The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer Breakout at BreakOut West

The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer Breakout at BreakOut West

Vancouver’s edgy blues duo The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer have ended the summer season on a high note with their participation in The BreakOut West Festival held in Regina last weekend with a nomination for Blues Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and several showcase performances.

Though the award went to another popular BC blues artist, David Gogo, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer's high-energy and original brand of blues caused quite a buzz amongst attendees at the festival.

“I’ve never seen a band command such energy from an audience so early in their career.  The energy coming from the stage was undeniable…it was brilliant”

-Liam Killeen, Coalition Music

"I got a very pleasant surprise when I caught The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer. I was blown away by their dynamic & crowd pleasing set. I'm certainly keeping my eyes on these guys & if I'm not mistaken, they are going places"
-Yvonne Matsell, Co-founder NXNE Music Festival

In addition to their raucous performances, industry panels, gaining new fans and general schmoozing at The BreakOut West Festival, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer also signed a deal with Canada's leading agency Paquin Entertainment. Paquin Entertainment's expertise as both a booking agency and talent buyer provides engagement opportunities to national and international acts across Canada, the U.S., and through its reciprocal arrangements, in European and Asian markets. This partnership, along with widespread media attention will be sure to raise the profile of BC's dynamic blues duo.

The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer are not known for sticking to conventionality. Their modern take on blues and roots music has been described as “‘blues that gets you in the crotch” and their dedication to preserving and promoting the blues has helped introduce the genre to younger fans all over the country.

For more information visit www.harpoonistaxemurderer.com

Official video for Roll With The Punches
 

 If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Vancouver's The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer Roll With The Punches

The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer Roll With The Punches

For Immediate Release: September 13, 2012; (Stratford, Ontario) – Vancouver’s edgy blues duo The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer are not known for sticking to conventionality – their modern take on blues and roots music has been described as “‘blues that gets you in the crotch” and their dedication to preserving and promoting the blues has helped introduce the genre to younger fans all over the country.

Their recent CD release Checkered Past has been earning rave reviews and extensive airplay across North America since its release. “Checkered Past draws heavily from traditional blues avenues, but there’s some room for progression here as well Checkered Past is a great opportunity to hear The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer relentlessly carve out their own territory in a sea of familiar faces. They prove their point.” (Review by Tyler Quiring, Blues Rock Review)

Now, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer - Shawn Hall (The Harpoonist) and Matthew Rogers (The Axe Murderer) - have released an official video for the outstanding track ‘Roll With The Punches’. Produced with the assistance of MuchFact (a foundation to assist Canadian talent), directed/edited by Mike Southworth from Collide Entertainment and starring, along with Hall and Rogers, Vancouver blues artists Steve Kozak and Harpdog Brown. Kozak and Brown, both long-time fixtures on the blues scene in Vancouver, act as boxing coaches in the video, and are real-life mentors to Hall and Rogers in the music scene.

The video can be seen on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lar6_rwOChA with embed links enabled.

Visit http://www.harpoonistaxemurderer.com for more information.

“The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer add a fresh take to the roots music genre via contemporary lyrics and arrangements, but maintain traditional structures and emotion. A welcome addition to the Canadian blues and roots music scene.” - Holger Petersen, CBC Saturday Night Blues

Checkered Past - The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer - New Release review

I have just been listening to the newest release, Checkered Past, by The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer. My first thought when I picked up this disc was that the name was too clever HARPoonist (harmonica) AXE murderer (guitar) and although I really like thought provoking music... I was a bit concerned. Well, this is a clever recording and not in a bad way. It is actually quite interesting. There are few tracks on the cd that sounds like conventional blues... but in my mind that means original. The tales are all there... just not as obvious and not hidden behind a "clever" veil. This is a 2 piece band made up of Vancouver natives Shawn Hall (harp, vocals and bass) and Matthew Rogers (guitar, drums, keyboards, bass, backing vocals). The recording opens with Shake It, an original track with elements of the most primitive blues and rock a billy. The harp is strong over the vocals and rhythmic setup. Quite cool. Wake Up, another original has it's roots loosely in Statesboro but again an original track. The riffs are blues but the rhythm is modern yet primitive. The vocal track is absolutely fresh and cool. Roll With The Punches is an interesting track with a retro and uneven paced rhythm. This is a track that deserves strong airplay. It is very well structured and performed. There is also some very cool harp and guitar dynamics happening during this track that really sets it off. On The Sky Is Falling the keys and bass get a chance to throw a curve ball. The rhythm is again funky and different. The lyrics lend a bit of a pop feel and I could definitely see it getting airplay. This time it's actually the vocals that pull it toward the blues however masked... smart. Are You Listening Lord is the closest to a traditional blues track so far but with a dynamic modern refrain just to break up tradition. This track takes some time out to get in a few cool riffs as well..... I like it! Next up is Willie Dixon's Can't Judge A Book. It's done in a somewhat traditional manner but again with a fresh sound. Be My Woman, a traditional field holler is treated with respect and handled with resonator harp and vocal. Smoothly transitioned into the soup. Mellow Down Easy, another Dixon track fits nicely into the set with a bit of a period sound. Too Late Virginia again finds a blues based track given a quirky rhythm pattern which modulates back and forth between reggae and retro with a fresh interesting sound. Vocal blending over the guitar track and train whistle harping is unusually cool. Chevrolet is given a bit of a country blues sound but again with a bit of a modern spin. hall blows a particularly nice harp riffs on this track. Burning Bridges closes out the set with a new blues track following in the traditional strain but again with modern sophisticated rhythm patterns. This is an unusually cool recording and if you want something different to listen to when you want your blues today...this is a great bet!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”