From left: Nabil Moo
(guitar, programming,
vocals) and Matt
Mihana (vocals)

I Set My

Friends on Fire

THESE ELECTRO-GRIND
SOULJA BOYS ARE DUO OR DIE

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE After feeling creatively stifled in their previous band, We Are the Cavalry, vocalist Matt Mihana and instrumentalist Nabil Moo formed the electro-grind duo I Set My Friends on KEEPING IT REEL The band first drew online acclaim Fire. Feeling refreshed, the pair cre- when Moo and Mihana uploaded “Crank That” ated You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without to MySpace. “We just thought our friends Laughter (Epitaph), which is a perfect would find it funny,” says Moo, who remem-mantra for a band who first made its bers recording the track at 2 A.M. in Mihana’s name with a tongue-in-cheek cover garage after a late-night trip to Taco Bell. of rapper Soulja Boy’s hit “Crank That “Crank That” spread through heavy-music (Soulja Boy).” On any given song, circles, earning the duo over 6 million page Mihana toggles between a melodic emo views and over 100,000 friends. They eventu-

croon and a glass-gargling growl over self-
consciously chaotic tracks that combine brutal
guitar chug with catchy synth riffs.
ally caught the eye and ear of Epitaph boss Brett
Gurewitz. Moo was in Best Buy shopping for CDs
when Gurewitz called to offer the duo a deal. “It
was like something out of a movie,” he says.

A PRICKLY PAIR Moo admits that replicating Slaughter’s dense sound onstage—where the group consists solely of Mihana on vocals and Moo on guitar and MacBook—is challenging. But maintaining the band’s two-person setup is important to both members. “It keeps it a little more personal,” Moo says. “This way we can meet our fan base one-on-one.” MIKAEL WOOD

Beneath the Massacre

MAPLE LEAF TECH-METALLERS
CAN’T PLAY HUNG OVER

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE On their second album, Dystopia (Prosthetic), Montreal death metallers Beneath the Massacre sharply juxtapose rigid riffs and blast beats with tough-as-nails humanist political rhetoric. “We’re a very technical and politically aware band,” says frontman Elliot Desgagnés. “We have a punk-rock background, but with a technical death-metal mentality. I can’t just sing random things into a mic.”

ISMFOF: MATT GRAYSON; BTM: ALEX MORGAN/STRYCH 9
From left: Dennis Bradley (bass),
Justin Rouselle (drums), Elliot Des-
gagnés (vocals), and Christopher
Bradley (guitar)

ALMIGHTY COLLAR “This album takes a more philosophical approach than [BTM’s debut] Mechanics of Dysfunction,” Desgagnés says of Dystopia’s titles and lyrics. “When we look at the world, all we can give people is a dystopian perspective. If we keep living under the laws of capitalism, we’re going downhill.” The Canadians’ ventures into the US haven’t helped their bleak political outlook. “I watch Fox News sometimes, and all your information seems a little distorted,” Desgagnés says. “I don’t even know where to start.”

TECHNICAL FOUL Politics isn’t the only subject that inspires the band, and among other hot button issues, not sucking also ranks very high on the list. “We’ve had to make some rules about drinking,” says the frontman. “It’s totally necessary. Your live performance suffers after two months of partying, especially playing music as complicated as ours. Guys who play simpler music can afford to perform hung over, but not us. I’ve seen some videos of us and thought, Oh God, did we really do this? Shit…” CHRIS KROVATIN