Classic heavy-metal! Punk rock! Women yielding swords! The recipe worked so perfectly with Iron Dogs so why shouldn’t it with Ottawa’s Zex? Especially since they have in common multi-instrumentalist and former Germ Attak and Cauchemar live member Jo Capitalicide… While Iron Dogs are “not doing much at the moment”, with no warning this quartet have just unleashed their debut EP ‘Savage City’ on Electric Assault, two tracks of sing-alongs and fist-banging that conjures the late ’70s spirit of both the nascent NWOBHM and glam-punk scenes, performed by a half-female, half-male line-up. “Zex was a long time in the making,” unveils Jo. “But the concept lurked in my mind for a long time before finally materialising. With the demise of Germ Attak in 2011, I ended up with loads of unused ideas that I started working on about a year later. Gretchen was to be our singer and Rick Morin, who played bass for Germ Attak on our final tour, was to be our lead guitarist but sadly, as we had no rhythm section at the time, he soon left. We had to wait until people moved to Ottawa to get a full line-up and since last November, we‘ve been rehearsing … Read More

Ottawa, Canada have vomited forth yet another raw, nasty slice of punk metal prowess courtesy of Jo Capitalicide (Cauchemar/ex-Bastardator) called Iron Dogs. “At the time of recording [debut album] ‘Cold Bitch’, I listened to Savage Grace and Omen daily,” he explains. “We wanted the drums to sound like Savage Grace’s ‘Master Of Disguise’, which is really rough and raw. Bands like Gotham City and Vice Human also had this incredible raw feel we were going for.” With songs about vampires, an unhealthy fascination with the Grim Reaper and “trying to find meaning in this pointless existence”, Iron Dogs is where Metal Blade’s early output meets Motörhead and has a fist fight that ends in the gutter. “’Another Night’ is a rock ‘n’ roll song about touring with no budget in shitty vans with shitty gear in shitty venues, never getting any sleep and being underfed,” he continues, and there is a definitely sense of urgency and desperation in their music. Drummer Dan Lee picks up the description: “I’m a big fan of primitive metal, although I do enjoy polished metal played by highly talented musicians. I am not skilled, I am foremost a fan and diehard enthusiast so what I lack … Read More