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Anciients, Bison and Phaeton tear the roof off Encore Brewing

Kootenay metal heads show up for three fantastic bands.

Encore Brewing in Cranbrook hosted a heavy metal show on Wednesday, Oct. 23, with droves of fans coming out on a weeknight to see Juno Award winners Anciients, B.C. metal legends Bison and local instrumental progressive metal masters Phaeton. 

First on stage was Phaeton, and it was clear from the get-go that the band has been hard at work in advance of this gig. Fronted by bass player Ferdy Belland — well known in the Kootenays and beyond for playing in numerous outfits, but perhaps most notably for touring with Bif Naked — the sound of this powerful four-piece conjures up acts like Dream Theatre and Rush, but without the vocals. This makes them perfect for metal fans who love prog, but aren't often into the singers. 

First formed in Kimberley in 2017, Phaeton have had a busy 2024, playing numerous dates around western Canada, including the 12th-annual Loud As Hell Festival in Drumheller. They have two albums out now and a third, entitled Neurogenesis due for release before the end of this year. Check their music out at: phaetonband.bandcamp.com

After the mind-bending, intricately-crafted riffs of Phaeton got the crowd sufficiently pumped up, Bison took the stage. First formed in 2006, and known for a period of time as Bison B.C. due to a conflict with another band with the same name, Bison have built a devout fanbase that they've cultivated through their solid studio work and their formidable stage presence. 

Wednesday night's show in Cranbrook was no exception. The four-piece delivered a heavy wall of sound, laced with plenty of groove, technicality and passion. While they are often labelled with the "sludge" sub-genre, Bison's sound can simply be referred to as straight-up heavy metal.

After Bison finished their set to thunderous applause, the final act of the evening took to the stage. Anciients had a different energy than the preceding two acts, but their sound was the perfect complement to the sonic journey of the night as a whole, itself including elements of both prog and sludge-laden death metal. 

Belland said he felt the night went extremely well, adding it was a long time coming putting the show together, as he said the owners of Encore Brewing were initially hesitant to host a metal show.

"They were a little leery of bringing in something new that would bring in an unfamiliar audience and an unfamiliar clientele, but I managed to convince them just with dogged persistence and emotional blackmail," Belland said with a laugh. He added he had previously tried getting a Phaeton gig together at Encore, but what really sold the owners was when his friends in Anciients and Bison reached out, hoping to add a mid-week Cranbrook stop to their tour. 

"Anciients are no slouch, they won the 2018 Juno Award for best Canadian metal album, which is a powerful achievement," Belland said. "They’ve shared stages with Lamb of God, they’re a big deal. And they have no problem trying to open up new areas and new audiences to what they do."

Belland was confident a show of this calibre would bring in a good crowd, even on a weeknight. Once the vision became a reality, Belland got to work and “went ultra-beserk” on the local promotion and publicity of the event. Soon, tickets started moving. Five weeks before the show they already had pre-sold around 40 advance tickets.

By the time of the show they’d sold more than twice that, with a final crowd of 140. 

Belland also then got to work preparing for the show with the other three members of Phaeton: drummer Colin Righton and guitar players Daniel Airth and Kevin Thiessen. The group usually practises virtually through a program called Jamulus, as they live in different places, with Belland and Airth in Cranbrook, Thiessen in Kimberley and Righton in Calgary. 

They got together in person a week before the show and started inviting friends to sit in on the rehearsals, to get comfortable playing in front of people. 

“Then the needle drops and okay, after all this preparation, this is where the rubber meets the road,” Belland said. “And so here we were.”

He added that Wednesday’s show was only the band’s second live performance in Cranbrook, the first being the Canadian Artists Tribute earlier this year at the Key City Theatre, when the band played a few instrumental Rush renditions.

All in all, however, playing live is still a relatively new thing for Phaeton. Wednesday was their ninth show ever, and their fifth of this year.

Although they’ve been together since 2017, the COVID pandemic and Colin having to deal with a cancer scare, prevented them from playing more shows early on. But it’s picking up continually and the success of the show at Encore did a lot for them.

Belland said he was happy with how his band played and the feedback they all received, both from the fans and from their peers in Bison and Anciients. He added the two touring bands felt great about how the show went, and said it was one of the better stops they've had on the tour so far, despite not expecting much due to it being a weeknight gig in a town they've never played in. 

Belland gave credit to Encore owners Jesse Roberts and Fred Williams, who had the "imagination and the fearlessness" to host the show, and said he felt vindicated with the results. 

"There are heavy metal fans out there," Belland said. "There are heavy metal fans around here who are 15, there are heavy metal fans who are 55, but until you actually have a worthwhile event for them all to gather in, you never see them. And what do you know? We brought 140 people out, we maxed out their showroom side of Encore Brewing on a Wednesday night.

"I felt vindicated, I felt relief, I felt joy. I saw nothing but smiling, eager, happy faces. And again, everyone at Encore Brewing, they were all delighted and surprised. Score: Gold Star for Cranbrook."

 



About the Author: Paul Rodgers

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