Street Dogs+ Hostage Life + Ashers

This is the fifth time I’ve attempted to begin this Street Dogs review with some kinda hyperbolic statement about how the show blew my mind and how Foufs is the perfect venue for a punk show and how the Street Dogs revolutionize street punk in 2009 but really? Who wants to read that? Not every show has to be mind-blowing or revolutionary to be good, and believe you me, this show was GOOD…except for one teency little programming snag.

Until about two days prior to the show, Boston’s own Ashers were set to play second as direct support for the Street Dogs while the show was to be opened by Toronto’s Hostage Life. However, once (the crazy cool) Shawna G and I made it to the venue we were greeted with two things I wasn’t expecting: one, a list of set times that put Ashers on first and two, an almost empty second floor of Foufs. By the time Ashers, who feature the legendary Mark Unseen (of Boston street punk monsters The Unseen) on vocals took the stage the numbers in the place weren’t much better, leaving the band to play to a nearly empty room. Now, this is only unfortunate since Ashers were DAMN decent. Blending punk rock with a semi-classic southern rock twang (which is funny given where they’re actually from), the only downside to the whole ordeal is that Unseen’s vocal stylings are SO unique that the similarities between Ashers and The Unseen are almost undeniable. Which is sad since the band really does have a more or less unique sound, even within the notoriously generic street punk genre, but they’ll always just be “Mark Unseen’s Other Band.”  

Up next was the aforementioned Street Dogs…I mean Hostage Life. These Toronto punks, while well meaning (evidently), were just way too similar to the headliners they were warming the room up for that I couldn’t even begin to take them seriously.  

Finally, the mighty Street Dogs took the stage. For those unfamiliar with the history of this band, they’re fronted by Mr. Mike McColgan, who was the original singer for some band no one has heard of called The Dropkick Murphys. After leaving the Murphys to spend time as a Boston City Firefighter, McColgan returned to music along with former Bruisers bassist Johnny Rioux and a motley assortment of Boston punks to form the Street Dogs. Over the past six years the band has released four full lengths and toured the world numerous times over. That having been said, while they’ve been to Montreal numerous times as part of bigger tours, this evening's show was their first headlining gig in the city and they wasted no time showing Montreal what they can do when the night is theirs. Much to my surprise, the vast majority of the set list was drawn from their much beloved 2005 sophomore release Back to the World including this writer’s personal favorite, “In Defense of Dorchester”. Leaving no corner untouched, they hit tracks from all four of their major releases including the rarely heard “Stand Up” from 2003’s Savin Hill, their latest single “Two Angry Kids” off 2008’s State of Grace and what can easily be described as one of the best punk rock anthems of the last ten years, “Not Without a Purpose” off 2006’s Fading American Dream.

As I said before, this show was not groundbreaking. The Street Dogs don’t revolutionize and re-invent the genre in any way, shape or form…but my God do they run with it well. In this day and age when a lot of new bands are clinging to the fad-aspects of the genre, it’s nice to see a band that actually gets what punk rock should be (and while it’s still uncertain whether it SHOULD be anything in particular…I’m fairly certain the groove the Street Dogs have is it.) Tight as all hell, pouring their hearts into every note and showing the new kids how it’s done. You really can’t ask for much more than that.