NEEDS

HARDCORE TROUBLEMAKERS UNEARTH A RARE ENERGY

Performing the visceral soundtrack to your next panic attack, NEEDS are a highly destructive and intense five-piece hardcore band from Vancouver, BC. Their reputation precludes insane, festival-busting performances like 2012′s Rifflandia and quite possibly again at this year’s Ghost Throats Festival, which is set to pummel Edmonton and Calgary May 31 to June 2.

Just in time for their brief prairie jaunt, the band has released a four-song EP called Rare Earths, recorded at the Noise Floor in Ladysmith, BC earlier this year. Each punishing track is packed with face melting riffs, high octane vocal delivery and an enthusiasm that seemed to be much more prevalent in early-’90s DC era punk rock.

BeatRoute caught up with the band’s highly unpredictable frontman/lyricist Sean Orr about their creation, career and what NEEDS really means.
“Glenn (Alderson) approached me and wanted to do a project,” recalls Orr about forming this local super group. “Glenn played in the Corta Vita when he was living in Calgary and Derek (Adam) was in this little band from Abbotsford called You Say Party! We Say Die!”

Together they would record five songs and take their set on tour through Canada’s West Coast. Their first album was co-written by prolific guitarist/songwriter Al Boyle, who has since left the group. Orr jokes, “We recruited one half of the band Eeek!, Colin (Spensley) and Devin (O’Rourke), and now the band is called KNEEDS. All our songs are about bread and/or pastries.”

Alderson, Adam, and Orr have been together and inspired live insanity for almost two years, creating a reputation for delivering throat-punching jams and not taking grief from anyone, even in Victoria’s biker bar Sopranos during last year’s Rifflandia Music Festival.

“They were dicks to us from the start,” Orr recalls. “Nobody was there and it was one of my most anticipated shows. We were opening for Fucked Up. My arms fling around a lot and I punched one of the ceiling tiles during our set. I pulled the rest of it out and got jumped and dragged out of the venue by three massive security guards.”

Despite being choked unconscious in front of their audience, Orr managed to finish the last song, but their relationship with Rifflandia is still unclear.
Keeping the momentum going, NEEDS continue to play, write and record on the West Coast, most recently polishing off Rare Earths at the Noise Floor in Ladysmith, BC with producer Jordan Koop.

“The Noise Floor is an absolute treat if you can afford the outrageous ferry ride,” says Orr.

The 12 minutes on record are nail biting and jarring compositions fuelled with a nostalgic enthusiasm steeped in the ethics of the punk and hardcore scene that raised them. When pressed for details, Orr is a little vague but promises some great thematic subjects. “One song is about coming home from tour and one is about Israel and one is about the economy, so I dunno.”
Ghost Throats marks NEEDS’ third time in Alberta in just under a year. Last year they played with bands like Cousins, Korean Gut, Ketamines, and B.A. Johnston at Sled Island. But no matter how well these shows go and regardless of their infamy on Vancouver island, Orr could never see himself or his act leaving Lotus Land, despite his ability to see some of the good.

“Personally I couldn’t see myself living in Calgary because I would probably get in tons of fights with all the Snakeheads,” Orr says. “But Edmonton seems cool and gritty and it’s a really great town to take photographs in.”

NEEDS will be performing in Edmonton on June 1 and Calgary on June 2 as part of Ghost Throats and will then be heading back to Calgary on June 19 for Sled Island.

By Matt Y
Photo: Mandy-Lyn