Black Dahlia Murder Plow Ahead

12/10/08 4:39pm

by Pete Richards (CHARTattack)

The Black Dahlia Murder are braving the frigid weather for a cross-Canada tour with Misery Index and Soilent Green that began on Sunday in Vancouver.

The tour hasn't been an easy one, as it comes after the extremely short notice given by lead guitarist John Kempainen that he was quitting the Detroit, Mich. band, which reduced them to a quartet.

"It's brutal," says vocalist Trevor Strnad over the phone from the tour van. "Snow everywhere.

"We've already disappointed our Canadian fans a lot and they're good to us. We don't want to do that. We don't want to have that reputation. So we figured we'd go on and play, and it sounds good, man.

"It's still worth coming. It's still cool. It's still the same songs. This is just temporary. We're just kind of soldiering through this tour and preparing for the future."

The Black Dahlia Murder are now focused on working with the person who Strnad says they've already confirmed as the band's next lead axeman. He won't name names, but says metalheads will know who he is from former bands. He'll join the group for their upcoming European tour and will help write material for their next album.

"We're just kind of ready for the next chapter," says Strnad. "We're older and wiser, and there's really no need to get too bent out of shape.

"I guess we just look ahead. We're still pumped on the band, so it's just good to have the prospect of bringing somebody in that's going to be just as pumped."

The Black Dahlia Murder are literally plowing through Canada as they battle snowstorms as a four-man group, and Strnad promises that fans won't be disappointed with their performances.

"It's just metal as fuck in Canada. We feel like we owed Canada. We've kind of hoed out on a couple of tours in the past because of member changes and stuff like that and kind of disappointed our fans.

"There seems to be a real awareness of the underground, and more towards the extreme side, and there's a real strong scene here. We definitely take a notice of that and we expect a good show, too."

Check out The Black Dahlia Murder, Misery Index and Soilent Green at these Canadian dates:

Dec. 10 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
Dec. 11 Regina, SK @ The Exchange
Dec. 12 Winnipeg, MB @ The Royal Albert Arms
Dec. 13 Thunder Bay, ON @ Kilroys
Dec. 15 Ottawa, ON @ Babylon
Dec. 16 Quebec City, QC @ L'Anti
Dec. 17 Montreal QC @ Le National
Dec. 18 Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
Dec. 19 London, ON @ The Embassy