by Jim Kelly

Who: The Heelwalkerss
What: Heavy, aggressive, irresistibly fun rock
Where: Halifax, NS
To Contact: Brobdingnagian Records, (902) 425-9669, Brobdingnagian@hfx.eastlink.ca, www.brobdingnagian.com.

With The Heelwalkers, everything goes to 11. The Halifax band’s self-titled CD is loud and hard and aggressive – and fun as hell! It’s not even metal, per se, just unapologetic, balls-to-the-wall hard rock. Monolithic power riffs, pounding drums, thumping bass and testosterone-fuelled vocals rule the day. “For lack of a better term, we’ve been calling it jean-jacket rock,” explains lead guitarist Benny Bjabin. The rest of the group is Ree Ree Bowler (rhythm guitar), Tubby Lovespy (drums) and Short Bus Tully (bass). You don’t need much more than their names to know that these guys don’t take themselves too seriously. The band’s name refers to the term Native North Americans used to describe the decidedly unstealthy hunting style of the newly arrived Europeans, who, unlike the fleet-footed natives, would walk noisily through the woods, scaring off prey. Or as Bjabin says, it’s a reference to being “loud, dumb, goofy white guys.” Each member takes a turn on lead vocals, according to whoever wrote the song. They’ll rock you with tracks like “Old School”, “Rockin’ With Seka” and “Shake My Ass”. And if those titles aren’t enough to win you over, the band will be launching a cross-Canada tour in late September and early October. If their live show is half as enjoyable as their album, it’ll be time to dust off that leather jacket and start practicing your air guitar technique. And just try not pumping your fist in the air. I dare you.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 16th, 2002 at 1:20 pm and is filed under Showcase. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.