The Executives with Joe Turner & Chris Jones, Crucifliction, and Sinister Black

Reviewed By: Michelle Panton

Boasting over a dozen TV screens, pool tables, and weekly meat draws, The Princeton Pub has more of a neighbourhood sports bar atmosphere than anything else. That is, until January 14, 2011, when the local rock & metal scene decided to come out and play…

Friday nights’ line-up was pulled together in only 4 days and opened with a tremendous acoustic set from Chris Jones (guitarist & singer from Cottonmouth Jones @ www.cottonmouthjones.com ) and Joe Turner (www.myspace.com/joeturnerband ). They traded off on leading songs, casually blending Turner’s alternative & rock style with Jones’ rockabilly & punk influences. The half hour set, highlighted by Turner’s cover of U2’s “New Years Day”, closed with a solid duet punctuated by the trains rumbling outside.

The first band to play, Crucifliction (www.myspace.com/cruciflictionband ), had neither rehearsed together since the holidays nor ever with the current line-up in front of a paying audience. Chris Robertson (guitar/vocals), Calvin Ma (bass) Stu Will (Guitar) and Jeremy Griffith (drums) managed to throw the gauntlet down, and pulled together for a solid heavy metal debut. Their sound is reminiscent of early 80’s era metal and features some monster solo guitar work from Stu Will. Singer Robertson explains “We’ve only been with Stu for a couple of months, so we’re excited to start playing together as a band more. It’s time to get to work, start writing new material and playing more live shows.”

Sinister Black (www.myspace.com/sinisterblack ) was onstage next to remind the well filled Pub that louder and faster is better indeed. Singer Wayne Powell, drummer Ron Pistell, and bass player GoredZilla blistered through their 45 minute slot, with only a brief respite to lament the recent unfortunate ruling of the cbsc on the Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing.” This veteran metal trio, recently featured on CITR radios The Morning After Show, has a third album in the works and plan on touring BC later on this year. Their shows never fail to blow mind and Fat Head Swine even got the resident super-regular bar patron Johnny up and dancing!

Right around the midnight hour saw Paul Watson (drums), Chris Parrish (bass), Dan Zbytovsky (guitar), and John Owen (vocals/guitar) taking command of the room. The four are consummate musicians that came together to form the group The Executives (www.theexecutivesband.com ), a side project that fuses raw power with progressive rock & roll. Their set, mostly comprised of material from their debut album A New Form of Social Sin, showed they wouldn’t be out of place sharing a stage with the likes of Chickenfoot or any other super group out there today.

The bar patrons got their money’s worth and hopefully, a few more minds were turned on to some Real Music…