If you’re into old school horror, zombies, giant robots, blood, scientists, power tools and heavy metal music, you might want to check out local band Orchid’s Curse’s latest music video.
"The video is kind of a take somewhere between a bride of Frankenstein meets a zombie apocalypse,” said Josh Hogan, vocalist for Orchid's Curse.
The video, which was shot in Dartmouth, was written and directed by local filmmaker Aaron Elliott for the band’s song, The Workhorse Walks Alone.
“A lot of bands will make a music video of them playing in a room. There's not much of a B story. But for us, we wanted to take a different route and focus on the story. Us playing is kind of like a bonus and not take away from the video,” said Hogan.
A video release party will be held Friday, June 24 at Montes Showbar Grill in Dartmouth.
"We played at Montes back in 2009 for The Blackmore CD release. It’s the same line-up, so we figured we'd do it again for our video release with the same bands to try to draw another solid crowd," said Hogan.
Hogan describes their music as fast, aggressive, and heavy.
"Probably one of favourite terms that has ever been used to describe us is progressive aggressive," he said.
Formed in 2005, Orchid’s Curse album credentials include The Coast 2010 Critics Pick, Noisography.com Top 10 Records of 2010, and 2011 ECMA Loud Recording of the Year Nominee.
Hogan, 29, also started Diminished Fifth Records, a label supporting East Coast metal, back in 2006.
"It started as a labour of love," said Hogan. "There was no one east of Montreal providing legitimate support for heavy metal in the Maritimes at all, that's kind of what spawned me to start the label. Now, I'm going on my fifth anniversary this summer. We released the Orchid's Curse label back in 2006, and at least 15 more."
Hogan also co-owns local publicity company Red Tenacle.
He said like any music scene, metal has had its ups and downs with venues closing, and staple bands breaking up, but overall he feels the metal scene has continued to grow.
"In addition to bigger bands now touring through the region (Lamb of God, Megadeth, Slayer, Clutch, Gwar, etc...) most recently more local bands have been getting added to higher-profile shows,” said Hogan.
He said the band — which consists of Hogan, vocals; Brian Jones, guitar/vocals, Keith MacLeod, guitar; Keven Mombourquette, bass; and Bobby Webb, drums — gets together at least twice a week to rehearse, and more when they have a big show coming up.
"We've really been playing a lot since our cd release back in September," said Hogan. "We did the ECMA loud tour throughout the Maritimes this year. We’re playing probably our biggest show yet next month at the Forum with Children of Bodom (July 21), so we get to open for a pretty large heavy metal band. That’s pretty exciting for us.”
The band can be seen playing at The Paragon, The Seahorse, Coconut Grove and Gus’ Pub.
For information, check out http://orchidscurse.wordpress.com/shows-2/
A video release party for The Workhorse Walks Alone will be held Friday, June 24, beginning at 9 p.m. at Montes Showbar Grill at 245 Waverley Rd. in Dartmouth. Cost is $7 at the door. Also on the bill are Black Moor and Death Valley Driver.
