by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Last Saturday night, l’Escogriffe was definitely the place to be for old-fashioned punk rawk, served up by Toronto’s Brutal Knights, New York’s the Shemps, Quebec City’s the Aversions and local upstarts the Nymphets. The latter took the stage first and quite simply blew me away. Kind of like crossing early Wire’s urgency, Buzzcocks’ melody and the Modern Lovers’ unadulterated geekiness, these guys are definitely a local band that deserves your attention. The Aversions quickly set up next and played in a style of early-’80s hardcore with a New Bomb Turks feel. They were good, the drummer was stupendous, but admittedly, I was still reeling from the Nymphets, so their personality seemed a bit lacking. The Shemps were unfortunately a yawn with by-the-book punk rock ’n’ roll that failed to make a mark. It was kind of like the “Hell, yeah” guys picked up an Electric Frankenstein record and just went through the motions. When Brutal Knights went on, it was all assholes and elbows as they blitzed through a 20-minute set that was some of the best pre-Rollins Black Flag-meets-Angry Samoans face-peeling punk I have heard in years. Fucking phenomenal!

Before we get to the week according to Punkusraucous Rex, a couple of announcements. The Strapping Young Lad, Goatwhore, Shaolin and Tantrumn show on Monday at Petit Campus has been cancelled as SYL double-booked themselves in Philly, and Montreal is losing out. A make-up date is already being planned. Also cancelling is the (sort of) reunion of Germs that was supposed to happen on Tuesday at newly-hatched les Saints. Perhaps surviving members Pat Smear, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles finally woke up and realized, “Wait a minute, Darby Crash has been dead for 26 years and without him, we’re sure to suck balls.” Keep your eyes peeled for the rather high-budget Germs biography film that should be coming out by the end of the year.

If you dig your rock ’n’ roll with more than a healthy heaping dose of punk rock, you’re going to want to head down to see Dirty Tricks, the Nymphets (see above) and Calgary’s the Neckers at l’Escogriffe on Friday night. Dirty Tricks are always great and I can guarantee that the Nymphets will be your new local discovery.

Saturday night is once again the stacked night with some hard decisions to make. The real toss-up would be between Jerk Appeal at Barfly or Starvin’ Hungry at l’Escogriffe. Jerk Appeal are always at their best when playing on their home turf at Barfly and bartender/singer Ted Minette (he will be providing both duties on Saturday) is one of the best frontmen out there. Also tipping the scales is opening band Nippers, featuring Jerk Appeal’s guitarist Frankie. Starvin’ Hungry, on the other hand, are burnin’ white hot with a whole set of new songs from their freshly-recorded second record, and Ottawa’s Double Pumpers in the opening slot ups the ante. Choose wisely, grasshopper.

I BRAKE FOR GOTH CHICKS… jonathan.cummins@gmail.com

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