From the album Live In Ontario, here is the second music video from the CD: “I Don’t Advocate Drugs”. This video was painstakingly animated, using real Lego bricks, by hand. No AI here folks. Bricks were collected to create these characters including all four members of the band: Max the Axe (lead guitar), Uncle Meat (lead vocals), Mike Mitchell (bass), and Dr. Dave Haslam (drums). Depicting a druggy trip and a stage performance by the band, look for several easter eggs referring to past Max the Axe songs, or even Dr Dave’s well-stated hatred of Transformers.
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.
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