Mares of Thrace played last on the bill, and brought the night to a thunderous close. I am profoundly interested in the aesthetics of constraint and the way art can be produced by limitation. Mares of Thrace plug directly into this particular obsession. Consisting only of vocals, baritone guitar and drums, this two-woman force of nature produce a wall of sound: intense and varied, deep and resonant, pulsating and urgent, and shockingly complex.

“We didn’t want to overindulge in anything other bands were doing. In the mid-70s people were just doing guitar solos and drum solos and albums only had five songs. Rock was being diluted by jazz rock and folk rock and blues rock. We wanted the two-and-a- half minute approach. It was the same when I was with Richard Hell and the Voidods. We all liked Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. Those songs were only two minutes and twenty seconds long. We only cared about the song. We didn’t care about solos. We just wanted a chorus that could be remembered and a song structure that wasn’t 20 minutes long.”

Justin M. Norton in conversation with the one and only Marky Ramone.

Adam Wills reviews the 2010 remake of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, which premiered at the Toronto After Dark Festival. It will be released in cinemas on October 15th.

This record isn’t so much a split EP as it is a clash of the titans concerning those who revel and relish in the slow and painful.

“Just as my energy level was reaching a crisis point, the audience’s had risen to a fever pitch, becoming positively explosive by the time Exodus took the stage. I made it about halfway through their 90-odd-minute set before throwing in the towel, but what I saw was absolutely spectacular. They are without a doubt a band not to miss, and I was glad for every moment I hung in to soak up some of the torrent they unleashed upon the crowd.”

Natalie Zed recaps the Toronto performance by EXODUS, HOLY GRAIL, BONDED BY BLOOD and more at Toronto’s Mod Club on August 24, 2010