Benefit show

I wanted to start off with a thanks to all the people who made Thursday night possible. We were able to raise $450 for CIUT and that makes us feel great. Special thanks to Greg Dick who came up with the idea and pushed it with all of us. Thanks to Simon for sharing the spotlight on Ugly Pop’s record release night. For those who didn't make it Cherry Cola is this secluded little joint just north of Queen and Bathurst and has this retro red velvet wallpaper that the Turning Point used to have but this looks brand new. It's a great little spot with an air of burlesque and rock'n roll. Thanks to the folks at Cherry Cola who let us put this thing on.

Thanks to the TV Freaks for driving all the way down from Welland and giving it their all. It was great to see them just after the release of their first full length. The band was super excited and they lead us through some lo fi garage inspired garage inspired hardcore that at times sounded like early JFA and Gang of Four and Wire and New Bomb Turks. They were nervous and the didn't have to be. Dave O'Connor leered out behind his mic a number of times just to check to see if we were paying attention. We were riveted.  

Liz Worth of Treat Me Like Dirt, took over the sound system. She played a great set of early punk spiced with bands that had female singers. It was a great transition.

The Suicide Dates were the raison d'etre behind this event. It had been 2006 the last time this particular group had gotten together. The only original member of the Dream Dates is Greg Dick and he wanted togive back to CIUT for all the programming we have done in covering the early punk scene, due in a large part to his efforts. If you have heard some of Greg's past interviews on EXD he has done shows with such heavyweights as the Ugly and the Viletones and Teenage Head, the Existers, the Mods, Don Pyle, the Fits and has played a behind the scenes role in so many other things that we do. It was an honour for him to go this extra distance and make their only show a benefit for CIUT.

In studio 3, Brian (of the Sinisters) was referring to Jonah, John, and Martin of Career Suicide as the Dream Team. They kicked out the jams. The guitars were super loud creating a blown out effect. I was having trouble hearing Greg when he was singing but the band picked a lot of covers that allowed for audience participation. So there was full on sing-a-longs to songs like "First Time", and "Search and Destroy". Coincidentally, the band launched into a cover of the Stooges number just as Arson walked in which is fitting given that Arson do their own appreciation for that scene with the song "Motor City" and "Vietnamese Babies".

I screwed up working out all the DJ equipment and as a result Don Pyle was unable to play his set as was our very own Rob Ferraz. Those were my disaapointments for the night. But Arson took to the stage with their current line up which features Dave Quinton (of the Mods) on drums and John Sutton (of the Weakerthans) on bass. They ripped through a set of the songs from the ep, "Pretty Girls" which was the unreleased song on "Smash the State", and they did a new song as an encore. Watching Rude paint the air with drama to supplement his lyrics and his self-assured Lou Reeed like delivery. Marcel focused on his guitar with that thick heavy crunch. John Sutton could barely be contained with a constant sneer on his face looking for every opportunity to pogo. And Dave Quinton with a host of faces and his Keith Moon like ability to stand on the kit or stand up or just try and do something different with the four pieces in front of him. I kept thinking how lucky are we to be witnessing this right now. You can't find talent this great. And at the end we learned that this was to be the band's last show for a while.

Thanks to Aldo Elric for filing the night. Thanks to Stuart Ross for driving in from Cobourg. And thanks to John De Marco for the escort home. Thanks to evryone who showed up like Zero, Betsy Carter, Mary Jankulak, Heather Haight, Hits and Misses Pete, Christine, Misty, and so many others. Here are some photos from the night.