Issue 1
May 19 - May 25, 2024
Welcome
Welcome to the first issue of Destroyed, a weekly newsletter dedicated to local punk and metal shows. Below you will find a list of this week’s shows (May 19-May 25), followed by a local interview.
This week’s interview is with Body Shawarma, a band known for their Mincing Noiseviolence style.
If you’d like to be featured in Destroyed - whether you are a band, photographer, artist, or promoter - please reach out via Destroyedvictoria@gmail.com.
Shows for the Week
Sunday, May 19
N/A
Monday, May 20
N/A
Tuesday, May 21
Dreamworld Panic/ Suoscietal / Tyler James Johnson / Transitional Alien
Doors 7:00 PM, Show 7:30 PM| Victoria Event Centre | $7 Adv, $10 Door
Wednesday, May 22
Doors 7:00 PM, Show 7:30 PM| Little Fernwood | $15 Door
Thursday, May 23
N/A
Friday, May 24
Screaming Fury/ Floodgate / ENDR
Show 7:30 PM| Phoenix Bar and Grill | $15 Adv, $20 at Door.
The Keg Killers/ Smash TV / The Grundles / Roadkill
Doors 6:00 PM, Show 7:00 PM| Quadra House | $15 at Door.
Show 8:00 PM| Quadratic Sound | $20 Adv, $25 at Door +$5 membership.
Saturday, May 25
Guile/ Jisei/ ENDR / Suoscietal / Body Shawarma
Show 7:00 PM| Oaklands Community Centre | $15
AK47/ Hit the Deck / Death Hawk / LID
Phoenix Bar and Grill | $15
Unleash the Archers/ Iron Kingdom / Tiberius Merge
Show 6:00PM| Sticky Wicket
Local Scene
Body Shawarma
Body Shawarma are a Mincing Noiseviolence band from Victoria B.C. I sat down with them to discuss Battlesets, what draws them to this style of music, bands they recommend, and their hopes of bringing a grind-festival to Victoria, B.C. You can catch them live Saturday, May 25 at Oaklands Community Centre.
Nick: Who are you?
Liliana: I’m Liliana, and I play bass and make stupid noises with my mouth.
Dreyden: I’m Dreyden, and I make funny sounds and play drums.
Nick: The first thing I want to ask you about is your prolific output. Though your songs range from the short to the very short, that still doesn’t take away from the output you are generating, which is huge. Does this come from a place of having many ideas or is it more of a necessity of playing in a genre that emphasizes quick, micro-outputs?
Liliana: It’s sort of a necessity of the genre. A lot of bands have tons and tons of tape. We have a very easy recording set up. It’s just a microphone, amp, and drums. We are able to do it quickly, so we do.
Dreyden: It can be a necessity of the genre, but it is also a lot of bands putting out splits. They can put out hundreds of records because they are splits. The band Hyperemesis has put out a ton of splits. That is how we like to roll. We jam every Thursday at my place. We can practice or warm up. When we have time, we mess around and make songs.
Nick: How did you end up on the Gastric Ulceration Record This is Not a Grindcore Compilation?
Dreyden: The guy followed me on Instagram and we followed him back. I had done comps, but usually with smaller bands. This comp had some popular bands, like Hacked Apart, and a bunch of other sick bands. I reached out because he was looking for bands, and he wanted more Canadian bands. We put a lot more into the recording for this. It was really cool to have that happen. That is how splits operate.
Liliana: Comps work in that manner. It is cool to have a lot of bands on them. Not to say it is quantity over quality, but that quantity does add to that.
Nick: Do you often reach out to bands?
Liliana: All the time.
Dreyden: Definitely. I listen to a lot of bands. If a buddy has a band, we will reach out. I have a couple of buddies in the UK. A recent band in the UK that a buddy does is Forklift Circumcision. They just released their first single. We have been going back and forth. Reaching out to bands and if I am friends with them. A lot of things in general are shooting the shots. Usually the worst they say is no, we can’t do it. There is no bad blood.
Liliana: It is usually a fast acting scene - it is in character with the nature of the music, fast reactions. Bands are happy to reach out. I can’t think of many musical acts that don’t DMs other bands.
Nick: How is the network within Victoria?
Liliana: It is a small scene. You are aware of the people and what genre they are working in. We are such huge compadres with Borborygmic Leakage, who are another drum and bass group. They play mince, and we sometimes play mince. For me it is mostly in virtual space. Dreyden goes to so many shows. He has gotten a lot of infamy for wearing a banana suit.
Dreyden: A lot of it is going to shows, especially with the banana costume. I became a micro celebrity. I got multiple friend requests because people loved the banana man and found out I did music. We got fans from that. Same with local shows. I got into the scene around 2022 by just showing up and enjoying it. And going to shows and getting connected with local bands. I learned a lot of history about BC and its influence in Powerviolence and Grind. There is a lot of history and bands, especially from Squamish. It is cool to learn that.
Lilian: I am not originally from Canada. I am from LA. My parents dragged me up here at 17. I do want to say that BC rivals LA for its grind scene and extreme music. I am super happy to live here in terms of that because it is an extreme cacophony of sound.
Nick: What is it about this genre that attracts you to it?
Dreyden: I always listened to metal. I started listening to more extreme metal around high school. With Covid, I delved into a lot of different bands, like Slam and Brutal Death Metal. I listened to Napalm Death and Carcass. Once I went to my first power and grindcore show, it blew me away and I got more into it. I would see peoples’ shirts and I would want to listen to the band on the shirt. Spazz were one of the first ones. From there, I kept hearing about more bands, and then bands would come here. I really wanted to play this stuff and it is cool. This is a similar case for many people. They hear a band and then they want to make that music. Tommy Wilson, who is originally from Squamish, is a legend. He is iconic for his artwork and music. He played in War Hero, Throat Slitter, and Obacha. He later moved to Vancouver where he started Noose Sweat. For him, he listened to the band Charles Bronson, and that forever changed him. He is now dedicated to Powerviolence.
Liliana: I am kind of a weird case. Where it came for me was just wanting to play extreme, noisy violence music. And I found that opportunity with Dreyden. It’s fun. Part of the element is it is a fun genre of music to play. It is a more accessible genre of music because people aren’t going to be determined by projection or budget.
Nick: You play in a genre that is heavy on noise and has abrupt bursts of chaos, but still make room for other sounds to come in. Can you talk to me about ‘Fruit Salad Shawarma?’ I think that is a good example of the juxtaposition in sounds found in your music.
Liliana: It is for shits and giggles. I remember doing ‘So What’ by Miles Davis. I was practicing jazz in my free time, and I said “Haha, what if we put ‘So What’ from Davis in?” and then I went “AHHH.” It is coming from a place of not always wanting it to be screaming. Sometimes you need moments of levity, even when you have an extreme band.
Dreyden: A lot of grind bands do stuff like that. Last Days of Humanity does that. They have a lot of clean guitars because they just can. Their song ‘Drowned in Septic Guts’ goes between jazz and blasty grind shit. It goes back and forth. The last song on the album has a moment of silence, then is has this ending that sounds like ‘Nothing Else Matters,’ by Metallica, and then goes back to intensity. That is where I get inspiration. We like to spice things up. It helps to differentiate the songs. It also helps us with playing because we know what song we are on.
Liliana: I would say we are halfway between Morgoth and Anal Cunt.
Nick: What can we expect from a live show?
Liliana: You can expect a sparse stage. A lot of the time, I move around. I will just go into the mosh pit and kick the shit out of people. The ethos of our shows is violence and anything goes as long as no one gets hurts.
Dreyden: Noise, chaos, fun times, and definitely violence. We encourage violence because it is funny and fun to get involved in. For our songs, Lily will extend it and I will get in the pit and spin kick. We like to have fun. That is what shows are about, having fun and showing off the material. You could just play and not care, but we like to show energy. From what I hear, people enjoy going to our show. If you come, expect chaos and violence.
Nick: Tell me about battlesets.
Dreyden: Battlesets are a staple in the genre, especially in California. It is two bands playing a song back and forth. You formulate a set list by going back and forth. LA Speedfest will do one day as a festival, and the next day will be just battle sets.
Liliana: We structure the set list as they do something, we do something. It adds uniqueness to a show, especially local shows. There are only so many bands in your local scene, and you want to spice it up.
Dreyden: I want to do more in the future, especially with out of town bands. I am thinking of planning a weekend showcase. One day would be just bands playing, and the next day would be battlesets. A lot is up in the air right now.
Nick: What’s next for you?
Dreyden: We are working on getting our stuff on Spotify. When it comes to uploading, I am in charge because it is at my house. For most sites, it is a tedious process. It’s a real pain in the ass. We are working on splits. We have more shows coming up. We have more ideas for EPs, but we have to figure out timing for recording it, album covers, and cost. We want to play more out of town shows, but it costs money to travel. Playing Seattle would be really cool, and same with playing festivals down in the states.
Liliana: We are hoping for a Grindcore festival in Victoria. We would like to make Grindlandia, which would happen during Rifflandia. It’s up in the air, but it would be cool to have a big festival. Our main ambition is going to a lot of places.
Nick: Final question. What bands should people be checking out?
Liliana: I recommend checking out Rhododendron from Portland. Crazy technical progressive stuff and they’ve got new music out soon.
Dreyden: I got hella bands to recommend. Six Brew Bantha, Power Trip (from Squamish) are sick AF, Sulfuric Cautery, Last Days of Humanity, Murderman, Obacha, Fake Dust, Family Vacation, and Horrendous Miscreation.
That’s it for this weeks, folks.
The winner of the Body Shawarma ticket-giveaway will be announced on Thursday, May 23.
Until next week!