kitchener

REVIEW: Max the Axe – Live In Ontario! (2025)

MAX THE AXE – Live In Ontario!  (2025 maxaxe)

Kitchener Ontario’s Max the Axe has several studio albums and EPs, plus a “best of”, but never before have they released a live album.  Until now!

Recorded in 2006, 2017, and 2018, the album features a spread of Max classics new and old, including favourites like “Scales of Justice” and “Gods On the Radio”.  Each song features Eric “Uncle Meat” Litwiller on vocals.

“But Mike,” you ask. “I thought Meat joined the band later than 2006.”

True.  While we won’t get into details, if you consider Kiss Alive to be a great album, then you should have no problem with Live In Ontario!

The first six tracks come from a 2006 recording called Heads or Tails, recorded in Etobicoke Ontario.  The lineup includes Litwiller, Mike “Max the Axe” Koutis on guitar, Tom Cole on bass, and Jeff Slauenwhite on drums.  These tracks are heavy on bottom end.  The guitars are pure sludge.  Opener “Blood Runs Red” sounds great with Meat singing; a fantastic vocal performance.  The familiar “River Grand” follows, and once again the vocals stand out, with Eric adding twists that aren’t on the album versions.

“Labyrinth” has distortion and groove.  Max wrings some cool sounds from his axe on this frantic, messy, punky classic.  It’s very shambolic, definitely with a punk rock appeal.  Back to a more metallic sound on “Immortal” (subtitled “I Feel the Sun”).  The vocals are more tentative here, as the song was less familiar when recorded.

“Mexican Standoff” opens with the traditional Mexican sounding guitar lick, and then it’s off to the races with Meat in peak voice.  This version lacks the shouted backing vocals, but is cool nonetheless.  Max throws some wah-wah on during a noisy interlude.    One more song from this gig is the Metallica-like “Space Marine”.   It is great to finally have versions of these older songs with Meat singing, tentative as some are.

Onto the next batch of songs from 2016 at “The Farm” in Woodstock Ontario.   This was the very first gig with the new (and definitive) lineup:  Mike Mitchell on bass and Dr. Dave Haslam on drums.  Having never played live before, and with a batch of brand new songs, the gig sounds much as you would expect.  It’s energetic and engaged, but good as the songs would come to be, they are not there yet.  The set features a number of compositions that would later appear on the Status Electric album, plus “I Don’t Advocate Drugs”, the first version available with Eric on vocals. He cranks it up a couple notches.

A very cool band intro leads into “The Other Side”, a very embryonic version.  The parts are all there, but it’s not tight yet.  “Loose” is a good word to describe this live album in general.  There’s also an extended guitar solo.  From there, Eric asks the audience if anyone out there owns a snake?  Which means, of course, that “Scales of Justice” is up next.  It’s not as crunchy as the album.  If anything, maybe it’s a bit more Zeppy.  Yet those vocal hooks are there, and Meat is in peak voice.  This track needed some work before it was album worthy, but it is fun to hear these early versions, flaws and all.

“This is a song about gambling,” explains Eric.  This means the “Next Plane to Vegas” is about to land.  It barely hangs together, but it’s over in a flash.  Finally, “Gods On the Radio” closes the set with Max’s best song.  Again, it’s not quite what it would become on album yet, but the bones are there and the vocal hooks are 100% intact.  It doesn’t have the drive of the album version and unfortunately the drums are hard to hear.  The guitar solos also haven’t evolved yet.

Finally, “Randy” from 2018 was recorded on a cell phone by your’s truly.  While a limited run of one (1) single  picture disc was made, this is its first CD release, and in much better sound quality.  In terms of performance, this is by far the best track.  All the songs were by now well rehearsed by the band, as the album had been completed.  The difference between this and the Farm tracks is clear.

It is a shame the whole 2018 Boathouse set was not recorded.  That said, you do the best with what you got.  In this case we have a 2006 recording of an early band lineup, with the older songs.  Then you have the 2017 recording of the definitive lineup, but with songs that they were still honing.  So it’s not a perfect situation, but it’s history recorded.  Something to remind us that albums don’t come fully formed.  They must be worked on diligently, and if anything, Live In Ontario! makes us appreciate Status Electric that much more.

“Randy” on the other hand could be the best version of that song, period.

3.25/5 stars

FILM REVIEW: forty-eight (how not to make a film in 2 days) (2004)

“Wait.  I got a Wookiee in my office.” – Dan Narvali, forty-eight.

forty-eight (how not to make a film in 2 days) (2004 independant film)

By Matt Head and Adam Skinner

It’s hard to believe that the early 2000s were so long ago! Get ready to feel old:  they were!  The short film called forty-eight by local Kitchener filmmakers Matt Head and Adam Skinner sure proves that time has elapsed.  Witness:  the goth-emo-punk clothes, the ear tunnels, and a sense of humour that was on point for 2004, but terribly dated by 2024.

Skinner and Head originated in a local “Jackass” style comedy group called Me6.  In the wild wild days before YouTube, these guys were buying used Blockbuster uniforms and filming themselves whilst pretending to work at the hallowed video rental establishment.  Me6 would hit each other in the head with frying pans.  What they did wasn’t subtle or original, but it was local.  Given that Jackass was one of the biggest franchises in the world, fans were seeking more of that style of stunt comedy online.  Me6 were on the pulse during an age when the internet was not yet saturated.  All they really needed was some originality.

Forty-eight is very original.  It is an 18 minute film, and the project that showed what Skinner and Head were capable of doing themselves.

Matt and Adam play fictional versions of themselves.  At breakfast one morning, Adam spies an ad for a film festival in two days.  Matt is skeptical that they can come up with a movie in just 48 hours, but suddenly has an idea:  a summetime fun movie!  The only problem is it’s February.  The project is abandoned in favour of a supposedly better one.  Seeking funding from a local lawyer named Dan Narvali, the pair secure $71.50 to do another film idea:  Dan Narvali’s Killer in the Basement.  Actors and a crew are hired, and things immediately deteriorate.  Blame falls directly upon the disorganized shoulders of Skinner and Head.  Everyone quits.  Dan Narvali’s Killer in the Basement is changed to Baseball Dog, which fails to launch, and changes to a fantasy film.  The high fantasy changes to Sexparty, then a war movie, and finally to Ghosts With Guns.  Strife within the crew, and everyone constantly trying to get the only female cast member to take her top off, causes everything to crash to a halt.  Will the duo ever get a movie made in time for the festival?

The humour is largely crude, relying on gay slurs and sexual harassment jokes.  One always must remember the time in which a movie was created.  Compared to any other vulgar comedy in 2004, this is on par.  There are also things that are objectively funny, such as trying to make a fantasy film called Quest for the Crown starring a girl wearing a snake suit while wielding a rifle.  There’s also a genuine moment of laughter when one actor falls down a snowy hill yelling, “We’re gonna take the crown!  Cover me Serpentina!”  The performances are spot-on, spontaneous and big time.  These are funny actors.

The DVD comes with deleted scenes, gag reel, stills, and an informative audio commentary track by Skinner and Head.

As a product of its time, forty-eight is a serious accomplishment for independent filmmakers.  The movie really was made in just two days.  However, the cringe factor today ranges from uncomfortable to gross.

3.5/5 stars

 

 

#1136: Prophets of Disaster

RECORD STORE TALES #1136: Prophets of Disaster

A teaser for the 30th Anniversary story & video of my hiring at The Beat Goes On

From day one at the Record Store, there were always the doomsayers.  The people who expected us to go under any day now.  The prophets of disaster, who say the ship is lost.  It was almost like they wanted us to fail.

“How’s business?” people would ask.  My boss taught us to always answer this question simply.  “When people ask you how business is going, just answer ‘good’.  Don’t tell them you’re having a great day, or a slow day, or offer any details of any kind, OK?  Just say ‘business is good’.  That’s all.”  This was very shrewd.  If someone sniffed out that there was a lot of cash in the register, you could have just made your store a target for a break-in.  And, of course, you never wanted to give the impression that business was slow, even if the store was empty.  “Always look busy,” the boss told us.  “Don’t let the customers see you leaning and chatting behind the counter.  Always be filing, organising, cleaning.”

When I first started working alone in late 1994, at Stanley Park Mall, I encountered my first doomsayer.

“So, I heard you’re closing soon,” said the man as I rang in his cassette purchase.

I took a moment, and answered simple, “Not that I know of.”

“I heard this place is going to be a shoe store,” he responded.  I shook my head no.

Of course I told my boss about this encounter.  I didn’t think we were in danger, but I did think he should know what people were saying.

He shook his head.  “Mike, people have been saying that since the week I opened.  They said we wouldn’t last a month.  Then they said we wouldn’t last a year.  That was three years ago.  See, this is why I told you never to say anything other than ‘business is good’.”  Smart man.  The thing about it that bothered me is these people sometimes seemed to be taking pleasure in telling me we were going out of business.  Like, what did we ever do to you?  Lowball you on a CD you sold to us?  How about supporting your local business?

I bet those guys loved going to Future Shop to buy their music.  They always had plenty of Skynyrd, cheap.

It kept happening, when I moved to manage my own store in the Canadian Tire plaza in 1996.

“I hear you guys will be closing soon,” said one guy.

Deciding to play with him, I answered, “No, we close at 9:00.  Lotsa time.”

“No, I mean I hear you guys will be going out of business soon.”

“We just opened three months ago,” I answered, smiling politely.

“Lotsa luck,” said the guy as he left, buying nothing.

That store is still open today, in a new unit at the same plaza.

At one point, there was a rumour going around that one of the unpopular employee’s dads was going to buy us out.  A few people were spooked by that.  I considered for a moment, but told them, “I’ve seen the old beater that he drives.  He drives her to and from work.  He doesn’t look like he’s swimming in excess cash.”

This July will be 30 years since I started working at that store in Stanley Park Mall.  While we weren’t exactly winning the lottery at that location, we definitely did well enough for the owner to expand to the many locations he has today.  He could not have done that if the original store was not a success.  Thanks to a lot of hard work (including two years of dedication at that location from me), he thrived and grew.  No matter what the naysayers claimed they heard.

I really don’t get it.  We’re supposed to be supporting local.  Why did some people seem to want us to fail?  Did they find a cassette tape cheaper at Zellers?  Was it personal?  I’ll never know.

DRONES! I think I have a new hobby…

I probably won’t be posting every drone video I make here on WordPress, but this is the official announcement:  I have a new hobby!

Since this is primarily a music website, please enjoy the song “The Optimyst” by an awesome band, the Forrest Williams Democracy.  My #1 song of 2023.  The F.W.D. is one of my favourite new bands, featuring Matt DeMatteo and Scott Maybee on vocals.  Their music is perfect for a video like this!  You might remember Forrest as the original drummer of Big Wreck.

Forrest Williams in Big Wreck, far left

As you listen to the song, you’ll witness a test flight of my new Potensic Atom SE drone.  I took it 118.8 feet in the air on this test run, with a great view of Highway 8, from Hofstetter Park.  I even landed it on home plate of the baseball diamond!  This drone will get me some awesome cottage footage this summer.

Please enjoy!  “Like” and subscribe to my YouTube to see more, and to support the site.

#1113: Running Up That Hill

RECORD STORE TALES #1113: Running Up That Hill

By and large, 1998 was a pretty good year for me.  There was a lot going on musically with new albums by Iron Maiden and Van Halen (long awaited) coming out.  In January I moved in with T-Rev, into this little basement apartment.  It was a cool hang.  We both managed record stores, and the apartment was right near mine.   T-Rev had this “comfy couch” that was like kryptonite.  You couldn’t help but surrender to the comfy couch.  There were Christmas lights up all year round, and beaded entranceways.  Movie posters adorned virtually every wall.  He sought to make a place where gals and guys alike would want to come over and hang out.  We were both single.

I had my fully loaded Nintendo 64 and a handful of great games like Goldeneye and Top Gear Rally.  Our place was the place to be on a Friday night.  It was frustrating when T-Rev’s skills exceeded mine in both games, but that’s how it went down!  He was really, really good.  He was working at finishing both games, I was lucky to have made it as far as I did.  Friends of all kinds liked Nintendo 64 night on the comfy couch.  Trevor usually had beer and a bag of chips.

Some time in May that year was a typical gathering at the T-Rev residence.  The place was packed with people he worked with at the Waterloo Inn, including the woman that he would one day marry and is still his wife today!  There was a girl that I was interested in but didn’t return the sentiment, and another girl who had a thing for me but was unreciprocated.  I think the movie they chose to watch that night was Kama Sutra.  I wasn’t into it, and on that night I felt like a third wheel (or ninth wheel perhaps).

I was never very good at talking to girls and today I wonder if I have some kind of actual mental malfunction.  T-Rev would try to help me.  “Don’t quote movies man,” he advised me.  “Nobody gets it when you quote movies.”  I guess my hope was that one day, somebody would get it, and I’d meet a new soul mate.  However I tried to stick to Trevor’s advice and not quote Pulp Fiction lines at girls, hoping they too were fans of Samuel L. Jackson.

I seem to remember hurting my neck while washing my hair in the shower before the party, which was a common weakness of mine.  The girl that was interested in me gave me a neck rub, but it didn’t feel good at all.  I wasn’t able to relax.  I may have two separate parties mixed up here – Kama Sutra and hurting my neck might not have been the same night – but these are the memories coming back about that basement apartment.  One way or the other, at some time in the evening on May, I was feeling disconnected from everyone else.  It was one of those times where I felt alone in a crowded room.  I was lonely sitting there in that apartment with my thoughts, apart from the conversations surrounding me.  I wanted some fresh air, and maybe also some company.

“Anyone wanna go for a walk?  Anyone?  No?”

Everyone was content to stay in.  I put on my shoes and stepped out into the darkness of early evening.

We lived very close to Stanley Park Mall, which in turn is close to my old stomping grounds at St. Daniel School.  In the winter time, the large hill behind the school was popular for tobogganing.  In spring, I thought it might be a good place to catch a good view at the stars and surrounding city.  And so, I crossed River Road, and wandered through the mall parking lot.  Though it is all built over now, once upon a time just an empty field separated the mall parking lot and the hill.

The hill!  That green, steep hill!  Looking at it today, it seems so small but back then it seemed a mountain!  Perhaps the pitter-patter of children has been flattening it over the decades, but then it seemed as tall as the sky.  Located in Midland Park behind the school, it was home to so many childhood adventures.  Technically it was not on school property and sometimes the teachers would get fed up with the kids, and ban the hill from recess activities.  But what fun we had when it was allowed!  Running up that hill, running down, imagining if we caught enough air we could take off and fly!

What would I find on that hill on this night in 1998?  The view would be good at least, I was certain.  There it was in front of me, and so I took off running up just as I did as a little kid!  I may have been alone, but I smiled in glee as I flashed back to the golden carefree years.

Whew…running uphill wasn’t as easy at age 25 as it was at age 10!  But up I went, and upon reaching the summit in that pitch black, I leapt upwards and landed on the bald, grass-free patch at the very top.

“HEY!  WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?” came a startled voice from the darkness.

Apparently, I had interrupted a couple in the middle of coitus! Let’s just say they must have been having a bangin’ good time.

What could I do?  Without a word I just kept running down the opposite side!  As if to say “I meant to do that,” Pee-Wee Herman style, I just kept running.

I eventually made my way around the block, and back to the basement apartment.  That was enough walking for one night.  When I returned and told my story, everyone laughed and the general consensus was that I should have expected it!  I suppose they were right; that spot did have a reputation for make-out central for the teenagers in the early 80s.

That’s what I found when I went running up that hill.  The lesson learned:  never run uphill at night!

 

 

 

#1071: Hot Town, Summer in the City

RECORD STORE TALES #1071: Hot Town, Summer in the City

Setting:  The 1980s.  Southern Ontario.

Our summers always began with a week at the cottage.  For a kid, being out of touch with friends from home, not to mention the latest happenings in WWF wrestling and music videos, it was a challenge!  We took everything we had for granted back then, and what kid our age didn’t?   The cottage was not a place I looked forward to going.  I didn’t like the isolation.  Sometimes I wonder if I’d dislike cottage vacations today as much as I did then, if we didn’t have high-speed internet and all the entertainment and connection that it brings.  Literally the first thing I do when I arrive at the lake is connect to my family and friends and tell them we’ve arrived safely, often with a photo or video.  But back then….

For me, the summer excitement didn’t begin when we arrived at the lake.  It began when we got home from that first week’s vacation!  I’d race into the house and check my mail.  Would it be comic books straight from Marvel?  Or a cassette from Columbia House?  Mail was the most exciting thing about coming home, and it sucked when there was no mail!

Next up:  check the VCR.  Did the many hours of WWF wrestling that I had programmed record properly?  Usually not!  Programming a VCR was tricky back then, and you had to count on power failures resetting everything.  There were many times that I would come home to find no wrestling!  Other times, it would record like a charm.  If successful, the morning after returning home would be spent watching the wrestling I missed.

Speaking of the almighty VCR, the week spent at the lake would mean I missed at least two installments of the Pepsi Power Hour.  What videos and interviews did I miss?  I preferred not to think about it.  In the summers, there was a lot of metal that I missed.  I didn’t want to set the VCR to record whole shows – I was compiling music videos and interviews, ad-free.

After the July holiday, I’d come home with some new music purchased at the lake, and want to show my new albums to my best friend Bob.  In 1989, one that I was particularly enthused about was The Headless Children by W.A.S.P.  It took Bob some time to believe me when I said it was great.  Later that year, the ballad “Forever Free” convinced him.  Meanwhile, Bob would be filling me in on anything important happening in our neighborhood.  It wouldn’t be long before we were back at it, getting into mischief in the summer of the city.

Our interests changed as we got older and more independent.  Bob was driving by the summer of ’90 so we could go virtually anywhere we wanted to.  We made excursions downtown to buy music!  There we had Encore, Sam the Record Man and Dr. Disc all waiting for our dollars.  Today it’s just Encore, who have moved twice but is still alive!  The longest serving record store in Kitchener still lives today.  I can recall bringing home treasures such as Rocka Rolla by Judas Priest.  Vinyl, of course – cassettes were impossible to find of that oldie.  The idea was, if you went downtown, you wanted to score something that you couldn’t get at the mall.  It had to be something special.  A single, an import, a record you couldn’t buy on cassette in these parts.  The city had record stores, but so did the cottage.  What the cottage didn’t have was Sam’s, Encore, and Dr. Disc.  No access to music that was hard to find.  Coming home to the city meant buying rarities.

We rocked hard and we played hard.  Summer meant basketball, baseball, and tennis.  Usually with music blasting!  Sports weren’t my thing but they were a thing that we did.  Hours spent at the park.  In driveways.  In backyards, playing.  Or we’d be getting into trouble, exploring the nearby woods on our bikes.  We did a lot of exploring.  We came back scraped and bruised, and it was awesome.  Constantly exploring!

Occasionally we’d go to the waterpark at Pioneer Sports World, which no longer exists.  I can still smell the chlorine!  One thing about summer in the city, you can smell the chlorine from nearby pools.  Chlorine always smells like summer.  Of course, for non-chlorinated water fun, we set up sprinklers at home.  One summer, we built an obstacle course in the back yard with lawn chairs and sprinklers.  Only we understood the rules, but it was a race against the clock!  My new digital stopwatch was timekeeper.  Just couldn’t get it wet!

Sprinklers gave way to water balloons.  Bob and I would go to the store and buy a few bags of balloons.  We made such a mess!  Parents would be furious about the wasted water and rubber fragments all over the yard.  Those rubber bits always took a while to clean up.  Parents did not enjoy water balloon days at our house.

The next door neighbor George was always a misfit.  One day Bob and I decided to hurl water balloons at his bedroom window.  The barrage of water was never acknowledged, but I do recall Bob and I remarking how dirty his windows were!  The water revealed years of accumulated dirt on his screens.

Playing outdoors was the thing.  Parents didn’t want us in their personal spaces.  In the olden days, we would have played GI Joe or Lego in the yard.  Later on, we’d grab our guitars, amps, tape decks and power cords and record!  Whether on the front patio, or in the garage, we recorded a lot of garbage.  It didn’t matter how bad it was, just that the record button was on.  I have seven cassettes called “Mike and Bob…” littered with garbage we recorded!

Bob and I would raise hell for a month or so, but then it was time again.  My dad usually had two weeks of vacation booked for August which would be spent at the lake.  Sometimes he’d go home for a day and bring us our mail, but there was rarely anything good.  The two weeks of isolation in August was worse than July because the weather was wet and cold.  Worst of all, the TV would start showing “back to school” ads.  Now that was something in the city that we didn’t want to return to.  By the time we got home, kids were already sporting their new “back to school” haircuts, and had new shoes waiting for the coming year.  All we had left was Labour Day and then back to the daily fall grind!

Time changes everything.  Once Bob finished highschool, he was allowed to drive to the cottage.  No more friend-less holidays!  Then we got phones, cable TV, and VCRs.  (There are actually three VCRs in storage at the cottage right now!)  When these things changed, so did my attitude.  Now I’d rather be there, than anywhere else in the world!

I wonder if Bob’s up for a garage jam session this summer!

#1067: The Distance

A sequel to #322:  Highway to Hell

RECORD STORE TALES #1067: The Distance

Regardless of “improvements” on Highway 401 and King St. in Kitchener, commuting continues to be a highway to hell.

I was spoiled for many years with pretty easy commutes.  During my first two years (1994-1996) at the Beat Goes On in Stanley Park Mall, I was able to walk to work.  Talk about the dream situation!  Working at a music store, coming home with amazing used CDs every week, and only a 10 minute walk home!  No wonder I was so skinny.  However, working part time buying and selling used CDs wasn’t sustainable forever, and I sought advancement.

Though I was skipped over on the first managerial promotion, I was selected to run our new Fairway Road location in 1996.  This was especially exciting, because it was the biggest store yet.  I admit I let this go to my head.  I boasted a bit.  This new store had six listening stations for customers, each equipped with a five-disc CD changer.  Our store was to be 95% used CDs, with a small selection of charting new releases.  The only thing I didn’t like was the location.  Across from Fairview Mall, it was kind of…trashy, in terms of clientele.  There were jazz snobs and strippers in equal measure.  It was only a ten minute drive from home though.  Not bad, though I only walked to work once.

In 2004 I was transferred across town to Highland Road.  This is where I really learned to driving to work.  I experimented with different routes to and from, eventually coming up with an optimal way to, and another one from, work.  The accountant Jonathan lived near one of my routes and gave me tips.  I improved my musical arsenal by putting a Discman in the car.  The commute was now about 20 minutes each way, but unfortunately now I also to do pickups and drop-offs as part of the relocation.  My old location was the hub store, so I didn’t have to do a lot of pickups or deliveries.  This commute was more prone to disruption by construction, weather and accidents, but hey…I had a Discman in the car now.

I quit the hellhole in 2005, with my final day coming in January 2006.  I worked a number of jobs in 2006, before settling in at United Rentals, which I loved.  They had music piped in on the radio, which was my introduction to the great local rock station Dave FM.  Hard to believe that relationships I made there are almost two decades ago now.  That was life changing, but the commute was the thing.  10 minutes, with a Tim Horton’s right on the route, and all back roads too!  Never any traffic issues.  I had a new car too, with a factory CD player.  Another quantum leap for me!

United Rentals was probably my peak happiness for driving to and from work.  Now I work in Cambridge, and have done for the last 17 years.  My commute used to be 10-15 minutes.  Now, it’s pure agony.

Construction is perpetual.  Every way I go, I run into construction.  There was a brief four month reprieve, where one of my routes had no construction.  That oasis of good driving has now ended.  To get home from Cambridge, I need to not only cross over Highway 401, the busiest in Canada, but also the Grand River.  And guess what?  The Grand River bridge right around the corner from my place is now needing repair.  They’ve already blocked truck and bus traffic.  Next year, it’ll be out of service.  That means I’m going to be forced to take the 401 to and from work every day.  Which I already do anyway, now that construction has resumed on King St.!

Now, of course, I have my 2T hard drive in the car, so I can listen to literally everything I have ripped to PC.  That helps to alleviate the tension a little, but the drive home is still a nailbiter several times a week.

Still waiting on that flying car!


Video filmed by the Grand River bridge