MARES OF THRACE with THE ISOSCELES PROJECT and BULLETPROOF TIGER at the 460 (460 Spadina), Friday (May 11). $8. See listing.
Mares of Thrace are building buzz at a rapid rate, and not for the reasons you might think.
Sure, they’re women playing heavy, evil-sounding music, and, yes, they’re a two-piece making music that sounds enormous. But to chalk up their appeal to novelty would be misguided and insulting.
“I have to hand it to the critics. Probably 90 per cent of them didn’t even mention our gender in reviews of the record,” says Thérèse Lanz over the phone from Calgary, hours before their hometown record release show. “That’s what I like to see: people not giving a shit [about it].”
Not that they’re ashamed of being females in a male-dominated genre, but in the case of their acclaimed sophomore album, The Pilgrimage (Sonic Unyon Metal), their gender is irrelevant. Sludgy, plodding and piercing in a primal, satisfying way, the dynamic, riff-laden music is closer to demonic than to male or female.
Lanz and drummer Stef MacKichan’s willingness to include influences from beyond the metal genre has given them crossover appeal. But it’s also offended the occasional genre purist, including one Dutch reviewer who called it, in Lanz’s words, “an abomination to everything true metal stands for.”
“That whole cross-pollination paranoia, where you call metal that has a little bit of a psych flavour to it or a punk or hardcore flavour not true enough? That’s boring,” she says. “Colouring within the lines is boring.”
That thinking extends to their bassless instrumentation, though Lanz says that decision was more a logistical than a creative one. Having played in bands together for the last decade, Lanz says she and MacKichan were too set in their ways to audition new members after Lanz’s bassist sister left their previous band, Kilbourne.
Besides, with her custom baritone guitar, Lanz is able to cover both the guitar and bass frequencies in concert, leaving little disparity between the live and recorded experience. Her special guitar, in fact, has given her at least one experience that’s even better than the glowing album reviews.
“My buddy who works at Long & McQuade said a guy came in and asked if they could put a bass pickup in his guitar so he could be like ‘that chick,'” she recalls. “That’s one of the few times I’ve ever felt like a big deal.”
Interview Clips
Thérèse Lanz expands on why she and Stef MacKichon decided not to get a bassist for Mares of Thrace.
It may be surprising to hear, but Lanz is actually a classically trained singer. That said, her growling technique wasn’t exactly encouraged by her vocal teacher…
Lanz explains why, despite the mathy precision in their playing on The Pilgrimage, the band didn’t want to smooth off the rough edges with studio trickery. She also hints they’re open to expanding the lineup for the next record.
On why the term “Girlfriend Metal” is bullshit.
Though you may have to listen with a lyric sheet to pick them up, The Pilgrimage is peppered with literary and biblical allusions. Lanz argues that, despite its tough façade, metal is one of the nerdiest genres.
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