Yes, we do like our fair share of Thrash Metal. Sometimes a bit more old school, bit more complex or just plain simple and fast in-your-face sort of Thrash Metal. In the latter catergory falls Painsaw from Canada, a band that makes no effort to show where they come from and what they stand for. As guitarist Shawn reveals in this introductionary interview below: they wear their influences with pride. Nicely in line with the music, short and simple, he briefly explains a couple of things below…
Hi there and welcome to The Whispering Darkness. Although we are not featuring so many Thrash Metal on our pages, we do really love our portion of the high-energy and no holds barred sort of Thrash! So, let’s get started.
Alright, here we go.
Last year you have released your debut EP ‘Infinite Violence’. It saw the light of day just over a year ago, so this feels like the best moment to a short evaluation. How do you look back at it now? Are you satisfied how it turned out?
We’re happy with how it came out – a solid slab of thrash. We think it has a mix of both old school and modern sensibilities, but ultimately It’s a snapshot of where we were at that time. We produced it ourselves so it was a bit of a learning experience, but we’re looking forward to applying that knowledge to the next offering.
Although it might all be a bit obvious, I am curious to your main musical influences. In my review I have compared the music of Painsaw with the likes of Razor, Overkill, Hirax and old Kreator. Can you relate to that observation?
We proudly wear our influences on our sleeves. We all grew up listening to classic thrash: Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth. I’m sure you could also hear some nods to Kreator, Destruction, Sacrifice, or Immortal if you listened hard enough, haha. Painsaw is not trying to reinvent the wheel, we just want to write songs that are fun to play and help spread our message of Beer, Violence and Pain.
There is also an obvious amount of crossover into your music. So a slight nod to bands like D.R.I. makes Painsaw sound rather close to an act like Municipal Waste too. The more shouted vocal delivery and the “fun”-part of the music, as heard in the EP-closing ‘Beer, Violence And Pain’ for example, provide every reason for this. I am pretty confident that I would find quite some D.R.I., S.O.D., Cryptic Slaughter, Suicidal Tendencies or even Cro-Mags in your record collections?
Yeah for sure! There is just something about that style of music that just makes it a little more fun to play or listen to. Even though thrash is serious business, we like to keep it a little lighthearted.
Now that I have mentioned topics like musical influences and record collections… This is a question of which the answer might tell more about you as a person and musician than a 666 words: what do you consider your most favorite records and why? Let’s just name 10 of them…
- Metallica – Ride the lightning: Essential listening.
- Slayer – Reign in blood: Pure thrash attack.
- Immortal- At the heart of winter: Epic grimness.
- Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath: C’mon, it’s black sabbath!
- Weird Al – Alapalooza: It’s hilarious.
- GWAR – Scumdogs of the Universe: Our lords and masters!!
- Kreator – Terrible certainty: Rippin’ thrash!
- Iron Maiden- Power slave & 7th Son: we couldn’t decide.
- Megadeth- Rust in peace: peak Megadeth right here.
- Judas Priest – Painkiller: Cures what ails ya!
Honourable mention to 80s horror/sci-fi and trash tv.
‘Infinite Violence’ has only been released through your Bandcamp as a digital EP. Never cared for a “proper” demo on an old school cassette tape? Given the increased popularity of the cassette/demo tape and the old school quality of your music, that should make for a suitable match…
We have tapes and CDs available now. Just send us an email to Painsaw506@gmail.com.
The four of you are also active in Gravel Chewer and/or SpineSplitter. Can you introduce us to these bands as well?
Gravel Chewer and SpineSplitter are both extreme metal bands, and how we all met. Brian and I were in SpineSpiltter while Bruce and Shawz were in Gravel Chewer. We played a bunch of shows together in the local scene. Both bands are on a bit of a hiatus while we’re all working on other stuff right now.
In the past few months you have played a good couple of shows. As far as I have seen most of them were with some local bands like Turbo, Arboreal Mist and Anthesis, but you have also shared the stage with the great Profound Lore recordings artists Wormwitch. Any highlights to share about those experiences?
We’re just down for a good time and will play anywhere. It’s always fun to play shows with old pals and make some new ones.
As a Canadian Thrash Metal band it might be obvious to ask you about your view on your country’s history in the genre. I have always been intrigued by the non-conventionalism of bands like Voivod or the more straightforwardness of Sacrifice, do you think that the Canadian (Thrash) metal tradition is embedded in your collective DNA too?
Definitely! Canada has a proud tradition in metal! From Anvil to Voivod, Canada has a metric ton of unique and influential metal bands in all genres. We caught a Gorguts show in Montreal the other night, and they are still decimating audiences with their insane riffs! Bands like Anvil and Razor keep the thrash metal tradition alive and well wherever they play.
With the ‘Infinite Violence’-EP just having celebrated its first anniversary the obvious questions comes up: when can we expect its follow-up? Do you have any other news for the band in the pipeline?
We have a bunch of new songs in the works right now. Hopefully we will have a new release and shows to announce in the coming months.
Alright, that’s it for this short introductory interview. Thank you so much for your time, as always, I would like to give you the opportunity to end the interview with your final words…
Thanks for the interview, and your interest in PAINSAW. We appreciate the support! Keep living a life full of Beer, Violence and Pain. Shout out to everyone who digs the tunes – We will see you at your local pit!
