by Ashley
Better late than never right? Hopefully by now this is more coherent than my mid-NXNE update. Though some of the details are a bit fuzzy in my head because NXNE seems so long ago now.
Overall it was a good NXNE, but next year I hope they don’t book big old school punk acts and put them in venues at the opposite end of the city from everything else again. Don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing the bouncing souls and Hot Water Music/Wilhelm. However it kind of ruined any plans I had for attending club & bar shows at the opposite end of town afterwards – the lines were insane! Toronto transit leaves a lot to be desired, and wasn’t helped by everything going on in the city. MMVAs + Little Italy festival + NXNE = shoulda walked.
My faves from the entire festival = Sandmand Viper Command, Hot Water Music, A Wilhelm Scream, Wildlife, the bouncing souls.
Things I wish I had seen: Rich Aucoin, Braids, C’Mon, Dum Dum Girls, Anti-Flag, The Descendants, The Flatliners, Bravestation, Crocodiles, Keys n Krates, & Fucked Up (at Wrongbar)... maybe next year?
Highlight of my Friday and Saturday was definitely Hot Water Music and A Wilhelm Scream at the Opera House on Saturday. If you like fast, technical, loud music please go see AWS or check out their stuff. They are probably one of the most high-energy acts I have ever seen and they still sound fantastic and tight while they’re jumping all over the place, playing speed-demon fast. The guitars shred, and Brian Robinson is one of the best bass players I’ve ever seen – so technical my brain has trouble processing. (Full disclosure I was in love with his previous band The Fullblast in high school).
AWS are touring machines, so hopefully they’ll be back again soon if you missed them. Side note did anyone catch the ON shows they did with .moneen. in the last week? I can’t even imagine taking the two most frenzied bands I’ve seen together inside a venue like Mavericks in Ottawa. If you were there I kind of hate you.
And Hot Water Music was ahhhhmazing! I realized I lied before when I said I had never seen them, I have at Warped Tour a couple of times, but it’s just not the same as seeing a band in good venue where they’re headlining. Pretty sure I was grinning from ear-to-ear along with everyone else in the place when they played good ol’ faves like ‘Trusty Chords’. It was better and tighter than I expected for a band that’s only recently started touring again. Plus for a bunch of older punk dudes they were rocking pretty hard.
The nostalgia factor and knowing every song is probably what made it the most fun. I felt like I was back in high school (minus the crappy parts). It even prompted me to text some of my old show buddies back in Calgary saying ‘wish you were here’ or ‘reminded me of you.’ I love it when I have such an association to a certain time, place and emotion through music that it makes me sound like a greeting card.
The rest of my NXNE Friday and Saturday were a bit of a disorganized hodgepodge. Toronto is just way too big and spread out to venue hop, especially when you start at the east end and want to go all the way west. I was basically relegated to going where I could get in (the Horseshoe), and missed a bunch of acts I would have liked to see, but that’s my own fault. So piece of advice – be realistic when you plan your schedule – transit takes way longer than you think, plus lines on Fri and Sat start getting really out-of-hand by 10 or 11pm. So by 11pm you should plant yourself for the night. I wish I had taken my own advice.
Regardless, here’s a bit of a round up on what I remember seeing Friday and Saturday…
Friday:
Sandmand Viper Command at Sneaks – great again, Sneaks sounds sucks though, see em elsewhere
Bouncing Souls at The Phoenix – older crowd, but never seen so much crowd surfing in my life. Fun nostalgia!
OFF! at the Shoe – punk supergroup of crusty old hardcore dudes fronted by Circle Jerks lead man Keith Morris. Too loud, agro and unconvincing. Keith looks like he’s 90 – good anti-drug campaign.
Powers at Silver Dollar - (cuz we couldn’t get into Supermarket for Key n Krates) buzzed about, overrated, I was bored. I was more enthralled with how the girl singer was so white you didn’t notice she was only wearing a bandeau bra at first. This show makes me wonder why do I listen to the buzz, and subsequently why am I writing this? Hmmm
Saturday:
A Wilhelm Scream at The Opera House – amazing shredding
Hot Water Music at the Opera House – good old school punk, nostalgia
100 Dollars (or something like that) at the Shoe – kinda boring alt-country that I think I’ve seen at the Shoe before, boring
Wildlife at the Shoe – great indie pop rock, have a really great energy and brought a light show to the Shoe!