DV8 Underground
8130 Gateway Blvd
Edmonton, AB
July 13th, 2013
The Cleaners, Anatomy Cats, The Rhubarbs, Down The Hatch, Rebuild/Repair
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cross posted with deadcity.ca/press
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8130 Gateway Blvd
Edmonton, AB
July 13th, 2013
The Cleaners, Anatomy Cats, The Rhubarbs, Down The Hatch, Rebuild/Repair
---------------
cross posted with deadcity.ca/press
---------------
Rocked into the "new" location for DV8 Tavern, nay now DV8 underground, somewhere in the vicinity of 9:30pm. Luckily, and oddly, I had remembered to bring my Dead City press pass with me, I'm not even sure who else (besides Landon & MraeD) has one... However, since an accident back in December, I'm still lacking a non broken lens for my DSLR so sadly I was unable to get any photos. (Rita Hex took some shots, however I have yet to obtain any of them.)
Full disclosure.
DV8 Underground has probably my favourite crowd of regulars in Edmonton. Hell it's possibly my favourite venue in Edmonton, certainly top 2 (as I'd say it's probably a coin flip, and depending on who is playing.) DV8 Underground is run by good people. People that will go out of their way to help a touring band. This actually brings us to the first band of the night "The Cleaners".
The Cleaners
The Cleaners are kind of a greaser/blues/punk band, and they were already tearing up the stage when MraeD and I walked in. This is the only band on the bill that I've never shared a stage with. According to the pile of business cards sitting on their mersh table The Cleaners are a "UK/Canadian offbeat Rock n' Growl Band"
About mid set, between one gnarly song and another steezy Rock-a-Billy tune, we get a little bit of band history. Turns out, at least one of them did an acoustic tour of Canada last year. They dug the country so much that they moved permanently to Saskadelphia, err, Saskatchewan. Provided that I heard the spiel correctly. Anyways... The Cleaners are currently mounting a cross Canada tour.
Brittany, the lass with the growl on the mic, bounces effortlessly across the stage. The Cleaners pour intense energy into the room, feeding off the love and energy that the room gives back. You could almost feel the electricity in the air. My only issue with these cats is that I missed the first half of their set.
Anatomy Cats
Once again, in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I consider these guys to be friends of mine. Having said that, it's been far too long since I've last seen the Anatomy Cats live. So, I was standing outside talking shop, catching up, basically shooting the shit with Dustin and Nolan (StruggleFucks, Micelli, others...) and we hear the distinctive clack of drumsticks on a four count. From that point on Blake and company tear a hole through the fabric of space and time. We're all transported back to the mid to late 1980s, the din of D. Boon going off on a spiel about politics, the smell of Greg Ginn's sweat soaked guitar, you get the picture.
Attending, watching, and listening to the Anatomy Cats live is probably as close to catching an early Propagandhi concert as any of us are likely ever going to get (aside from late night VHS bootlegs that is...) These working class boys from Fort Saskatchewan (located about 20 - 35 minutes north of Edmonton on Manning Dr. NW) live the lives they sing about. There is no moral or ethical ambiguity to be found here.
One could classify the Anatomy Cats as a Hardcore band, you wouldn't be wrong. You could also classify them as a Punk band, even an EMO band (mind to me EMO still is a word used to describe bands like Husker Du and Jawbreaker.) The Anatomy Cats are as punk as it comes, yet so much more. Hell call them a Thrash band, no one would dare to question your thought process. But again they are so much more.
These boys, nay, men, come from a long line of humanist Canadian Punk Rock. Checkout the song "Selectively Blind" [Track 6 on A Matter Of Minutes] it would fit perfectly on any D.O.A./SNFU/Propagandhi setlist. As it was the fifth song they played, it helped to further open the minds of all in the room, including those of us who have already been converted. Since their last album these cats have been working on some new material, and its working for them, as the next tune to really draw the crowd in was "Breaking the Walls Against Racism (Tear Them Down)" reminding us all that the global struggle for equality is still just beginning. Unlike some "Political Punk" bands we never feel as though the Anatomy Cats are talking down to us. Instead its like were all equals, just sitting down over a pot of tea, or a pint, and having a conversation about how to make this spinning rock we call home a better place for all of those who inhabit it.
Side note: Is it strange that I wish the songs were longer? You know, coming from the guy who wrote Zero Cool's "Gossip" and "Nineteen Eighty Four" that both clock in somewhere between 35 - 55 seconds (depending upon the recording, or the live tempo)?
Tonight we were treated to a very special event as Blake invited Jerm Hex (Micelli, StruggleFucks, Former Whiskey Wagon, etc..) on stage to play their last couple songs with them. The first (w/ Jerm) was a tune that I had not heard before, but even in this moderately sized room with the guitar sounds bouncing back at me from all angles, I became aware that part of me just changed for the better.
Their closing song “Destroy / Exploit” a poignant diatribe about what we’re facing here in Canada under the (Mussolini styled) Fascist Stephen Harper and even more so here in Alberta with our seventy plus years of further and further right wing voting giving us our current crop of small “c” conservatives. At the end of the song, as the teardown begins to take place, I find a note I made years earlier when I first shared a bill with them; “The Anatomy Cats are a band that I believe will make you a better Human.” The results of what I’ve seen in the last three years would certainly say that this hypothesis is correct.
Full disclosure, every band that I'm reviewing for the rest of this tale are friends of mine. The following is probably going to read a little bit like a bunch of bro-grabs. Now that we have that out of the way....
Between the end of the Anatomy Cats and the start of the Rhubarbs, the population in DV8 Underground easily doubled in size. So it's pretty safe to say that the new location is working out well for them. That and folks who were wandering past when The Cleaners/Anatomy Cats were on decided they better come on down and check out this gig.
The Rhubarbs
Funny story, for the first four years that I had known their bassist, I could have sworn his name was Dan. It's Mike. We got that sorted out when we finally hung out, not at a gig, when I had him deliver a copy of their LP to me. See... it was funny. (And before you say it, I was not confusing him for Dan, I am aware they are two different people.)
In some respects the Rhubarbs are almost the exact opposite kind of punk band from the Anatomy Cats, mind all of those are stylistically. They just come from a different school is all. Raised on the Ramones, some Descendants, a bit of Minor Threat, and with a little Replacements thrown in for flavour. This is working very well for them. It also appeared to be working well for the second influx of people who arrived shortly after they took the stage.
This wondrous juxtaposition in sounds, four on the floor, 135 bpm, straight up punk rock keeps the crowd bobbing, the floor moving. From my vantage point near the back of the room the movements of the crowd almost appeared to be like that of a wave crashing against the rocks. The harder the `Barbs played, the more the crowd got into it, and the harder those waves just kept crashing, a beautiful circle of passion and energy.
When I was first introduced to them it was a cold December, one of those Festivus fundraiser gigs I put on every year. Since then they have dropped the second guitar, gotten tighter as a band, and started to wear their influences on the set list. Words fall short of expressing how much the Rhubarbs have grown as a band in the couple years.
Adding a cover of the legendary D.C. Hardcore Punks Minor Threat's "Seeing Red" near the midway point of the set fits right in with their original tunes. It all makes perfect sense, kind of like adding a thin layer of brown sugar, as a crust, on top of a rhubarb pie. I actually have a very delicious recipe for rhubarb pie, and these men have a delicious Rhubarb recipe for your eardrums.
Down The Hatch
One knows that it's going to be a good set when Joey takes the stage shirtless, doesn't even bother with the pretense that it might be a mellow set. Keelan hits the four count and Rob's bass begins to come thundering through. For those of you who are not yet aware, Down The Hatch is a punk band by way of Lagwagon, Black Flag, Black Sabbath, and a myriad of other Metal/Punk bands.. genres never make much sense anyways... mind they sound nothing like Lagwagon, or Black Flag, or Black Sabbath, Joey just has these intense riffs that attack you, just like each of the aforementioned bands.
Now, if you didn't know that Down The Hatch is a three piece band, and you're not looking at the stage, you would swear that there was probably five or six guys up there. They have a HUGE sound, one that they have been developing for a while, one they have somehow managed to develop while downsizing after losing a frontman/second guitarist, had the original ox of a bassist ship off across the Atlantic ocean never to be seen in this part of the world again, and picking up what most folks thought was going to be a timid man on the thunder stick. Sure Rob isn't near as intimidating on stage to look at, but his sound, my friends, his sound provides the perfect punch and counter balance to Joey's two (or is it three now?) guitar amplifier setup. Now in the middle of all of this sits Keelan, possibly one of the hardest hitting and dynamic drummers Edmonton has ever seen, and I've ever had the pleasure to watch and listen too. Most don't quite realize everything he does behind his fortress of “sound-itude”, but you have to understand, he more then holds his own against two wizards of electric mayhem and volume mastery.
So, how do I know of this mythology of Down The Hatch? Aside from first having been introduced to them sometime in early 2007, where I played an acoustic set opening for them at the Wunderbar. Since that time I've probably played forty gigs with them, while I was in Zero Cool, and seen them another twenty or so. Hell I even shipped off copies of Fiasco! and Space Goat to a couple different record companies in hopes of having them get picked up... I guess at this point it becomes obvious that not only am I friends with them, but I'm a fan of what they are doing.
From the looks of the crowd still inside of DV8 Underground, and the few more people who wandered in, everyone in the room is as well. Even if, before this very evening, they had never even heard the name, Down The Hatch, or their music before. By the time Joey is singing the second chorus of "Rock n' Roll High School Dropout" most of the bar is singing along.
Since the last time I was able to make it out to a DTH show they've written a few new tunes, retired others, and started asking the audience what they should play. A gamble of some acts, but one that pays off, as much like the Anatomy Cats, DTH has made their entire back catalog available for free online via bandcamp. This has allowed a lot of new fans to learn the tunes and make concepts like this workout. It's also good news for all of you, as you can now go and acquire the albums, mind a physical CD is a whole $5.00 or you can trade a fresh beer for one at a show, so really its win/win for all involved.
So how to explain the intensity, energy, and the power coming off the stage from a band that has self financed and released two albums and one EP (only the most recent album and EP are available.) Maybe its because they come from the DIY skateboarding scene, where its about building something that will last. See, personally, I still consider DTH as skate-punk band. Not shitty Bro-Skate like say, Pennywise, more akin to (Thrasher Magazine's) Bad Shit, but actually serious about what they do. Maybe it's best described by how they can pull up KP (Zero Cool) to sing ETS Blues. It's a fifteen to twenty second song that encompases all the frustration we feel everyday in this city, but is so satirical that most of our "fine" city will never be able to understand.
Edmonton, we need more bands like this.
Now, with a bill this loaded, and a lineup this good, something bad was bound to happen. Sadly it did, Jon, the bassist for Rebuild/Repair came down with something evil, he couldn't make the show. There was talk for a bit that the band may drop off the bill of their own CD release. There was brief talk that I might even fill in on the thud stick for the night. Fortunately, neither of those things came to pass. Randall picked up some sort of octave pedal, and a line splitter, and words were said, small prayers possibly, and the gods of rock allowed the show to go on, as it must.
Rebuild / Repair
Ever since the first note, of their very first show, I've been sold on these guys. I've said it from the beginning, and now three EPs in it is even more true. Rebuild/Repair is Edmonton's much awaited and longed for answer to Flipper.
A little back story, indulge me. I first met Randall, god knows how long ago, probably at a gig, but it wasn't until Twitter that we really actually got to talking about random things. Jon I probably met eons ago on one edmonton forum or another, but I suspect indecline. Kelly, he's just always been around, I think... but we never talked until the band formed. Now ever since Rebuild/Repair formed and started to do their thing, I have attempted to get every person I've met into them. In this time, I'd like to think, we've become friends, possibly colleagues, and over this past May long weekend, we became tour mates. Shockingly no one was tossed out of the Dodge while traversing that devilish piece of Highway One (aka the Trans-Canada) somewhere between Regina and Winnipeg. We made a 3000+ KM journey across the great Canadian prairies, for basically a bit less than the cost of gasoline to do so (after gig money, and merch money that is.)
Somewhere just before we hit the road I was even approached to do the art for the new EP "Arson Awareness Day". Though asked to do it not in my normal abstract style, but something more akin to what I've been playing with art wise, something more like my Edmonton Bands series, or perhaps the Insta-Sketch series. (The Edmonton Band series did include a painting of Rebuild/Repair, among a few others..)
So what I'm saying here, is I'm a bit biased when it comes to these guys.
So, on July 13th 2013, as Rebuild/Repair releases their brand new EP, they will play their first (and quite possibly only) gig as a two piece. I mentioned it earlier that Jon couldn't make it out. Randall's last minute purchases, and slightly more self deprecating than usual demeanor played into the hands of the crowd. It sounded near as good. The crowd was eating it up, some cats even started to "Pogo". It was kinda like 1983 again, and much like earlier in the evening I felt like we had all been transported to an earlier time.
A time when Punk was an attitude, not an image. A germ of an idea, before we all had to sound the same. When records were a document of a period in time, not some way to "get rich" and be over analyzed by the same sort of music nerd that would type up some long winded diatribe about a local punk gig...
"This one's off our new EP. It sounds better with a bass player." Randall explains before breaking out into a slightly sludgier version of Arson Awareness Day, the title track of the new album. The people are into it, as they should be. This is the music of the people, cranked past eleven, we should be hearing it eeking out of back alleys, burnt out basement dwellers, and garages.. in a perfect world.
"This one is some avant garde bullshit... then we have three more" Our reluctant hero mumbles before kicking into one of my new personal favourite tunes Post-Industrial City-States. In finding that much sought after harmony between droned out sludge and intense power, you can feel it taking its toll on the bodies that remain, as the night ebbs towards its end. Rebuild/Repair sets up for a Shellac like death mantra closing out the night with Summary's Falling Out/Burning Down and Relics' Failure Scene. Those of us who managed to survive into the wee hours of the morning, still wanting to take more from Rebuild/Repair, begging, pleading, chanting... to no avail.
I recall something about Randall saying he wasn't sure if they could do any of their other tune justice without Jon on the bass, Kelly just grinned. The band had accomplished what they set out to do. The thoughts of modern radio rock obliterated from our minds.
Rebuild/Repair is the band you're looking for.
- Jim Nowhere
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