Descention launches Metal Mondays

Garfinkel’s plans weekly aural assault

Sean Dayal, singer of Vancouver metal band Descention, is doing his best to describe the hardcore foursome’s sound.

"It’s pretty extreme," he ventures in the husky voice you’d expect from a heavy metal vocalist. "It’s like Slayer played on a 45. The drums are pretty fast so it’s kind of grind-core."

Like Dayal says, you can’t just nail it on the head with one label. There isn’t one set category for Descention's Molotov cocktail of hardcore punk rock fury, thrash metal aggression and ’80s black metal weight. But call it what you will. It’s heavy, it’s loud and it’s the sound that officially launches Metal Mondays, a new weekly live music night at Garfinkel’s.

Rounded out by guitarist Jay Claus, drummer Cory Claus and Rob the bassist, Descention is currently experiencing what other bands would consider an enviable problem: they’ve been headlining so many shows they don’t have enough time to work on new songs.

But they’ve managed to find the time to head up to Whistler. Dayal says he’s stoked to play here since past touring experiences with a different but similarly aggressive band through places like Salt Lake City revealed the hardcore ski and snowboard world tends to be more accepting of his aural assault than are suburban Mormons, for example.

But as menacing as they may come off, (if you plan to introduce yourself, Dayal is the one with the bald head and the tattoos on his neck), in the end Descention is just four guys trying to make sense of things and turning to music.

"We’re lamenting the demise of the human race, is basically what we’re doing," says Dayal. "We’re just pissed off at the state of the world and it’s our outlet for our pent-up aggression. We do it for fun."

Descention descends upon Whistler this week to give Metal Mondays at Garf’s the loud, hard launch it deserves. Call 604-932-2323 for more information.

Things are not always what they seem. Back when Britt German was 16 years old she moved from Burlington, Ont. to Toronto taking a job as a nightclub go-go dancer to support herself. When she came out this way in 1988 she transferred her skills to the platforms at Tommy Africa’s.

"We wore zebra suits," she remembers, laughing.

But underneath the ’80s go-go togs her heart beat to the heavy drums of hardcore punk and metal. It still does today, even in the serenity of the Black Tusk gallery, her current place of employment.

German says the desire to satiate her hunger for heavy music constantly took her to Vancouver, until one day it occurred to her to start bringing the bands to Whistler. Getting Garfinkel’s on board was the next step and the result is a brand new weekly live music night, Metal Mondays, launching this Monday with an aural assault by Vancouver indie metal maniacs Descention.

The night even has a house band — Whistler’s The Crowley Band who will be a regular addition to the line-up. Upcoming shows include a return of Fuel Injected .45, and stoner rockers Hezzakya.

German says she’s excited about enjoying good, heavy music among friends in Whistler.

"I know there’s a lot of people here that love metal and it’s in the interest of bringing those people together," she says. "It’s nothing but truly killer bands we’re bringing in. I would like to hear people come out and say, ‘that band rocked, they were awesome!’ I’m not interested in offering any old band just to fill people’s ears."