No Cause for Concern? Issue #5 | September 1982 | Page 3 | Montreal

My Trip to Montreal

by Vig

Colleen and I left on Tuesday, September 7th [1982] for two full days of running around and playing No Pigs activists. I dragged her all around the city in my skinflint, overbearing way but she still managed to be nice to me. So much for interpersonal events.

We first caught three bands at a club called The Hardcore or the Hard-On (formerly Le Visage) at 4290 St. Lawrence. This is run by Mike and Stuart who trade bookings with Y.C.P. in Ottawa, Luc at Lock-al in Quebec City, Ian at Club Without Name in Toronto, Marty and Tia at the Embassy Hotel in London, Ontario, and others.

Mike and Stuart are great guys and support excellent hardcore but do not have the help and involvement they want from the Montreal hardcore community. Aside from a few people helping move equipment in tight situations, there's little effort from the masses. They tend to be very judgmental, distant and negative. The usual band-eat-band mentality operates there as it does here and elsewhere.

All three bands were from out of town. They were SOCIAL DISTORTION and YOUTH BRIGADE from Los Angeles on a North American tour and ZEROPTION from Toronto. Sound from all three bands was wall-of-mud. They system was late in arrival and set up with no sound checks. The club is small but a good size for 100-150 people. It's layout is not too terrible, but on the long and narrow side.

ZEROPTION were on first and played a tight, powerful set to a bunch of laid-back dressers. YOUTH BRIGADE played next and then SOCIAL DISTORTION. All the bands were plagued by the same pulled plug and no sound check problems and since none of them had a lead vocalist, they didn't move around too much and I feel their stage presence suffered. Slamming was done by only four or five guys that Mike let in free to get the crowd moving. (It would have taken a miracle!) A camera crew traveling with the L.A. bands hoped to video part of the Social Distortion set but were booed away. (Do they hate everything?)

All the members of all the bands are absolutely fantastic people. They played well, were very up front, positive and keen on building the scene. The three members of YOUTH BRIGADE are brothers and run Better Youth Organization in Los Angeles -- similar to Mike and Stuarts' Zavo Concerts in Montreal.

I talked with Sean, the lead vocalist and guitarist of YOUTH BRIGADE about the L.A. scene. He said there's thousands of people into it but the cops constantly close down all the venues and shows. At the moment there's no steady club in L.A.! Also, the scene is so big it's lost its sense of togetherness. When B.Y.O. put on a show in the past, they pay friends to work for them and it's more like a business. B.Y.O. is a partnership

Before we left Montreal, Col and I had a long talk with Stuart and Mike who want to set up a co-op between all the places listed in the beginning of this article and bring in out-of-town bands for this circuit. Mike and I traded addresses etc. and three bands agreed to play Ottawa early December at a pre x-mass bash. They are S.C.U.M., ALLERGIC, and THE DISCORDS. Details are yet to be finalized.

Col and I also visited an anarchist bookstore and Dutchy's Records -- both on St. Lawrence. They were great! Finally, we saw a great band called Térapi at a new wave bar called Zoo Bar on St. Catherine East with a very intense and musically talented female vocalist.

Don't forget -- go see M.D.C. from San Francisco in Montreal on Friday, September 24th at the Hard-On. Don't buy the terrible orange drink with chemicals and lots of ice for $1.50 a glass -- or do it and get ripped off. Be prepared for anything and everything upon your arrival to the club vicinity!

some stuff I like and support:

logo of Ottawa Rock Camp for Girlslogo of PunkOttawa.comlogo for Capital Rehearsal Studios logo for Dave's Drum ShopNCFC facebook logologo for Birdman Soundlogo of Spectrasonic

ncfc logo