Fucked Up/The Sadies/Burning Love/Catl at the Garrison on Halloween

(Not footage from the show.  More like, Google Images)

Fucked Up played another Halloween show in Toronto this year.  Last year they did 3 shows in a row, ya?

Kudos on the venue choice: The Garrison. 

 The opening line-up consisted of Burning Love (members of Our Father and ex- Cursed), Fun as Fuck (two members from Holy Fuck, too busy being cool to think of a name that doesn’t remind me of keg stands), the Sadies, and Catl- who played in between sets, ripping it on that tiny front stage.

The best part was that the show started promptly at 9 and didn’t stop until 12:3O (I can be home in time to put on my bed time socks AND watch the re-run of TMZ).

Messy at times, screechy in others, and a dash of pretention took away from Catl’s otherwise fun-as-hell set(s).  Rocked it.  A Toronto country-blues inspired band (bluesabilly?) with enough gritty thrash to be lumped in with punk scenes, they consist of only 3 members.   Think Justin Townes Earle but with grime and less lame.  Think, also, Jerry Lee Lewis jamming a bit with Mr. John Lee Hooker and a screechy owl.  Twangy guitar with quick-as-lightning picking accompanied heavy bass drum topped off by percussion and keyboard. 

Burning Love graced us with their presence before their upcoming Europe tour.  You can still pick out reminiscent sounds of Cursed, mostly through vocalist Chris Colohan’s distinctive voice.  Also, close in style to The Bronx in that they are more riff-heavy with less distortion and more rhythmic variation.  Also because they just kinda sound a bit like The Bronx. 

Fun as Fuck were not fun as fuck.   But the two boys were pretty to look at.  Still, something worth checking out.  Their big mistake was that their sound just didn’t fit the bill.  Holy Fuck meets some Fuck Buttons and a bit of Pelican.

The Sadies, in matching mummy costumes, were amazing.  I could be biased – the stand-up bass always makes me swoon.  Good mix of old and new songs; suits me just fine considering their latest album was great.  They’re also featured in the show, 12 Oz. Mouse.   Do yourself a favour  (If you like Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Good Job or  Xavier).  It IS cool they were shortlisted for the 2010 Polaris.

And then Fucked Up got up there. Singer Damian Abraham got down to his underwear as quick as possible and got down to business.  Two guitarists were dressed as Kurt Cobain.  Why?  90’s grunge covers. We had the Pearl Jam and the Alice in Chains, some Hole , and 2 Nirvana songs.  Follow that up with songs like ‘Crusade’ and other FU favourites.  Ignore the annoying Cobain’s on stage and focus on Abraham.  I dare you not to focus on him since he mostly likely would have been right next to you at some point.  The show was all over the place as Abraham spent it mostly on the floor, on amps, and everywhere but stage.   This is not unusual.  The set of original songs was great, consisting of material mostly from Hidden World and beyond that. F

I found out I have either telepathic or psychic skills because I was dressed as ‘1992’ for my costume.  

New video by one named Rye Rye and another named M.I.A

New video popped up by some Rye Rye.    M.I.A  on guest vocals for the chorus.   A little late in the year for a fresh, pop-summer tune, and I’m hoping that doesn’t hinder its chances of getting the recognition it deserves. 

The subject is grave…religious prejudice yadda yadda…

at 0:52seconds tho.

lols.

rivers cuomo, you asswipe.

here’s rivers cuomo of weezer NOT looking at his forearm to read off his cheat sheet of lyrics.  

In other news, stoked for that Blue album/Pinkerton tour. 

I heard this in between sets at the Autolux show last night.    With a tap of my toe and a swivel of my hip (the left one) I shimmied over to the DJ booth to ask what it was.  He told me to, ”go on youtube and type in Italian gibberish song.  It’s a dude named Adriano Calentano, or something.”

I did.  And it was great.  I don’t know the back story behind it all and I’m curious enough so that I have been trying to do some research.  I’m gathering that it’s from an Italian parody show, similar to a Kids in the Hall?  Then again, I might be off the mark and categorizing it as a ‘parody skit show’ might be completely degrading its importance and cultural significance.   So I’ve settled on loving it for what it is, like a mother to an ugly child.  

The autolux show was pretty brutal.  I had no prior knowledge of the band going into the show save for a quick listen through of their first album, Future Perfect. Sometimes, for reputable bands, this is a good idea because you’re mind isn’t jaded and familiarized to the songs and you can experience the music in all its glory.   

This wasn’t the case. 

I picked up on the fact that their biggest influences are Sonic Youth and early Velvet Underground.   No, Autolux, you can’t pull it off.  

They seemed to have borrowed sounds that have already been created without going far enough to create their own significant stamp in music.   If I heard a snippet of …Trail of Dead  leaking from someones Ipod I would still recognize it.  If I was grocery shopping and an Interpol song came on, I would instantly pick up on it as well.  They have their own sounds (a certain hook or a change in notes or a trill of the voice) that, although borrowing from amazing past influences, set them apart from them at the same time. 

Each musician individually appeared to have a great amount of talent yet failed to take risks and show this.  And the bass player looked like a mouth breather. 

Arab on Radar 07/08/2010

Arab on Radar played their first Toronto show tonight at the Garrison . 

wikipedia:

Arab on Radar are a Providence, Rhode Island based noise rock band founded in 1994. They went on hiatus in 2002. Members of the band went on to form or join the bands The Chinese Stars, Athletic Automaton, Made in Mexico. The band reformed in 2010.

So that was awesome. 

I went alone after recently finding out how much better it is to go to a show alone if one particularly wants to see a band.  no small talk, no compromise.  

Biking along Dundas west, I wasn’t sure exactly where the Garrison was.  I parked my bike close to where I thought it was and waited for an appropriate looking person to walk by so I can ask.  An appropriate looking couple walked by.  

Bingo; not one but two chances at proper directions.   They pointed me in the right direction (literally half a block down).  The dude gave me a sidelong glance and adds, “we’ll be there too!” 

“Oh ya? hahaha” was my response.  Just like that.

And it was craig “obsessive compulsive” kurek, drummer of Arab on Radar.  

That rules pretty hard.  

The show itself?

Child Bite opened sounding like a cross between Jesus Lizard and Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower.   I don’t mind either and therefore didn’t mind them either.  I liked their progression and their rhythm was hypnotic. 

DD/MM/YYYY, Toronto locals.  My first live experience with them, really.They translate better on record.   Too much variation without being tight enough to pull off what they’re trying to do.

Good show.  

Gee..20.

Am I blogging?

Ya……ya I think so…I wikipedia’ed it.  They say that’s what I’m doing.  

 “Why are you doing this mayo/skin? “

The G20 took place in my current city; Toronto.  It just ended actually, not even a few hours ago.  So I’m thinking about the G20 and reading this media coverage and the random blogs and photoblogs and the like.   I came to the realization that people DO express themselves on the interweb and people like me, asshole or not, DO read them.  And it’s not always ‘lame’ . 

“But you’re not any good…”

“Do you even have anything interesting to say besides what you just ate and then

s**t out?”

“ What are you gonna do, report on your feelings?”

Babies, I KNOW.   I can be legit because I have a schtik.  Now to connect the G20 with my schtick.

The Mexican border is protected by a hefty little gang of cartels ready to literally kill you.  Not only that, Toronto, but they don’t just use fake tear gas and rubber bullets; things  ACTUALLY HAPPEN.

In Iraq they have a curfew of approx. 9pm.  No one can leave their abode and therefore families spend their evenings smoking cheap Marlboros, downing Turkish coffee shots (it tastes like liquified cement), and watching bombs fall. BOMBS. FALL. 

In Sudan…

In Haiti…

For f***’s sake in Detroit…

It’s a shame that the G20 protests were so bad, really it is.  Truth be told they could’ve been a lot worse.   Truth be told, also, media coverage is stupid and everything is always over-exaggerated.  It IS tv, after all.  It DOES have competition from the relentless amount of reality television that viewers can watch instead.  And they do need the ratings.  The aggressive rioters made the entertainment and the media was there to eat it up and use it.  The cops?  Oh my…well they were just a bunch of dad’s and boy-men who get paid OT to ‘serve and protect’. 

A vicious cycle of looters doing the exact opposite of what they intended and causing for more supervision, more little boys in cop uniforms acting like big men, more random stores being broken into, and more people FREAKING THE HELL OUT.

Peaceful protesters: Rock on and live on and kudos to you and yours.  I believe in your heartfelt concern for the world (although I prefer not to wear my bandana and paint clever puns on old bedspreads to run around the street with).  

A snippet from the news just now on the old cbc:

“Four other people were arrested in the early morning after
 they were caught coming out of a city sewer in the financial district on
 Queen Street West between Yonge and Bay streets.”


Ninja turtles. Obv.

A reporter who clearly has no experience in live coverage asked a protestor to tell her more about these ‘black protestors’ in reference to the black bloc.   

Amazing.

The best chant I heard went like this:

Select few leaders of the pack: “A million dollars…”

The sheep: “WASTED! WASTED!”

Oh hum.  

I posted this before but the link is broken, apparently.  

Bangs, I’m free this tuesday.  $4.25 movies at rainbow cinemas, let’s do it .  

Spaghetti and Bumblebees.  

From The State.    Some sort of Kids in the Hall conglomeration .

Point being: don’t ask, just take it.  

’s called ‘Sit On You’.  Only a minute something and a skit from Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show .

Denim-on-denim, 

You’ve been watched at least 67 times, by me alone.