General Assembly at La Toscadura after so long

 On May 2, at La Toscadura, there happened to be a mass of children and adults who all came to worship music, good times and witness some of the wildest musical display's I'd personally seen in a while. I'm talking about like Iggy Pop's wild stunts or insane feats pulled off stage back when Heavy Montreal use to be a thing. Moments where band members are in such trance on stage that anything can happen in the name of entertainment. God knows, these are the best shows one shall ever see.

SewerSpewer Guesting with Feartilizer

 I arrived after the first band, Unsucked, had finished playing. I talked outside with showgoers, it was around 9:30 and the place already seemed to be going wild. I'd barely drank one sip, I saw a kid being transported outside the venue, barely conscious, seemed to have ingested some kind of powder or stimulant related drug or an insane amount of alcohol. Whatever it was, his body now demanded rest and water. To my left, another one was laying down besides a car, burfing insane amount of fluids. I'm no doctor, but that person surely had drank a lot of alcohol too. One great thing I saw was that people always stood besides the sick ones in order to help them. A great thing to do, as I once was sick, having day drank too much, and left on the side of the road hidden in plants for the person with me claimed he got scared to be arrested by cops if they were to find him with me. Those two incidents reminded me I was driving and thus I should watch very careful my intake of alcohol throughout the night if I wanted to be able to drive at all, let alone be able to keep my insides inside my body. 

More guest featured for Feartilizer

I walked inside after having sniffed around the mass of people chilling. Inside, onstage, Feartilizer are playing. Guest throughout their set hop on and off stage, due to a singer being unable to come or slightly ill to perform from a story I'd seen on Instagram. Singers from bands such as IHate7, Glued Mouth, Sentimendua, Djinn, Gutser, Pyrocene Death Cult and more came on stage to sing their guts out. Luckily, compared to the kids on the streets, their guts stayed inside, no spilling of any kind of liquid or meal was seen, yet. I found it very nice that although their original singer Samäel Lavoie wasn't supposed to come, he ended up being there, and got other performers to come and help him out sing songs and simply showcase Montreal's local talents.

 Next up was Nelligan. Their first show sporting their new name. Toevenexist, their previous band name, trailed talent and fusses. Now, luckily for them, their new name is only associated with talent. I've seen em' a couple times now, and I must emphasize, they are splendid. Daniel Augustyniak Vivas on guitar and backing vocals, Loïc Girardin ex-LoveBombers on guitar and a bit of backing vocals if I'm not mistaking, Amédée Cousineau on Bass, Costa Labos on vocals and Jérémie James Ashfield on drums. Five talented, caring  and driven people who unite through music to bring chaos and exhiliration on stage. I admire them to stick together because nowadays any type of fuss around a band can be as deadly as great white shark bite. But all five people know what they want to carry out like message, and I believe they enjoy playing their music in hopes to inspire others and make sure there'll always be this kind of music they play. So instead of closing the deal when problems surfaced, they cleaned up their lineup, got the problems out and kept going by intergrating a new guitarist Loic, a new singer Costa and they kept on facing the northy winds of life. That is what every band should do in my opinion, there's always room for change, especially if the music you play allows for hundreds to gather and forget about their lives for a night. Their set ended with Radiohead, Floydish out of control feedback and by the last buzz, the room was screaming and cheering out loud. 

Outside, it's hot, the crowd is in control, there aren't more casualties being brought out. I meet more people, we talk of the scene, the bands and the desire to bring back under a new roof, a spot that could potentially replace Van Horne. A year later and no one has forgotten Van Horne. Just like Woodstock, it remains memorable, yet unobtainable. Will there be a Woodstock99 like Van Horne type of show one day? Maybe, lets just hope it goes better than Woodstock99 if ever. Can another spot replace Van Horne, maybe, unless it gets too noisy or risk/casualty related. Who knows, maybe one day, if the potholes keep growing, we'll be able to host shows just under the streets in a giant unfixed pothole! 

Seum's singer enjoying the music onstage

Back inside, Seum are about to start. Seum, the band who dared arrange interior shows in the metro around Montreal recently. You may find a more detailed account of these shows here. The band has recenlty released their third studio efforts titled Parking Life which features on the picture, the famous coffin used during one of their live shows back in the days to bring onstage the singer. Many reviews have claimed they've willingly injected more Pantera like grooves, 80's metal and rock colors to their Stoned, Behemoth, Asphyx blend of original sound. I will not pronounce myself upon their blend of sounds for I no more listen to the new trends of heavy music enough to quite compare their sound to more classic modern acts in the scene. But I will say, as a Beatles, Pantera, Asphyx, Béton Armé amongst other sounds that I quite enjoy, their album was perfect for me. It blended different textures, the voice ranged from more linear rock singing to Kornesque, Abbath, and Emperor like screams. So in my opinion, it's the greatest album to present to fans from different genres. I believe they diversified their sound to allow for a bigger community to dig em', which is great. Every artist has to grow, and only through change and authenticity to one's liking can an artist be authentic. Bowie changed styles a lot, the Beatles did, and many more. Back to the show. The singer, Gaspard Carrey is a tough moderfucking looking guy, he reminds me of a man I dreamnt of who came to kill me every fucking night, for eight years of my childhood. He's on stage, running around making sure everyone's good, ready to start. He whispers something to Pierre Polak the bassist. He then goes to Frederic Lepoutre the drummer, to whispers something. The singer then adresses the crowd, makes sure we are ready, thanks the other bands, reminds us that all the money from the show shall be sent to a family who's house burned down and then, BANG, the show starts. I am hurled left, right, front, bottom, I look up, an arm slams me, I duck to greet a knee coming up and then proceed to go and drink a bit of water to make sure I ain't disfigured. I come back and now choose to wisely stay on the side of the stage. The songs unfurl, youth in the bar is fed banger after banger. The energy is through the roof. We can't hear too well all songs, but it's the deliverance of Seum that keeps

The Bassist of Seum

 their performance interesting. Suddenly, a short break is taken, Gaspard invites the younglings and oldlings to come up on stage and mosh. The audience obeys and as I watch on the side, I side an amp about to fall. The whole cab and head tilt. Marz, a young concert goers around fifteen years old who takes pictures during shows, and I steady  the cab and make sure it stands on it's own. Fiouf, disaster avoided. Then Gaspard looks in my direction, facing the side of the stage, Antoine, my friend, and I look at each other wondering why. His mouth looks a bit full and he then proceeds to do the most Iggy Pop like thing, he burfs a small quantity of saliva mixed with whatever was in his stomach. Antoine is disgusted and asks that we change spot. I don't mind, I'm totally amused by such act. I agree and I proceed to go and taunt a bit the pit, dressed in a full suit and clean pants, I ain't gonna obstain myself from pushing around just to keep the whole fit clean. The band keep the onstage slaughter going on while finishing their set, everything on the small platform vibrates, people jump in and out of the crowd, crowdsurfers take over the view I have of the show and all around everyone seems to have the time of their lives. Bang over, done, signed, stamped. The night is done. Everyone is out, trying to catch their breath, or telling their friends how insane it all was. 

Thanks for reading, I want to say, it had been a while I hadn't seen such beautiful gathering. It was respectful, not too chaotic, filled with talent onstage and a general crowd that wanted to simply enjoy the music.  All pictures seen in the article come from Vincent.