{"id":8802,"date":"2014-03-19T08:50:27","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T15:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=8802"},"modified":"2014-03-18T12:30:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T19:30:47","slug":"head-hits-concrete-keep-extreme-music-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/03\/19\/head-hits-concrete-keep-extreme-music-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"Head Hits Concrete keep extreme music underground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Playing in a grindcore band has its benefits and drawbacks. Just ask Head Hits Concrete vocalist Mike Alexander who, after a long hiatus, has returned with drummer Brad Skibinsky and guitarist Darcy Bunio to embark on a Canadian tour of houses, basements, and dingy dive bars. And while their shows are filled with chaos, feedback, and so much inspiration, Alexander says explaining the band\u2019s sound to family and friends is always tricky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Does anyone need a hug? Winnipeg\u2019s Head Hits Concrete are bringing anything but lovey-dovey tunes to town (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI guess we start off saying, \u2018It\u2019s heavier than Metallica, so it\u2019s heavier than Slayer, so it\u2019s kind of Napalm Death-ish,\u2019 and by that time we\u2019ve usually lost the person we\u2019re trying to describe it to,\u201d says Alexander from his Winnipeg home. \u201cBut, just think fast, think heavy, and try to imagine what that might be like, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Started in the late \u201990s by Alexander after the dissolution of one of Canada\u2019s best-named and harshest sounding bands ever, Swallowing Shit, Head Hits Concrete went on a five-year tear of live shows and recordings.<\/p>\n

The band released a discography CD entitled They Kingdom Come Undone<\/i> (featuring over 50 songs) in 2004 and curled up in a corner somewhere, nursing their wounds. Last year, they resurfaced, minus a bass player.<\/p>\n

According to Alexander, the old songs had \u201cretained themselves\u201d and as soon the three men started jamming again, everything fell back into place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, \u2018We should probably do this again. It\u2019s probably about time,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cWe found that we could devote a bit of time to writing new stuff and it felt like we didn\u2019t really lose a beat, and we didn\u2019t feel like one of those shitty old \u201990s bands that no one remembers or gives a hell about anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sturdy dude who often looks like he\u2019s bursting blood vessels when the band plays their quick, loud bursts of controlled chaos live, Alexander says that once people get to know him and his motivations for writing music, they are often taken aback by the band\u2019s progressive, positive lyrics. Head Hits Concrete songs deal with everything from colonialism in Canada to transphobia.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, when people get to know me, and it takes time,\u201d he says, \u201ceven with my co-workers who have heard about me being in bands, they are surprised at how I\u2019m in a band that talks about political things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vehemently independent, the band has always booked their own tours and been involved with releasing their own records. A 7\u201d vinyl release called Hollowed Out Human Husk<\/i> was released last year on Mercy of Slumber Records and the band is prepping a four-song cassette release for their upcoming tour. Small, sweaty house shows are still the predominant venues on tour for Head Hits Concrete.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done the living room or basement shows where I\u2019ve felt like I\u2019ve almost lost teeth or been launched over the drum kit and those are pretty hectic shows, for sure. They are an awful lot of fun and we definitely can\u2019t complain about them, but there\u2019s a sense of, \u2018Should there be more room for people so I don\u2019t fucking end up bleeding all over the place with a microphone shoved down my throat?\u2019\u201d explains Alexander.<\/p>\n

And while he says big clubs aren\u2019t ever going to be in the band\u2019s normal routine, Alexander\u2019s not sure why the band gravitates towards playing in claustrophobia-inducing spaces and sleeping on people\u2019s floors. It\u2019s seems to be something ingrained in them since day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he ponders. \u201cIt\u2019s either I\u2019m terrified of change or I quite enjoy doing this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head Hits Concrete
\nWednesday, March 26
\n$5-$10, The Mirancave (details at Black Raven Records)
\nheadhitsconcrete.bandcamp.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Playing in a grindcore band has its benefits and drawbacks. Just ask Head Hits Concrete vocalist Mike Alexander who, after a long hiatus, has returned with drummer Brad Skibinsky and guitarist Darcy Bunio to embark on a Canadian tour of houses, basements, and dingy dive bars. And while their shows are filled with chaos, feedback, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-march-19-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8804,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802\/revisions\/8804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}