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Dallas Richter - Dont Mess With Dallas - 11/20/2004

Further Seems Forever – FSF, perhaps most commonly known for being Chris Carrabba’s (Dashboard Confessional) former band, were awesome in terms of sound. The band, now with John Bunch, former Sensefield frontman, sounded just as good live as on their studio recordings. Their stage presence, on the other hand, was mediocre at best. Not that I think bands should have to do backflips or breathe fire or whatever gimmicks bands use to try to keep audience attention, but move around a bit dude! Tell us about your first poutine experience…something, anything. Despite the somewhat stale delivery, FSF proved that a slightly more aged group can survive in a genre dominated by countless little kid, poser poetry bands that the scene is made up of (for the most part) Rantline worthy?.

Sparta – My expectations were not that high for Sparta. In fact, I had higher expectations for Further Seems Forever, as I was never a huge fan of Sparta. Despite some general belief that Sparta exists solely in the shadow of former superheroes, At The Drive In, I shan’t compare the two bands. An air of anxiety occupied Club Soda in the 15 minutes after FSF’s stage exit. The band seemed exceptionally confident upon arrival except for singer Jim Ward, whose shaking hands and desperate voice made the band seem slightly more human than the crowd had built them up to be. Sparta fuckin’ brought it! From the first song to the last, they dominated the stage. The moments in between songs consisted of weird guitar noises, deep hallow drum hits and soft lighting creating a sort of trippy dreamlike state (I was sober). Their 50 minute set blend of old and new, slow and fast left the crowd chanting for more, but more they would not get. No encore from the Sparta boys. It’s safe to say that I now hold Sparta in a higher esteem than I had from my concise sampling of their CDs. Their latest CD, Porcelein, is seemingly not good at first, but it really grows on you if you give it a chance.

Overall, the crowd was great. They were extremely welcoming, cheered a lot and made the bands feel comfortable and confident to do their thang. Audience members were slightly older than the generally young crowds at punk (and I use the word in the most HMV classifying sense) shows. I unfortunately missed the two opening bands which were Copeland and Sunshine. 4 out of 4 audience members I questioned assured me that I didn’t miss much, but I don’t wanna discredit them before giving them a chance, so I’ll try to dig up some of their songs.

This show get’s 7.5/10 on the Richter scale (Richter is my family name fool….clever).

Dallas hosts Don’t Mess With Dallas (Dallas is his first name fool…clever) every Tuesday from 8am to 10am. He swears that he has never used the Richter pun before.

By T-Bone - The Beer OClock - 11/13/04

So it was Zeke, the Black Halos, and Vulgar Deli at La Tulipe. This was Zeke's first time in Canada. Sonny, their old guitar player had a criminal record which made it impossible for Zeke to cross the border in the past. Now that he is out of the way, Zeke as a three-piece crossed the border and did a full Canadian Tour, playing all the little buttfuck towns, as well as the major cities...

My night was filled with trying to get from one party to the show back to another party. So we ended up coming to the show while the Black Halos were playing. It is too bad because I really wanted to see Vulgar Deli play. From what I heard, Costa, their lead singer was, well Costa. I don't know if you remember the old Montreal hardcore band, Blood Sausage, but Costa used to sing for them. Well, Costa is simply himself, i.e.: rude, obnoxious, and full of piss and vinegar. He has one of the best voices in hardcore and knows how to push buttons to start a rock show. So even though I didn't see it, they probably kicked much ass as I was told.

Then came the Black Halos. Like my friend told me, she had to go to the back of the bar while they were playing because she was too tempted to throw a beer bottle on stage and knock the singer out cold. Would have made the wait for Zeke a little less long; sometimes for humanitarian causes, one must use violence. The Black Halos I believe are from Seattle, but used to be from Vancouver and started as the Black Market Babies. Again you may know or not know that the drummer for the Black Halos was the old drummer for Sparkmarker, the great emo band from Vancouver. I was also told that the singer for the Black Halos was the old singer for Okara. I knew that Matt, the old bassist for the Black Halos, played in Okara and now is playing for Blood Meridian, but I didn't know about the singer. Anyhow, enough geneological mapping. The band musically was alright. However, their style was deplorable. Let me explain: when I saw The Black Market Babies (the Black Halos under a different name) open up for the 25th anniversary of DOA in Vancouver, I remember shedding a tear when I saw the drummer for Sparkmarker wearing baby blue tight leather pants and talking how all the boys got their hair done professionally before the show. Nothing much changed in six years. There is still a cross between a fairly good sounding rock band à la Dead BoysPoison and AFI. If that's not enough to make you gag, I don't know what is. You see, when I am too busy heaving, it is really hard for me to concentrate on the music. I guess my attentional capacity reached it threshold through the gag reflex. What really amazes me is that Zeke took them out on tour. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. But when the cover is the Black Halos, it is hard not to. The singer was still the same: pissed drunk, slithering on stage... The first time I saw them, I thought it was an act because I didn't think you could be this drunk on stage and that out of control (minus David Yow of Jesus Lizard) but I guess you can. He ended up at the end of the set sprawled out next to the drum kit, his tight leather pants half off, trying to get up but too loaded to do anything. You know when it is David Yow, it is art, it is fucking pure rock, it is a fucking show. When it is the Black Halos, it is like a cheap cracked out whore that you feel pity for. I shouldn't be too hard; dissing the Black Halos is like being hard on someone who is mentally retarded because he doesn't understand quantum mechanics. It just isn't fair, they suck, and so be it, they make bands like Zeke just look better.

The only flaw with this show aside from the Black Halos was the bar itself. They were simply booked in too big of a place. Foufounes would have been ideal. There might have been 200 people at the show, but it was booked in a show space that could hold easily 600. The stage is about 5 foot off the ground, so you get the idea. The place was somewhat empty. Zeke came on played their blistering songs for less than hour. They got pissed off at the crowd and left, when they should have gotten pissed off at the space for being too big. Zeke were amazing but they were really helpless on stage; there were simply not enough people to make the place erupt and get people really moving. They seemed frustrated, but we were also frustrated. It was a lost cause to begin with. Again, don't get me wrong, Zeke kicked ass in such unfortunate circumstances. They didn't play very much off the new record and really stuck to all their old stuff. Is Zeke gonna come back to Montreal? I hope so, but not at the La Tulipe. Maybe with Motorhead, who knows, hope we see you again, Zeke, in better circumstances.

By Omar Goodness - Hooked on Sonics - 11/09/04

After witnessing what I just did, I'm pretty sure of one thing: the Hot Snakes are not human. Playing every song with impeccable precision and unseen and unheard of tightness, these dudes have gotta be machines. Currently on a mammoth tour behind their frenetically fabulous new album, Audit in Progress, these three guys from San Diego and one from Brooklyn hit the stage at la Sala Rossa for their first show in Montreal to an excited and anxious crowd.

Now, let's get this out of the way. If you don't know this, you either: a) have never listened to HOOKED on SONiCs, b) never been in my car, or c) don't really know me. I am a HUGE fan of the dearly departed Drive Like Jehu. Jehu's one of those bands that completely changed my perspective on music. They were totally ahead of their time and managed to sound like a mangled car crash and a well-oiled machine at the same time. Hot Snakes features one half of Drive Like Jehu; Hot Snakes then puts out records after Jehu's demise; Yours truly enjoys those records; Hot Snakes comes to town...Do the math. Asides from the upcoming Pixies concert, this was my most anticipated show of the year. Yeah, that's all great and all, but did it live up to all my lofty young teenage reminiscent expectations? Good God, yes.

Coming out of the gate with "This Mystic Decade", they picked up steam, almost as if they were warming up. Then the gloves came off, and the beating began. Bursting with nervous energy on record, the high strung post-punk quartet captured said energy, bottled it, and then proceeded to break it over the audience's head. At three different moments of the night, they performed three blocks of the first three songs of each of their three albums consecutively. Without pause. It was incredible, and my brain is still completely mush after witnessing the sonic stampede of "Braintrust", "Hi-Lites" and "Retrofit" (my personal highlight of the show) off of Audit in Progress.

Guitarist/Vocalist Rick Froberg, formerly of the late great Drive Like Jehu, yelped, screamed, bellowed, and mumbled his vocal chords numb. Steady on stage left, Froberg kept the patented Hot Snakes downstrokes a-comin' on his Telecaster while making eye contact with audience members throughout entire songs with his fixated, almost unblinking, crazed glare (yeah...uh...he did this to me a few times, especially during "Suicide Invoice"...creepy is beyond what that was like). Not really much of talkative host for the evening, Froberg explained that as how he wished he had "something interesting to say, but none of us speak French. Sorry."

Guitarist John Reis (aka Speedo of Rocket from the Crypt, and also formerly of the amazingly awesome Drive Like Jehu) provided some backing vocals here and there (though noticeably, and sadly, missing during their breakneck run-through of Suicide Invoice's "XOX"). Launching the band into each of their hyperactive tunes by raising his guitar neck as a signal and then proceeding to chug away, Reis was perfect, note for note. No count-offs, a few rare looks between members, most songs were started immediately after the last one, with Reis signaling the band with that split-second motion.

New drummer Mario Rubalcaba, also of Rocket from the Crypt, did a fantastic job of covering the older songs as well as pummeling through the frantic new ones without missing a bit. The setlist pretty much went "slower song, faster, fast, fast, fast. Repeat," most probably to keep him from keeling over from the manic time he was keeping during most of the songs.

Bassist Gar Wood (ex-Tanner) stood his ground next to Rubalcaba's kit and plucked out his bass lines while rocking his trademark moustache. He hardly moved...at all. Looking a little spaced out, he was rock solid, anchoring the mayhem and adding a great new low end element to songs off of Automatic Midnight and Suicide Invoice that were recorded sans bass.

The crowd was totally spellbound with all eyes on the stage and reacted to everything they played with complete excitement, the songs off of Automatic Midnight, "Hi-Lites", and "I Hate the Kids" especially (side note: I wish I could put into words the sheer amusement of witnessing the interesting avant garde dance moves being performed during the show by the couple in front of me. Saying It was "ridiculously hilarious" does not do it justice).

Out of a totally flawless performance, I guess the only complaint would be the fact that they never really loosened up. Playing with their machine gun intensity was fantastic and all, but more open-ended songs like "Salton City", "Our Work Fills the Pews" or even the pounding outro of "Hatchet Job" would've added a nice turn of events to the setlist. Still, they roared through a solid set and left the stage literally soaked with sweat (seriously, the amount of sweat seeped into Froberg's shirt alone was kinda sick). Needless to say, these guys have stamina and the show flew by in a blur. I don’t think I’ve witnessed a band this inhumanly tight in my life.

How they play so hard, so fast, and still remain completely in-check is unbelievable. Plus the fact that due to Froberg's opposite coast distance from the rest of them, making band practices few and far between, makes that feat even more impressive. This was one of those shows that leaves you speechless after. Days later, the effects are still setting in and I'm still reveling at how amazing they were.

Mind-blowing.

(Catch an interview with John Reis on HOOKED on SONiCs within the coming weeks and hear how he convinced me that he helps operate on snakes at the San Diego zoo in his downtime. Bassist Gar Wood videotaped the interview to post on their website...uh, their website is updated practically once a year, so don't hold your breath.)

By Oli Pulleybank - Boozehound Radio - 11/02/04

November 2nd saw a completely different kind of punk rock show hit Montreal (see Suicide Machines review). Waving the flag of anger, intellegence, reason and disbelief, Bad Religion came into town and rocked La Belle Provence with some left-wing indignation. After openers Rise Against played 6 songs for a total of 20 minutes (?), the crowd was given a half-hour to cool their heels before the lights finally dimmed. The band walked out on to the dark stage and began to play the overture (yeah I know, what punk band has a fucking overture?) from their new album The Empire Strikes First, and the crowd geared up for what they knew was coming next, the blistering track "Sinister Rouge".

The reaction the band got for "Sinster Rouge", the first real track off their new album, kind of showed exactly what is so amazing about this band. After almost 25 years of playing punk rock, the fact that they could write a song that is faster, angrier, catchier and smarter than almost any other punk song of 2004 should put all the new bands to shame. What amazed me was that the crowd reaction was as strong, if not stronger, for songs off their last two albums than it was for their old hits. "God's Love" got as many fists in the air as their classic "You", and "God's Love" wasn't even in a Tony Hawk game! They played for an hour, mixing a lot of new stuff with some of the old stuff, but interestingly they didn't stick to just the old classics. Songs like "Modern Man" and "Come Join Us", though solid songs, wouldn't wind up on any greatest hits album, but fit in perfectly with the set.

Ultimately, as a reviewer I am pretty biased because I've always had a thing for Bad Religion, and their 1996 Album The Gray Race was the first CD I ever bought, so yeah, it is no surprise that I thought the show rocked. But I still think that this is a band whose message is important, whose songs are great and whose show is fantastic. To see lead singer Greg Graffin, a late 30's college professor with a PHD in biology, screaming out the chorus to "Fuck Armageddon This Is Hell" is a treat no matter who you are. Catch them next time because though they're pushing 40, they haven't lost it at all and are still one of the best live punk acts out there.

Download Sinister Rouge from the Bad Religion official website. Tune in to Oliver O'Pulleyblank on Boozehound Radio Sundays from 6-8pm, which delivers first-rate counselling to alcoholics everywhere.