Fucked Up

Join BIG Winter Classic as Fucked Up, Home Front, Black Pontiac, and Hydracat perform at National on 10th, on January 26, 2022.

 

Fucked Up

I was sent an unfinished version of Dose Your Dreams so that I might contribute string parts. I couldn’t stop listening to the rough mixes I received. A friend asked me how the record was. I replied, “My God, Fucked Up have made their Screamadelica.”

And psych-rock-groove it is. The drums mixed wide, propensity for drones, for delay pedal, for repetition, groove. The politics and aesthetics of hardcore married to an “open format” approach to genre. Elements of doo-wop, krautrock, groove, digital hardcore.

“None of Your Business Man” opens the album in familiar enough territory, a sax-assisted exit from an office space. But things get psychedelic very quickly. By the time the title track arrives, Mike Haliechuk is whispering, wah pedals are in full effect, and we’re wearing oversized t-shirts and pinwheeling. “Accelerate,” the lyrical centerpiece of the album, storms in like Boredoms on a bullet train and dissolves into a digital nightmare. The album closer, “Joy Stops Time,” finds Fucked Up at their most Düsseldorfian, nearly eight minutes of blissful motorik.

At the center of it all is Damian Abraham’s scream—a man chained, a man tortured, a true protagonist. The effect is one of an epic, every chapter attempting its own narrative devices, its own genre hybridization—and it works, it works so insanely well. The drama unfolds like a miniature world of many parts being explored, a map being illuminated, location by location.

As with David Comes to Life, there is a story here. David—who once came to life—is now indentured to a desk job. David meets the elderly Joyce who closes his eyes, opens his mind, and sends him on a spiritual journey. David embarks on his own metaphysical odyssey. He sees a stage adaptation of his own life. He speaks to an angel in a lightbulb. He sees an infinite series of universes as simulations within simulations.

Meanwhile, Lloyd—Joyce’s lover—was sent, decades ago, by Joyce on the same odyssey, but was lost in the void. Lloyd seeks to be found and reunited with his lover. Where will David end up? Will Joyce and Lloyd be reunited?

Dose Your Dreams—meaning: treat your dreams as you would a dream, allow yourself to be lost within them, allow them to open your heart and your mind, enjoy them as you would a drug. Reach out for my hand and pull me close.

—Owen Pallett

June 2018

 

Home Front 

Created on the western edges of the infinite plains and prairies of coldest Canada, Edmonton, Alberta's HOME FRONT dance freely and madly along the edges of time and create their own moment amongst the revered and long frozen reserves of THE CURE, SUICIDE, ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, "Second Empire Justice" era BLITZ, and NEW ORDER. A record bubbling over with analog synth, guitar loops, slammed 808 drums, and anthemic vocal pushes tugging at the great moment in-between the “death” of punk and the “birth” of new wave, pulling fresh sounds into their punk roots and shoving a studded leather jacket around a silk robe. Justice, violence, doubt and uncertainty a la Gary Numan narrating a Warren Miller Extreme Ski Special on the set of TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA: this is HOME FRONT

 

Black Pontiac 

A West Coast attitude, DIY roots, and mainstream aspirations come together in the genetic makeup of Black Pontiac: a band that has come a long way in a relatively short time. Since their formation in 2018, the Vancouver quartet has been thriving in the northwest city’s underground music scene, opening for acts such as Peach Pit and The Zolas, amassing over 1.2 million combined streams on spotify, and providing pre game and between period entertainment at Rogers Arena for the Vancouver Canucks. A fresh face in the rock world that draws from acts such as Cage the Elephant and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Pontiac is known for their energetic live performances and has aimed to reflect that in their debut album “From Bad to Worse (and Back Again)” coming September 9th, 2022. The band consists of lead singer Matt Purkiss, brothers Mac and Sam Riddell on guitar and drums respectively, and Avery John Shoesmith on bass.

 

Hydracat 

Hydracat is a mix of heavy riffs with unorthodox grooves that will make you move.
The guitar tones will take you back while the arrangements will project you into the future.
With vocals ranging from high energy wailing to sultry crooning Hydracat looks to surprise the listener with a unique experience of genre mashing.
Hydracat was formed in the early months of 2019 pulling their members from live electro acts and hard-hitting metal bands. Humans who build large wooden effigies of wild animals and then burn them along with the preconceived notions of what music should feel like Hydracat is a new expression of psychedelic and the reinvention of Stoner Rock.

 

Doors at 8:00 pm

Note that the lineup is subject to change in cases of unforeseen circumstances that are beyond our control. We hope it doesn't though!

 

BIG Winter Classic weekend and daypass holders are eligible for entry to National on 10th for these special events, but just like all of our venues, entry for wristband holders and daypass holders is subject to venue capacity. If you need to be at any of these shows, get there EARLY, or purchase a ticket to secure your spot.   

 

Keeping you and our community safe

BIG has no tolerance for harassment, sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism or general hatefulness/jerkiness. 

BIG Winter Classic takes place in the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksika, Piikani and Kainai Nations; the Stoney-Nakoda, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley Nations; and the Tsuut’ina Nation. Southern Alberta is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3. As we enjoy activities in the heart of this Treaty 7 territory, we acknowledge that we have ongoing responsibilities to protect and honour all of life within our shared reality as treaty people.

No professional videography and/or photography equipment permitted.
WEEKEND PASSES and DAY PASSES are accessible online or at the door but subject to VENUE CAPACITY. 

All venues are 18+ unless specified otherwise.