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Heavy Halloween

West Coast hip-hop crew reveals alter egos on fourth album Who: Swollen Members with Fourth World Occupants Where: Garfinkel’s When: Friday, Oct. 31; doors at 9 p.m.
swollen_members

West Coast hip-hop crew reveals alter egos on fourth album

Who:

Swollen Members with Fourth World Occupants

Where:

Garfinkel’s

When:

Friday, Oct. 31; doors at 9 p.m.

Tickets

: $22

With the village enveloped in darkness on all Hallow’s Eve the Wizard, the Ninja, the Viking and the Battle Axe Warrior appear underground before a worshipping throng.

In non-comic book speak this means West Coast Canadian hip-hop crew Swollen Members will be playing a Halloween night show at Garfinkel’s.

The aforementioned alter egos of vocalist Moka Only, MC Prevail, producer Rob the Viking, and MC Mad Child are a reference to the cover of their newly released fourth album Heavy . And if they sound like a league of comic book characters, it’s understandable. The source is none other than superstar comic book artist and ex-pat Calgarian Todd McFarlane of Spawn fame.

The group’s association with McFarlane, says Prevail, is a result of a phone call made out of collective admiration and has since progressed into a friendship as well as a working association. McFarlane directed the MuchMusic award-winning video for Breath, the widely played track from third album Monsters in the Closet that featured the vocal stylings of fellow West Coaster Nelly Furtado. And he was the natural choice for the cover of Heavy . The resulting dead-on characterizations prove the artist knows the Members better than anyone.

"We’d been spending some time hanging out with Todd, and these are the ways he portrayed us in his own mind," confirms Prev, as he’s known by his fans and friends alike. "I think it’s very fitting. Rob as the Viking, he’s a direct descendent of Eric the Red. Moka really brings that magic to the group so it’s very fitting for him to be the Wizard. Mad Child being the businessman and a vocalist, he’s kind of the lead man, so that character really represents his strength. And for me, being the ninja comes into the freestyle aspect. It kind of sneaks up on people and I bring that element of surprise. So it’s very fitting, all four characters."

Together these characters have won Canada several times over with hit tracks like Fuel Injected, Stepping Through, and Bring it Home. But even though they are one of only three rap groups to be affiliated with hip-hop’s legendary Rock Steady Crew after Mad Child’s participation in an MC battle at a 1996 B-Boy summit in San Diego, they have yet to win the same level of success south of the 49 th .

Prev is hoping the tables may turn with Heavy , an album he says fuses the raw energy of their early work with the production savvy of their most recent work resulting in "a very focused and concentrated album, well-rounded and I think our best effort." Heavy was recorded over a four-month stay in Los Angeles in a studio the group constructed within a house Mad Child was renting. Ironically, their lack of exposure in California became a major source of inspiration.

"This is the first album that we’ve had Moka on board from beginning to end, so the energy was just awesome," says Prev, his voice betraying genuine excitement. "I think we were really, genuinely hungry again. When you’re in a different geographical area, especially in L.A. there’s a lot of rap groups down there. You hear a lot of songs on the radio but you don’t hear your songs on the radio like at home in Vancouver. So yeah, there was a lot of inspiration going on."

Another source of inspiration came from the other end of the music spectrum. While the group’s official claim is the album’s title refers to the amount of heart and soul they poured into the project, it also seems to point towards heavy metal. Prev confirms that’s not an accident.

"Honestly, when we’re recording albums I don’t listen to too much rap music, because I don’t want to subconsciously come off sounding like anybody else," he says. "I listen to a lot of AC DC, Black Sabbath. There’s a lot of rock influence."

The influence extends to the production side as well. "Rob’s such a diverse music listener, Led Zeppelin is his favourite band," he adds. "So yeah, a lot of rock influence on this album."

The show will be one of many appearances the Members have made in what ex-Whistlerite Prev calls his second home, and Halloween is a perfect fit with a group that has established its mystique through skull and axe imagery.

"Yeah, we’re creepy," laughs Prevail, admitting he’s a big fan of horror flicks. "Not to say we don’t touch upon the positive, but the imagery, a lot of those dark things, axes and swords and dragons, have the connotation of heaviness, and it provokes thought. I think that’s one thing we try and get in our music."

See the entire Swollen Members crew in all their creepy glory when they take over Garfinkel’s on Halloween night along with openers Fourth World Occupants and resident DJs Rosco and R3. Show goers are encouraged to celebrate in costume, with prizes awarded for the craziest and sexiest get-ups. Tickets $22, available at the door and in advance from the Electric Daisy and Garfinkel’s.