First off, thanks to Destroilet for the free t-shirt and Justin for the Scary Uncles pin, that's way too nice of you guys! The opening band was local punk trio The Scary Uncles in their long awaited return show, and maybe their farewell too? Band members had hinted that this could also be their last show too in online postings leading up to the performance last night, but unless you read them, you wouldn't have been able to tell, as they made no mentions of anything final. Having not seen The Scary Uncles in ages, I kinda went into this fresh, but I did have Monday's Reagle Beagle set as a reference point. Well, with the full band present, I must say, The Scary Uncles did pretty good! I forgot to mention this before, but Justin Langlois actually has a edgier and deeper voice live than on the studio material I've heard from them, and on every song, his guitar work gave everything a nice straightforward punk sound that we honestly don't get much here. Andrew MacDonald's bass work was as solid as ever, and Mark Mullin's drumming was pretty good, and you can tell he knew the material! Though mostly original songs (sans "Labatt 50", oddly), some covers from the Reagle Beagle show survived, including Nirvana and Johnny Cash. Good stuff all around, they're an underrated punk band with a great sound, and I hope this doesn't turn out to be their final show!
Then, Destroilet hit the stage for just the third time since their 2009 inception, and like in my first time seeing them late last year, I was impressed by their sheer energy and aggression! They ripped into a setlist chock full of old school hardcore covers from bands like Good Riddance, Gang Green, Assjack, GG Allin, Bad Religion, and even some classic local bands like Fist Magnet! There was a few originals thrown in as well, but each song followed a similar vein. Mike Hull and Christian Foisy contributed loud, aggressive, and unforgiving vocals for each song, with Mike expounding much energy as he moved about the stage and gave each song it's deserved aggression. Their sound isn't going to win points for technical brilliance, but you know what? It's old school hardcore, they're not trying to do that with their music. Matt Waples was solid on each song on drums, Adam Larocque's bass was loud and unforgiving, and the guitar work accomplished exactly what it set out to do, even if many of John Conway's solos sounded the same on each song. They played a rocking set packed full of hardcore insanity with little room for a break, and if you judge them on the atmosphere and the intensity of their live show, you'll have come away from Destroilet's set satisified, like I did!
Following their set was your headliners, the debuting Mark Rand Band! Remember, this is the six man hardcore supergroup that gave Lion Ride guitarist Mark Rand's Toronto-based solo project life on the live stage. Mark informed us during the set that the six of them ("Brown" Dave Brunton was absent) had only first jammed an hour before the concert. You could see hand written tabs on the floor for some of the members, but once the old school hardcore assault began, we didn't notice or care about any musical screw-ups! We heard Mark's fast paced (and very short) original songs like "Nine To Five", "Question", and "Minimum Wage", among many others, plus a cover of Minor Threat's "Small Man, Big Mouth" to cap off the set! Because the performed songs were from Mark Rand's solo project, let's talk about him first, and as it turns out, he'd make a great frontman if he did this more! He has a hard edged singing voice with a punk edge, and he has the screaming down as well, not to mention a distinct willingness to involve the audience and get everyone singing along! I wish I had a better grasp of the lyrics going in! Again, given the band's relative inexperience playing these songs together, you can't rate everything on a normal basis, you just have to gauge it on it's own terms.
Mikey Hawdon's drumming stood out to me, as it often does, and the three pronged guitar attack from Marco Pedalino, Nebraska Arms' Dave Prendergast, and ex-Renderware guitarist Marc Lafrance ensured devastating riffs on each song, even if they had screw-ups here and there! Guy Thiffault of Nebraska Arms also was pretty good on bass, it'd be cool to hear him play heavier stuff more! Despite the bribery of Jager shots to get people on the floor for their set, everyone was ramped up for The Mark Rand Band's dozen of aggressive fast paced songs, amidst some of Mark's trademark humour, including many funny self-deprecating shots at themselves and the other bands! If someone came last night to grade them on musical abilities, they might not get a high score, but again, they had only first jammed AN HOUR before the show, so what do you expect? This was a show where you went for the overall sound and the old-school hardcore environment, to get drunk and have a good time. On that basis, The Mark Rand Band scored very high, and if they play another show, they should be even better with more time to prepare! I had fun, and overall, that's what matters. As always, I got plenty of pictures, so click here or visit the SMS' Facebook page to check them out!And yes, I have videos too, two songs on each video due to the short lengths of the material. So here's Destroilet covering Gang Green's "Let's Drink Some Beer" and Good Riddance's "Cages", and The Mark Rand Band playing Mark Rand's solo songs "Day Waste" and "Christ Almights"!
That's all for now, but stay tuned tonight for previews of the New Year's Eve metal/hard rock concerts that I know of, and some more news from the last little while! Thanks everyone!
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