Feb. 06, 2013 - Issue #903: Moment by moment
Incura
/ Mark Maryanovich
It only makes sense that Canadian band Incura throws "theatrical" in front of hard rock when defining its genre. The five-man group, originally from Lethbridge and now living in Vancouver, puts on nothing short of a show.
By the end, the band is literally dripping with sweat, spit and black paint, and sometimes even a little bit of blood and vomit—although, lead singer Kyle Gruninger jokes, "I've stopped eating shawarma before shows" to stop the vomiting.
But, it's not just the bodily fluids and the paint that make an Incura show theatrical: it's the band's energy and Gruninger's movements, facial expressions and passionate falsetto—all things he picked up while studying theatre at the University of Lethbridge and later performing in Vaudevillian shows with New West Theatre.
"I bring all of that into my live performances," he says, noting that bands need to give fans a reason to come out and buy a ticket. "I don't want to listen to the CD at a show. I have the CD. I paid for it. I want to see you play it and I want to see you throw your guitar around and fall over on stage and scream and bleed and throw up. I want to see it all."
So, all is what Incura gives.
"At our shows, nobody will be just standing on stage playing in their T-shirt and jeans," he says.
The band—made up of Gruninger on vocals, Jono Olson on bass, Jim McLaren on keys, Royce Whittaker on guitar and Phil Gardner on drums—plays music that's hard to define, sometimes jumping in one song from metal to prog-rock to opera.
"When people say, 'We're a little bit of everything,' we actually mean it," says Gruninger, adding that the easiest way to describe Incura's sound is theatrical hard rock.
Sat, Feb 9 (8 pm)
With Looking East
Pawn Shop, $10
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