to do for anyone. Everything happens for a reason and I guess this album was it. Sometimes a breakdown can actually be a breakthrough."

(Photo: Lisa Bayer)

    You can find the band playing all kinds of shows. "We tend to fit in with all kinds of acts as our sound is not one specific genre or subgenre.  We like to be all over the place. We also like touring as well. Actually, we kind of prefer being on the road. Its interesting to see how different scenes operate with different people."
    Performances are very high energy and the band very much enjoys involving the audience. "We try to bring the audience into the show and give them what they want. Its not 'our' show, its 'their' show.  We are there to entertain them. If we could live onstage, we would. Set up the cot in the back and wake us up when its go time."
    So what's next for these metalheads? "Aside from world domination? We are heading out in October on a Western Canada/Northern BC tour and currently putting together new material for our 2nd release.  We are currently shopping for a label and considering a possible management deal, but thats all I can say
about that right now." Be sure to like the band's Facebook and to follow their Twitter for tour updates and more!