The Counterforce - Scene Report

Bread and Roses 2025 Reportback

2025-11-17T10:37:54.000-05:00

Contributed by Jolie M-A

In the years since 2020, there’s been a running joke that punks in NYC are in an ongoing competition to host the most insanely illegal shows. Makeshift “venues” began cropping up all over the city as organizers began outdoing one another, putting hardcore bands in tunnels and behind train tracks for one night only. The morning after, TikToks would surface of flags burning and fireworks exploding in a sea of moshers, somehow in the middle of Manhattan. When there’s not much else to turn to by way of DIY venues and everyone is sick of having shows at the same four bars that allow us, it makes sense that the underground becomes not just a necessity, but a badge of alleged authenticity and commitment to keeping a city’s scene ungovernable and raw.

In keeping with this tradition, Bread and Roses Fest set the bar for keeping the indie experience… indie. Generator shows are back, and audiences have accepted a level of danger and spontaneity in a city governed by such principles on a daily basis. And there was no one better to do it than their DIY collective, committed to holding the most punk and least-corporate event possible, truly taking “doing it yourself” to another level. Hosting almost 40 bands over three days, the event was advertised via email and a Google drive folder with handmade flyers, many of which were missing a confirmed venue. It ended up that most would be outdoor generator gigs, some permitted and some not, with a phone number to text for the coordinates. The temporary autonomous zone was real: every show started two hours late and was hosted in a pile of trash outdoors, with varying degrees of cooperating PAs and weather. They were all $20 or Pay What You Can, and rest assured, no one WAS turned away for lack of funds.

The collective, helmed by Donna of CHRONOPHAGE and Jake from BULLSEYE, did a fantastic job of getting together DIY bands from every ether of the indie and punk spectrum. It was a group effort though, with so many types of people helping out to ensure that the show could and did go on, even when logistical hurdles threatened to extinguish some of our fun. Their intent of “uniting anarchist and communist non-hardcorists and peace punks for the sake of enriching our connections and community” seemed quite successful. Indeed, they gathered some of the best and most committed underground artists across North America, with a dynamic crew of people, blasted into the chaos of an uncontrollable and spirited festival.

The first festival evening was located in an almost comically cutty “venue” carved out of a scrap of a skatepark along Newton Creek in a seemingly abandoned and industrial part of Long Island City. Walking there consisted of a pigeon-shit-splattered overpass with shattered bottles littering the abandoned sidewalk – not a bodega in sight – through a cinematic wasteland with no homes, just pure industrial filth. In order to get to the garden where the generator was set up, you had to scuttle across a broken bridge and watch your step to meet the dozens of other weirdos huddled about in clumps of woodchips, dangerously close to the poisoned body of water.

Local legend HOME BLITZ opened up the evening with his signature blend of weird-as-fuck, medieval-sounding flamboyant pop guitar genius. It was a treat to see Austin’s TOUCH GIRL APPLE BLOSSOM’s jangly, heartfelt, HEAVENLY-inspired indie pop, which got everyone moving and feeling good, bopping along to front woman Olivia Garder’s sing-song but powerfully twee vocals. A fest highlight was GOOD FLYING BIRDS from Indianapolis, who brought the party down using their multiple tambourines as weapons. The makeshift stage was squished with seven members, jamming raucously with co-singer Susie Slaughter screeching as she passed out loosies to the audience. The band refused to slow down or stop screaming and wiggling for even a second, and their Gen Z exuberance was contagious. I felt for HORSEGIRL, who were still game to go on around 2am, eschewing their usual in-ear-monitor-type professional shows for the complete disorder of Bread and Roses. They were good sports and sounded even better, with their melodic and restrained style of mainstream indie-approved guitar music successfully reaching the outdoor masses, including their compellingly soft vocals that sounded beautiful on even the scraggliest of blown out speakers.

The following day we somehow dusted off for round two, starting up at a church in Ridgewood for the day show. Catered by Food Not Bombs, I sat outside slurping their hearty soup to get brought back to life for the morning show. The basement scene showed out new bands as well as NYC faves, and the most fun was loitering outside getting to know new people who had the enduring curse and blessing of sharing the same subculture. TW33DY from Kansas City were among those new comrades, and their blend of slightly country-twinged, loud, jangly indie fuzzed out the audience with a fun “Cry No Tears” NEIL YOUNG cover. PROVIDERS played their first show, featuring Groovy Mike from VEXX, VANITY, and a million other guitar projects alongside my bandmate David from RIBBON STAGE – better known for TERCER MUNDO, POBREZA MENTAL, HYSTERIC POLEMIX and also a million other international punk bands, as well as Ava from CBS and an eponymous solo project she also performed under.

The daytime event was delightfully accessible compared to Saturday’s evening chaos, which was located behind a fence and past a park on the Williamsburg waterfront. Attendees were given coordinates to a location where someone was supposed to walk them into the show area, but I’m not totally sure if such a person existed. Real “if you know, you know” hours, and don’t expect it to be easy if you want an intentionally anti-corporate event. This involved climbing on a literal trash can to get over a fence, then walking another 100 yards down a carpet of broken glass to a small enclave of trees on top of rocks before the East River starts. We were treated to an end of summer rain that pretty much did not stop all night, lightly dusting our electronic equipment and creating problems with gear, prolonging the show’s start to at least 3 hours after alleged start time.

Miraculously, the generator held on, and RAT HENRY finally kicked it off with some stellar 39 CLOCKS-style catchy and down tempo post-punky, scrappy guitar music. My band, RIBBON STAGE then showed up for a surprise super-short set. In true B & R fashion, we were added to the lineup two days beforehand, and had only practiced with a new band lineup once before our three-song debut. Naturally, it was a mess. I didn’t love looking like a drowned rat while desperately trying to pee in the bushes before playing to an impatient crowd of some of my most beloved and annoying peers, but one has to pretend to be hardcore and not care about such luxuries.

JEANINES played after us, coming down from Western Mass to blast their saccharine and melody-laden clean indie tones through demonically loud amps, allowing Alicia’s clear and dreamy vocals to shred the whole waterfront. Other bands included the always great GALORE from SF, whose recent LP “Dirt” was one of my favorites of 2025 and quite overlooked in my opinion. Also on the lineup were MOPAR STARS, a Philly favorite with members of SHEER MAG and POISON RUIN who have an upcoming debut record on K in 2026. I think the show finished before 3am, but at least there were delis nearby if you felt like hopping the fence again to get to them.

We closed out the weekend at the amphitheater at Far Rockaway, an almost refreshingly “normal” venue by virtue of having a bathroom you could walk to close by – one that even had toilet paper lovingly provided by the NYC Parks Department. Due to permitting issues, the show had to start late and end early, but the morale was high as artists like BULLSEYE took the sunny stage. It was a lovely, sunny day and Dan Dimaggio and I took a dip in the water, which was definitely too cold at the absolute tail end of summer but still a necessity at the rock show. We didn’t put our shoes back on and indulged in the amphitheater's smooth floored safety to dance barefoot to Canada’s sweethearts, GARDEN OF LOVE. A Sunday highlight, the three piece was fronted by Donna’s frequent collaborator and multimedia artist Jane Harms who joined us from Montreal. They shared the stage with indie mainstays LIGHTHEADED from New Jersey, as well as hometown heroes the avant-garde AUTOBAHN who heralded the younger end of fest participants. I watched them while eating more nourishing yet slightly bland vegan food, provided by the illustrious Food Not Bombs squad once again.

The sun set on a successful event that brought together like-minded freaks from across the spectrum of whatever might be called "independent rock music.” The collective also graced us with a compilation tape and zine with artists who played, printed on newsprint and effectively capturing the ethos of Bread and Roses in all its xeroxed glory, available on an esoteric Youtube link. The fest’s vibe was decidedly inaccessible – yes they provided all the coordinates, but you had to will yourself to get there, descending into the “freaks only” kind of atmosphere. You have to really want to be there to be there, but somehow hundreds of people did.

Overall we were lucky to be together and have fun especially in a city with increasing brutality toward those who fall outside the mainstream, and I’m grateful to the organizers for creating such a dangerous and inclusive environment. Yes, the dream of the 90’s is dead and “indie rock” no longer exists, but for one dazzling weekend its corporate capture could be ignored to keep the DIY dream alive in NYC.

(A Sober) Varning XVII Reportback

2025-10-09T19:39:37.000-04:00

All these excellent live photos were contributed by Rachael Shorr

A Varning from Montreal Festival is basically Christmas for Montreal punks – a highly-anticipated tradition, an international punk family reunion, and a huge party. Now in its 17^th edition, it’s currently our city’s longest-running punk fest, and lives up to its reputation of bringing in high quality bands from across Canada as well as the US, Europe and even Japan. You might think that the charged-hair, sword-wielding skeletons featured in all the posters and promo material are an exaggeration, but it’s not far from how the crowd actually appears, periodically spilling out of a shitty metal bar to stink up Montreal’s downtown tourist shopping core.

Armed with a full fest pass, I decided to take full advantage and try and do all 6 shows over 3 days, plus the Saturday punk market. Here’s my reportback:

I didn’t watch every single band but I tried to catch a little bit of most of them. First, to honourably mention some great local bands: PORTAL TOMB delivered their crushingly heavy hits well, even though bassist Ava had gone through a car windshield a few days prior to the fest and showed up with a nose cast and forehead stitches – a true crust warrior. Fuck cars!! WARKRUSHER crushed as much as ever, and I was glad to catch EULOGY again, a newer scandi-flavoured dbeat project featuring well-known local characters. I was wondering if local power-pop quartet PSYCHIC ARMOUR would feel out of place on the bill, but all the rock’n’roll nerds enthusiastically lapped up Sara and Evan’s guitar shredding.

PORTAL TOMB (left) and PSYCHIC ARMOR (right)

There were a few bands that I saw earlier this summer at Scorched Earth in Vancouver that I was excited to see again. Victoria’s HEDONIST were high on that list – I’m not a huge metalhead, but they are clearly at the top of their game right now, and their name came up again and again when I asked people for their fest highlights. Vancouver crusters EXTENSIVE SLAUGHTER – were excellent and were also just a great crew to hang and enjoy both fests with. Edmonton’s LANGUID was “the sonic equivalent of drinking a beer” according to one of my bandmates. Philly’s ALEMENT also played both fests – I have seen them a few times now and had filed them in the category of “bands I can recognize are good but don’t really do it for me,” but at Varning something clicked and I was totally hypnotized by their set.

EXTENSIVE SLAUGHTER (left and center), HEDONIST (right)

A high point of face-melting fun and chaos was Friday when ULTRARAT – a local raw dbeat trio that has recently re-activated, with Nick from MUECO filling in on bass for this set. Multiple power failures only added to the insanity... and at one point I looked around in the crush of absolutely annihilated punks with shit-eating grins, catching wafts of beer breath and poppers fumes and idly wondered if it was possible to break edge by proxy. I had fun though. Boston’s INNOCENT had a tough act to follow, but they delivered a high-energy set that was one of my favourites of the weekend. Overall, not enough dbeat at Varning this year!! Admittedly, I dipped before Friday’s headliners VARUKERS. I heard they were fun, satisfyingly nostalgic, and didn’t say anything stupid, which is a huge win for any old band.

INNOCENT (left) and ULTRARAT (right)

While I spent the weekend moonlighting as a cruster, I’m a hardcore punk girlie at heart so I must shoutout some sick hardcore punk acts. INVERTEBRATES (Richmond) were super fun headlining the Friday matinée, and local faves TOTAL NADA miraculously brought energy and life to the ill-advised Saturday Aftershow. The hardcore punk bands at Varning are explicitly more of a palate cleanser than the main event, but any local hardcore enthusiast who missed the matinée with PEI’s CELL DETH and POISON SPEAR really fucked up.

By the time LIFELESS DARK (Boston) and DISTURD (Japan) closed the Saturday main show, I was seriously losing steam – both bands were great but neither blew me out of the water, which is objectively kind of an insane thing to say. Especially about LIFELESS DARK whose three previous Montreal shows have been major highlights of the last 10 years for me.

Some final shoutouts: Ottawa’s BOOT who not only brought energy to one of the toughest slots of the whole fest (opening the Friday Matinée show) but also proved that your Oi! revival band doesn’t have to be a boys club. I also wanna mention TRÄUME from Poland, who headlined on Thursday – I’m not the biggest post-punk fan, but I made sure to catch them at the behest of friends who saw them while touring Europe this summer, and they were really good. I felt additionally lucky to see them, as their travels to Canada were complicated by Russian incursions into Polish airspace around their departure... as Boris reminded us during TOTAL NADA’s set, it’s a privilege to be where we are in the world, and we’re lucky to be able to come together to celebrate and share our music with each other. The world is getting shittier and scarier, and I’m really grateful to them and all the bands that traversed continents, oceans and borders to come play in Montreal.

The music was great and we had lots of fun – but a few minor caveats:

Too much smoke. Props to the autonomous actor who unplugged the extremely overactive fog machine after a huge puff completely shrouded LIFELESS DARK during the opening riffs of their set. I could barely see the drummers the entire fest, and what’s the point of Varning if I can’t watch the drummers???

The average attendee age was probably pushing 40. A friend told me that when he came to his first Varning in 2008 he also thought “why is everyone here so old” so I guess it’s always been this way? Don’t get me wrong, I love ancient crusties and I aspire to be one, but I also want the kids to be able to hear actually great bands and participate in a multigenerational scene. I made a joke about how under-25s should get discounted passes, but I am actually kind of serious.

In battle there is no sobriety. Varning is a party, and people go really hard with the alcohol, drugs and smoking, even by Montreal standards. It’s a tough fest to be sober at – I heard this especially from friends who are early in their sobriety or are just trying to moderate their partying. Piranha bar is a minefield of temptation, annoying coked-up punishers and probably some sloppy dude randomly trying to kiss you. I’m not trying to shame anyone’s consumption, just noting that it’s a pretty integral part of the whole vibe of the fest and if that’s hard for you to be around it might not be your jam.

Speaking of “some sloppy dude trying to kiss you” I heard from a few people who had to deal with creeps or unwanted invasions of their personal space... some of this can be chalked up to the venue, which is not “our” spot by any means but it also overlaps with the point above. It’s definitely the kind of show where if I’m trying to take a breather alone after roughly 10pm, I find a decoy friend to stand next to lessen the likelihood of being creeped on. Yuck.

I guess I mentioned in the intro that there was a Punk Market on Saturday. I tabled PWYC punk/anarchist zines and was a bit more successful than at the night shows (where people didn’t take many zines, but rather used them as coasters for their beer). I did up my stud count and snagged a MURO shirt that Janick was trying to unload, so it wasn’t a total flop, but honestly there’s not much to say about it other than that it happened.

But on a more positive note – the fest was really well-organized this year. In years past all of the information, announcements, set times, etc., were only on Facebook (yes, Montreal is perpetually in 2005). The introduction of a proper, consistently-updated website this year was a game changer. The organizers also tapped me to design and print paper programs with the schedule and fest info, which I think were a big hit – I saw people consulting them throughout the duration of the fest. Organizers also made sure the info got posted and kept up to date on our local online calendar. I’m really happy that the organizers prioritized accessible, non-corporate ways of disseminating all the information and I think that it was part of the reason everything ran super smoothly.

Additional huge shoutouts to: 1. Whoever updated the food recommendation list to include mostly vegan/veg options 2. The people who prepared a huge, diverse buffet of delicious and healthy vegan food to feed the bands and volunteers all weekend. 3. The stage managers, who were on top of it and kept everything even slightly ahead of schedule, making sure the main shows ended before the Metro stopped running... until the last night when shit sort of went off the rails. It was bound to happen at some point. While incredible bands and great people can make for a good fest, the level of care and organization put into Varning this year made it truly great.

DISTURD, Janick, and other random punks

Skull Fest 2025 Reportback

2025-09-18T11:44:05.000-04:00

Photos by Joe The Photo Guy

Another humid mid-atlantic August means another Skull Fest in lovely steel city, Pittsburgh, PA. I know, I know, “another fest?” How many fests do we really need? I don’t really know, but for me at least, Skull Fest feels like the one that breaks the mold. Instead of being a weekend of punk and hardcore curated by one person’s taste, Skull Fest is a true collaborative effort. You get a mix of punk that is sure to hit all your sensibilities: punk, hardcore, hardcore punk, crust, goth, and for better or worse, even oi.

SKULL FEST 15 lineup

The amount of bands playing Skull Fest is overwhelming and you are sure to get as much as you can handle, but the main reason I love going to Skull Fest is hanging out. Most shows have an opportunity to see all your friends, there’s the punk’s picnic, the afterparty, and of course the trips to Page’s Dairy Mart for some vegan Oreo peanut butter arctic swirls or eating Spak Bros by the Sphynix with boobs statues in that graveyard.

Amerikkka’s current political climate and tightening border policies had a noticeable impact on the usual handful of international bands this year. Regardless, there were still some banger sets every night. I wasn’t there, but my collaborator on this report back, Joe the Photo Guy, said SEX DWARF (who might have been the only fully international band?) were wild Thursday night.

SEX DWARF

My weekend started Friday by missing all of the matinee show because somehow it ran way ahead of schedule. The last half of ZYCLONE’s last song was good though! Later that day, I popped into Spirit to catch SHORT LEASH (who played a surprising and welcomed 86 MENTALITY cover), and IRON LUNG. Those 2 dudes still got it.

ZYCLONE at The Courts

After some Sexless // No sex I had a lovely walk over to the Profane Existence 36th anniversary show. FLOWER played another powerful set and were followed by the first of 2 DESTROY sets of the weekend. I didn’t know what to expect from the DESTROY set but it rocked. They were tight, loud, and still angry. As a sidenote, I had no idea the guitarist of NO STATIK was in DESTROY. Sick. Upstairs from the Profane show, I caught EARLY GRAVE, a killer band from Philadelphia, PEACE TALKS, who are always great live, and UNIFORMED SERVICES, another band from Boston who has that Boston sound and does it really well. I tried to stay up for the aftershow, but I’m a morning person and I know my limitations, so I unfortunately never got to see SEX DWARF. Bummer.

PEACE TALKS

Saturday started at the Prevention Point matinee show. This is where my enjoyment of hanging out started to conflict with seeing all the bands playing. I ended up only seeing CHILDREN WITH DOG FEET, who played a very sick PENI cover, and WHO PAYS?. I also got in trouble for playing a game of Commander in an area we shouldn’t have been in, but that’s a story for another time. From there I headed back to Spirit for that night’s crust show. DESTRUCT proved once again that they are one of the best bands in this horrible country I live in. DROPDEAD ripped. After all these years the anger, passion, and commitment the message is still there. Bob gave several impassioned speeches, something I feel is missing from most shows today. I caught the first half of DESTROY’s second set and it was still good.

DESTRUCT and DROPDEAD

From Spirit I headed over to Spirit Quest where I will admit I went to the Oi show, but friendship rocks and I wanted to see my homies in SECLUSION play. Genuinely enjoyed their set. Afterwards, I hung around to catch some of NO TIME where their singer Adam (who is also a Skull Fest organizer) once again put his body on the line and broke his hand from rocking too hard.

NO TIME

Much like the night before, no matter how much I intended to go to the aftershow to see CONDUMB, a band who put out one of my favorite records of the year, I went to bed.

CONDUMB record

Sunday’s matinee show is usually my favorite show of the weekend. The lineup for this one had some last minute changes. MACHINE GUN and DEMONSTRATE, a band that proves straightedge is still punk, unfortunately didn’t play, BUT we were blessed with a second FLOWER set. Right before that bonus set was ULTIMATE DISASTER who give their fellow Richmond dwellers, DESTRUCT, a run for their money for best band in Amerikkka at the moment. UD into FLOWER was my favorite two set combo of the weekend. I would listen to a UD/FLOWER split until my turntable broke. The one thing noticeably missing from Sunday afternoon was the Evil Ways wrestling show that has happened the past few years. I think Cole puts a lot of effort and care into giving a group of people who might not know what the fuck is going on a good show. The man truly cares about the art form of deathmatch wrestling.

No photos of FLOWER or ULTIMATE DISASTER

My Skull Fest closed out with the STORMCROW gig. I caught ZYCLONE again who fucking RIPPED, holy shit that band is good live, and LANGUID, who are from Edmonton, Canada but might as well be from Sweden. Absolutely perfect ANTI-CIMEX worship. This was STORMCROW’s first gig on this side of the country, which sounds like it can’t be true but I guess it is! It was a very sick set, they sounded great and was a nice endcap to the weekend.

I did not expect to write this much about the weekend. I think how I approach Skull Fest is different from others, but punk gave me a ton of great friendships and for me it’s a celebration of that. Can’t wait for next year. Thanks to Joe for the pictures. I think he does a great job capturing “the culture”.

DE RODILLAS, PAPRIKA, and some well-hydrated homies (your author included)

Gluesniffer Fest Reportback

2025-09-08T11:08:53.000-04:00

Over the years the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA scene has developed a bit of a reputation. Potentially wild gigs, lawless youth, the occasional bleakness that comes with punk houses, and at the end of the night you get paid 17 wet dollars. Last time BAD ANXIETY and SILO KIDS tried to play Murfreesboro they canceled the show on us (reasons still remain unclear), and we only found out through an Instagram post the day-of. All that being said I didn't have high hopes for "Gluesniffer Fest."

BAD ANXIETY and SILO KIDS rolled out in early AM to make the drive. I was able to convince the folks booking this to let SILO KIDS do a secret set since they were going to be in attendance anyways. Before the gig, BAD ANXIETY stopped off at a dollar store to pick up gig essentials – an oscillating fan, some silly string, and other various party supplies.

The show was at a punk house, The Crossroads or CXR for short. A little outside of town, on a big corner lot with no neighbors in sight. Kinda the perfect setup. The property was deep and allowed for a ton of parking. We parked and immediately realized "oh shit were gonna get boxed in by the folks staying the night." We weren't planning to camp, but depending on the hell that was trying to get out of here we realized we might be forced to.

The show had already started once we arrived. Said "wassup" to some friends and started chilling by the merch tables (my preferred spot.) The whole fest was a real celebration of hardcore from the American southeast – the furthest band was from Indianapolis. As far the eye could see it was a sea of freaky youth punkers. Banjos, a dog or two (never saw them inside when a band played thankfully), big fire pit, a comical number of whippets and other drugs. A punk utopia for certain individuals. Many things I would normally find annoying but the overall vibe to the fest was so positive and fun that it was only a good time. Everyone was taking care of themselves and each other while getting wild to some sick bands.

CONFUSION'S PRINCE and SNAKE CHURCH by Robert Swann

All the bands were hardcore punk bands. Genre-wise there wasn't much going on but for it being just one big show it didn't matter much. The room was decent size for a regular show, but filled up real quick for this big gig. Missed many of the bands simply because I couldn't get in the room.

SILO KIDS by Robert Swann

Eventually SILO KIDS took the stage. I was filling in on drums and we were playing a shortened set. The vocalist of SILO KIDS, Patty, got their start in DIY from shows at CXR when they previously lived in the area, so playing this show meant a lot to them. The set was awesome. To all of our surprise, people knew the songs, sang along, moshed, and the reception was killer. It was boiling hot in that room. The extra fan we brought didn't exactly help but we had to try. BAD ANXIETY hit the stage (floor) next, broke out the silly string and party supplies. Things were bumping, shit was rocking. Second song in though, people ran in screaming and freaking out from outside and snatched the mic from me: apparently at least five cop cars had pulled up to the house.

BAD ANXIETY by Robert Swann

Props to the people living in the house, they handled the situation as well as one could ask for. Moved people out of sight, didn't let the police come in. The cops tried to assure us they were "cool," saying that we can "keep smoking weed or whatever we don't care." The situation was that a "punk" looking person had stolen stuff from the dollar store down the road. Never heard a follow up to if any of that was true, but after 20 minutes standing around doing nothing the cops left. Once again, props to the people living in the home for making sure the rest of the show-goers didn't interact with the police and stayed away.

With the final cop car rolling down the road away from the house, BAD ANXIETY continued. Kinda hard to regain momentum for a set after 20 minutes of police presence but we tried the best we could. Had another situation where someone moshed into all the amps knocking them and the PA over. It took another 5+ minutes to get everything set back up. The cosmos did not want us to play this set, but we continued on and made it work.

Spent the rest of the night watching sick Birmingham and Jacksonville bands. Bullshitting with old friends, meeting new friends, and having multiple conversations with different groups about how Everything Is Not Okay 4.5 was a letdown. Was nice to hear I'm not the only one with big thoughts on that particular fest.

The true miracle was the moment the last band finished people started leaving. The property was a mess of dirt roads and trees, so I ended up being the main person directing traffic, helping get all the cars outta there. Thirty minutes later, our vehicle was free and we crammed while we still could. The party kept going for a while. I'm sure you could still hear the whippet canisters hit the ground during sunrise.

For a fest that I thought was gonna be forgettable and filled with insufferable idiots, I had a blast and was severely proven wrong. Gluesniffer was a celebration of hardcore punk and debauchery. Every band was awesome and kept their set times shorts, we got paid more than enough and much more than we expected, met a lot of new people, and got to play sick punk music and shoot silly string with my friends. What more can ya ask for.

My advice: if you're planning a tour, skip Nashville and play Murfreesboro. Its just south of it. Check out COFFEE STAIN from Jacksonville, CERVIX, CONFUSION'S PRINCE, BORN and SNAKE CHURCH from Birmingham, PILL BOX from Indy, MISANDRY from Murfreesboro, and a bunch of other bands I didn't see because that room was filled to the brim of sick youth punks of all different styles and vibes getting wild for all these bands.

CERVIX by Robert Swann

Now the 6+ hour drive home at 1am, that's a different (much more boring and bleak) story. I will spare you...

EINOK 4.5 Reportback

2025-08-09T10:30:49.000-04:00

For four years, Everything Is Not Okay in Oklahoma City, USA was a legendary punk outing for the freaks of Hattiesburg. The last year of the fest was in 2019. We would drive 12+ hours through some of the most boring parts of the country to see some of the best bands at the time. I hold those memories very near and dear to my heart. When EINOK 4.5 was announced for May 9/10 2025 and my band JUDY AND THE JERKS was asked to play, we knew we had to say yes and bring a whole squad with us. We went, we played and we all came to the same conclusion: some things need to stay dead.

The Good

Got to see so many friends I hadn't seen since pre-Covid, and was able to introduce old friends to new friends. Shoot the shit on the old days and also got up to some new antics with buds. Rolling 20 deep into Lee's Sandwiches will always be a highlight. These fests are essentially family reunions. Unlike my actual family reunions, I really value being able to get friends from across the country together to kick it.
Some really cool bands. The lineup didn't really 'wow' me but some acts did really get my attention. Some classics like WICCANS, NEGATIVE DECREE, ARMOR. Bands you can count on to deliver. PRIMAL BRAIN from OKC was an insane blast. The JUDY set was a ton of fun, silly string and a saxophone is always a winning combo. ROCKSTAR NIGHTCLUB, an OKC local was the standout for me. Younger kids, having fun, all wearing different colored ponchos, not playing generic hardcore punk, everyone was smiling. My kinda shit. BORN from Birmingham played the best set I've ever seen them play.

The Bad

It felt like every band took so long to set up, get their gear sorted – all momentum was lost in between bands. At the matinee show we played, there was some power issues at the venue, making the show last easily twice as long. By the time JUDY played, half the crowd had left since the show ran so long. So many bands had to break in between songs and tune, at every show it was like this. It was wild how little gusto there was anywhere.
As someone else said to me: "Attack Of The Clones." So many bands that all sound like the exact same breed of current cookie-cutter hardcore punk. Shit I love, but when everyone sounds the same, looks the same, and all plays like they're bored to be there... what are we even doing? So many of these bands were a total snore. I don't care how many YouTube views your demo got, if you play like you're bored and don't want to be there then I won't care at all. Just an overall lack of diversity. Every other band was a Charlotte, NC band of kids with rat tails, dangly earrings, and partially bleached hair. Or at least it felt this way. In moderation I can get down with this, but it was all the same. There's so many sick bands currently playing and touring, but it felt so curated to be only specific bands from specific friend groups. I know I'm not exactly breaking from the norm in how I look or how my bands sound, but it was all too much the same. Some of my favorite and memorable sets from years past were the weirdo bands. I think there's a greater statement to be made here about the explosion into the alternative mainstream of 'egg punk' and then the backlash from the DIY community that has lead to really really boring bands that try to be dark edgy and sneak boring d-beat riffs into every song.

The Ugly

The front person of one of these Charlotte bands throwing out F-slurs and R-slurs and being a drunken idiot into the mic, then half the crowd with half a brain still moshing even though the other half of the crowd is actively coordinating how to handle this situation. These kids showed their asses and I think its time for them to give up this subculture and try something else. Ruined the vibe of the night but also felt like a culmination of the energy all these wannabe edgy cool hardcore bands were bringing the whole weekend.

Maybe it's obvious to see that negatives outweighed the goods. It was clear from everyone who attended this fest in previous years, the past years didn't feel like this. I don't regret traveling and playing and seeing friends. Those parts were awesome. But the experience left me a little more jaded then when I showed up. I knew it couldn't compare to the original run of Everything Is Not Okay, but this entry should be forgotten to time. Even as I'm writing this I'm remembering more negative things. Rumors after the fact how much certain bands were paid compared to others, or that certain bands with known sketchy members were going to play.

The fest was clearly not as well attended as many thought it would be. Makes sense with how insular the bands playing felt. I have nothing but love for the scene and people of Oklahoma City. Could I book a better fest? Doubtful, I'd rather not even try. I can't blame anyone for going back to the well on this idea either.

I encourage anyone touring through middle America to play in OKC. The scene isn't huge but it's a scene of people who give a fuck. Something worth much more. Some of my favorite shows I've ever played have been there. I won't blame the OKC scene for this slight flub of a fest. Check out their locals bands. PRIMAL BRAIN, ROCKSTAR NIGHTCLUB, and probably tons more that I'm less familiar with. Bands that aren't afraid to do things a little differently and can have fun while being creative.

JUDY AND THE JERKS at EINOK by Garett Fisbeck

Victoria, BC Scene Report

2025-05-12T17:30:48.000-04:00

Ok, this isn't a full, true scene report – despite my name, I haven't lived on Vancouver Island for almost 20 years, but it's still a place I feel connected to and love. I have incredible friends here, some from when I lived here, and plenty are folks I have met in the 20 years since I left. I lived in Victoria for 10 years in the late 90's/early 2000's and since then, understandably, a lot of things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Here's a few things I tapped into while I was there recently.

How to find the gigs

The promoters here poster like the good ol days, but I can't tell you which telephone pole to check for the latest posters. Unfortunately the only good way to find out about shows here is Instagram. If you don't have Instagram, too bad for you! I'd say the best way is to hit up one of the shops at the end of this article and ask, bonus cause you'll make a local friend. Hopefully the Gigtoria folks will set up an alternative online calendar or something soon. Another option is Live Victoria, an independent website that has been going since I lived here. Back then it was mostly punk and underground stuff (and a forum we all argued on) but now it seems to list everything so check that out if you also want to know when the next DAVE MATTHEWS cover show is.

Bands

These are some of the bands I didn't catch live (all the bands I saw live are in the shows section). There are a ton of bands so sorry if I missed you! If I missed your band, you should write up a true scene report that isn't by some tourist who "used to live here."

LOVE LIFE is a pop punk band that has members of LOTS of other bands, the pedigree here is kinda close to unmatched. They were recording while I was here so hopefully that drops soon.

Demo, by Love Life

4 track album

Love LifeBandcamp New & Notable Sep 21, 2024

CORRODE is a metallic hardcore band in the best way. Great snare sound, political lyrics, 10/10. Not to be confused with CORRODE from Western Mass (who also rule, btw)

Demonstration, by Corrode

4 track album

CORRODEBandcamp New & Notable Dec 14, 2022

HEDONIST is death metal played by punks (yes!) I heard a rumour they are playing a particularly long-running Montreal punk fest this year, take this as a warning, but you didn't hear it from me.

Sepulchral Lacerations (Demo), by Hedonist

6 track album

Hedonist

SHOPLIFTER is on the shoegaze-y end of grunge, kinda gives me a lofi DINOSAUR JUNIOR vibe.

EP, by Shoplifter

5 track album

ShoplifterBandcamp New & Notable Feb 29, 2024

COUP D'ETAT is I guess screamo? Scramz? I'd call this post hardcore, but like the good 90's kind of post hardcore. They have a super pretty Bandcamp page.

SPLIT, by Coup D’état, Lakeside Amusement Park

4 track album

Coup D'étatBandcamp Album of the Day Mar 22, 2019

BODYROT is a crust grind band, for fans of crust grind (like me). I'd love to see this band play in a packed basement on a super hot summer day.

FLESHWORKS, by BODYROT

4 track album

BODYROTNerve Salad

I.O is a one piece drums only noise project. Fucking wild, I love it.

Injecting Logic - Volume II, by i.o

9 track album

i.oBandcamp New & Notable Mar 6, 2022

AK-47 is a fast super political hardcore band that started in 1997 and are still fully DIY, playing real punk shows and dropped an LP last year. They released an album in like 2000 called Free Palestine, you know they are legit.

Call Them Out, by AK-47

25 track album

AK-47Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 11, 2025

Shows

WHITE COLLAR & GLOBAL FAKE @ Wheelies – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster for WHITE COLLAR and GLOBAL FAKE at Wheelies in Victoria BC Canada. The main image is a skull wearing a mask with the WHITE COLLAR logo between the eyes

Wheelies is a motorcycle-themed cafe in an industrial area of Victoria. I've heard they do shows in the parking lot, which would be kind of a perfect outside spot for shows since it's closed on three sides. This show was on a rainy Victoria night so the show was half inside. The bands played outside in a kind of covered patio, and the crowd was inside. This could be a pretty cool setup, except the cafe is mostly immovable booths so all of that was in the way for everyone watching the bands. That's a bummer cause I was ready to mosh and WHITE COLLAR is a very moshable hardcore punk band. They ripped it even though the crowd literally couldn't move to show our appreciation.

GLOBAL FAKE started setting up and I could tell it was going to be an early night for me. I gave them the benefit of the doubt but they started and really were not hitting the spot. They say they are post hardcore but that means something completely different in 2025 Victoria than it did in 1996 Victoria. They were tight, just not my thing.

Demo 2, by White Collar

1 track album

White CollarRiot Radio

Remove the Ugly Visitors, by Global Fake

7 track album

Global FakeBandcamp New & Notable Oct 16, 2023

POOCHED LP release show with DISPOSAL, SUNDIVER, and CHERRY VENOM @ Little Fernwood – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster of a black letter board with white letters with the show details. POOCHED LP release show with DISPOSAL, SUNDIVER, and CHERRY VENOM Littel Fernwoos All Ages $5 youth $10 adult 7PM

Little Fernwood is a small community center in a central Victoria neighbourhood. It has been hosting shows on and off for over 30 years, and at times it was central to the Victoria punk and hardcore scene. I hadn't been there in probably 20 years so to say I was very excited would be an understatement. This show ticked so many boxes for me: all local celebration of a local band's release, all ages with a lower price for youth, early start, community center, plus there were free chips and pop at the door.

SUNDIVER opened things up, they are a slightly mixed bag of folky pop punk and hardcore but it worked. They covered DEAD KENNEDYS "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" so you know I loved that. I was very down. CHERRY VENOM played second, They were a fun pop punk kinda vibe, they had great stage presence and played a solid set. DISPOSAL played next, if heavy dirty riff-y hardcore is your thing, definitely check them out. They put on a great show. POOCHED headlined, as they should every show they play. Heartfelt pop punk the way only a three piece can do it. I love them, definitely check them out and pick up their new LP. The crowd was moving right from the start, and that's what you get from an all ages gig in Victoria. Huge bonus for the show was that the POOCHED LP has a dog on the front and the dog made an appearance at the gig (in between bands of course, no doggo ears were harmed in the making of this gig).

How to Live With Yourself - EP, by Sundiver

6 track album

SundiverBandcamp Album of the Day Apr 5, 2022

Dispösal

Hardcore punk band from Victoria, BC

Dispösal

self-titled, by pooched

12 track album

poochedemmatonkss

SLANT, DRAÜMAR, BOOT LICKER, SELF DEFENCE @ Moon Under Water – Victoria, BC, Canada

Show poster green and pink on a white background. Band logos for SLANT, DRAÜMAR, BOOTLICKER, and SELF DEFENSE and show info, Thursday April 17 2025

I was pumped for this show and it did not disappoint. The energy was buzzing right from the start, the show was sold out well before the sun was down or the bands started. This was SLANT's second show of tour and when I went to buy tapes I got the last one. SELF DEFENSE got things started off right despite some technical problems. Fast hardcore that constantly felt like it was about to go off the rails (and maybe did a couple times) which is exactly how I think hardcore punk should be. BOOTLICKER played next and I was impressed. I've never listened to this band before because I couldn't get over their name, but their live show won me over and now I'm a fan. I moshed. Fast, tight, energetic hardcore punk. Joke's on me for sleeping on them for years. DRAÜMAR from Oslo, Norway played next. They were a late addition to the show, their tour plans got scrapped when they decided not to tour the US due to possible immigration issues. Very cool that they still made a go of it by playing a bunch of shows in BC. They were rad and the crowd loved them, especially the oogles. How did oogles get into a sold out show? SLANT from Seoul, South Korea headlined (obviously) and they put on a set worthy of the slot. What a fucking great powerhouse of a hardcore band, they deserve all the hype they have. I moshed, everyone moshed, some oogle tripped me in the pit and I went face first into the floor. No regrets.

Self Defense, by Self Defense

from the album SELF DEFENSE - 12 Track E.P.

Slow Death RecordsBart

Bootlicker LP, by Bootlicker

14 track album

BootlickerBloke_Whistler

DRAÜMAR

DRAÜMAR. Oslo, Norway.

Record stores and adjacent stuff

Pogo Pope Printing

Screen printing shop with a bunch of records, bootleg shirts, and punk accessories. Owned and seemingly staffed exclusively by active punks, go here if you need to find the latest hype release or some cool old record at an affordable price. I think these folks also run or are a part of Slow Death Records. If you are in Victoria and you don't stop here, idek, that says something about your priorities. 3588 Quadra St., Victoria, BC V8X 1H2

Downsided Distro

Cool local grind and crust distro, the name says it all. Obviously run by a punk, you gotta catch 'em at gigs I think.

Cavity Curiosity Shop

This is a super cool spot that's basically someone's special interest turned into a store. There's lots of books, VHS, records, CDs, tapes, patches, trinkets, some toys probably. Owned and run by an active punk. 2514 Douglas St., Victoria, BC V8T 4M1

Supreme Echo

Tiny record shop with lots of niche records, CDs and tapes. Collector's gonna collect kinda vibe, bring lots of cash if you wanna buy something here, you will find something cool, but it's gonna cost ya. Owned and run by an old head. Fucking stoked someone is living their dream. 2504 Government St. #102, Victoria, BC V8T 4P7

Ditch Records

Cool long running record store, usually has lots of cool punk and hardcore stuff and always has. 784 Fort St., Victoria, BC V8W 1H2

Camas Books

Anarchist bookstore, has books, zines, random stuff, a crucial stop for any anarchists and anarcho-curious. 2620 Quadra St., Victoria, BC V8T 4E2

Full disclosure, I love Victoria

I don't get to come back to Victoria very often, every few years at most, and this trip was the longest I've spent here since I left. I'm really glad I got to catch up with the scene a bit and shed a little tear of happiness that punk is going strong and the scene is so fucking cool here. If you are a band on tour and Vancouver is on your list, book a show in Victoria. It's worth it for the ferry ride alone, maybe you'll see orcas, and for sure it'll be a fun gig.

Malas Artes 2025 Reportback

2025-05-13T18:42:28.000-04:00

Malas Artes is already a classic in Barcelona. After so many years of the festival (previously called MDA), each edition seems more impressive than the previous one, and the imagination and energy behind this huge event has opened new spaces to punk in this city. The fest is organized by a nonprofit association with three punks behind it and lots of people who collaborate in many different ways. This year, all the proceeds were donated to the Palestinian Community of Catalonia, who also were there (and even danced!) during the whole fest.

Thursday, May 8th

The first day of the fest started at Paral·lel 62, an old theater/club that is now run by a cooperative of different music venues. The space is downtown, a bit far away from home, and in an area where normally you wouldn’t find many punks nowadays. The venue is impressive – in past editions of Malas Artes, the show happened onstage, but this year the organization decided to do a floor show, allowing the crowd to nearly surround the bands.

This day started with the local band KIRE, who I missed, and the news that DOMINACIÓN were finally playing the next day. KIRE was followed by one of the acts that I was more excited for: GLAM. They were playing for first time in many years, after they split at some point in the previous decade, spawning several amazing projects (BARCELONA, UNA BÈSTIA INCONTROLABLE...). Their original mix of HELLHAMMER riffs, fast hardcore drums and dark, oppressive lyrics sounded exactly as I was expecting, and their explosion of energy fulfilled all my dreams of seeing them again.

After them, TENTÁCULO from Sevilla took the floor to show how punk has evolved lately in Andalucia – slower and melodic, but addictive, with great hooks and very well-crafted lyrics. They were followed by CŒUR À L’INDEX, who continued with the slower sounds but in a more power pop style, showing the potential of this Brussels band that already visited us last year. After this peaceful time in Paral·lel 62 the drums of war resonated with the first notes of S.H.I.T.

The venue was dark, with only a few lights directed at the band, and the crowd was so packed and wild that it looked like a scene from Fight Club. The energy delivered by this Toronto band is impossible to express with my broken English but it was amazing for those who like the raw energy of punk and the perfect midtempo parts that they have been polishing over the years.

The day finished with one of my favorite group of Mediterranean punks, the acclaimed CHAIN CULT from Athens, Greece – they demonstrated that their post-punk is alive and kicking, with more new rock flavors added to their formula. They are exceptional people and musicians! Sadly, I had to go back home very early and missed part of the set, because I had to wake up very early the next morning.

Friday, May 9th

The next two days of the festival happened in the great Ateneu Popular de 9 Barris, one of the first squatted places of Spain, before squatting was a word here. It was originally an asphalt factory that was built to create the new roads around Barcelona, but the neighbors decided to sabotage the machines and take the space. It is not squatted anymore but it’s one of the most important cultural public spaces of the city.

On Friday I arrived after work, very tired but decided to see the local band DOMINACIÓN, who opened the day and delivered the rawest sounds of the festival. Even playing a bit slower than usual, their wall of sound was unstoppable. After their set, I spent a lot of time at the door, just hanging out with lots of people, especially Italian friends that haven’t seen in ages. Lovely people. It seemed the craft beer in the venue had a weird sweet taste, and the punks went feral around the neighborhood looking for beers. We saw two supermarkets with no beers at all, and of course they didn't understand what was happening.

A couple hours later, the sound of some noise (the kind of noise we like) arrived to my already fucked up ears and I decided to enter the venue to see what was going on. BOMBARDEMENT were playing – one of the finest d-beat acts of Europe, proving that Bordeaux still has something in the water (maybe wine?) that makes their inhabitants create amazing hardcore punk bands. Sadly, the venue was too full and I only saw a bit from far away. Then I missed SEEIN RED, from Amsterdam, and honestly if you don’t know this band you should!! Everyone said they were so good, and now I think I should have gone inside for their set. Lesson learned, no more socializing for me. After them another very anticipated act came: E-150, already-classic local hardcore punk that were reunited for this special occasion. I loved to see them, but the stage of this show was too big and the sound in the back of the venue was not very consistent.

Finally THE MOB (UK) took the stage, and hundreds of people melted into one single entity of love, anarchy and punk. Smiles everywhere, funny dances, hugs, and sing-alongs were the summary of their show. They played a bit slower than in the albums, but it was still amazing. I felt like a child for a couple days, I never thought I was going to be able to see them! An Ulrike Meinhof quote in the back of the show, the Palestinian flag and the flag in support of Blokes Fantasma (a squat in risk of being evicted soon) made the whole scene an even more beautiful memory that I will keep with me forever.

Saturday, May 10th

The fest was ending but we still had a whole day of music and talks. I woke up a bit earlier than I wanted and went downtown with CHAIN CULT to have some tapas. It was super nice, but then we rushed back to the venue where a very special talk was happening: Penny Rimbaud from CRASS who explained the details of the Dial House, shared many thoughts and was so nice trying to answer every question. I wanted to ask him if he still thinks that, after how interesting his life sounds, they still owe him a living (I think they owe me a living for sure). Or if he really found that living a bit later than he was expecting. But I’m too shy. He probably would have answered that of course they owe him a living, and I would seem like an idiot. After a small pause another talk, very different but very interesting: Laura Macaya and A. explained the complex concept of transformative justice. It was very good, I wish there could be more talks around this idea since many things were left out because the shows were starting.

Again, I missed a bunch of bands: BRAGAS PONTE, BOLA DE CRISTAL, BORLA… there were too many people I hadn’t seen in years from all around the world! But I interrupted my socializing in time to see ASTIO, an amazing band from Trento, Italy. Their live set full of effects and energy took me on a trip to a different dimension, I felt like I was seeing a totally psychedelic post-punk show. Again, I missed some more music, but some time later I got to see a few tracks of PIÑÉN, the perfect hardcore duo from Berga (a city close to Barcelona) that destroyed the ears of those who offered them to their raw sounds. After them, TENUE from Galicia played some emo crust that sounded so heavy, but it’s not my kind of band.

There are different stages in Ateneu Popular de 9 Barris, and the big venue opened its doors with SHAKTI, a new local band who surprised me with some anarchopunk beats and sometimes mixing post-punk riffs with faster punk songs. I really liked the drums, and I’m curious to see how these already experienced musicians (BELGRADO, GOOD THROB, etc.) evolve this sound. The day was ending for me – I was too tired (yes, I am a weak punk), but I went to see the last show of the smaller stage: S.H.I.T. were playing again! That was fabulous. I saw all the younger punks dancing to these gritty hardcore songs and I just hope they start more hardcore bands after seeing such a good show. We need bands made by younger people! S.H.I.T. were probably the best band of the fest after GLAM for me.

The fest wasn’t ending but I went back home, I was very tired. I would have loved to see E.V.A and TATXERS if they would have played a bit earlier, but I’m sure we will have time to see them again soon.

Touring Atlantic Canada: VERIFY Tour Reportback

2025-04-21T10:59:52.000-04:00

We recently took our powerviolence/hardcore band VERIFY on an 11 day tour of Atlantic Canada. What follows is both a traditional tour diary, but also a tour guide, hopefully something that will empower and encourage other bands to visit this frequently overlooked and underrated part of the world.

Atlantic Canada covers the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland/Labrador (one province including the island of Newfoundland and the mainland region of Labrador). If you've heard about "the Maritimes," that's everything in Atlantic Canada not including Newfoundland and Labrador.

We live in Montreal, so this region is at our doorstep. Punks from Atlantic Canada regularly visit Montreal to play or attend shows and fests, as it's their closest "big city," but it's rarer for Montreal punks to return the favour and travel east. It's rarer still for bands who are touring through Montreal and Toronto include Atlantic Canada on their route. Getting out there is a "long drive"—to Fredericton, it's an 8 hour drive from Montreal, or a 6.5 hour drive from Boston—but once that's done, everywhere else in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI is 2-4 hours apart. One long drive to get to a concentrated region of thriving punk scenes nestled among beautiful coastal landscapes shouldn't be a deterrent to any but the laziest punks.

Atlantic Canada punk has a long and storied history. Check out the still-active Atlantic Punk blogspot which digs into the history of the region with interviews and discographies. That history has built many strong punk scenes today, regularly repopulated with youth hungry for any new bands who come from away. These kids will go out of their way to support your band, buy your merch, make sure your gas, bridge tolls, and ferry tickets are paid for and just generally make you feel welcome. We've never heard of a decent hardcore/punk band having a bad time or losing money on an Atlantic Canada tour leg.

Fredericton, New Brunswick

New Brunswick is the gateway to the rest of Atlantic Canada. From Montreal you have to drive through 8 hours of Quebec/New Brunswick highway before you get to the first city of note (Fredericton).

There are several small cities in New Brunswick. Fredericton and Moncton are both along the Trans-Canada Highway and Saint John is off the highway down towards the Bay of Fundy. Don't confuse Saint John, New Brunswick with Saint John's, Newfoundland!

All these cities have a rock or show bar and you might have luck getting a bar show but probably only on a Friday/Saturday/maybe Sunday. All-ages shows in Atlantic Canada are much better and more fun than bar shows, but the difficulty is the same in getting a show booked on a weeknight. At present, Fredericton seems to have the most active scene in New Brunswick. Seger and Sienna from GAZM moved back there and settled in at the start of the pandemic, and we think a lot of the current scene's health is due to their influence.

Fredericton is the only place on this tour we had played previously and the large and enthusiastic all ages turnout at the Odell lodge mirrored our last gig there in 2023. Our version of the perfect show (three band show, over by 9PM) opened with a playful and interactive harsh noise set by MILKWEED, followed by a new death-metal-y band WAYWARD CORPSE, fronted by our friend Seger. Our set was a bit rough around the edges—it was the first show of tour, and also Taylor's first show playing guitar in VERIFY (a last minute line-up change due to our guitarist Jay having a family emergency). We got our only big technical hangup of tour out of the way early, the supportive crowd waiting patiently while Taylor hunted down the bad cable in her pedal chain and tucked it away for the rest of tour. Once we finally started, the energy was through the roof and people danced super hard. A really encouraging start to the tour!

WAYWARD CORPSE

Since it was still pretty early, we went to the house and got some good quality kitchen hangs with Seger and Sienna, plus a few acquaintances we remembered from our last trip to town. We talked about the local struggles kids are facing to start bands or book shows, and there seems to be a bit of a bottleneck around places for new bands to practice. Despite this, it was encouraging that Jackson, a local younger, long-haired shredder who had opened for us in 2023 with a solo project was now starting full bands and taking on booking shows. We hope the next time we play Fredericton there's a crop of new bands to share the stage with!

Charlottetown, PEI

PEI (Prince Edward Island) is a small island off the north coast of Nova Scotia. A lot of the world's potatoes come from this island, which is about the size of Delaware or Palestine. It used to be more isolated, but in the 90s they built a 13 km/8 mile bridge (the longest in Canada), making it much more accessible. There is a $50 toll to leave the island on the bridge, but we've never heard of a band not covering that easily with a show there.

Crossing that famous bridge onto island #1 of tour and taking in the martian-esque red dirt landscapes, we rolled into Charlottetown and immediately spotted posters for our show that night, always a great sign! Being a small island, the punk scene is concentrated in Charlottetown, the largest city. The drive from Fredericton was short, so we had time to avail ourselves of the island's offerings in the hours before load-in: first hitting up Splendid Essence, a veg buddhist spot and probably my favourite food of the whole trip, and then a quick drive to one of the island's famously nice sandy beaches, complete with dunes and a charming lighthouse.

The show itself was at the PEI Farm Centre, a building with a big multipurpose room and offices for a bunch of agricultural organizations.

What the Farm Centre looks like when not hosting a gig

Our friends and PEI veterans CELL DETH opened – they're one of the best current Canadian hardcore punk bands, it was a huge tour highlight to be able to share the stage with them. We were also excited to learn that they were recording the morning after we left, so keep an ear out for that! CELL DETH's drummer Brett is one half of Secret Beach with his partner Sophia, and they ran the show like fucking pros. They even had little name tags where people could write their name and what instruments they play, so attendees could mingle and find others to start new bands with.

Secret Beach start-a-band name tags!

The rest of the show was a classic mixed bill and we loved every second of it. Teenage rippers KRATOM were on second, followed by heavy hardcore band CUT DEEP and the wildcard GIRLS NIGHT who had a saxophone and synth basslines and almost-rapping vocals. Luckily we played pretty well, because videos from this show followed us around the rest of tour: "I saw clips from your show in PEI the other night, it looked insane!" greeted us everywhere we went afterward. We sense that the scene in PEI is on the upswing, and it's clear that the Secret Beach crew and others are really putting in a lot of work to make it happen. The show was packed, other bands were releasing their tapes or abuzz about upcoming recordings or future shows they were playing. It was Taylor's first visit and she was totally charmed by PEI and got just enough of a taste that she is already plotting a return—maybe even for Trash Beach Fest (August 23rd, 2025) which was announced via a banner that was unfurled during our show!

CELL DETH and the early crowd

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Halifax is in Nova Scotia, and it's the biggest city in Atlantic Canada and has a pretty well-known punk scene with a long lineage of crusty punk, youth crew hardcore, folk punk, etc. Current bands likes MUTATED VOID, BLACK DOG (d-beat legends who we got to play with on this tour), and BOTFLY are keeping Halifax on the map right now. Ever heard of CONTAGIUM, LIFE CHAIN, FRAGMENT, WORD ON THE STREET, or xENVISIONx? Look them up.

It's common for bands to play both an all ages show and a bar show in Halifax, to maximize the turnout and help make the long trip worthwhile for touring bands. Gus's Pub is a common bar for punk shows, but for all ages shows Radstorm is the spot.

Radstorm

It's a legendary social centre, jamspace, zine library and all-ages show venue that has been digging in its claws to stay open amid Halifax's soaring rents and property values. We learned that they have successfully fundraised to buy their building through crowdfunding and a community financing initiative, so hopefully they will be around for a long time! Despite this, they are still facing constant harassment from the property developer neighbours. Halifax has had a pretty crushing wave of development since the start of the pandemic as many people across Canada who started working remotely moved there and bought property. Rents have shot up and everyone we spoke to had problems making their rent. In this context a space like Radstorm is crucial.

Anchor Zine Library

After landing in Halifax (again immediately greeted by posters for our show wheatpasted to a Canada Post box!) we hunted down the highly-recommended vegan donair, took a stroll around historic Point Pleasant Park, and then rolled up to Radstorm. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned neighbour tensions and code issues, the space is currently operating with a 50-person capacity limit, which we hit pretty much immediately upon doors opening. Some latecomers didn't get in, but the young punks who showed up promptly all did!

A brand new grindcore act SCATTERED TEETH opened the show, followed by VOMT, a scrappy punk trio who would become our mini-tour-mates. Despite the small cap, the show felt full and fun, although Halifax being a bigger city meant the crowd was a bit more self-conscious and didn't start really going off until almost the end of our set (our friend Renee getting on the mic for our INFEST cover helped!). It was definitely another night for a local sandwich, and d-beat warriors BLACK DOG were a treat as always—we would've almost driven to Halifax just to see them. Halfway through their set, nervous eyes began to dart around the room searching for the source of a familiar scent—whiffs of smoke were coming from the bass cab. The gear was quickly swapped out and BLACK DOG continued their assault of noisy dbeats, grunts, and earsplitting guitars. Fried gear aside, Lucas who booked the show dealt with a lot of chaos that night, on top of doing sound AND door/managing capacity AND dealing with the cops showing up during our set. Radstorm can't be stopped!

Bear River, Nova Scotia

There are many smaller towns around Atlantic Canada. Besides the bigger cities in New Brunswick (Fredericton, Moncton, St. John), we've heard about recent shows in Bathurst, Sackville and Miramichi. Summerside is the second largest town on PEI and it seems possible to play a show there. In Nova Scotia there's Truro an hour north of Halifax and then the whole rural section of western Nova Scotia where many punks, queers, anarchists and other weirdos live rurally.

To try and fill out our tour, we got a show in Bear River, located about two hours west of Halifax along the Bay of Fundy. The turnout was great as people from all over the area drove in to attend the first punk show ever in Bear River. We ended up in Bear River simply because we had a good friend/retired show promoter there who was willing to find a space (a soap workshop in a community arts building), source a PA, and put together the show. We can't recommend any specific rural or small town in Atlantic Canada, the place for you to play is anywhere you have a friend or fan willing to pull it off for you.

If you are talking to a promoter in one of the bigger towns, ask if they know any bands or punk kids in a smaller town or rural area nearby who might be really excited to bring a band to their specific town. Keep your expectations low—it might just be you and another band playing in a shed. But if you want to fill out the tour and have an extra show or two, as well some adventure, it will be absolutely worth it and you will likely be surprised.

After the short two-hour drive from Halifax, we were at our friend's place, eating lunch in the cute cabin they built themself and making friends with their sweet dog. Everything on the tour past Fredericton was new to Taylor, so we made sure to make another beach stop and see the legendary Bay of Fundy.

The Bay of Fundy

Stopping for a coffee in a small town on the way to Bear River to load in for the show, our car started acting weird. It wasn't totally dead, but we were about 30 minutes away from the venue and definitely didn't have time to troubleshoot it or risk getting stuck in a worse spot (at least we were in a town, with a few garages nearby). Our friends were able to procure an extra vehicle (#RuralLife) and we swapped our gear into a different car, abandoning ours as a tomorrow problem.

VOMT playing in Bear River

Luckily our new pals VOMT from Halifax were able to get off work and were super game to come play this weird gig with us on a Monday night in the middle of nowhere! Additionally, the promoters had put an announcement about the show in a local newspaper, and a local band had reached out asking if they could open—a group of skatepunk dads + one of their 14-year-old sons, playing mostly covers plus one original. So in the end it came together and we had a proper three-band show! The turnout was great, probably about 50-60 people, and we were grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time, despite some underlying dread about the car situation. It was super wholesome, and people seemed genuinely stoked and thankful that we had come out there to play—definitely one of the more special and unique shows of tour.

Newfoundland

Newfoundland is a large island (the size of New Brunswick or Maine) located 160 kms (100 miles) off the eastern coast of Canada. To get to St. John's, the main city, you drive four hours east from Halifax, then take an eight hour ferry, and then drive 10 more hours. At that point you are basically a stone's throw from Greenland, and are in a special half-hour-ahead time zone.

It sounds daunting, but it's a worthwhile place to go and play. St. John's has always had a punk scene (ever heard of DA SLYME?) and in recent years it's more common for bands to get flown out there to play a weekend. Still, whether driving or flying, it seems like only 2-3 punk bands per year will put in the effort to get there.

Previously it would be hard to get a show anywhere besides St. John's unless you were willing to try and book your own show at a bar and hope that the bar regulars like whatever kind of punk you play (fine if you play folk punk, not so great if you play powerviolence). But these days, Billy in Corner Brook (a city on the western coast of the island, closer to the ferry) is coordinating with Barely There/Liam (in St. John's) to ensure a string of shows for any band who comes through: if you time it right, you can play four shows on the island, with an all ages show and a bar show in both Corner Brook and St. John's, making the ferry cost and logistics well worth it. There also seem to be scenes brewing in other towns—we saw some promising graffiti in Grand Falls-Windsor, and at our St. John's shows we met punks who had traveled from different smaller towns to see us play.

Obviously there are no guarantees, but from our experience we had absolutely no problem covering costs—despite Newfoundland being quite an economically depressed place, the scenes there are incredibly supportive. Bands don't come that often, so it's a big deal when they do. Bring more merch than you think you'll need!

Corner Brook, Newfoundland

After getting our car towed to a trusted neighbour mechanic and re-loading our gear into a rental car, we headed toward the ferry terminal in North Sydney, crossing onto island #2 (Cape Breton Island, part of Nova Scotia) and arriving with plenty of time for our near-midnight departure on the overnight sailing to island #3, Newfoundland! In retrospect, it was good timing for the car to break down, as we were grateful to have a more reliable vehicle as we hurtled into the blackness of the North Atlantic towards "The Rock." We slept decently on the ferry, except the last hour or two where we were occasionally woken by heavy winds rocking the vessel, the island greeting us with a windstorm and 110km/h gusts. Welcome to Newfoundland!

Getting off the ferry

We really can't overstate how beautiful Newfoundland is—it's like Iceland, Ireland, and a bit of B.C. thrown in. If you time it right you can see icebergs and/or whales, and even if you don't time it right there are dramatic landscapes, beautiful cliffs crashing into the ocean, abandoned U.S. military ruins, thick fog and allegedly lots of moose (although we didn't see any). A women on the ferry home even informed us we'd just missed a herd of Caribou crossing the highway!

The show in Corner Brook was a blast. Another teenager band, BLOOM, played covers and originals, and were incredibly good sports about having to leave the bar immediately after their set because they were all under 19, RIP!! If we would have known that was gonna happen we probably would've played a few more songs during sound check, sorry guys! LIFE CRISIS, one the promoter Billy's bands, played next—math-y screamo-y metalcore, they totally ripped. The room felt a bit empty when BLOOM and their parents left, but the crowd started filling in during LIFE CRISIS' set and by the time we played there were plenty of people there and the energy in the room was great! We didn't book a second all ages gig in Corner Brook because it was Easter weekend, but next time we come through we'll definitely prioritize it, as from everything we heard the all ages scene there is thriving.

St John's, Newfoundland

Peter Easton was a cool pirate

After the long but stunning drive across the island and a proper night off, we rolled up to the Peter Easton Pub for St. John's gig #1. Everyone seemed to have a strong affection for the Peter E, a neighbourhood bar with a dedicated show room. While we're both not usually wild about bar shows, the place had a great vibe and was clearly a comfort zone for most of the bands and attendees. The five-band show moved along efficiently, with one of the promoter Liam's bands BIRCH BEER opening, replacing our friends DESPERTÁ, who unfortunately had to drop (luckily one of DESPERTÁ's singer Peppa's other bands MAGICK did play, plus the drummer/our friend and host Christeen joined us on the mic for the INFEST cover!). People were dancing during the whole show, but DISCIPLINARY ACTION really brought the energy up to the next level, they were a tough act to follow. But there was no reason to worry—this was hands-down the most passionate crowd we've ever played to. People were singing along, moshing at the right parts and going nuts, and thanked us profusely in kind words and sheer enthusiasm. The Friday show was closed out by the excellent LIFE JOLT, clearly a local favourite, with lots more moshing and singalongs.

LIFE JOLT, VERIFY, BIRCH BEER, DISCIPLINARY ACTION (Photos by Steve)

Red Cliff, near St John's

We spent the next day sightseeing around St. John's and had dinner at the second killer buddhist veg restaurant of the trip (shoutout Peaceful Loft!). Then it was time for our last show of the tour—the first all ages show at the Anna Templeton Centre, a labyrinthine former bank right downtown. There was some overlap in the crowd from the night before, but with the addition of lots of younger people, including the opening band TWIN RINKS who wore construction helmets/vests and seemed to be really stoked about making loud noises, hell yeah. FLOORWALKER and INVISIBLE HAND (another of Liam's bands) played and even though Taylor was tired, she moshed for both because they absolutely fucking ripped.

The Anna Templeton Centre

While we were setting up, we got a text message that our ferry crossing home had been postponed because of more extreme wind. This was pretty rough news—getting home was already gonna be a big trip, plus the logistical challenges of recovering our broken-down car. But we managed to compartmentalize the tomorrow-problems, and played a final awesome last set with another super enthusiastic crowd response. There were a lot of young aspiring photo/videographers at this show. At least three DLSR's, a camcorder, and even someone with a Nintendo DS documenting the whole show. Kids are just excited and trying to participate any way they can, but sometimes there can be too many people trying to take photos. For our last song, we made a polite request: everyone put away the cameras and mosh. It worked, and the room exploded as young and old went all-in to dance. It was a great way to end our last set of tour. Local metalcore band HANGYOURHEAD closed the show, absolutely check them out if you're on the metalcore revival train because they nailed it. Perfect end to a basically perfect tour.

TWIN RINKS, INVISIBLE HAND (photos by Steve)

St. John's didn't seem to suffer from the shortage of bands or lack of participation you might expect in a small or isolated place—even though there were one or two shared members, I was impressed that we had two shows with four different local bands each night. And the bills weren't even that mixed—almost all hardcore bands on the faster/heavier side of things, with a thread of powerviolence influence running through many of them (possibly Martin's old band VILE INTENT playing there in 2018 could be partially responsible for this...). There were a lot of people at the shows and playing in the bands who weren't dudes, which made me very stoked. There were also a ton of straightedge kids, some of whom we got a cute group photo with at the end of the all ages show, and several people participating in the scene in other ways by doing zines and putting out tapes (shoutout again to Liam who booked our shows and does Barely There distro, and also Steve of Open Veins distro/zine who kindly loaded us up with his wares, took some of the photos in this article AND moshed very hard both nights!).

Notes on getting to Newfoundland

Some bands will just fly in to St John's to play one or two shows, and this is great but if you do that you'll deprive yourself of the beautiful drive across the island, playing Corner Brook or any other towns, not to mention the rest of the Maritimes. Doing a more traditional tour to Newfoundland requires a bit of logistics and planning, but no less than visiting other faraway places. It's all relative.

Ferry

There are two ferry routes to Newfoundland. Both depart North Sydney, NS, but one goes to Port-aux-Basques on the west side of Newfoundland, and the other goes to Argentia which is a bit closer to St John's and only runs in the summer. Don't take the Argentia ferry, it's for tourists. It's a lot longer, and a lot more expensive: you have to book a cabin for everyone in addition to paying for your vehicle, and you still have to drive a few hours from Argentia to St John's. It's not cheaper than driving across the island so you don't save any money on gas. It's not even really faster. You just spend more time on the boat and less time driving.

Take the Port-aux-Basques ferry, and probably do the overnight ferry to give you more time for hanging out. You aren't allowed to stay in your vehicle for the crossing, but there are comfortable reclining chairs like you'd find on a train, so it's possible to sleep.

Weather

Avoid traveling there in winter, as the weather can make a lot of things unpredictable. Even touring in April we ran into ferry cancellations that thankfully didn't cause us to miss any shows. Planning to go anytime between May and October is probably best. Newfoundland only has true summer weather in August, but outside of August your reward is spectacular fog!

Conclusions

Overall, we were totally bowled over by this tour. There wasn't a bad show. Someone asked us which was our favourite show and we pretty much just ended up naming every show for one reason or another. We ran out of tapes and were low on shirts before we even got to Newfoundland. We brought hundreds of free/PWYC zines with us and got rid of almost all of them. Part of our good fortune was having old friends and good connections who hooked us up with killer shows and local support, but even people we didn't know were so incredibly generous, supportive and grateful that we came.

We had two more Montreal tours following behind us: our two-stepper friends ONE TRACK MIND (pairing with Halifax's BREAKNECK) came through the weekend after us, and TYPEFACE and LOBOTOMITE the weekend after that, though these bands just did a long weekend tour through the Maritimes rather than the full Atlantic Canada experience of traveling to Newfoundland. Everyone had a similar top-tier experience as us. Great shows, great crowds, and new friends made.

We would highly recommend touring Atlantic Canada if you want to go somewhere beautiful, slightly off the beaten path, and where your coming through will be super appreciated and contribute to helping build these awesome smaller scenes!

Our zine distro on the tour

Show review: UTOPIE (FR) and STEZK (CZ) in Prague

2025-04-21T17:29:02.000-04:00

Montrealer DLA contributed this show review from their recent travels abroad. A show review and brief scene report from Prague!

A punk show with hipster blazers and film photography? Let's go!!!

If in Prague and if in need of a concert, do yourself a favor and hit up Eternia Smichov. I found myself there on a cold Tuesday night in March after some deep diving into the depths of internet forums sent me to the Berlin lefty/punk aggregator page StressFaktor (https://stressfaktor.squat.net/termine), which in turn, after even more digging through bandcamp tour listings, led me to a French post-punk band who was currently on tour and playing a show in Prague.

Loosely translating their website, Eternia is located in the Smichov neighborhood of Prague and hosts a vegan restaurant, skate ramp, tattoo studio, rehearsal rooms, music equipment rentals, a pole dance studio and spaces for shows and events – in addition to hosting a bunch of different organizations, including Extinction Rebellion in Prague, and an archive of dissident Czechoslovak punk zines and other things from the Communist era.

The space for the actual show had a bar, comfy couches, a bookcase of zines, a community sale rack for clothes, shoes, CDs, and a skate ramp – as the crowd filtered in, we enjoyed our 30 crown beers while flipping through some Dutch and American zines, mostly from the era of Bush 2, including a really insane zine from a bunch of NYC people published soon after 9/11 – both about the NYC scene, and also about seeing the aftermath of the event and the increase in policing in the city.

STEZK (https://stezk.bandcamp.com/album/na-pokraji) were up first. Their bandcamp describes them well – a perfect combo of 90s emo and hc/crust, some dramatic/upbeat riffs, shrieks, and lyrics you can’t understand since they’re in Czech. Shoutout to the more spoken word sections of some of their songs, I think it adds some great atmosphere.

UTOPIE (https://utopielille.bandcamp.com/album/virage-lp) were also great. They play dancey, fun, and heavy post punk with a definitive cold wave influence, hitting us with a bunch of live vocal effects (love to check out everyone's pedal setups). You can't help but to dance to their shit. Lyrical content includes anxiety, probably also a bunch of stuff about capitalism and the oppression of everyday life (you can tell my French isn’t good enough to catch all of it). Talking with the band after, they said they were going to come for a festival this past summer, and it didn’t work out – so maybe they will come to Canada in the future! You can also follow UTOPIE here: https://utopunx.noblogs.org/

In addition to the great bands, what I deeply enjoyed about this show was seeing a different scene in a different city totally new to me. Of course, everything seems especially cool when it’s new to you, but it was fun being at a show with no more than 25 people for the first time in ages. I always love people watching at shows, and I’m still shocked at how toned down people look outside of North America (and probably the rest of the anglosphere but I’ve never been to the UK so don’t come at me about this), even when in a space like this. My limited take at this point is that I think it’s a little less of a principled rejection of a need to look a certain way to participate in a scene, and is more just a representation of the overall culture. A lot less tattoos, a lot fewer piercings. Two separate indie millennial looking guys with glasses and tweed blazers, one of whom was taking film photos of the show – and a normal collection of punk dudes, people wearing street clothes, and a strikingly gorgeous girl who looked very Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction in a floor length black coat.

The blazer guys specifically reminded me of a friend telling me about his read on the hipster scene in Saint Petersburg – it felt more organic to him, when not a little hipster passé, than scenes he’d experienced in New York. It’s as if the scene was able to create its own stylistic or aesthetic sensibilities that were truly original because of its distance (geographical, linguistic) from others. It’s maybe just a romantic idea, but I love a throwback and reaffirmation to the fact that small stylistic changes like dressing a little old fashioned (although still in dialogue with global trends) is “dressing punk.” To be fair, we see this in Montreal too. I was super impressed by a girl last Saturday at Bâtiment 7 wearing a kilt, a plaid hat, and a floor length red coat, showing up to see some bands play and some dudes strung up on flesh hooks. At the end of the day, this shit is all about doing you want and finding community in that – full stop, and it's always good to get a reminder of that.

The venue/organization/building -- whatever you call Eternia -- is also super impressive. We’re all frustrated by how expensive things are getting in Montreal, and the fact that the rent is too damn high for people to do the work they want to do, and create the art that’s important to them. There’s also not enough space -- industrial buildings and non residential leases want tons of money per month, evict and kick out bands and practice spaces, or have already been converted into condos. To me, spaces like this show us how fucked up our conception of “real estate” actually is in Canada. There’s absolutely enough determined people with the will to build spaces like this -- and we’re prevented by the continued commodification of the housing market.

All in all -- great show, super cool venue, I would highly recommend checking out their schedule if you ever find yourself in Prague. And as a bonus for shows and counterculture in Berlin: check out https://stressfaktor.squat.net/termine and https://knox.p-u-n-k.de/db/! Stressfakor has community events, free food, manifs, shows, and an encyclopedia of lefty/radical addresses, groups, and businesses to visit. I recommend viewing on a computer instead of your phone so you can translate the pages from German to English.