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Show C-2 The Park Record Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues February 27 - March 3, 2010 Swollen Members ready to 'reclaim the throne' Canadian hip-hoppers stop in Park CHy By ALISHA SELF Of the Record staff .' Swollen Members is no stranger to the game when it .' comes to the music industry. • The Canadian-based hip-hop 'group has been around since '•; 1996, and its two primary MCs • : ,-Mad Child and Prevail - have • seen their share of ups and • downs. But nothing has compared ; to the trials and tribulations of .' the past three years. After '. releasing their fifth studio -album, "Black Magic," in 2006, : the underground duo seeming; ly disappeared from fans' ; radar. ; Many assumed that Mad ; and Prevail were holed up with : their longtime producer. Rob the Viking, working on new ; material. That was partially . true - the trio had moved into a fortress in British Columbia to record - but there was more to the story. Mad Child eventually revealed that he was battling a serious addiction to prescription drugs. The record label he created to release Swollen .Members' music, Battle Axe Records, had all but crumbled and he was embroiled in vari- inspiration musically, business- knowledge, the support grew ous legal battles. wise and friendship-wise," says even more." "The complications with Prevail. "I think he looks back Much of that support came Mad were a little bit undercov- and values the people who from the "Swollen Army," the er to the rest of the group for stuck by his side and didn't bands legion of loyal fans. about the first 9 months to a desert him in times of angst." Many of those fans have folyear," Prevail told The Park The duo, along with their lowed the group since their Record in an interview. "We new protege, Tre Nyce, recent- debut album in 1999. At that had been partying on the ly embarked on a U.S. tour time, the Vancouverites were weekends, but we didn't realize that will stop at The Star Bar in just staking their claim on the weekend had extended Park City on Thursday, March Canada's hip-hop scene - Mad itself into a full seven-day regi- 4. The tour celebrates the end Child an edgy, spitfire MC and men. The label complications - of the group's three-year hiatus Prevail a soft-spoken the change of guards. I like to and promotes the new album, Canadian who effortlessly refer to it as - 1 think morphed into a sort of hit everybody freestyle phenom. in different ways. We "When we met all resorted to our each other, in the We had been partying on the own personal outlets, formative years we and Mads unfortu- weekends, but we didn't realize really balanced each nately was choosing other out - hence the to go the prescription the weekend had extended itself name of the first drug route to relieve into a full seven-day regimen. album. "Balance,"' his animosities." says Prevail. "We Fortunately, Mad - Prevail really have learned ^ ^ ^ ^ how to play off of Child was open ^^^^ ^^^m each other's energies about what was going ^ ^ ^ ™ and bring the best out on, both with his fellow group members and with "Armed to the Teeth," which in each other. Certainly the the fans. In a statement posted was released by Surburban last three years have been full on the band's websites, he Noize in conjunction with of energy - some of it negative, wrote, *'I was severely addicted Battle Axe and produced in some of it positive - but the positive balance has definitely to Oxycontin, doing just over large part by Rob the Viking. twenty SO mg pills a day.*' He The title, says Prevail, has a overweighed the negative in shared that he spent over half a double meaning. "In part ever)' format now that we're million dollars on pills and lost because we'd been recording being retrospective about approximately two million in for three years, building up an things/' neglected business transac- arsenal in the musical stockThe group will fete its 10tions. ade, we felt like we were year anniversary with the Mad Child entered rehab armed to the teeth with release of a greatest hits and kicked the habit in time to music," he says. "The other album, "Ten Years of put finishing touches on the side of that is, at a time when Turmoil," on March 16. group's sixth album, which was you would expect maybe comSwollen Members also has munication to drop off, it actu- big plans for the next couple released last October. "What I see now is that he ally increased. As [Mad Child's of years. "There's a lot of came out of it with so much addiction] became public music coming out, and it's U T-H going to be everything from the classic Swollen Members signature sound, to more experimental, current-sounding tracks," says Prevail. "We will keep pushing as well in those directions and just showing our diversity as I feel that we always have." "Armed to the Teeth" took on a different, more modern sound. Some fans have been critical of the departure from the group's signature style, but Prevail says the group wanted to venture in new directions. •'We're quite excited about a lot of the chemistry that we came up with on that album," he says. A large part of the inspiration came from collaborating with Tre Nyce, an up- and-coming emcee also from Vancouver. "The kid's a beast. He's extremely talented and he's become our little brother," says Prevail. Tre Nyce will join Mad Child and Prevail on their U.S. tour along with opening acts Cool Nutz and Potluck. Tickets for Swollen Members' show at The Star Bar at $17 in advance at www.smithstix.com or $20 the day of the show. Doors open at 9 p.m. for ages 21 and over. For more information about Swollen Members, visit www.myspace.com/swoilenmembers or find the band on Facebook. For details about the show, visit www.myspace.com/starbarpc. 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