Review: NoMeansNo @ the Garrison

we stood in awe once again witnessing NoMeansNo deliver yet another sonic triumph onstage last nite.  these grey haired fellas still put out the energy of a teenager and a love of the craft that can’t help inspire.  the garrison is one of our fave venues in toronto and the sound mix was decent (actually not too loud but just loud enuff which was nice for a change). nomeansno has an understanding of music that goes beyond the borders of punk.  their understanding of harmony, harmonics, stage performance/presence, song structure are off the charts.  each member is an amazing musician in their own “wright” and the entire set mesmorizes and blows the mind of yours truly without end.

highlights included: its catching up, theresa, jubilation but anything these guys do is gold.  we think there was a new song called ” spark” that we dug a lot as well. t’was good to see a very mixed crowd out of young/old, male/female and a decent mosh pit in action.

we left thinking this band is and continues to be on our “not to be missed” at any cost list.  one of our top 5 bands of all time.  hands down.

here’s some pic taken with the iphone hipstamatic app.  some turned out really blue!  kinda cool.

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Rum Runner 10th Anniversary Review

well, its not much of a review but rather a slew of pics and a quick video.  kinda goes with how quick our visit to calgary was.  whirlwind indeed!  here goes:

we were lucky enuff to free up some time to land in calgary recently and caught the 10th anniversary show for local cowpunk/celtic group, Rum Runner.  not often that any band makes it to that mark so we just had to witness!  fantastic evening with the “footstompin’ styles” of  Audio/Rocketry and “the wall of sound punk styles” of  the Mandates opening.  the sound in the Palomino could have been way better but the energy onstage and in front of it more than made up for any other shortcomings.  glad we caught every note of this historic evening!  the only thing we were expecting was the unexpected and the show more than delivered!

pics! pics! pics!  there are 80 of  ‘em in order of appearance… audio/rocketry – mandates (sorry only a couple turned out ok)-rum runner

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end of show video! tad distorted but u get the point.

Strummer Nights 2011

Forget summer nights in Hamilton, Strummer nights are way better!

We were lucky enough to experience 2 straight nights of Joe Strummer songs at This Ain’t Hollywood this past weekend.  Great crowds (the first night was capacity packed, second one almost) and a way better experience than having to live thru an evening of Gorillaz or Big Audio Dynamite to get your 2011 Clash fix.  It was so good we already can’t wait for the next version on Good Friday and Easter Saturday of 2012.  There wasn’t a bad act amongst the lineup with a heap of supergroups, one-offs, reunions and special guests appearing.  Folk, Punk, Celtic, Rock, Reggae, Rockabilly, Thrash genres and everything in-between were all covered.  Personal highlight had to be seeing the Letdowns (ex-Wetspots) play.  Ah, so many good shows they’ve had and all the memories just came flooding back the moment they hit the stage!  Our fave song, Straight to Hell got a sweet treatment and hearing Burning Lights from the soundtrack of I Hired a Contract Killer was fantastic!  Top marks for The Saints Are Coming for bringing a great Celtic twist to some songs that we wish the video we took did more justice.

and speaking of video, this event got us thinking about investing in a better camera to take videos of live music with since our current setup is hit and miss. its just an everyday digital camera and not meant for live music.  ahhhh, there’s always a reason for more gear!

Here’s some pics and some of the best of the video evidence.  Visit our youtube site for all the vizness. More videos still being added as we post this.  Thanks for the memories Strummer Night #9, we’ll see u again for 10!

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