Metal enthusiasts got their fill at Band Wars

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

No one was more surprised at the success of Band Wars, which took place April 23, than the bands. There were five bands, Truck, Shrapnel, Burning Effigy, End Silence and Silo helping kids of all ages rock out at the Civic Centre. 

“It was a pretty good success, there was quite a lot of people there actually, I was pretty surprised, I didn’t think there would be that many there,” said Clay Watson, better known as Cash with the band Silo, who were the headliners.  

All of the bands there are quite a bit heavier than Silo, who is considered had rock, while most of the other bands played heavy metal. 

“They even surprised me sometimes with how heavy they could get, but they’re definitely good musicians…but we’re definitely a different music genre from them,” said Watson. 

“We don’t get a lot of opportunities to do all ages shows, so that was a good opportunity for us. Because definitely that is the crowd we want to get following us, the young guys, because they’re the ones that buy your music and all that stuff.” 

Silo has recently signed on with a management company, and Watson said there might not be much time left to do local shows come summer. The band wants to get their local shows in now, because they are not sure when they can do them again.  

“We all had a really good time, the second band that played, it was their third or fourth show that they’ve ever done live, so it was pretty big for them, and we all had a lot of fun,” said Brett Rotariu, drummer for End Silence. 

End Silence was the organizer of the Band Wars. They had come here for a show last October and after seeing how well it went, the band decided on Strathmore. They picked the name Band Wars, because they are all Star Wars geeks, but it wasn’t a battle of the bands, it was more to showcase them. The show was a success, but Rotariu isn’t sure if they will be back again next year. 

“We’ll see. It was a little bit tougher for us to host a show there because we’re from Langdon, and (most of) the other bands are from Calgary so it’s tough to get people to Strathmore, but it went pretty well though for us,” said Rotariu. Each band had 45 minutes on the stage, with End Silence and Silo playing as long as they wanted. Most of the groups are high school bands, and they amazed the crowd with their talent.