Montreal's JUNKOWL Create Harsh and Guttural Cover Video of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black"
Photo Credit - Alexandre Guay
Just because you're a hardcore band doesn't mean you can't indulge in music outside your genre's realm. As collective fans of Amy Winehouse, Montreal's JUNKOWL are paying homage to the artist with a heavy, harsh, and guttural cover music video for her song "Back To Black".
Vocalist Jesse Frechette explains further on the band's choice to cover an Amy Winehouse song.
"When we decided to record a cover song, we knew we wanted to go with one that wasn’t metal to begin with and really make it our own. We chose Amy Winehouse because her lyrical content is very dark and I’ve always admired her honest and extremely personal writing style. My mom is a really big fan, so growing up, I got to hear her a lot around the house and in the car, etc. And as soon as I started figuring out the lyrics, I was sucked in. She helped me discover that a song doesn’t necessarily have to be brutal musically to be heavy. It’s all about how it makes you feel and, in that regard, I would consider Amy’s music quite heavy. Back To Black was always my favourite tune of hers, and the other members of the band all liked the song as well. Outside of metal we don’t necessarily share that much common ground, so once we landed on a song that we all liked and that portrayed a dark edgy vibe, we were sold."
Watch JUNKOWL's video cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" at https://youtu.be/3_xipxbdkXo
(Back To Black - Amy Winehouse - Junkowl Cover Version Artwork by Florence Langlois)
Oozing with rock n' roll vibes, JUNKOWL is a slick combination of stoner riffs, hardcore energy, and groovy bass. Champions of the “En Route To Heavy Montreal”, which lead to them performing on Canada's largest metal festival Heavy Montreal in 2019, the quartet unleashed their debut album “Making Out With My Death” during June 2020.
The full length is a slow dark ride of heavy riffs; big dirty bass lines, in-your-face drums, and gut-wrenching screams telling tales of self-loathing, confusion, and intoxication. It's a solid album, something to enjoy with a few beers, smoke a joint, and bang your head off for 30 minutes.
For fans of Cancer Bats, Every Time I Die, and Underoath, “Making Out With My Death” is available on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Music Videos:
Sickness Lives - https://youtu.be/g1wTNA8gzss
Crawling Feet - https://youtu.be/Z4WjZyBdi8M
Track Listing:
1. Snakecharmer
2. Quarantine Us All (2:27)
3. Shake Me
4. Dead Hooker (4:40)
5. Little Scum (4:54)
6. Crawling Up My Feet (3:46)
7. Sickness Lives
8. Relapse (3:39
9. Straitjacket
10. 10,000 Vultures
Album Length: 37:28
Junkowl is:
Jesse Frechette – Vocals
Dominic Labrie – Drums
Samuel Matte- Bass
Marco Larosa – Guitar
For more info:
About:
Heavy, sexy, and southern. Those are the best words to describe Montreal’s Junkowl.
Formed in 2017, their unique blend of groove metal, stoner, and hardcore is matched with high energy ‘in your face’ performances. A year earlier Jesse Frechette (vocals) met Dom Labrie (drums) and after a few jams they picked up Marco Larosa (guitar) and Samuel Matte (bass) and the rest is history. The writing process is a collaborative one, with melodies and vocals usually forming on the spot.
Moving through the underground music scene, Junkowl quickly made a name for themselves when they won the 2019 ‘En Route Vers Heavy Montreal’; a competition between nearly 200 bands, landing them a spot at that year’s edition of renowned metal festival Heavy Montreal.
On June 5th, 2020, they will release their debut album, “Making Out With My Death”, a 10 track record full of sultry and powerful songs about past regrets and self-destructive behaviour. It includes the band’s favourite “10,000 Vultures”, the first song Junkowl ever wrote, which was completed after the first jam together. Almost all the lyrics were freestyle during that jam.
With no sign of slowing down, Junkowl has more tunes in the works and pouring passion into their live performances and newly recorded tunes. Stay tuned for party animal blues; fat spliffs and heavy riffs.
“2019 Winners of En Route to Heavy Montreal”
"Take a spin through "Sickness Lives", if you're a fan of old school hardcore with some new twists and a whole lot of power, this will be for you." - Metal Injection
"The songs here on Making out with My Death have a real heavy groove to them. At times you can even hear a little bit of the band SUPERJOINT RITUAL. Some really cool bass lines present on here too. Every song sounds different from one another which shows the bands range in playing the heavy music and because of that you can hear a little bit of a mix of different genres here in the music." - Metal Temple
“The dirty, fat Stoner Sludge Metal riff of “Snakecharmer” is one designed to be accompanied by a beer and the gut-wrenching roar of “blow your brains out, blow my brains out” that brings it to it to its unnatural conclusion will no doubt be chanted by audiences across all lands as the band hit the road.” – Metal Noise
“Montreal hardcore rock n rollers Junkowl have released their new single ‘Quarantine Us All’, a slick combination of stoner riffs, hardcore energy, and groove metal. It’s ferocious and relentless from the offset, even when it veers out of hardcore territory and into the sludgier moments. It even has some technical moments, although they certainly borrow heavily from their influences (namely Every Time I Die and Cancer Bats) it is a banger in it’s own right, and given some time to breathe and develop I think this band could bring something monumental to the table.” – Backseat Mafia“
“Quarantine Us All” – Montreal’s southern rock infused metallers JUNKOWL drop new venomous track” – Idioteq
“the group combines very heavy stoner riffs with the energy of punk rock and hardcore. A group to discover absolutely.” – Mad Breizh
“stoner-like riffs, a bit of a hardcore sound overall.. cool edge to it too.” – Moshtpit Radio – WORT FM 89.9 (Madison, WI)
“Junkowl’s debut album Making Out With My Death is a powerful first offering from the independent hard rock band. Its musical arrangements join influences from a variety of bands that make the songs in themselves and from one to the next, powerful just from this aspect. The record’s lyrical themes are just as heavy as its musical content, as noted. Its sequencing puts the finishing touch to its presentation. Each noted item is important in its own way. All things considered, they make the album a work that bodes well for Junkowl’s future.” – Phil’s Picks
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