HEZ // MIRAGE // TOTAL NADA // TENAZ // RECALL @ Sala Rossa, Montreal, June 22, 2024
This was day 2 of the Noise Not Borders curated shows at the Suoni Per Il Popolo fest. This was a big weekend for shows in Montreal, with multiple shows Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Just a regular Montreal summer-kickoff weekend. I didn't want to miss any of it so I got there early and had a nice time hanging out out front of the venue. This venue has a sub stage that gets set up on the floor for smaller shows and it was placed in front of the main stage, like a short runway jutting out. It made for some interesting mosh pit dynamics which I'll get into later.
RECALL is one of Montreal's newer bands, but a bit of a supergroup, bringing together members from too many other bands to name. They opened up the show with a solid set of their raw hardcore punk. The early crowd was a bit thin, but they still played a hard set. The vocalist Misery used the runway to engage with the crowd and made a good speech about supporting legal support for DULF from Vancouver. Two guitars: loud, noisy, and fun.
TENAZ has been playing for a year or two and recently celebrated their demo tape release. They play a minimalist or stripped down take on punk but with quite imposing vocals. Compared to the rest of the show, they turned down the tempo and the noise a bit but was no less impactful. I think their vocalist Claudia is starting to find her stride because she seemed a lot more comfortable on the stage tonight than previous times I have seen them play big rooms.
TOTAL NADA jumped on the bill due to a last minute cancellation by ACID CASUALTIES. This band is really in their prime. Even though this was effectively a tour warm-up show for their US bassist, the set was so tight it felt more like they were just coming off a 3 week tour rather than about to start one. I swear they get better every single show, and I think their best sets are always at Sala. If you are in the East or Southern US don't miss them in July. The runway got turned sideways against the stage, and at this point the show was feeling pretty well attended. I tried to get the crowd into moshing across the runway, Boris even encouraged folks to interact with this strange platform in the middle of where the pit would usually be, but so far no takers.
MIRAGE from New York are still coming off their relatively recent release of "Legato Alla Rovina" on Roachleg Records. At this point, the fog machine and the crowd had both been warmed up. They are a fast hardcore punk band in the best way. The crowd really started going and a few good circle pits(!) broke out, which is very rare in Montreal. Whether they were completely spontaneous or staged is still up for debate, and I don't think we'll ever really know. Either way the band seemed to feed off the crowd energy, much like the circular energy of the pit.
HEZ from Panama were the special headliner. I think they last played Montreal for Varning XI (with FRAMTID and ASPECTS OF WAR... what a year!). Sadly this time their guitarist had a visa or border issue so our own Etienne was drafted to fill in (making this is third set of the night). Varning is fun, but HEZ certainly deserved a headliner show like this. The crowd and band both went off, moving the whole (very big!) room for the duration of the set. On recordings HEZ have a certain production but live it was noisy, fast and chaotic. We finally got a few stage dives off the runway. Overall, a top tier set.
This show was a 5/5 lineup, and one of the best so far in a great year of Montreal shows.
Listen to the bands:
RECALL: https://recall.rocks
TENAZ: https://tenaz.bandcamp.com
TOTAL NADA: https://totalnada.bandcamp.com
MIRAGE: https://roachlegrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mirage-legato-alla-rovina
HEZ: https://hez666.bandcamp.com/