Lawyna Vawnya / St. John's Report Back
Contributed by Christeen
I got into St. John’s on an uncharacteristically sunny day, so after dropping my stuff off, I took a walk up Signal hill, passing some Stunk and Cansada stickers on the way. Later, after taking in the sights, I headed to the Rock House to catch my first show of the trip featuring ULTRA FAR, CHUMPP, BREAD CLIP and BUCKY.
I moved back to Montreal from St John’s a year ago, but came back to play Lawnya Vawnya (a local independent music festival that takes place in St John’s every June). Returning to play the fest gave me the chance to hang with friends and catch some great bands in a scene I love. Lawyna Vawnya is a mixed bag musically, which I love – I get to experience a lot of different music in one week – but there's always elements of punk and punk-adjacent music represented, so I’ll mostly focus on those.
But back to a pre-fest show on the day I arrived in town… I was eager to see some new local bands and the show delivered some good ones. CHUMPP was my fave that night, with a distinctive 90s alternative, grunge/twee mix (if that’s possible) with BREEDERS influence and a little CARDIGANS wistful 90s, what’s that called? I have no idea. Members of SNITFIT, SICK PUPPY, OWEN FINN BAND and BUCKY. BUCKY was kinda giving CAP'N JAZZ/GET UP KIDS with a twist. BREAD CLIP felt like melodic power pop à la SUPERCRUSH with a tad of early STEREOLAB, sometimes sing-y and sometimes low-fi blown out vocals. They were just on tour on the mainland. ULTRA FAR from St John’s/Montreal was cool, a newer project of Sarah Harris that grew out of the band PROPERTY. Kinda rock, electronic, singer-songwriter with autotune. I don’t know how to describe it either, so give it a listen if you’re curious.
Wednesday
Wednesday, the festival opener, was an all ages show featuring SICK PUPPY, SHUNK and FAIRWEATHER. SICK PUPPY is one of my favourite local bands – they recently added a second guitarist and veered into that 90s grunge zone from more of a straight punk sound, which honestly is really working. I love Iso's vocals and their riffs and after seeing them cover HOLE last year, the shift towards grunge makes sense. SHUNK from Montreal were not really my thing, but I appreciated the freakiness of it and the operatic interludes on vocals were wild. FAIRWEATHER are also local and sound to me like mid/late 2000’s pop punk with a touch of screamo (D.B.S. anyone?) that embodies the house show vibe I associate with that time.
Thursday
On Thursday, CABLE TV opened for G̱A̱MKSIMOON, MEESHA and THE SPANKS. CABLE TV is a local TELEVISION-worship band with a cheeky name and DYLAN-esque vocals. They played a great set to open the night. Calgary two-piece MIESHA & THE SPANKS were great, high energy and raw, which kind of reminded me of early YEAH YEAH YEAHS/THE RAPTURE and SHELLSHAG shows from my time in New York. G̱A̱MKSIMOON (meaning "waterspout" or "sea tornado") came on when I was already tired and ready for bed which was unfortunate but they did definitely rock. I’d say stoner rock SABBATH worship (in the best way) with lyrics sung entirely in the Sm'algya̱x language, the reclaimed language of the singer from Gitga'at First Nation on BC's Northwest Coast. The lyrics, which dig deep into Ts’msyen worldview & culture, are very much the opposite of what you would expect from the genre, and refreshingly so. I just wish I’d had the foresight to take an edible before to truly appreciate it to the fullest by melting into it.
Friday
Friday was DESPERTÁ, DEAR EVANGELINE, UZU, and NARCY. I play in DESPERTÁ so I’m biased but I do think we played a pretty good set with our new songs. It was also our tape release. DEAR EVANGELINE was loud and heavy AF. A rad crew of women/gender diverse youth outta Brampton. They’re very tight punk/hardcore/metal with some parts that border on nu metal, but it works. They dedicated a song to “the lesbians” which I loved. I found out that weekend that in Brampton the kids are most definitely alright. UZU played next – they are probably my fave Montreal band right now, and they ripped with haunting vocals. It's new wave-y goth-y post punk you can bop to, and the crowd did. It was cool to see NARCY, a deeply political, pro-Palestine old-school rapper, but to be honest, it felt a little low energy after the first three bands, which was maybe just a question of not the best mixed bill. Although I do appreciate a good mixed bill and maybe also I was just tired after playing a set.
Saturday
Saturday was Lawnya Vawnya’s infamous garage show, or what I like to call the "punk matinee" after memories of ABC No Rio’s long run of Saturday punk matinees. This bill was MANTRACKER, DEAR EVANGELINE, LICE and INVISIBLE HAND. MANTRACKER hopped on the post-fest generator show last year with CELL DETH, UNCLE and DUREX and I liked it then, but a year later they’re sounding way tighter. They remind me of the kind of punk hardcore I would see at ABC No Rio circa 2008, kinda mid-tempo, raw, and sick. No bands come to mind but my memory is pretty bad these days. If you’re in Montreal you can see for yourself this summer.
DEAR EVANGELINE played another sick set – the sound was not as heavy in The Garage, but was definitely more raw and with more connection to the crowd than the previous night. I tried (and failed) to capture on video all the women/gender diverse youth at the front moshing and singing along. This is one thing I love and think is so unique to St. John’s – the youth get the music, learn all the lines, wear your T-shirt to the show, and sing along to all the songs.
LICE closed out the show with maybe the longest hardcore set I’ve ever seen, but you know what? I wasn’t even mad. The vocals really hit me in that gutteral, low, scratchy style I love and associate with mostly crust bands. INVISIBLE HAND played third – another standout from last year's generator show I was happy to catch again. Nice to see Walt, local punk ripper and drummer from TUNNEL VISION (one of my other favourite local HC bands) playing guitar, along with local legend Liam Ryan, also in a million bands (including SWIMMING) and Mitch, local cutey and drummer in multiple bands. This is another charming aspect of the scene here, as I imagine is also the case in a lot of small towns – everyone plays in multiple bands, often across different genres.
That evening I popped into the CHUMPP, KIWI JR, FANCLUBWALLET show. CHUMPP was good, again. FANCLUBWALLET I liked and could kinda melt into the twee, indie, sparkly vibes. Really enjoyed the set. KIWI JR was very hyped but I honestly didn’t care for it, in that way that sometimes a bunch of talented dudes playing music can kinda just fall flat to me. Fight me if you want, I don’t care.
After, I went to see the FEMINOTICA/HRT/SLASH NEED show, which felt like the most hardcore dance-y dark electronic show I’ve ever been to, and it felt good.
FEMINOTICA is a gothic dance pop one-piece and they whipped out a killer accordion version of BAD ROMANCE that has been stuck in my head ever since. It sounds weird in writing but if I showed you the video you would understand. It was nice to see the set after helping them screenprint their merch the week before. I caught up with them after – they said they were still new to performing, but felt comfortable on stage that night, which was great to hear since it was a packed show. One thing I love about Lawnya Vawnya (full disclosure I am on the board and def biased) is that they really support locals, find people who are starting out and get them on stage. They also have MC’s for most of the shows, the majority of which are local drag queens which honestly really brings the vibe. For the first set of the night FEMINOTICA def had the crowd moving.
Next were Montreal's HRT, who are hard-core heavy driving dark catharsis – or in their words “euphoric hardcore you can writhe to.” I agree. I felt the bass in my chest and I liked it. I also really love the jungle & drum and bass snippets Ana snuck in there. Kirby’s stern commanding stage presence and vocals were killing it and taking over my soul. The lighting for HRT was actually perfect too, which is not always the case at the Rock House – it definitely helped the vibe. SLASH NEED were next with a slightly lighter techno-y set that I found myself dancing to, half trancelike, after I finally managed to wiggle my way back onto the packed dancefloor. The Rock House is a weird layout with things to climb on and I appreciate how the vocalist and bassist/dancer covered absolutely all of the possible places to climb on in the sexiest, gothiest, rockiest possible way. In their bio they describe their set as a communal performance piece which feels about right.
Then I trucked over to the electronic aftershow just in time to catch ÈBONY (Montreal/Toronto) and dance my little heart out with local legend Renee Sharpe, and the whole Brampton crew from DEAR EVANGELINE and LICE. The set was so good that despite being overtired, sober, and turning 45 I didn’t leave the dance floor till 3 AM when the lights came on. I don’t know shit about electronic music, but I loved this. It was at times mellow dancey, then driving more towards the techno side, incorporating samples and mixing in classics towards the end of the set. I ran into them on the street a few days later and told them I danced my ass off and that seemed to make them happy.
Honestly the music scene in St John’s and the NL hardcore/punk scene in particular are ruling it right now. Everyone should take note, or better yet, go there and check it out for yourself.
Most of the Lawnya Vawnya sets mentioned above can be seen online here.
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