Nova Scotia’s HUMAN MISSILE CRISIS Unleashes Powerful Memorial Single “Blackwater”
Human Missile Crisis, the punk-infused garage-rock trio hailing from Dartmouth, Canada is pumped to release their debut album Liquor Store Stories, a garage rock, post-punk tribute to life, love, making mistakes, and the fallen. Powerful rhythms, aggressive executions, and some weird bits can all be found in this succinct 34-minute EP. The second single is “Blackwater” – a memorial track for a friend of theirs who passed away, which guitarist/vocalist DJ Vaters explains:
“This is one of those songs that just wrote itself and came out of nowhere within about 5 minutes. One day I was speaking to my old friend’s brother, and he reminded me that Charles passed away 5 years ago. Shortly after that conversation I cracked a beer, picked up the guitar and this song basically appeared in front of me. We grew up in Dominion, Nova Scotia, and here on our local beach because; there were coal mining communities all around us – coal dust would wash up on our beaches – this is what “Blackwater” is. Sonically I wanted this song to be powerful and memorable, an anthem to our old friend Charles.”
Liquor Store Stories is not just an album; it’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and a rollercoaster ride through life’s highs and lows. Human Missile Crisis combines raw energy with introspective lyricism, creating a sound that’s as powerful as it is cathartic.
Recorded at The Sonic Temple by Lil Thomas, with additional tracking by Braden Kamermans of the Halifax-based indie rock band Sleepy Kicks at Uthful Music. The album was mixed by Braden Kamermans and mastered at Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon by Brad Boatright. The album art is a photo of Vaters’ cat NUB, which was given an artistic treatment by Amy Crosby. The multifaceted album is a therapeutic journey and is recommended for fans of Queens of the Stone Age, Single Mothers, and Cloud Nothings.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
HEY! My name is D.J. Vaters. Born and raised about as far east as you can go without swimming to Newfoundland in a little town on the east side of Cape Breton Island called Glace Bay. I play guitar and sing in the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based Garage Rock/Post-Punk band Human Missile Crisis.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
Our debut album titled “Liquor Store Stories” was recorded live off the floor by Lil Thomas at The Sonic Temple in Halifax, Nova Scotia over two days back in June of 2022. We then went back and did some additional overdubs, vocals, and all the mixing with our friend Braden Kamermans. It was mastered by Brad Boatright in Portland, Oregon at his mastering studio AUDIOSIEGE. The album is basically a journey through all of life’s highs and lows, focusing on things like love, loss, jealousy, mortality, substance abuse, and basically just trying to exist in this anxiety-fueled world we live in.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
We’re just coming off a string of shows since the album release back in August. As of right now, our next show that we have booked is December 16TH at the Woodside Beverage Room in our hometown of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia… but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t be playing anything else in November, still looking at a couple of different options.
If given the chance, which Canadian artist would you love to work with in the future?
Alanis Morissette! I would absolutely love to work on some sort of heavy garage rock/punk rock song and have Alanis sing all over it. Maybe have some back-and-forth vocals and backups. One of the first albums I ever owned was her album Jagged Little Pill and I’ve been a fan ever since. She’s such a rockstar and her voice is incredible! YO, ALANIS! Let’s get it going!
What’s your goal for 2024?
2024 is going to be another great year for us. As it stands now the plan is to release Liquor Store Stories on vinyl, hopefully before spring 2024. And then we’ve been working hard on some new songs and already have half of the follow-up record ready to go, so I’m hoping by June of 2024 we’ll be back in the studio to start work on our second album. We’ll probably throw our name in to play some summer festivals too and hopefully land something fun to play in the summer.