Mai/Son, Another Place Closed for Shows, Snatchers Snatched and more

"Come to me now and rest your head for just five minutes, everything is good
Such a cozy room,

The windows are illuminated by the evening sunshine through them

Fiery gems for you, only for you

Our house is a very, very, very fine house with two cats in the yard
Life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy 'cause of you and our [house]"

Those lyrics from the song Our House by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are the exact representation of what the project called Mai/Son was. A place where I could hang my problems, have a drink or two (as it was a Bring Your Own Beer, there was no pressure to drink at the bar) and simply enjoy the music whenever and whatever music it was. On many week-ends about to end up with no place to go, I would walk up Saint-Joseph Ouest and arrive at the mythic establishment. Compared to say Van Horne, Mai/Son was really a place to embrace, it was a venue we, the youth, had the possibilities of making ours and limitless were the possibilities towards what the turnouts of each events could be. Either cops could come and shut it down, or if everyone was reasonable and sage, the night would end according to plan, the show ends, everyone celebrates and then we all walk down calmly down the streets and scatter. Punk or not, whatever your race, fight, stance or popular propaganda movement you had in mind, Mai/Son always had a show for you. The space was huge, two stairs, up to like six rooms for the events and a backyards where we could smoke and laugh and drink. Wow. A paradise. By the end, Summer 2025, Mai/son was a household reputated venue for all artists of different disciplines. Hosting events and allowing others to discovers talents weekly! The place will stay open for small expositions and will have implications in the scene through their zine and more but shows are suspended due to the noise, the building's state and the demand for shows being high and thus bigger than planned.

Else than that, on December 19th, The Snatchers played their last show with drummer Sam Desautels who is also part of Cordial. Being friends with a lot of bands and a lot of the people in the punk community, I have heard and seen the whole salad, but my goal here is to advertise for all other bands, not spill more drama nor light up fires that aren't already burning. The story, creative differences, attitudes came to collide during sessions and lastly, a girlfriend, a keen reminder of Nirvana with Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, Yoko Ono John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Stories were spilled, secrets were announced ahead of their times and once again, a counselor should have been there. But being 20 ish, many think they have the absolute truth and thus no one could admit their fault, and so in a hurry, the band took the drummer out, took all photos with the drummer out of the instagram account and both parties vowed to never talk again in public. Now, being twenty is hard, but friendly reminder, if we want to be real canadians, empathic and nice to each other and not end up like our neighbors the USA, when a conflict is to erupt, we should always talk about it, and if no real solution can be brought up, all parties should part ways in a nice and friendly way. Hardships and grudges and weights that are useless to carry around.

On a last note, Bad Objection played December 21rst and shall be on a hiatus for a while in order to reorder their image, style and creative ideas in hopes to come back and satisfy the audience better than ever. Their last show at Casa del Popolo was great alongside In Headlights, Quebec Nihilism Front and Baboune from Quebec City. Their energy was on point, Quebec Nihilism Front had a new frontman and Jacque assisted with jokes, guitar and backing vocals. Baboune had such energy to start the performance yet people seemed tired. But the band didn't stop and soon, everyone was stumping and screaming. As the bands played, the crowd awoke and by the time Bad Objection came on stage, the venue shaked and the youth was once again raging all over the place.