I'm back from last night's 6th annual Coch's Corner Halloween Party (and the second one I've attended), so naturally, here's my review! Coch's Corner was decked out pretty well for the season, but maybe a bit less than last year. Maybe it was just the lack of spider webs on the stage area. Lots of people were decked out in their Halloween costumes, and there were a lot of highlights to be seen! The most metal that I can remember were two women dressed as Wayne & Garth from "Wayne's World", which was excellent! I got a laugh out of the guy dressed as Alex Trebek too (with a picture of him and eye holes instead of actual face makeup), and there was some other very creative and funny costumes to be seen. Myself, I was an old timey British gentleman, and people seemed to like it! The lack of a costume contest like was advertised was disappointing though, I would have entered! The floor area for the concerts wasn't as packed though, they should have moved a table or two to encourage fans to get closer. Everything worked well though, kudos to the Coch's Corner staff!
Opening the show was local punk trio Redundant (replacing "T. Rex Manning"), who were dressed as Green Day for their Halloween costumes last night! Fittingly, they threw in a bunch of Green Day covers that fans seemed to enjoy, including "Brain Stew" and "When I Come Around", among others! At least they didn't go with newer Green Day, not a fan of their newer stuff. For the most part, their set was a straight up punk fest without a real metal cover, but they seemed to be on form from when I last saw them as Motion Carried earlier in the year! Covers ranged from NOFX & Rise Against songs to their lyric-adjusted variant of "Folsom Prison Blues", and though frontman Justin Langlois took some self-deprecating shots at them sucking and sounding better if drunk, I thought they had it together for the most part! His vocals were at their punk best, drummer Rick White kept up his end really well, and his brother James (who replaced Jamie Whalen since I last saw them) shown tons of skill on bass throughout, and was very consistent! I would have liked to have heard Redundant cover some old Scary Uncles tracks, but overall, they delivered a fun set of punk rock that fans appreciated, and hopefully I'll be seeing them again soon!
Following them on the bill were The 151s, and yes, this was the exact same band that played Coch's Corner Halloween parties in past years under different names, personas, and genres. After turns as Glamoween in 2009 & the punk-covering Mothermakers last year, I had no idea what they'd be playing this time around. Much to my pleasant surprise, they took on the persona of an early 1990s rock band, complete with grungy clothes and a setlist covering everyone from Nirvana & Pearl Jam to R.E.M. & even Chris Isaak! If you know me well, you'll know that I consider the early 1990s to be the absolute best time period for music quality, so I enjoyed that aspect of The 151s' set & look! That said, like last year, their sound was underwhelming in ways. The singer's voice was too nasally for songs that called for deeper vocals, there was some timing issues on a few songs, and when they went a bit heavier, the band seemed to make more errors. That said, on songs like "Losing My Religion" & "Breaking The Girl", they definitely had good things going, and Halloween revelers partied up front with them, which was fun to see! Hit and miss set overall, but The 151s rocked when the right song hit, and who knows what genre they'll tackle next year?
And finally, your headliners were local horror punk/metal quintet Frightlight, fresh off of their opening set for The Misfits in Toronto on Wednesday, which by all accounts was a huge success for them! Their set was mostly similar to your usual recent Frightlight sets, including originals ranging from "Dead Town Everywhere" and "Fright Night" to "World War Z" and "C.H.U.D.", along with Fitswitch, Misfits, and G.G. Allin covers. Most surprisingly, they covered the old Fitswitch track "March of 1,000 Corpses", which I've been calling for them to play live for ages! It is a much better fit for their theme and sound than "Rust Angel", after all. Along with new Black Label Society-esque patches for their stage gear, new drummer Chris "FreakNStein" Thompson made his local debut with Frightlight last night, and he was on fire! He has good chemistry with the members from the Fitswitch days already, and he already seems to be settled in as a key cog in the Frightlight machine! Singer Johnny Pints' voice was a bit rough around the edges, but after opening for The Misfits, I can understand that.Oveall though, Frightlight sounded great with few messups, and if you love horror flavoured punk & metal, they sure brought it to cap off a great Halloween party! It was another great time, though I'd have liked to have seen more Halloween decor and a costume party next time around. I'll certainly be back to rock out on October 27th, 2012! I did get photos last night, so click here to see them, or visit our official Facebook page! I also got a "Tag Yourself!" crowd photo, so click here to see if you're in it and tag yourself if you wanna! And I did get a couple of videos, so here's The 151s covering Nirvana's "Breed" and Frightlight playing their original "She Screams"!
That's all for today, but stay tuned for a new news post tonight which will include a preview of tomorrow's Late & Loud concert and the identity of this month's CD review, which will also be reviewed TOMORROW! Thanks everyone!
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