Posts Tagged with Canada

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Dirty Weapons

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On Dirty Weapons, the Killer Dwarfs incorporate more range and diversity in their sound, and the album was a worthy follow-up to Big Deal. The image they portrayed was less goofball than on the previous two albums. But the seriousness that was always a part of their lyrics remained.

Dirty Weapons
Killer Dwarfs’ Dirty Weapons

The eponymous album opener, “Dirty Weapons,” signals where the Dwarfs are headed. The hard-driving drums and thick guitar riffs underlay lyrics that focus on trust and mistrust in an age of decaying alliances and new technology.

The video matches that dissonance, with overtly edited images that look like cut-and-paste propaganda. (As well as the de rigeur late-80s heavy-industrial/post-apocalyptic set.)

That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of range throughout the album, too. The heavy, grinding “Comin’ Through,” has a chorus with a screaming admonition to “Get outta my way.” In a similarly fast vein, the relentless riff-heavy “Nothin’ Gets Nothin’” sprints from start to finish.

But on the other hand, “Doesn’t Matter,” one of the album’s other singles, is more low-key, anchored by acoustic guitar riffs, meant for anyone feeling beaten down by circumstances. “It doesn’t matter at all/Where you’ve been or what you’re going through/We’ll make it through somehow,” sings Russ Graham, giving Jon Bon Jovi a run for his money in encouraging his listeners to buck up.

Many of the other songs show a lot of swagger, like the stomping, cocky “Appeal,” or the nimble, layered “Not Foolin’.”

Like other heavy metal bands at the end of the ’80s, the Killer Dwarfs showed a mastery of a big, commercial sound and pushed at the edges of the genre. Of course, with the explosion in popularity of grunge in 1991, gems like Dirty Weapons often get overlooked in hindsight.

Dirty Weapons

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • Sony, 1990
  • Four stars out of five

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Big Deal

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Big Deal was, for the Killer Dwarfs, an apt title. The band had signed a contract with Sony for their third album, and had the chance to show that the video success of “Keep the Spirit Alive” was no fluke. That they were, in fact, a Big Deal.

Killer Dwarfs Big Deal
KIller Dwarfs’ Big Deal

Given the video for their first single off the album, “We Stand Alone,” in which the Dwarfs lampoon how signing a big-deal contract might make them sellouts, it’s fair to say an additional meaning to Big Deal could well have been “so what?”

But if Stand Tall established the Killer Dwarfs as a melodic heavy metal band, Big Deal displayed a sound with more polish. They also took things in different directions. Album opener “Tell Me Please” is a hook-heavy crowd-pleaser, one they still play live.

“We Stand Alone” is a confident, catchy heavy rock song that takes full advantage of Russ Graham’s soaring vocals, the thump and dexterity of Darrell Millar’s drumming, Mike Hall’s wailing lead guitar, and the full-bodied sound of Ron Mayer’s bass playing, with more of the band’s backing vocals than on the previous album.

The delivery of a thunderous chorus also stands out in “Lifetime” and “Power.” Other notable songs are “Union of Pride,” a slow-paced anthem of solidarity, and the frenetic, heavy “Burn It Down.”  As on Stand Tall, Graham and Hall share writing credits on all songs.

Album closer “Desperadoes” starts off with spare riffs evocative of Bon-Scott-era AC/DC, but there’s no mistaking it for anything other than a Killer Dwarfs song. At a 2019 show in Winnipeg, they played it live for the first time (according to Russell) as the final encore of the evening. Thirty-one years was worth the wait.

Overall, Big Deal is a great example of 1980s heavy metal, and should, ahem, stand tall among other albums of the latter part of the decade like Whitesnake’s Whitesnake or Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet.

Big Deal

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • Sony, 1988
  • Four stars out of five

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs’ Stand Tall

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Stand Tall was the breakout album for the Killer Dwarfs, and if you kept abreast of music videos in the winter of 1986-87, chances are you saw all or part of “Keep the Spirit Alive.”

Stand Tall
Killer Dwarfs’ Stand Tall

(Not that even such a successful video, played in heavy rotation on MuchMusic, MTV and network music video shows translated into much mainstream radio airplay. At least, not on the rock stations I was listening to.)

For many Canadians in their teens at the time, the image of Russ “Dwarf” Graham singing while trapped in a crate being catapulted through various misadventures before making it to his band’s concert is what springs to mind when thinking of the Killer Dwarfs.

This album marked a departure in style for the band. Original guitarist Bryce Trewin had left and Mike Hall took his place. Bassist Ron Mayer replaced Ange Fodero. The change is dramatic, with the all of the songs on Stand Tall co-written by Graham and Hall. Many incorporated backing vocals, giving Stand Tall a much more commercial, pop-metal sheen.

Which is no mark against the album. “Stand Tall,” another single that garnered a goofy, self-mocking video, is built on soaring guitar riffs, pounding drums, and a shouted chorus that still gets audiences singing along in live performances.

Other standout tracks are “Human Survival” and “Bite the Hand That Feeds,” as well as the era-appropriate “Up to You and Me,” a sombre meditation on responsibility in an age of nuclear-weapons brinksmanship.

Aside from the generally more melodic metal sound, the outstanding guitar work of Hall on the solos in the title track and “Keep the Spirit Alive” really fill out the Dwarfs’ sound. And Mayer’s ominous basswork is the heartbeat powering songs like “Up To You and Me.”

For those looking to actually listen to this album, its success means you’re in luck — but only if you have a turntable. It sold well on vinyl in the U.S. and Canada. You can find used copies for reasonable prices online, but finding it on CD is much, much harder, even considering the album had a 2003 re-issue. (You could, as the Dwarfs showed in the video for “Stand Tall,” just go ahead and make your own copy, but your results may vary.)

The sense of humour in the videos that put the Killer Dwarfs on the map, as well as the thoughtfulness behind many of the lyrics, display a band hitting its stride. In a sense, Stand Tall was their “debut” album, showing signs of things to come.

Stand Tall

  • Killer Dwarfs
  • 1986
  • Four stars out of five

Metal Monday: Killer Dwarfs / Killer Dwarfs

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Killer Dwarfs
Killer Dwarfs

Fans of early 1980s heavy metal are likely already familiar with the self-titled debut album from the Killer Dwarfs, but if you’re a fan of heavy riffs, soaring vocals and big, stomping shifts in tempo and haven’t heard it, it’s definitely worth a listen.

Hailing from Oshawa, the Dwarfs (on this album, singer Russ Graham, drummer Darrell Millar, guitarist Bryce Trewin and bassist Ange Fodero*) show a strong New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound, with a dash of prog rock. At times the songs sound like Black Sabbath as played by Rush.

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Canadian cli-fi: Harold Johnson’s Corvus

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Not too long ago I got the chance to interview Canadian author Harold Johnson about his new sci-fi novel Corvus. I loved the way it handled how different things might be by the end of the century, the way he portrayed different aspects of Canadian society — the haves, the have-nots, the differences between how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities might be in the future, and, of course, people’s use of and relationship with technology. 

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Corvus coverHarold Johnson’s fifth novel Corvus is set in an imagined late twenty-first century, in which climate change and war have dramatically changed Canada.

The idea for Corvus came when Johnson heard David Suzuki, Al Gore, and James Lovelock discuss climate change. Gore asserted climate change could be fixed. Lovelock said it was too late; climate change is the new reality. He advised Suzuki to move north and build nuclear reactors for electricity.

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Back to the Front: researching “The Wolves of Vimy”

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Kneeling in the Silver Light visits the war memorial on Memorial Boulevard in Winnipeg.
Kneeling in the Silver Light visits the war monument on Memorial Boulevard in Winnipeg.

Shifting genres to tell an earlier part of a character’s story wasn’t something I initially planned on when writing “The Wolves of Vimy” (out now in Kneeling in the Silver Light). But when it came down to it, I thought, what the hell — there’s a story there and I might just learn something.

I’ve blogged earlier this year about how writing “A Deeper Echo” for Long Hidden changed my approach to writing speculative fiction (and, indeed, the way I look at history). For Kneeling in the Silver Light, a dark fantasy/horror anthology of stories about the First World War, I wanted to tell a story in a genre I’d never written in before: military fiction.

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