Powerlöad are nearing the release of their debut LP In The Pocket, which finally comes out on 26 June. The record brings the full picture of who they are into focus through a storyline that formed naturally across the songs. We talked with Shel, the band’s bassist and vocalist, who reminded us that being honest sometimes means being crude, and being open often means being provocative. How it played out is for you to decide – just be prepared for the heavy music load coming right towards us!
This interview contains strong language.
Musiknights: It’s been over two years since your demo came out, and finally, your first LP is set to be released soon. What did it take you artistically and in terms of effort to create it?
Shel: Uh, we don’t know too much about being an artist, but we know a lot of building up and getting to the point of climax for the full release. That’s sort of what Powerlöad is all about. It did take some time, but we never leave anything unfinished. So once we got there, we’re here: June 26th is the big climax. The big O.
MK: Is that so?
Shel: Yeah, we’re broke! And now that we’re all flush, because we met a sugar daddy. Sometimes we call him “Sugar Daddy,” sometimes we just call him “daddy,” sometimes we call him “boss.” We would have released music all the time if we could afford it. But now we’re set. Expect a lot more releases from Powerlöad over the next few years!
MK: Aside from money issues, is it usually hard for you to work on music in general, especially to channel your energy there?
Shel: Yeah, that’s the difficult part. We put our energy into the energy of the show and into the energy of our recordings and stuff. Not to undersell us, but we play meathead music, and we’re a bunch of meatheads. But one thing that I think a lot of bands have a problem with is that they’ve got no energy. When you listen to a Powerlöad song, it’s got way more energy than a lot of other stuff that’s coming out or is popular right now. When I’m ready to turn on the night, have a couple of drinks, and get up to no good, I wanna listen to something energetic. I don’t want to think about it too much, and I want it to rock. That’s sort of the whole idea we have behind us.
MK: The songs on your upcoming release, do they have something in common?
Shel: Well, the album itself, unintentionally, is almost a concept record, like A Day in the Life of Powerlöad. It is about being a heathen, rocking out, smoking, drinking, having fun, getting laid, and meeting annoying guys who are trying to get everyone’s blow. That’s what Powerlöad is all about.
ALBUM STORYLINE BY POWERLÖAD
MK: What’s the story behind the title, and where does it come from?
Shel: We thought about the title for a long time. When I thought of that album artwork, I was like, ‘What the fuck are we gonna call this thing?’A cue ball being shot at a robot’s butt…
MK: Oh, I thought it was coming from the robot.
Shel: No, she’s not farting the balls out! We’re shooting the ball to her. But people can interpret how they like. If they want her to fart that ball, it’s all good.
MK: Glad we clarified that! Sooo, the title.
Shel: Yeah! I watch a lot of football, and I’m a big Buffalo Bills fan. When you’re in the pocket in the game, that’s when things are going good, and you can score some points. And a pool table got pockets, too. So, Powerlöad is in a good spot all the time, we’re always playing with our balls, we’re always scoring points, we’re always winning the game, so we’re in the pocket. Couldn’t have thought of a better name for the first record!
MK: I saw you had to prove that the cover art is not AI. Who accused you of that and on what grounds?
Shel: I don’t know what the fuck made people think that. If that was AI, that’s the most expensive fucking piece of AI we had to pay for. Fucking AI is free, that was not! Honestly, Adan Vazquez did an incredible job. That was my concept, and I thought that if I was ever gonna pay anyone to paint an album cover, I’ve always wanted one with hot robot girls on it, like the Autograph albums. I loved this artwork so much. He made my dream come to life. And that thing took a fucking year!
MK: And it also has a very true retro vibe.
Shel: Well, because we’re old school dudes! The 80s were way more fun than now. Everybody’s just like AI and on their cell phone, fucking meeting people on Tinder and fentanyl and other drugs… It was way more fun back in the day when you didn’t have to worry about any of that stuff. I’m fully obsessed with the 80s. I’ve been wearing tight pants and spandex since I was fucking 12.
MK: There are a few other ways your aesthetics and sympathies could play out, you could pick up crust punk or maybe… dirty blues. Do you remember the moment or period in time when you chose to play hard rock?
Shel: Basically, Brett Michaels (ed. – guitarist) and I knew each other from being around. He’s seen my old band RoadRash a long, long time ago in Saskatchewan. One day, he came up to me at the bar and was like, “Hey man, I think I want to be in a band with you. But the only rule is that it’s got to fucking rock.” And I was like, “That’s literally all I want to do,” so this works fucking great. We just talked, and then we got HellHammered (ed. – drummer) to do his best ability, attempting to drum. And yeah, Powerlöad was born. We didn’t want to make it too heavy or crusty, or punky, because our main influences are the hard rock bands and the heavier bands that really rock the fuck out.
Shel: I don’t mind repeating myself as long as it sounds like Powerlöad. It is just when other bands are trying really hard to sound like this *unexpected lip guitar solo by Shel*, like Iron Maiden, I’m sick of it. Iron Maiden already did that, you don’t need to do it… shittier. You know?
I did an interview a couple of days ago, and they asked me to go through all the tracks on the record and to tell what they sound like. “You can hear some influence on this of this band and of this band” and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, all the songs just sound exactly like us. That felt so good, saying that. Whether people think that’s shitty or not, I’m glad I got something that sounds semi-original at least. Of course, we take influences from all sorts of stuff, but the eclecticness of all of the members’ tastes has really been poured into this record in a unique way.
If we take “Bad Girls,” the end of that song is very much like Hell-Hammer-Celtic-Frost kind of stuff. But then there are songs in there that sound more like Mötley Crüe. A lot of bands are too scared to mix genres. We live in Edmonton, and there are all these black metal nerds who are afraid of fucking sweet rock n’ roll and 80s bands and stuff. Don’t be such a wuss, it’s rock and roll, man. Like it all! Or whatever. Those guys get on my nerves. And all their music sounds the fucking same.
MK: So, you would say that this album perfectly captures your spirit?
Shel: I would say, yeah, absolutely. It’s a good introduction to the band, and our little facets are all in one.
MK: The last question is a signature question: what was the weirdest show you had?
Shel: Oh, the Sebastian Bach show. That was definitely the weirdest show we played, but it was also super fucking fun.
Long story short: we’ve done this thing where we write “cock” on our set list instead of other words. Like, “Chains Of Rock N’ Roll” is “Cocks of Cocks N’ Cocks”. So, when we opened up for Sebastian Bach, we wrote “Sebastian Cock” on the set list, and he fucking flipped out. He did his soundcheck, and he fucking lost his mind. But then he sent his manager out to talk to us, and then brought us on his tour bus to apologize to us for flipping out. That was definitely the weirdest fucking thing that’s happened.