Show Update #21 - Whitehorse Firehouse
Hamilton, a strange scene. A lot of small people, standing around talking with no interest in that they were at a show. Later things would progress much stranger...they had a nice PA system though.
I arrived to a dark ballroom with a band playing in the front, slightly lighted. The crowd didn't seem to be paying much attention, even if they were all crowded in the front. Unfortunately, unlike Trinity shows, Hamilton shows seem to start on time so I only caught the tail end of Clover Hill's set. They played with a somewhat hard sound. They also had some pretty good vocals, not rough at all. For the opening band I would soon find out they played far better than some of the other bands. After 3 or 4 songs they wrapped things up and the next band came on.

I approached the front of the crowd as "the swinging sounds" of The Checkers made its entrance. It was apparent after a couple songs, I either had forgotten every song I had heard by this band in the past or the band had written some new stuff. Anyway, it was all good quality. Sure, The Checkers make you wonder if you should be enjoying what you're listening to, with the somewhat poppish anthems and combinations of vocals and guitar/bass, but in the end you have to admit it was all good. Also Nick sporting a Screeching Weasel shirt, it all makes sense...Screeching Weasel is fucking great, the same goes for The Checkers.
With guitar solos played by Nick, bass and back up vocals given by Matt, and some good rhythms given by Andy, the band is just great stuff to listen to. I was amazed all over again by the sound this three-peice band is able to put out. The band seemingly has broken hearts and regretable stupid ex's, but that doesn't hold them back from playing a good show and showing a crowd of people a good side of pop punk. Upbeat and fun I will enjoy seeing them play again, and I hope Zack was able to book them at the Trinity Cathedral.

I was lucky enough to witness something completely different when the next band Five Points took the stage, well floor. Vocals were given by a woman who also played guitar and backed up by the lead guitarist. They had energy that deserved them playing instead on a stage above the crowd. The bassist danced and headbanged with his whole body. Meanwhile the rest of the band was swaying or nodding with the rhythm. They had a sound quoted as "like Pretty Girls Make Graves" and I thought they seemed to have influences in grunge or rock of the early 90s that I grew up with. Listening to them, they would fit perfectly on a movie soundtrack with anthems of break ups and life.
The band was definitely different from anything I think you would find at a regular show. In my mind, you would go to a club and they would be playing on a small stage in the corner, though their audience would be large. Its too bad they didn't bring anything to sell, they would've found that it would have sold.

At the end of something good, it's plausible that you will find yourself listening to something bad, such as Last Good Feeling. These guys would probably be best friends with the members and audience of Never The Less. They were a band with a song style that is way too overplayed...and not even good! Little whiney bitches, thats what they could be best described as. At least thats what the vocals ended up sounding like. They had no message other than "I will sing about chicks so I can better sell out". If the instrumentals were a little better constructed I could atleast give them a good review there, but sadly those were crap also. Some kid in the audience is quoted as yelling, "Last Good Feeling sucks!", and I think thats good enough for this review.

The guys from Jaded Faith, the next band to play, were already pretty cool since they took to handing out free cds before their set. I really didn't know what to expect, but I stood to support the band anyway. Between the pounding drums and thrashing guitar it was evident they were deeply influenced by heavy metal bands such as Metallica. This is probably the reason I found myself not liking the band too much, I'm just not into the music of skinheads and heavy boots.
All musical biases aside, Jaded Faith played pretty good for what they were. The vocals were a bit rough, almost late 80s, early 90s style. The guitarist had some key melodies that kept things flowing. Also there was a keyboardist who mastered in some cool DJ effects on the guitar and bass. At a couple points I found myself hearing good bands like Disturbed pictured in Jaded Faith, between the electronica and rough vocal aspect. Good stuff if you're a heavy metal fan and still good if you just admire technique.

The next band, and i don't know why they were next and not the headliner, was here tomorrow. Kick ass like always. The usual roady (the AIDs guy!) was there, only this time he brought friends. Now while most people got upset at these fanatics, I take more of an ideological look at things on him. Sure they do some fucking kung fu into the crowd of people around the circle, into people who didn't want to be involved; windmills and kicks to the face. These guys just have their own style of expression, and its all about the music. Some fuckers from the local area actually got in fights with these fanatics, when all they had to do originally was put their arm up and block or push the guys away. I have never shared the experience of being kicked in the face so I'm sorry, I really have no right to blame these guys for getting upset, but it was obvious they'd never been to a Blood Brothers or a From Autumn to Ashes show. The AIDs guy just chose the wrong scene to show off his moves, since none of these kids knew how to dance and most of the people on the sides were little kids or girls.
Meanwhile the music, as always, was amazing. The instrumentals are quite interesting to listen to. The intros to each song just capture your mind and cause you to want to listen further. Then the vocals come in and they're so pure, you can sing along or just listen as the singer relives what he wrote. I swear, I found these guys about 2 years ago on mp3.com and it just gets even better seeing them live.
I couldn't control my body from following my head in nodding with the ever-changing rhythms. Soon enough a couple kids started running into each other and I lost control, I had to show these kids how to dance. There's an art in punching the lights out of fellow moshers and these Hamilton kids really had no idea what they were doing. There were episodes during past bands where they just ran into each other and that was it, a whole bunch of people running. There was another episode where the stupid fucks grabbed hold of each other and started ripping each other's shirts off. I was like W-T-F, mate? Yes, I have a style unique all to myself that no one else shares, and some would call stupid or idiotic but whatever, its my expression. I was sucked into circling around the skins crashing each other, all the while shaking my arm back and forth clearing the way and kicking out my feet taking my path. Over and over I entered the center knocking my way through and only to fall over with the rest, while trying to be the last one standing. The music in the background, being thrown to and passed around the crowd on the front of my mind, a chest thrust to complete the circle. So exhilarating, so much fun, if only someone else there knew how to fucking dance.
here tomorrow only played a fucking 5-6 song set. I was really upset. They were the best band at that show and weren't given the time to play all of their shit. They had some new songs, but I knew most of the lyrics thanks to purevolume.com. I sang and swayed and danced. I can't wait till they come to Trinity, then they'll have a real show.

Somewhere after here tomorrow and before The Riotones I had to get a drink, catch some fresh air, and find a seat. The moshing had caused me to be out of breath and the flem in my lungs made me unable to regain this breath. While making my rounds some guy shook my hand and said "Nice job in the pit, I had fun". I agreed it was fun and thanked him, though I was a little confused. Then I took a seat and some guy next to me examined my situation and asked "Do you get hurt in a mosh? It always looks fun, but I'm too much of a pansy..", I replied "It depends, but I have yet to get badly hurt, its a lot of fun, you just get out of breath and really tired". He then questioned me on my situation with the "pootang", and after pondering on whether he really said this or not, I just said "Oh its good", then hoped he would go away.

So The Riotones was up next. The lights dimmed and of course a lot of girls made it to the front to stand and admire Mike Groch. Now even though I don't agree with the (in my mind Good Charolette style) eyeliner, the Riotones put out an awesome sound. You can't really put a title to the style they play. Through their set I was reminded of the Cryptkeeper Five and their goddamn rock n' roll, punk rock, and even Smashing Pumpkins and their rough, gritty vocals. I've seen them before and this had to be one of their better performances, I'm sure. It was at least the best performance I had seen them play. The whole band seemed to be locked together, never falling apart. The overall energy caused me to sway a little, though its not the type of music easily danced to.
Mike almost growls into the microphone at some points in the music. It communicates to me that the words he sings come from deep down. The guitars both hum in the background as the drums and bass guide the song through to its end. Its a good sound...very dark. You want to say grunge and then they throw in another trick to spice things up or the melody switches and you can't think of any words to explain it. This review was bad for such a good band, I'd rather end it on a good note. Ok guys, go see them, buy their stuff, they're good.

Frankly I don't know why Down and Out was headlining this show. It was obvious they didn't bring the crowd since there were only about 50 people left and half of them were outside waiting for rides. Everything about the band sucked. The vocals were gross, not only flat but just gross. They were also obviously either drunk or horrible musicians. I mean sure a guy can't sing, but if he can play he's okay, it wasn't the case for this band. They didn't even do justice to the basic punk chords they put together to back their songs. They hardly ever were playing together. I give them kudos on the naked people though. They brought groupies (girls and guys) who within minutes of hereing their favorite band had to rip their shirts off. This provided much entertainment for the many guys who fell in behind the girls chanting "Take off the bras! Take off the bras!" If I weren't a professional I would have still said "GROSS!" and walked out after ten minutes of this band. Not much I can review, they still were shit when I heard them from outside.