Ottawa-based metal band Alaskan took the stage at Gatineau’s Le Petit Chicago on Sept. 28, headlining a small independent show featuring various rock subgenres. The band has spent the last several months touring Canada and Europe in support of their latest album Despair, Erosion, Loss.
Alaskan started their set list loud, jamming to a pulsating riff that filled the small venue. In keeping with the band’s signature “atmospheric” dynamic, the sound quickly mellowed to a fingerpicking-style guitar intro before exploding into “Sacrifice,” the first track off the new album.
The band have said last Sunday’s show will likely be their last Ottawa-area performance for the year.
“If you play once a month or even twice a month the entire year long in your hometown, interest is going to decline, it’s just going to be another thing you do on the weekend,” said the band’s drummer Scotty Rooney, speaking of Alaskan’s desire to avoid “saturation” in Ottawa.
“When you go to Europe and play in Germany, they either haven’t seen us before, or they’ve seen us once . . . it makes the experience completely different,” added bassist Cory Soural.
Despair, Erosion, Loss was released on multi-coloured vinyl and digital download.
The band said CDs are quickly becoming obsolete, and their fan base is more interested in purchasing vinyl.
“The idea is if you really want to own a physical copy of our album, if that means something to you to own it, it might as well be something worth collecting,” said lead guitarist Gary Thibert. The last coloured disc vinyl was sold at the show.
The album deals with dark themes of death and emotional trauma, and the band hoped to underline this emotion with the tone of their music.
“It’s not just straight-up heavy sounding music that’s just heavy for the sake of being heavy,” Thibert said.
Although they had to attach a trigger warning to the album due to the emotionally-charged themes, fans seem to be responding positively to the tone. Melanie Mongeon, an attendee of last Sunday’s show said she appreciates how Alaskan’s music can feel “raw, heavy, and sad at the same time.”
Topon Das, the producer of most of the band’s albums, said Alaskan’s success comes from a growing musical skill while remaining focused on a single vision for the music. “The songs are improving dramatically,” said Das.
“I don’t think they started off as something crazy original, but I find they’re taking the style as something of their own. They’re influencing young people now like they were influenced [by other bands].”
