The Deviance - The Deviance

When hearing of a band that sets out to create a series of lit-rock-operas, it’s a natural reaction to stand bemused while figuring out how it all gets done. Chapters rather than song titles? Literal plot ranslation? Paper cuts vs. jamming fingers in the CD case? Having re-visited memories of mandatory high school reading (insert harp melody here) as their sweet nectar of inspiration, The Deviance have paired their synergistic styles, impeccable musical talent and flair for the unheard of to create an eponymous album re-interpreting William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

This release, The Deviance, was born through heavy experimentation and revealed itself to be a sophisticated statue of sound, providing a unique audible journey into the riffs and drifts of this classic novel come to life.

When hearing of a band that sets out to create a series of lit-rock-operas, it’s a natural reaction to stand bemused while figuring out how it all gets done. Chapters rather than song titles? Literal plot ranslation? Paper cuts vs. jamming fingers in the CD case? Having re-visited memories of mandatory high school reading (insert harp melody here) as their sweet nectar of inspiration, The Deviance have paired their synergistic styles, impeccable musical talent and flair for the unheard of to create an eponymous album re-interpreting William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

Comprised of, and in no particular order other than alphabetical, Andrew Eckart (bass, vocals), Bryan Gibson (guitar, vocals), Billy Holmes (guitar), Steve McKay (drums, vocals) and Andy Richardson (vocals), The Deviance throw the book at you with their combined talent and engaging performance abilities. Their live show has been known to pack everything from their jam space to Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern, and the freshly cut “re-debut” debut album is a trip unto itself into magical musical diversion and that lost little island with boys beating the crap out of each ther all at once.

If only they’d let us do things like this in high school, forgoing book reports for concert reviews, so that maybe more of us would have shown up. That’s not to suggest this is a band full of slackers, however; all are very much prepared for suspect musical after-life with more degrees than band members between them.

Together since 2003, the band officially started after a last minute gig in Kingston, Ontario saw Steve and Billy (who each have their own solo releases also out this year) perform their take on To Kill a Mocking Bird. When brought back to hometown Hamilton, Ontario, the idea appealed to the others and soon a summer spent jamming turned into a self-described “post-apocolyptic-literary-prog-core” style evolvement and the release of their official pre-debut album, Tribulation (2004), based on John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. The mind-blowing show evolved from talent showcase to true form and ingenuity, leaving the band and their fans hungry for… more high school English, go figure.

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