If you find comfort in a trembling earth and rough sonic blemishes don’t make you tremble yourself, among all Saskatoon events on August 22, you’ll likely end up at Little Slaughter on the Prairie.
By the joint force of Eric Ashe, bassist and backup vocalist of the blackened deathgrind band Abuse, and Alyxandra Kirkpatrick (Alyx), the founder of A Home in Hardcore Productions, brought together are eight bands, each loyal to their own type of loud. Among the visiting collectives are Edmonton’s punks Half Dead, power-violence duo äffordable housing, deathgrind act Pit of Gore, and sludge band Vain. The local powerhouses to perform are, of course, Abuse themselves, deathcore act DeadSunday, thrashers Rex Infernus, and grindcore band Exsang.
“I feel that blemishes add character to things. Especially nowadays with the overproduced, backing-track-heavy landscape of at least a portion of the metal world. Having something raw and in your face is exhilarating and human, which is something that the AI-centric world seems to be losing touch with,” Eric shares.
Saskatchewan’s underground vein would run dry a lot faster if it weren’t for enthusiasts like him and A Home in Hardcore. The latter is responsible for various heavy shows in Saskatoon and Regina, where Half Dead are frequent performers.
“We’ve always had a blast at our Sask shows, so we are stoked to be back and part of something with so many bands! We will be playing new material for sure. We’re in the midst of recording our second full-length and are eager to play more of the new stuff,” Half Dead’s vocalist Hillary Shields shares.
Having already helped so many bands be heard, Alyx acknowledges that Little Slaughter on the Prairie is the biggest event she’s ever co-organized.
“I had originally pictured the event to just be five bands playing a bowling alley. I didn’t expect it to turn into such a huge thing! There are around 30 people across volunteer staff, organizers, and bands. We have a magician and a BBQ. I think that’s awesome!” Alyx says.
With Eric and Logan Irwin, DeadSunday’s vocalist, papering the streets of Saskatoon with festival posters, the word about one of the few places to breathe out your burning anger, let in something built together, and touch the rough aesthetics live flies and crawls into every crack in the city’s roads.
“I’ve always been drawn to violent artwork right back to being a little kid looking at all of the covers of the tapes in the horror section of the video store, and then when I first saw the art on the first few Cannibal Corpse records I just knew that was the type of music that was for me. Splattery, offensive, horror-centric,” says Adrian Parsons, the vocalist and graphic artist of Abuse, about arriving at the sound he now co-creates with his bandmates.
One of the cover artworks by Adrian (Bandcamp)
Frankly, Saskatchewan doesn’t offer many places to feed that spirit. In particular, Eric names Punks for Pups and Poached Fest by local underground label Poached Records. There’s also SaskMusic’s Metal Summit — an undeniably bigger one, and with a commercial element that Alyx wants kept out of their underground corner of the scene.
“Little Slaughter on the Prairie will always stay DIY! While there are other more corporate festivals, that wasn’t and never will be the goal going forward. We aren’t planning yet, but we have talked about making it a yearly tradition,” Alyx adds.
For now, the organizers’ biggest wish is simple: to let everyone interested know — something is coming. As much as this event means to them, it was never meant to stay theirs.
“I am hoping that we can show some new people what the underground music scene here has to offer! That way, in the future, they might seek shows out and come join the fun. I host a poster board gallery called Blast Board as well and encourage anyone interested in the local scene to check it out and come to a show to get your face melted!” Eric adds.
If you take small things for granted — don’t. They have the potential to grow, but not without you there.