Sin Dealer

Bovine Sex Club
Toronto, Ontario
September 12, 2008

I walked into the Bovine Sex Club half expecting a barn full of BBWs grazing at an all you can eat buffet but to my dismay there were none to be found. Despite my crushed fantasy I gazed in awe at the most insanely decorated bar while envisioning my next photo shoot.

Affixed to the walls of this cozy little watering hole is the most random conglomeration of shit I’ve ever seen. Band stickers, Christmas lights, chain link fences, hubcaps, busted electronics, bicycle parts, hockey skates, a fucked up cash register and everybody’s favourite purple dinosaur somehow found their way into this madman artiste’s collage. Every inch of the place is a photo shoot waiting to happen.

The tiny 10X16 stage has played host to an endless array of up n comers, has been’s and wanna be’s in the umpteen years it’s been around. Just a glance at the wall and I see a list of bands, a few of which I’ve shot at some point in their careers. Trole, Billy Talent and what do ya know, Sin Dealer and Zuku are just a few that jump out at me. An ad on the bar reminded me of another band I gotta see, Drunkula. With a name like that, they gotta be good!

After a brief visit to Sin Dealer’s studio, aka, home of bassist Frank Seargent, a couple beers and whatnot later, they’re ready to get the show started. Arriving back at the Bovine a couple hours later, we discover the place is packed. Zuku’s got almost as many people in the bar as Sin Dealer has pulled in. With this kind of turnout, it’s gonna be a great show.

The lights at the Bovine are not a photographer’s dream so I find myself relying on the flash to provide that artificial light I’ve always hated. Only thing with this bar, the ceiling is so low, you can bounce a flash off it and create a surprisingly desirable effect. This being the only hope to get shots of drummers Chris Chartrand of Zuku and Sin Dealer’s Jeff Zurba.

Zuku hit the stage as a trio minus guitarist Matt Felske. At this point I’d never seen these guys go before so the difference between the power trio and the foursome was not felt by yours truly. These guys absolutely kicked ass. Putting Zuku in an opening slot is like turning everything to 10 right off the bat. Where are ya gonna go from there? Only if yer one of those bands that has the magic key to unlock the 11^th notch, can you go any further. Honestly, I’d have to say Zuku hit the 10 ½ point leaving just enough room for Sin Dealer to bump it up. If they could…

Zuku’s high energy set was accentuated by an enthusiastic crowd of supporters peppered with the likes of Basia Lyjak and her drummer Glenn, members of Die Mannequin, and the lovely model Pamela Mars who happened to pause briefly for a shot while I turned my camera on her. What was this Playboy model doing here? Turns out she’s actually seeing Zuku’s drummer, Chris, quite possibly the 2^nd luckiest guy on earth.

Every tune Zuku laid on us had the crowd moving. Heads bobbing, fists pumping and hair flying. At one point vocalist/guitarist, Brandon Kennedy, wandered back and conjured some of the most mind numbing and trippy audible delights outta his amp worthy of filling any stoners party room. Fittingly, Zuku left the stage to Brandon’s controlled feedback after giving away a bunch of free beer tix as an added treat for a lucky bunch at the front of the stage.

After a brief intermission, the voice of Lemmy Kilmister cut through the bar signifying the arrival of Sin Dealer. I was told I was about to witness a slice of the good ole days at the Bovine. Sure enough, I got treated to the deluxe combo and then some. Being completely outta my head by the time Sin Dealer lit the stage, I was thoroughly wrapped up in the vibe that was swirling around me.

I’d already mentioned how Zuku cranked it up to 10 ½ and left little room for improvement but there still was that ½ notch to be pushed up. Could Sin Dealer possibly push it even further? How do you top a 10 ½ performance? Well according to Nigel Tufnell, all ya gotta do is turn it to 11. Cuz 11 is louder. And turn it to 11 Sin Dealer did. A nice touch to keep the dial pasted all the way was the tray fulla JD shots passed around the crowd for a massive metal toast.

The whole band was pumped as hell to fire up the new tune for everyone to get their claws into. According to the crowd’s response, “Just One Taste” is a kick ass foreshadow of the heaping helping that’s coming down the pipe in early 2009 as Sin Dealer hit the studio to pump out their 3^rd full length CD. After pummeling through their usual set of ass kicking goodies like "Betrayal", "Gasoline" and nailing down Pantera’s “A New Level”, they left the stage to join the party they’d started.

During my visit to their studio, they cranked a few of the new tunes for me and without saying too much, this is definitely gonna be their best offering to date. Frontman, Eric Kuthe has poured his soul into this one, pushing himself to vocal heights he’s never reached before. Later on while chowing down on spaghetti and homemade vegetarian sauce at guitarist, Ron Bechard’s house, he confessed to the new album being some of the best material he’s ever worked on… and the spaghetti sauce was pretty fuckin good too…

I already can’t wait for the next Sin Dealer show, opening for the Misfits on October 22^nd at the Reverb. Promises to be a good fuckin time so get your ass out there and support one of the most classic punk acts you’re ever gonna take in, as well as some of the best new Canadian metal being forged in a time of limp wristed fly by nighters and crying emo fucks.

The Wreckroom
Toronto, Ontario
June 21, 2008

They say to pick your battles. They say, just let it go. They say cut some slack cuz you don’t know the rest of the story. You don’t know what’s really going on behind the scenes. And then you see this. Saturday night, I was treated to a great time with some new good friends. In fact they took me out to a bar to see a band I never even heard of til they brought up the name. Sure I heard the tune “Bodies” but it didn’t register as it really sounded like a metal version of “Whoomp There It Is!”. Sure it’s hooky and it’ll get pretty well anyone jumping around but I couldn’t loosen my attitude strings and get into the whole package after a few things I heard that night.

For one, my friends happen to be in a band called Sin Dealer. Very solid guys, with a very solid sound. These fuckers have been around the block and they know what’s going on. They know how to treat people. Even the geekiest little bastard standing there with a Sharpie and a tour poster is gonna get treated like a king when you approach a member of Sin Dealer. As it should be. Why shit on the little guy? There’s always someone littler. No matter where you’re at. But you also gotta remember there’s always someone bigger too. And there’s that thing called Karma whether you believe in it or not.

Sin Dealer happened to be opening for Drowning Pool. As I mentioned, if it wasn’t for Sin Dealer, I wouldn’t even have gone to a Drowning Pool show. That’s just the facts Jack. So when I check out my friends, squished onto the front of a stage that couldn’t hold Ronnie James Dio, let alone a dude the size of Sin Dealer’s lead singer, Eric Kuthe, I think.. what the fuck has happened here? Is the stage THAT small? Doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing. Then I see it. The ego riser. The 3000 pound hunk o’ metal covering half the stage. And why? To set the drums on. For one band. If you ask me, why wouldn’t ya let everyone use the drums on the riser if you must block off half the stage? Or just leave the fuckin thing on the truck for a show with a bigger stage!?

Now this didn’t just happen at the Wreckroom in Toronto, it also happened the night before in London at the Embassy. I used to shoot the Embassy over 10 years ago and it hasn’t changed one bit. The stage is real fuckin small to begin with. Not only that, there’s THE POLE which sticks straight up the middle of the right side of the stage. NOT a good place for a pole, but I guess it’s a crucial spot for building support or something lame like that so ya CAN’T just pull out a chainsaw and hack the fucker off. So there’s Eric, jammed in between THE POLE and Sin Dealer’s drum kit, absolutely no room to move whatsoever, and he’s kinda pissed. I don’t blame him. I would be too. Especially when ya know what he knows.

May 17, 2008, in a blog written by Drowning Pool’s frontman, Ryan McCombs, he goes on about something he refers to as Short Dick Syndrome. McCombs went on about how Papa Roach and some other band, probably not worth mentioning, treated Drowning Pool by jamming them into a tiny little area the same size as what they themselves dished out to Sin Dealer. Oh the rant Mr. McCombs unleashed on these acts for being such assholes. “How could they do that to the fans?”, “Why handcuff the opening act?” He even went on about their crew being dicks to them. So what the fuck happened 4 months later that possessed them to pull the same shit on one of their opening acts? Isn’t that a little hypocritical? What? Did ya think Canadian’s don’t know how to read? We’re not stuck in igloos wearing toques and calling each other “hoser” eh. Well…not in the summer months anyway.

Drowning Pool was really gunning for Sin Dealer that night after Eric let them know during sound check, that he was not impressed with the space arrangements… again. So Drowning Pool decided they had to blow Sin Dealer off the stage. And how do you do that when your opening act has a bigger following AND stronger music? Handcuffs. Shit for lights. No space to move. And they did it. Tied down the opening act, pumped up the energy level with fuck knows what kinda help, and bopped around on stage for their whole set. With lotsa room to move, they APPEARED to be into the show more than anyone else that night. Another thing they did which was kinda bullshit and cheesy, was a half assed, version of a bit of Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell”. I didn’t hear a solo… I woulda liked to see THAT happen. Sin Dealer does a kick ass version of Pantera’s “A New Level” and often finishes the show with it as they did both nights with Drowning Pool.. solo and all… that’s how good it is. If you can END the show with it, it’s gotta be fuckin GOOD. So it just seemed like another “we can do it too”, grade 3 type of, “see you at the monkey bars after school” type of move. I dunno.

That being said, Drowning Pool’s crew was pretty good to me. The tour manager was surrealistically decent when I asked if I could shoot the show. He probably woulda said NO if he knew what I was gonna write but I can’t help myself. I’m fuckin Walter Cronkite man, I’m just telling it like it is… Maybe I’m just getting old but it appears as though there’s a lesson to be learned here. If you don't eat yer meat, ya can't have any pudding... HOW can ya have any pudding if ya don't eat yer meat??... No, that's Pink Floyd's lesson of the day... How about this: Don’t shit on the little guy. Cuz one day something real big is gonna shit on you. Drowning Pool should already know this with all they’ve been through in the past. All I know, is I probably would have enjoyed the show much more if Drowning Pool didn’t take a big hunk of hypocrite shit and wipe it in my friend’s faces.

The Reverb
Toronto, Ontario
May 19, 2008

Opening up for Joey Belladonna, lead singer of Anthrax, Sin Dealer find themselves in another cool spot warming up the crowd for another legend in the metal world. Belladonna's drummer was sick so Jeff let Joey use his kit as Joey took over on the skins for the night. Sin Dealer plowed through an ass kickin set that included Eric giving heartfelt kudos to the legend that is Joey Belladonna. The more I listen to these guys the more I like em. Still, "Betrayal" has to be my fave but their whole album "Dying To Live" is a lovely ride through hell.

The Phoenix
Toronto, Ontario
February 28, 2008

Don't ya just love it when a band you've never heard or seen before walks out on the stage and kicks ya right in the fuckin nads? Well once the pain subsides, you at least look back with the utmost respect and have to agree that those fuckers were THERE. With fuck all for lights, no gimmicks up their sleeves, and half the crowd clueless as to who they are, Sin Dealer grabs ya by the collar, pulls ya up face to face and tunes ya in. Their balls to the wall approach to hammering out a hunk o' metal is reminiscent of the likes of Corrosion of Conformity which by the way pumped out my all time favourite metal album, Wiseblood, back in '96. I like a lotta different music but for me to throw that kind of comparison to a band I've never even heard before speaks volumes. Out of the five bands I saw that night, Sin Dealer, with it's meager six song set, raised the bar musically early on in the night and held it high as the other acts tried desperately to reach it. Never mind man. The opening act was impressive for a bunch of high school lads but as good and surprisingly tight as Exile was, they don't have the experience that Sin Dealer tucks under it's belt every day. Liquid Violence was heavy and fun but they were a little over the top with their Pink Floydian logos hanging on either side of the band and what appeared to be quite the Nazi-like white supremacist feel to them. Of course opening for W.A.S.P. this might be expected as the acronym may suggest. Fatal Smile from Sweden had everyone's attention visually, but musically a little on the cliche side.

Eric Kuthe holds front and centre microphone duties somewhat resembling Pantera's Vinnie Paul minus the southern drawl. Hey, that rhymes... If this guy puts his shoulder into your front door, he's fuckin coming in followed by the rest of his crew. That crew includes Ron Bechard, a Les Paul slingin axeman who's known to come up with most of Sin Dealer's riffs. This guy will smash you in the face with a wall of ass kickin chops and then tear you in half with his wisely fitting, finely woven lead work. Ron shares his time between Sin Dealer and Basia Lyjak, an incredibly sweet up n comer on the Toronto music scene. He played with Edwin for a stint and has some big gig experience that Eric jokingly admits he's jealous of. Frank Sargeant on bass puts in overtime with Sin Dealer and Sons Of Otis, the latter described as a "space-blues-doom" band who recently opened for Danko Jones, another band I fuckin love and MUST see on his next tour. Jeff Zurba has spent time with many of Toronto's finest drummers and musicians both on stage and in studio putting in time with everyone from Ashley MacIsaac to Billy Talent. One thing Eric told me that really stuck in my head was "this band is democracy with zero egos, I love it"... Democracy with zero egos. Hey.. I love it.

The six song teaser I witnessed on stage that night was just an appetizer. But I'm a big eater so I gotta get me another helping of Sin Dealer. Of the six tunes they played, Betrayal was the one that really hooked me. Betrayal put me right into a Corrosion of Conformity mood big time. I could almost see Pepper Keenan stealing this one and nobody would think twice about it. Magic Woman, Lying To Myself and Got Into You were the other tunes from the latest album they pulled off before finishing up with High On Sin and Rock n Roll Mass from their earlier release. I wanna see "Gasoline" live. I think that would be an instant cranium cave-in.

After the show Eric handed me Sin Dealer's latest album, Dying to Live, a technically straight forward and solid metal effort that I can't stop spinning. I fuckin love it. Right from front to back, this album kicks ass with my personal faves being, "Gasoline", "Betrayal", "Goin Down Again" and a deadly version of AC/DC's "Walk All Over You". This is the kind of band that aint gonna bullshit you. They're the real McCoy. Ya gotta respect that. So do us all a favour. Go see em live if you get the chance. Go to their web site and order their CDs, buy some t-shirts and spread the word. Hard work deserves payback. And remember.... Sin is a good thing!

Sin Dealer Official Web Site

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