THE WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY @ Petit Campus

By Josh Mocle - The Kids are So-So - 04/07/2009

Wasting no time on hyperbole, I’m just gonna jump right to the quotable: The World/Inferno Friendship Society skirt the line between innovation and outright inspiration and their entirely unique brand of orchestral, cabaret proto-punk may very well bring new life to a genre rife with cliché and stale personalities (and if you disagree you are wrong.)

Being an Inferno fan for quite some time now, I was more than a little stoked to hear they would be making the trip up to Montreal to finally play the city (and indeed Canada proper) for the first time in the band’s 13 year history. That having been said, I still did not know what to expect. Having seen the band three times before this (each time with a slightly different version of their constantly evolving lineup), I could safely make the claim that much of the magic of a World/Inferno show comes not just from what happens on stage, but the interplay between performer and audience. For those not in the know, there really is no such thing as a casual World/Inferno fan. If you don’t hate them then you fucking LOVE them and express that love by acting incredibly stupid (in the best meaning of the word possible) while in their presence. I would go so far as to say that the band not only encourages this, but bases their career on the unity and love shown by their fans (evident in, if nothing else, their name.) However, my worry going in was that Montreal, a city that loves their punk rock but at the same time doesn’t really allow for all that much innovation in said punk rock, might see a piano and a horn section and immediately call it “gay” (or worse, “ska”) and move on sight unseen and sound unheard. Without the intensity and backup of the crowd to compliment the intensity and creative energy of the band, would the Inferno translate as well live?

Turns out my worries were only half accurate: indeed, there were very few Montrealers present at Petit Campus that night (and a decent chunk of them were IN local openers, friends of CJLO and all around solid dudes Winslow or part of Team Winslow on the whole.) However, the true intensity and devotion of the average Inferno fan was a concept I had not considered in my predictions and by the time the band took the stage the dance floor was respectfully filled with some fine folk with entirely too much time on their hands from the band’s native New York (and a few unfortunate souls from Jersey), making the show itself seem just populated enough. Lead by the enigmatic Jack Terricloth, the slightly smaller than usual line-up (only seven members as opposed to the usual nine or ten, including new drummer and similarly solid dude Brian Viglione, formerly of The Dresden Dolls) took the stage and lead the audience in the traditional recitation of the band’s name before launching into long time Inferno set opener “Tattoos Fade.”

What followed was a full hour and a half of new material peppered with Inferno classics. While the majority of the set was made up of this new material, the band still found the time for fan favorite “hits” such as “Just The Best Party”, “The Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater”, “Zen and the Art of Breaking Everything In This Room” and “Heart Attack ‘64”. Worthy of note is the fact that the majority of the new stuff featured Terricloth on a rather beat up but still functional acoustic guitar, which brought a smile to the face of THIS Sticks and Stones fan (if you aren’t familiar with Sticks and Stones and Terricloth’s role in it than you have some homework to do…trust me, you won’t regret it.)

While the band very much functions as a unit and includes many powerful musical minds, it really is the Jack Terricloth show and as a front man he has no equal (except maybe Eugene Hutz and even then it’d be close with Jack ultimately coming out on top.) Dressed in his usual custom suit and swilling red wine, he drew his audience in and enthralled them with stories of his three favorite things: money, drugs and sex and his interactions with them over his deceptively long life (which is the nice way of saying he’s fucking old…but as he says, punks age incredibly well.) It’s really difficult to listen to his words and NOT be inspired by his sincerity and mystique. While introducing one of the aforementioned new tracks he pointed out that one should never let a silly thing like the truth get in the way of a good story and just like that I had a new mantra to base my life on.

More a family reunion than a concert, a cultic ceremonial performance than a punk rock show, the band left the stage that night promising this may have been their first show here, but it certainly would not be the last. I’d say I’ll wait with baited breath for their return, but having them come to me is simply a convenience and by no means a prerequisite…I’ll probably be “that guy from Montreal at the World/Inferno show decidedly NOT in Montreal” for years to come (and I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Cheers.   

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