Finally, let's close our busy Halloween weekend of three attended and reviewed concerts in three days with our review of J.D. Pearce's 10th annual (9th official) Halloween Party, which was back at The Algonquin Pub last night for the second time in three years! Solid turnout with lots of great costumes (if the SMS had a contest to pick a winner, it'd be the woman dressed as Beaker from The Muppets), and it was nice to be downstairs again for some live music! Now, to the bands, and also check out some new concert announcements and more updates in the post below this one!
Opening last night's show was local alternative/blues rock quartet
Sykotyk Rampage in their second show of the fall, but first with their usual 19+ trappings in months, and they were in their usual intense crash form last night! If you saw the guys at The Algonquin for this event in 2012, they'll have been up to similar stuff last night, rocking out to established originals like "Drinkin' On The Weekend" and "Bucket Of Ham" plus newer songs like "Warhorn" and their Jack Daniels ode "Old 57", with their talents and drunken fun showing through nicely! Paul Becker was in fine form on drums and vocals for most songs, while bassist Tony Briglio channeled his inner Lemmy for two lead vocal tracks, and Dirk Becker got his rage on for an impassioned take on "Lowest of the Low", though poor George got the worst of that one! After their too-reserved kid-friendly set at the Zombie Walk, it was nice to see a full Sykotyk Rampage set again, and here's to many more!
Second last night was local hardcore punk veterans
Destroilet in their second straight appearance at this Halloween event, but for unannounced reasons, the band played without new co-lead singer Brenton Ellis, who could not make it to the event. He's now missed both shows that the guys have played since they announced he was joining, but hopefully everything's alright with him! There was some early-set stalls and a very jumbled setlist, but once things got going, the guys were in usual brutal form! John Conway and Christian Foisy kept up their end of the bargain with very solid guitar riffs and solos, Adam Larocque's bass playing was top notch, and Mike Hull handled lead vocals to his usual standards, if being hard to hear at times. Fans of recent Destroilet sets won't have been disappointed by last night's set, and whether Brent's there or not, their next show should also be a hit!
And your headliners were local horror punk quintet
Frightlight in their final concert appearance, but in a surprise, lead guitarist Rick "Styles" White couldn't make the event himself for unannounced reasons, so frontman Johnny Pints' Jack Spades bandmate Jesse Cook filled in on lead guitar in his place, taking on the stage name Evil Link (playing off of his costume.) He improvised well with some solid solos, and definitely seemed happy to be there, but you can tell that he didn't know some of the songs very well. Sort of strange that Rick couldn't be there for the final show, but hopefully everything's OK with him! Aside from that, it was nice to hear Frightlight originals like "She Screams", "Dead Town Anywhere", and "The Ballad of Buffalo Bill" again, plus some Misfits classics, and everyone put in their all musically, with Eddie Fright's bass work nice to see again, and Johnny's own vocals kept up their melodic punk bite as usual!
Given that Frightlight began their run at this annual Halloween party in 2009, it ended in fitting fashion 5 years later, and while it would have been cool to see former drummers like Larry Mousseau or Jeff De Rose make guest appearances for the occasion, this was the best way for Frightlight to go out! Best of luck to J.D., Rick, Kevin, Mike, and Chris (plus former and fill-in members) in the future, and be sure to check out Jack Spades, Redundant, Chronic Demonic, Giwakwa, The Thrill Junkies, and (if still active) T-Rex Manning to see Frightlight's last members' current projects! Overall, this was another successful Halloween party, and kudos to J.D. for keeping this annual event going for so long without fail! I'm sure 2015 will be a hit as well, and we'll of course keep you posted on that next fall! I did get photos of each band, and you can check them out at
our Facebook page or at
this link!
As for videos, here's Sykotyk Rampage covering Motorhead's "Killed By Death" (with Tony on lead vocals), Destroilet playing "Bamberg Witch Prison", and Jack Spades covering The Misfits' "Halloween" (fittingly) and "We Are 138", with a guest singer!
Sykotyk Rampage - Killed By Death
Destroilet - Bamberg Witch Prison
Frightlight - Halloween & We Are 138
That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes in the coming days, plus this month's "Where Are The New Albums?" post hopefully tomorrow! Thanks everyone!
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