Skull Fist, Diemonds, Fatality, Call Of The Wild And Old James At The Hard Luck

     This past weekend on July 7th I attended the Skull Fist, Diemonds, Fatality, Call Of The Wild and Old James show at the Hard Luck Bar. 5 Awesome bands for 10 bucks! It would take me forever to review the whole concert so I'll just point out my highlights from the night.

- I got to hang out with a friend I haven't seen in a while.
- Old James played a Skynyrd cover and as they put it, "we play some fucking good BBQ music."
- Call Of The Wild were sloppy at first but had it together by about the third song. They played a very competent cover of Street Lethal by Racer X! Bitchin'!
- The female lead from Diemonds has a good dirty rock voice and they have the enthusiasm of a band playing to a sold out arena.
- Fatality play some good old school thrash and the lead singer's banter between songs is funny enough that he could do stand up comedy. I was laughing my ass off with his jokes about long hair.
 - Skull Fist is consistently awesome. Their showmanship and musicianship are as tight as you can get!

     I give the whole night a 9/10. I would have given it a 10 but I'm getting old and it was a looooong night.

     My next trip to The Hard Luck Bar will most likely be on July 21'st, 2012 to see Barn Burner and Skeletonwitch. It's sure to be an awesome show so if you're in Toronto go support the bands!

 

Blood Ceremony And Witch Mountain at the Hard Luck Bar

     This week in Toronto is North By North East (or NXNE) where over 700 bands play a giant music festival throughout the city. However, one of the best shows of the week was not part of NXNE. Castle, Blood Ceremony and Witch Mountain played on Wednesday night at the Hard Luck Bar. I was at the show to see Blood Ceremony specifically, but all 3 bands put on a good set.

     I arrived at the bar and met a friend outside around 9:30 so we only caught the last few songs from Castle but what we heard was solid. From the few songs that we heard I would give the band a 7/10 and would probably check them out again next time they play a show.

     The second band to go on was Blood Ceremony. I have been to many of their concerts and they never fail to bring the Sabbath style Stoner/Doom Metal. Last night was no exception and they played a mixed set from both of their studio albums as well as one song that has yet to be recorded. They finished the night with the song Oliver Haddo and didn't come back for an encore despite the crowd's chants. Because they didn't come back for an extra song they get a 9/10. This may have been their last hometown show for the year as they tend to tour in Europe and are recording their third studio album this summer.

     The final band of the night was Witch Mountain from Portland, Oregon. I was not previously too familiar with their music but they were a sweet Doom Metal band with a bluesy female vocalist. All of their songs were good and they finished off their regular set with an 11 minute epic. Witch Mountain listened to the audience and stayed to play and encore song. I would love to see this band again and give them an 8/10



     I have an all-show pass for NXNE so expect some more concert reviews soon!

Skull Fist at the Hard Luck Bar

     I attended a concert last night at The Hard Luck Bar in Toronto for Call Of The Wild, Lust Boys and Skull Fist.

     
     I got to the venue around 10:45 (finding parking was a bitch) and Call Of The Wild was just finishing up. I wasn't able to find any information about them by doing a quick search on the internet and I heard maybe a song and a half when I got to the show so I can't comment on how good/bad they were.

     Lust Boys from Victoria BC went on stage around 11:15. I had seen earlier in the day that their tour van broke down outside of Sault Ste. Marie so they had to rent a U-Haul truck to make it to the show. They were a lot more fun and much better sounding than I had anticipated. The guys looked kind of cheesy (somewhat suitable when they name themselves Lust Boys and sing about stuff like Leatherette Boots) but the band was tight and the singer was truly exceptional. The highlights of the set were the two covers the band played. They first covered My Michelle by GnR then later on they played Youth Gone Wild by Skid Row. Both songs made the crowd go nuts. The band played a very solid 45 minute set. For some good cheesy glam metal I give the Lust Boys a 7/10 + 1 bonus point for playing some GnR and some Skid Row: 8/10

                                            
                                              The Lust boys on stage at the Hard Luck Bar

     It seems like everybody in the bar was there for Skull Fist. Skull Fist play shred heavy classic style heavy metal. My mother describes their sound as "the sound you would hear while you were having a nervous break down." The band was setup on stage by 12:30 but they were delayed an extra 10 minutes or so because singer/guitarist Jackie Slaughter was having trouble getting his pedalboard to work. The audience crowded the stage, and when the band started playing the people up front started going nuts (like the guy in the sleeveless Scorpions shirt and bandanna with the stripper girlfriend who was grinding on anything she could see, or the super tall dude in the leather coat who was grabbing random people and throwing them into the mosh pit).

    
     Five or six guys kept jumping up on stage just to leap back into the audience and try to crowd surf. They had very limited sucess. Several songs into the set they had already played some of my favorites including "Head Of The Pack" and "Ride The Beast."

    
     At some point, one of the guys who kept trying to crowd surf jumped into the audience and nobody was there to catch him so he took a dive head first into the floor, knocking him out. The band was asked to stop playing by the bar and the police were brought in to revive the unconscious moron. Once on his feet again, the surfer was escorted to the rear of the bar by the police and the band resumed playing with a cover of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever".

     Half way through the next song the guy who was knocked was right back to jumping off the stage, also, Jackie's guitar had cut out again. Unfortunately, after a good 5 minutes of the band trying to sort out the technical difficulties I had to leave the show to pick up my girlfriend from a party she was attending across town. I didn't even get to hear "No False Metal" and I was hoping they would play their cover of Angelwitch's "Angelwitch."

     Because Skull Fist sound awesome live and put on such a great show (when jackasses aren't knocking themselves out or equipment isn't messed up) I give the show a 9/10. If you're from Toronto Skull Fist are supposed to be playing again May 10th, 2012 with swedish power metal band Sabaton at The Annex Wreck Room. However, just yesterday Sabaton announced that they will be splitting up but some members (singer and bassist) will continue on. I have no idea how this will affect any future shows.

 

CMW 2012

     I usually go to more CMW shows but there was only one that interested me this year. On Friday night I attended The Great Hall for Saul Williams, Spoek Mathambo, Cadence Weapon and The Battle Of Santiago. I actually only purchased the tickets because I'm a fan of Edmonton/Montreal rapper Cadence Weapon but there were also some pleasant surprises from the other artists.

     I arrived around 9:30 to catch the last couple of songs from The Battle Of Santiago. The band had at least 6 members on stage and the sound mixing in the venue was not the greatest. They played some kind of improvisational latin-post-afro-cuban-rock mix which could be cool, however, since I only saw about a song and a half and the mix was shitty I can't really place a fair rating on the performance. Rating: NA

     Cadence Weapon took to the stage around 10. It was just him and his DJ in front of the half empty venue. Rollie performed all new songs from his upcoming album (Hope In Dirt City coming out May 29th) with the exception of the song Sharks from the album Breaking Kayfabe. The new songs were good and the performance was high energy. I also have to say that the DJ was amazing (sorry I don't know his name. :-( ). Most DJs over the past couple of years seem to be playing pre-recorded tracks off their macbooks and occasionally playing with their mixing consoles. There was no laptop to be seen during this performance and his hands were flying! Because the set was a little short and I was hoping to hear a few more older songs I give Cadence Weapon a rating of: 7.5/10

I didn't bring my camera with me this year so this is Cadence Weapon from CMW 2010

     At 11:00 Spoek Mathambo came out to a full hall. Before the show I had only seen one or two of his videos on Youtube so I was largely unfamiliar with his music. Hailing all the way from Johannesburg South Africa the band had the entire place partying in no time. Spoek's music is a blend of African, electro, and rap. On stage the band looks like they are having a great time and that feeling translates through to the crowd. They played for over an hour until they were kicked off the stage by the sound guy, however, they managed to sneak back on for an encore. For being awesome I rate Spoek Mathambo: 8.5/10

     The headliner of the night was Saul Williams. Once again I wasn't too familiar with Saul's music. The set started with the backing 'DJ' cutting together seemingly random 30 second clips of music. After about 20 minutes of noise the crowd was becoming aggravated by the choppy set. Saul Williams came out with the rest of his band and proceeded to play several rhythmic/electronic songs with the occasional spoken word interlude. Williams seemed to command the audience's attention but it was late and I wasn't particularly impressed by the music so I left the show early. I know he has many fans but I guess I'm not one of them. I give Saul Williams: 4/10