Moneen/Sparta 20th Anniversary Shows w/ Chastity Show Review - November 7th, 2023 (Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre)

 

Photo courtesy of Riley Taylor/@larvalungs/www.moneenlovesyou.com

Brampton's own Moneen took on Winnipeg for the first time since 2009 with a stellar support lineup: New Mexico's Sparta (who were celebrating 20 years of their debut, Wiretap Scars), and Chastity from Whitby, Ontario. This is a Dine Alone Records fans' wet dream.

Moneen are out on tour performing 'Are We Really Happy With Who Are Right Now?' in it's entirety for it's 20th anniversary, and a handful of fan favorites from Red Tree and The Theory of Harmonial Value (which just appeared on streaming for fans to enjoy, alongside their debut EP 'Smaller Chairs...')

 Canada's emo-grunge prince Chastity went on at 7:30, and performed a great 30 minute set. I have unfortunately missed every time Brandon has came here but I will not make that mistake again, as I've fallen in love with his music over the course of the year; it was a welcome surprise to see Chastity announced as support on this tour. Performing a selection of his well known songs which include 'Sun Poisoning' and 'When You Go Home I Withdrawal', as well as a handful of early songs such as 'Manning Hill'. In talking with him and his current touring bassist (who performs dream pop music under the name 'ellis'), they mentioned that they will be coming back in the spring to perform a longer set, please pay attention to that!

After that was Sparta, who performed the entirety of Wiretap Scars from 2002. Sparta's Jim Ward was one of the co-founders of At The Drive-In, and appeared on 3 of their albums until they called it quits in 2001. Jim co-founded Sparta soon after with other former members of ATDI (with Cedric and Omar forming The Mars Volta), and rejoined ATDI for a reunion in 2012, leaving permanently after this. Sparta's current lineup consists of Ward on guitar and vocals, Matt Miller on bass and vocals, and Neil Hennessy (of Joyce Manor/Lawrence Arms/The Falcon...) on drums. Jim is one of my guitar heroes, so seeing their energy, with how they crafted their ambient guitar transitions in between songs and more, was fascinating to watch. It was nearly an hour of watching a great group of people play great music, no stopping and talking.

The headliner was of course, Moneen. They played the entirety of Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now? along with an encore that included The Passing of America, Locke and Tonight, I'm Gone. Kenny Bridges, Chris Hughes and Erik Hughes stage presence remains energetic as it was in the old Moneen music videos for "Are We Really Happy..." and "Start Angry", and Peter Krpan never misses a beat, whether it's a fast, more progressive song or one of the "slower", more dynamic songs ("Tonight, I'm Gone"). A huge highlight of the show included Kenny sliding up and down the Park Theatre's beer-drenched wooden floor and (jokingly) failing to do a somersault/frontflip - but being crowd surfed back to the stage in good condition to get to his guitar. It brings me back to watching Moneen's Jubilee Hall show from 2003 (the show they played with Alexisonfire in New Brunswick with Jersey opening), which can be found on YouTube. It was an emo-core show in the purest form - finger pointing, body shoving and great feeling from the boys in Moneen. Big love to Moneen, Sparta and Chastity for showing Winnipeg how it's done, and great job to everyone on selling out the venue on a TUESDAY night.

-Fish 

Go check out the Moneen webstore, where you can buy cassettes, vinyl, shirts and much more (pay attention, because they might put up the 20th anniversary vinyl too) 

https://www.moneenlovesyou.com/

 

 

 

 

The Beaches "Blame My Ex Tour" Show Review - November 5th, 2023 (Winnipeg, Manitoba @ The Burton Cummings Theatre)

 

The Beaches w/ special guests Beach Weather show review (November 5th, 2023) (poster courtesy of The Burton Cummings Theatre website)

Toronto indie/alt-pop four-piece The Beaches took the stage alongside Beach Weather on Sunday night at the Burton Cummings Theatre, as part of the 2023 Blame My Ex tour, in support of their album of the same name, which came out in September on AWAL Recordings.

The night opened promptly at 8pm, with Beach Weather from Massachusetts, USA. They play a brand of jangly indie and pop rock similar to most of The Beaches recent stuff, however I would more accurately compare them to a band such as The Neighborhood, The Wallows or Hotel Ugly; something more in that laidback indie feel.

Beach Weather played about 40 minutes of their material, which is great for a highlight reel of what they offer in terms of their tunes. They played a handful of their popular songs from their two 2016 EP's, 'Chit Chat' and 'What a Drag', and some from their most recent album, 'Pineapple Sunrise', including their viral-on-the-internet hit, Sex, Drugs, Etc. (which was first released on their debut EP, but rereleased years later). The bands' live stage presence and vibe oozes sunny day beach vibes, and frontman Nick Santino (of A Rocket to the Moon fame) oozes sexual attitude with a great voice. What I enjoyed about these guys live presence the most, is their dynamics; a tendency to go from a great power pop tune to an emotional, rock 'n roll destruction fest with their instruments in mere minutes. 

The Beaches came on stage at 9:10pm, and delivered a set of both new and old hits and album cuts, including their latest album being played in full. Other favorites that aren't found on Blame My Ex include Grow Up Tomorrow, T-Shirt and Money. The only song that I noticed that was notably missing from any of their setlists (including this one) was Lame, but I'm not complaining. A major highlight of their set included Nick from Beach Weather coming on stage to sing with Jordan for My Body ft. Your Lips. Other notable moments included the crowd chanting enthusiastically during the song that changed The Beaches lives', 'Blame Brett', which went viral on TikTok this year, as well as the acoustic performance of If A Tree Falls - a personal favorite track of mine from this album.

The sold-out Beaches show at the Burton Cummings Theatre lived up to my expectations, and even smashed some. I've been looking into going to more indie/pop-centered shows, and this one was an extremely fun one, and a band I'll be looking more into as well as attending more shows in the future. I think the only thing that hindered my excitement a little bit was just how big the sold-out crowd was, and being pushed back slowly (I was on the floor for reference). Overall, I'll give this experience a 4/5 stars. Much love to The Beaches and Beach Weather, and I wish them well on the rest of their tour, where they go out to western Canada, then Europe later this month and USA (again) next year!

-Fish 

The Beaches 'Blame My Ex' now available on streaming services and thebeachesband.com

Blame My Ex Streaming

The Beaches Music, Merch + More

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locater 'Clandestine" album release show review w/ Guilty Sleep, Agapito.

 

Nicholas Gammon and Brendan McLean of Locater playing at the Goodwill Social Club, February 25th 2023. Photo by Justin Fisher

Locater (FKA Louser) played a release show in celebration of their new album 'Clandestine', which was released February 17th, 2023 on No Sleep Records. This is a bit of a recap and review on the shoegaze/punk show, plus some pictures that I took that I liked.

The show opened with the band Guilty Sleep, a newcomer to the indie/shoegaze scene. They just finished recording some music with Griffin of Winnipeg easycore act, A Grizzly Fate on the board. Guilty Sleep consists of guitarist/vocalist Eric Ducharme, guitarist/vocalist Haise, drummer Liam Sewell (of Co Komono/Seweller/Jupiter Meltdown) and bassist Nick Paluck (of Jupiter Meltdown). 

Guilty Sleep perform at The Goodwill Social Club. Photo by Justin Fisher

Guilty Sleep play a blend of grunge and emo influenced shoegaze, with lush guitar soundscapes, big drums and even a telephone mic akin to Deftones. They can make you feel floaty, but also have some fast-paced songs that make you want to jump or mosh. They'll be a band to look out for in the future when they start releasing music. I absolutely loved their set and I can't wait to see more of their stuff. Despite the band name, the bombastic, spontaneously loud sound of this band will not make you want to sleep.

Agapito was the next band of the night, and I went in blindly, having never heard anything. They absolutely blew my mind with their mixture of post/progressive hardcore with a rock and roll energy. Agapito is more-or-less a supergroup, with a former member of Comeback Kid and Mike Peters from Cancer Bats on drums. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately, because I was so entranced by the bands performance. From the lead vocalists' rock and roll attitude to the colourful melodies used on both the guitars and the basslines. There was even a point where the rack tom fell over because of how hard this bands' music hits! This is a band you NEED to see, where the live experience is going to be so much different from a studio release. Keep an eye out for more music and shows from them, and also check out Cancer Bats if you're not familiar with them.

The last band was Locater, of course. Bit of backstory, they used to go under the name 'Louser' until early February 2023, but due to legal issues, were forced to undergo a name change. The band released one 'self-titled' EP under that name, but Clandestine was released right after their name change, after signing to No Sleep Records. The band consists of core members Nicholas Gammon on vocals, Sean Kaye on bass, Nick 'The Fonz' Fondse on guitar and Jesse Hardie on drums. For the release show, Brendan McLean (who has played with Elder Abuse/Higherlows/etc) hopped on 2nd guitar. Some of the bands these core members have played in include: Witchtrip, Ceilings, Elder Abuse and Badfriend. Locater's style is a mixture of grunge and shoegaze, reminiscent of bands like Narrow Head, Teenage Wrist and Nothing. The show itself was intimate, with an awesome vibe when it came to the lighting. I was talking to my photographer friend Brittany Lambert after the show, she was saying when it came to editing, the lighting was a challenge but one that she enjoyed. The projector visuals on the ceiling added a nice effect to the show. The setlist included a good handful of the great tracks from Clandestine, as well as some classics from their 2019 'self-titled' EP including Vitamin L.

Saturday was an amazing night, full of seeing some great friends and even better music. Thanks to Locater, Guilty Sleep and Agapito for the great hangs and the awesome photographers (Brittany, Matt) working the show, as well as the Goodwill for hosting a great weekend of music. Cheers everyone.

Locater Spotify 

Agapito Spotify

My personal instagram

Holdfast/Brittany Lambert Photography

Matt Friesen Photography