NOMEANSNO + The Devices + Grand Trine @ La Sala Rosa

By Simon Howell - The Lonesome Strangers - 06/26/2009

Of all the musical pairings I've seen on Montreal stages these past few years, not many have been as inspired as this one: a collision of two of Canada's most enduring punk bands, both of whom have a penchant for twisted humor and social commentary - and surprisingly labyrinthine tunes. With the unenviable task of opening up for two long-standing punk institutions, locals Grand Trine did the sensible thing: they kept it short. They couldn't have been on longer than 15 minutes, and that was about the right timeframe in which to best showcase their brand of indistinct-but-fun scuzzy punk.

Rick Trembles and his self-proclaimed "idiot cards" heralded the Devices' surprisingly meaty opening set, complete with the self-denigrating witticisms you'd expect ("I'm numb in more ways than two!") as he and Rob LaBelle went back and forth assuming vocal duties. The Devices have an appealingly slippery sound, less reliant on blitzkrieg distortion than on unpredictable songwriting and twin-guitar dynamics. I'll admit to being more partial to Trembles material, but LaBelle's songs were solid. I find it a little odd that the 'Devices seem to be utter unknowns outside of the province, and aren't terribly high-profile even here, considering their long history and Trembles' local profile as the Motion Picture Purgatory guy. If you've got any interest in Montreal's punk scene and you haven't checked them out yet, there's something wrong with you.

Of course, the main event was  NoMeansNo themselves. I'll confess that the moment Rob and John Wright and Tom Holliston came onstage, all I could think was, "damn, they're old." (Jonathan Cummins notes in his weekly column that they appeared like elder statesman even in the mid-80s). Sure enough, John sat down at his kit, set up on stage right, and bellowed, "we're...oooold," before launching into a massive, lurching new tune called, you guessed it, "Old", which was reminiscent of Wrong's epic closing track "I Am Wrong", all bass hooks and slow crunch. It wasn't the only new material to be played (we also got a memorable airing of a catchy new tune entitled "Liberation"), but it was the tone-setter, establishing their dark sense of humor and devotion to cranking out challenging, bracing material. Most corners of their discography were covered, from their mid-80s origins all the way to 2006's heavily represented All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt. Highlights included an incredible rendition of "Everyday I Start to Ooze," which had the pit swerving and skanking with great fury, the hardcore blast of "Oh No! Bruno!" (expertly placed immediately following the noisy crawl of "Old" for maximum impact), a solid rendition of "Humans" (which kicks off my favorite NMN release, The Worldhood of the World, which was otherwise absent) and a predictably awesome version of an old staple, the hard funk workout of "Rags and Bones".

It wasn't exactly an ideal setlist in my book - a little too much reliance on early, abstract material as well as a few too many of Ausfahrt's lesser tunes (never been a huge fan of "Heaven is the Dust..."), but with a back catalog so vast it's difficult to complain. Regardless, these old-timers wiped the floor with whatever young upstarts you spent your money on instead.

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