Hard choices

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

So many shows happening at Pop Montreal this year, so let’s just get right down to it. One of the heaviest bands in Canada right now is Windsor, Ontario’s Fiftywatthead. If you dig the crushing heaviness of Unsane and Neurosis, do not miss their set at 10 p.m. tonight, Oct. 4, at Petit Campus. Providing the incentive for you to stick around are locals Starvin Hungry at 11 p.m. and Trigger Effect, who finally launch their debut CD, at midnight. Full disclosure: my band Bionic is on the bill too.

Vice Magazine has set up a “hardcoreoke” tonight, with a live hardcore band dusting off the chestnuts as Mile-Enders and young hipsters struggle to remember the words to Minor Threat songs at Bar St-Laurent II. This will definitely get messy. Café Chaos is kicking it old school with an appearance by punk icons U.K. Subs at 11 p.m. Singer Charlie Harper is a true legend and can out-rock most punks half his age, so don’t miss this one. Happening at la Sala Rossa tonight are the freak-out jams of Man Man at midnight. If their gig is half as good as their previous Pop appearance, this should prove to be mindblowing.

The fest really starts heating up on Friday, with Bar St-Laurent II being the place to be if you feel like staying put for the night. At 10 p.m. is the muscular metal of L.A.’s the Binges, 11 p.m. sees Vancouver boogie rockers Pride Tiger and finally, at midnight, the golden boys of the Montreal rock scene, Priestess, cap things off.

Keeping things in the rock realm, at Club Soda, Michel Pagliaro is preceded by le Nombre at 9 p.m. and the Mongrels at 10 p.m. Another venue with a tight bill for those who don’t want to travel is la Sala Rossa, with Toronto doom-meisters Nadja at 10 p.m., Montreal faves CPC Gangbangs at 11 p.m. and a must-see performance from Qui, the new band of Jesus Lizard’s David Yow, at midnight. The 1 a.m. slot, down at Divan Orange, belongs to Toronto freaks Blood Ceremony, whose demonic psych-folk defies description.

Of course, the big show Friday is Patti Smith and her band in the holy surroundings of Église St-Jean-Baptiste at 10:30 p.m. This is guaranteed to sell out real quick so make sure you get there really early, as limited Pop passes will be accepted here.

Saturday night could be action packed if you’re nimble enough. Start things off with a bang when AIDS Wolf play at Divan Orange at 9 p.m., make it down to My Hero Gallery to see the stoner psych of Toronto’s Quest for Fire at 10 p.m. and then head over to le National for Black Mountain at 11 p.m. before cooling your heels for the rest of the night at Club Lambi with the Nymphets at midnight, Toronto hardcore gods Career Suicide at 1 a.m. and finally, the chaotic pop of Jay Reatard at 2 a.m.

If your ears still aren’t ringing by Sunday, finish things off with the Refused/Queens of the Stone Age beatdown of Attack of the Microphone at l’Escorgriffe at 10 p.m., or try your luck at getting into the Eric’s Trip reunion at 10 p.m. at Ukrainian Federation.

Have fun out there… Jonathan.cummins@gmail.com