By Will Yannacoulias
Editor Scott Roos invited one of us writers to take a stab at opening the issue this month and I drew the short straw, so welcome to my first ever letter from the editor and our second annual all-Metal March issue!
As a teenager I was a flannel grunge kid, then a crusty punk rocker, and spent most of my adult life spinning catchy alternative rock and mopey singer-songwriters. But before all that, little Willie cut his teeth on pure metal. As a twelve year old living in pre-internet northern Saskatchewan, I spent my days skimming through a twice-photocopied Relapse Records mail-order catalog, overpaying for albums unheard, relying only on descriptions like “brutal black pagan metal from the frozen dragon hoards of Norway” and “Disgusting demented East German gore-core on 7-inch splatter vinyl”. Years later my metal collection was forgotten at a friend’s house and eventually sold to someone’s unsuspecting baba at a Ukrainian Orthodox Church fundraiser, but that music, those bands and that imagery has always held a special nostalgic place in my heart. I don’t listen to much heavy music these days but I always dive enthusiastically into our March Metal issue as the music invokes a wealth of fond memories.
Indie artists in Canada often toil in thankless obscurity; those in Saskatchewan tenfold, and those who make heavy underground music tenfold again. We made an effort this issue to show the variety of Sask artists recording and releasing heavy music, from La Ronge to Regina, from experimental to retro, from psychedelic to psychotic! Hopefully you enjoy the issue, the playlist, and show some love to those lurking in the dark, scary places of the Sask music scene. Cheers!