The Street Dogs + Off With Their Heads + Murder the Stout + The Prowlers @ Foufounes Electriques

I remember finishing many a week as a bike courier at Foufs on a Friday night with one too many beers. The gates in front of the bar were littered with various bikes in various states of disrepair, and the tables inside were littered with bike helmets, courier bags, and empty glasses. With that in mind, I was amazed to realize that this was the first time I’ve actually seen a live show there.

The Street Dogs are a punk band from Boston in the middle of their seventh annual holiday tour called Wreck the Halls 2011. In tow with them this year were Off With Their Heads and Murder the Stout, as well as locals The Prowlers who joined them for the Montreal show. With an 8pm start, I knew early that I was going to miss some of the music at the start of the show. By the time I arrived, Off With Their Heads were four songs away from finishing their set before the headliners took to the stage. After they closed out their set with more energy on the last song than the three previous combined, the tables were set for socially charged rebel music.

The Street Dogs have five full length albums to their credit, with the most recent being a self-titled album released in 2010 on Hellcat Records. They kicked off their set with two anthems from their latest: "Rattle and Roll," and "Up the Union"; the pushing and shoving at the front of the stage was well on it’s way. The fourth song of the evening, "Not Without a Purpose," which comes from the 2006’s Fading American Dream, created such a surge of energy that the crowd lifted a dude and his wheel chair high above the audience for a long surf.

Punk shows are great to see for a couple of different reasons. I always look forward to the music, but also enjoy hearing what the band has to say between songs. In a year where thousands have mobilized and occupied various cities across the world while promoting social and economic change, a a band that wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve while championing personal empowerment and the working class should have had lots to share with the audience. Unfortunately, the long grind of driving across the country produced banter catered at how Montreal audiences drink better than the audiences in Saskatchewan (if anything this segued nicely into "Tobe’s Got a Drinking Problem," but the concert fell on the same day as Canada pulling out of the Kyoto agreement).

Getting back to the music, the Street Dogs paid homage to Joe Strummer, Bob Marley, The Pogues and Montreal’s own The Mahones throughout the night and dipped as far back as their first LP, Savin Hill, for songs during their set. The music was played fast, hard, and on point to a very appreciative audience. You know a band has won over it’s crowd when they are brave enough to rep their hometown Bruins in Montreal!

-Kevin G hosts The Wake-Up Call every Thursday from 6-8am