Everybody's working for the weekend

It's Friday 25th October, I'm posting fliers on old rotten drabbed poles who await in silence and agony. No sun caresses their envies nor woman or man to soothe their naughty desires or nitty gritty ways. I look at my phone, it's six thirty, the perfect time to get a beer, a nick and let all hell loose. I take one last pictures of the flyers, I run to my car and light up a cigarette while listening to Bob Dylan's He Was A Friend of Mine. Outside, the leaves hang low and many have fallen, a keen reminder that change comes at a great price. The cold weather mixed with Dylan's vocals on the Bootleg Series 1 to 3 send a shiver down my spine as I survey the streets of Montreal going around Mount Royal in hopes to find a parking near Saint-Laurent boulevard. A right turn, left, stop, go, turn and finally bingo, a spot lays empty. I park and head down two blocks, turn left, get a beer, get out, meet Francois a homeless guy, buy him a cookie and off I go to the show at La Mai/Son. None other than Somet are playing, alongside Honey and Polyethelene. I arrive over there and freaks are everywhere all dressed up. Ready to impress those eyes that are searching for colors beyond this realm. Some have clever dress ups and others are more abstract or niche. I great a couple friends and then head in the tiny salon where the show is about to start. Now let's contextualize the whole, Somet are rockish grundish mostly shoegazien people, so the guitars are heavy yet the vocals remain very calm and steady supported by drums who'll usually keep the groove but never be in the spotlight. Honey are similar but a bit more grungy and heavily relying on distortion à la grunge seattle sound of the 90's with a voice that'll screech at times and drums who can be flashy at times. To remain simple, Honey are a bit like Nirvana, complex yet soothing riffs with drums and bass that just enhace the groove along a singing that hihglight the melodies causing hips and bodies to dance in a trance. But, Polyethelene, I'd never seen em'. I heard they were heavy but I thought, well it'll follow the vibe right? Maybe à la Gun's N' Roses. Something like that, nothing to worry about. Well folks, I was wrong. Wrong just like the time I swallowed fourteen mdma capsules thinking I could go to work the next day, wrong like the time I sniffed lots and lots of ADHD medication in hopes of reaching Jesus which ended with me losing my shit and almost overdosing in my salon. Wrong, just like that faithfull time on acid when I saw snow outside only to realize we were in Summer making it impossible to have snow which led me to think I was about to lose my mind forever on LSD. In all these situations, my perceptions and opinions were totally absurd and I had no clue of whatsoever I'd embark myself in. Seeing Polyethelene was the same. The surprise, the danger, the astonishment, almost like LSD, Polyethelene shuffled my mind and left me with a different perception of what heaviness could be. They embarked on set first, their sound can be described as hardcore to say the least. Whatever something core, as long as it means that it was Heavy. Their guitarist which is Chloe brought an alternative emoesque sound to the whole parade, remaining lowkey with chords sounding a bit Deftonian with no virtuoso like scheme. The bassist Clio, who learned bass last year, stood with her bass and lines allowing for the vocal to glide upon a path as sinous as the rainbow road. Their interesting grooves which sometimes puts forward the guitar and other times the bass lead to interesting mixtures that reminded me how interesting it is when the bass breathes more and is allowed to become technical a bit more than just grooving along the drum. Gael who drums in Honey and many more filled in for the night. The way the sound guy tweaked his stuff, the snare came of the mix real loud and gated, an ode to all 90s gated reverb washed up drums snare in recording such as the song Drive from Deftones and a couple more of their albums or even Midnight Oils, Gun's N' Roses Use Your Illusions 2 and more. Costa, the singer dressed up as The Lorax, who is usually seen around taking pictures of bands in the punk and heavier scene, screamed through the whole set. His clean vocals could not be heard at all which was sad, but everytime he raised his voice and let out a hurl or a scream, we could definitely hear it. His vocal performances heard during their 4th and 5th song really showcased how fluid he could be and how alternating from clean to scream was something very natural to do for the singer. Their style is a slight reminder of TOEVENEXIST that are also a local montreal band. Else than that, Their fourth song, having a melodic intro that had the bassists fingers dancing all around was a great reminder of Train Breaks Down whom have been cited as influences of the band and I could recommend listening to Forty Hour Suit if you want to have an idea of what they sounded like. Bands like Versus and Saetia, a new york city based band whom influenced many contemporaries back in their active years from 1997 to 1999, have also been cited as heavy influence for the new formation who have about a year of experience in and out of rehearsal. 

Following up was Somet. To say the least, they had good intentions, they have talent and ambition, but sometimes, life gives you lemons. But, Somet knew how to make lemonade. Although through their set, technical difficulties arose, they had us dancing and sweating and screaming. Dressed as Family Guy, they had the crowd shuffling around although we were all drained from the previous set. Just like a Family Guy episode, ambition fueled the project, obstacles made the goal hard to achieve, but, a happy ending was ensured. Mai/Son wasn't the best place for such band to perform and too many people were there and moving or breathing started being quite an accomplishment, especially for those whose senses were heightened by any substances. The band played their song Back To You which, at the moment of the release, had me headbanging and smoking cigarettes in my car as rain poored through my stained memories of life. Their live rendition of this banger was incredible and I do hope their next shows will showcase how much talent this quartet has. 

Finally, Honey embarked. For an obscure reason, they seemed to have shorten their songs and raise the heat up a notch during their performances. Did they have a feeling the night was coming to an end? Where they doing this to liberate the overly packed place as fast as possible? I can't tell, but they did struck a chord or two that's for sure. As they started, we all came back in, but as I got to slime my way through, I realized people were now lined up in the staircase, unable to see, barely hearing and simply vibing and sweating in their costumes! The band blitzed through their songs, a minute of this, a minute of that. The famous, This song is about a girl was heard, the song was played, it was a smash as always, but to this day, I still don't who's the girl. I hope they record this song about a girl so I can decrypt the meaning. I got tired, exhausted and hot, I held to dear life to the end of the set. I exited as soon as they played the last note. 

Outside, everyone was relieved. The night was a smash hit! Costumes, Music and friends were the key ingredients of this recipe. It worked, everyone got a bang for their buck. I got to discover Polyethelene, got to see Somet again and was surprised by Honey who played a condensed yet fiery set! A couple minutes outside, and the news spread out, a neighbor called the cops. So everyone spread out like a wildfire. I drove back home, got in a slight accident and finally came home to crash down and forget about the accident with one last joint. 

Woke up next morning, did my bidding to the lord, sold my soul to the devil and around five o'clock in the afternoon, I set off to Casa del Popolo to see Bad Objection with The Snatchers and Cleanse. Arriving over there, a calm breeze is the heaviest music to be heard. Everything remains soft and light for the moment. Inside the venue, Ricardo is getting his makeup done by Camille the girlfriend of Paolo who drums for Bad Objection. Cleanse are there, dressed as South Park. The drummer who is dresed as Kenny, with the hood upon his head, is in for a Texas hot afternoon I'm thinking, as I imagine him playing the drum all dressed up and sweating his life. Slowly but surely everything is forming itself. The Snatchers come by, the rest of Bad Objection soon pulls in, Julian who mixed their records on behalf of Holy Mountain Studio shows up, Aldo, Ric's brother, shows up dressed as Elvis and many more. Talks of the Referendum are a hot topics outside as we smoke cigarettes, Julian, Florence and me and a couple other people. Before the show, a couple people went to walk in the streets to stand up for their cause, they want to have another referendum to liberate Quebec from its Provincial status and acquire a National status as a Country. My opinion in all this matter is not much, I love the culture, I love the people of Quebec, but I don't believe we have the economic resources, nor do we have, as individuals, much benefit in our daily lifes to retain from such a move. Others have yet to convince me of such benefits to reap. In my opinion, people are tired of fighting certain wars, choices to make because we have Canada lying around, but the truth is, in my opinion, the battle shall remain, but instead of being with a neighbor we argue, we shall argue between ourselves, inside our national fortress.

Back to the night, Cleanse embarked around 8h50. I just love Cleanse, they light a fire everywhere they play. Firas is so energetic, the bassist Pat is just rolling with the vibe, they seem to have a synergy close to the one Kurt Cobain seemed to have with Krist Novoselic. With Cleanse, every song seems like a hit, their energy is there, the crowd always ends up shuffling their feets and twirling all around after like two songs. Although it was only the begining of the night, the energy rose, the room warmed up, and the tone for the night was set. Additionally they played a cover of Green Day's Welcome to Paradise which was, FUCKING, on point! I really think they should record this cover. I also think this band should have a live album issued, because their performance is a cleansing experience. For local news, Cleanse just soundtracked or partially a movie titled It Takes Two that'll be out by the 31 Oct at 11. They are playing also at Ottawa on the 31th at L'avant Garde at 7pm.

Next on, we had Snatchers. I'd been a while I hadn't sat down to watch em'. Not since they'd released T.A.Z I believe. Up till now my experience with the Snatchers had always been a band that could get you running around but never had been a pillar of the night to me. But last Friday, they ripped apart the place. Walls screamed, speakers burst, the crowd was ritualized as savage beasts dancing to their music. Thomas the bassist had Violence City's bassist play onstage with em' so Thomas could play double rythm to the tracks which I think helped thicken their sound and have more energy through out the set. At a point Thomas came back on the bass, Jesus blessed Nolan on stage and we all came to preach on stage.they rolled on with more numbers from their EP T.A.Z and by the end of their set, I was suffocating. Around me, a graveyard of breathless people lay, everyone was blown away. I think a lot of people just looked back and said, "Woah what the fuck did I just witness. That was mental." I don't know if the Halloween vibe and costumes helped out, if something wicked in the air contributed to the heretic playing of the Snatchers, but I stand my case, they were wild, they snatched our soul away, dragged us to depths of whatever shamanic magic they orchestrated, and as I walked out, I was a new person. Maybe Jesus's blessing actually changed me, maybe the baptizing of Nolan had something to do, but one thing is sure, the band definitely played their best set in a while. Next set is on November 7th at Bâtiment 7 alongside other bands.

PIcture from Documente Ta Scène

Finally, last act, Bad Objection. A fucking madness. Let's cut to the chase. I embarked onstage, presented the band, everyone cheered loudly and then, the magic began! The band was dressed up by the iconic Taffari2way which gave them a cool looking Halloween punk vibe. Chad re-emarked in the band, after two years of side projects such as Sigil Grove and more shenanigans, Chad is back on rythm guitar to thicken and add to Bad Objection's iconic thrashing sound. Jake sang helping out Ric who had his hands full with small leads and solos to embellish their sound. They played their iconic songs such as Dracula, Curb Stomp and Bad Objection. Their set wouldn't have been complete without Three Strikes You're Out and once again the crowd went wild. The place was almost on fire, the crowd was tired but they hurled all what they had for the band. At a point, I thought I was about to suffocate in the moshpit, but I kept going knowing it wasn't going to last forever. By their last two songs, we could barely stand up. Last song came, we all went onstage, we sang, we jumped, we got high on the sheer energy buzzing around the room! Outside as we all rolled off, no one could believe it, it was magical, incredible, fantastical!Their next show is yet to be announced.