St-Henri rocks, finally

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Follow the security cameras all the way up the Main, from the heart of little Burnaby (Ste-Catherine and St-Laurent) to the cusp of the Plateau, and you’re guaranteed to be greeted with some great rock ’n’ roll DJ nights. Not to be outdone, St-Denis also features great nights, with l’Escogriffe and Rockette providing music that indeed rocks while never catering to the predictable Facebook crowd and the playlists of hipsters’ iPods.

This is all well and good, but what about the people who would rather just go to the dep, grab a sixer and get comfy with their own record collections, rather than stumble out of their postal code? With more and more Rufus Wainwright-listening, Maxim-subscribing condo-dwellers taking up space on the Plateau and in Mile-End, a lot of people under the age of 30 have been moving to the East End, Park Ex and St-Henri in the past couple of years. If you happen to be one of these people, surely you must know how it feels to no longer be within stumbling distance of your favourite haunts, as public transit, especially once you’re three sheets to the wind at 3 a.m., absolutely sucks.

A crew from St. Henri has gotten tired of that nocturnal drunken death march home, so they have created a night to accommodate the rash of music fans that have been moving there recently. Every Thursday night as of July 26 at the Black Jack Bar at 3800 Notre-Dame W., Shaun Anderson and friends offer Time’s Up, an evening of the best in weird punk, psychedelic, garage, progressive, metal and more (hint: the night was kind of patterned on Casa Del Popolo’s longstanding Tuesday night rock and roll residencies). Best of all, the beer is cheap as dirt and, with a little luck, you may even get laid by the end of the night. St-Henri represent!

Tonight is indeed a hot one for the regular watering holes on the beaten path, but if you go see anything tonight, make it Deerhunter, the Ponys and the real ace in the deck, Jay Reatard, at Lambi. Expect to see a whole heck of a lot of people leaving after the first act on this lopsided bill, as Mr. Reatard started the simmer with Lost Sounds and the Reatards, but on last year’s brilliant Blood Visions, he truly brought his dangerous garage rock to a boil.

On Saturday, Boston’s finest Budweiser-guzzling, middle-aged skaters Gang Green will hoist a few while parading their legendary hardcore thrash classics like “Rabies,” “Alcohol” and “Skate to Hell” at Foufounes Électriques. Along for the nostalgia ride are ex-members of Dropkick Murphys and the Dead Pets in Everybody Out!, Self Control and Montreal’s fiercest thrash outfit, …And the Saga Contiunes. Remember, Foufs shows tend to start a little on the early side, so consider yourself warned.

Another great show this week is the instrumental, cinematic metal of Pelican, who make a quick return to town on Sunday at Lambi with Toronto drone gods Nadja and the instrumental doom of Squalor.

I’ve come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass,
and I’m all out of bubblegum…
Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com