What’s in the bins

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

There are some serious dandies happening in town before summer breathes its final sigh. Tonight, Sept. 4, at Divan Orange, you can check out Camaromance, featuring the folky sway of Martine Groulx. Her occasional back-up band has included Patrick Watson as well as members of his hot-shit band and Pawa Up First, so don’t miss this. Along for the ride with Camaromance will be Mia Verko.

My personal pick for tonight, though, would have to go to the punk rock precision of Black Ships and hesher hounds Barn Burner with Abyssed, Adult Crash, Relics and more TBA at LBH. Black Ships’ first two EPs are too good to be ignored, so if you can dig ’em up… Also happening tonight, starting at 7 p.m., is a record swap at Katacombes, with two distributors showing up with a wealth of CDs and vinyl. Trade in that crummy controller.controller CD you bought last year and get something that your turntable will thank you for. Best of all, admission is free and DJ Pete and DJ Thurbo will provide the tunes while you’re flippin’ through the bins.

REANIMATED: Carcass

On Friday, the power pop of France’s B-Sides will take over le Bistro de Paris at 4536 St-Denis when they launch their new record Wreck in Heaven, with the one-man garage barrage of Skip Jensen. If you dig the Plimsouls, the Beat, the Nerves, Flamin’ Groovies, Ramones and other power-pop bands that don’t suck, you are sure to dig the B-Sides. On a completely different tip on Friday night, check out the country twang of Li’l Andy and Karaoke Cowboy with Canteen Knockout and DJ Double V at Divan Orange.

Garage rockers should be down at Divan Orange on Saturday night when the Mockin’ Birds let their Cuban-heeled boots kick up a storm of Yardbirds-styled rave-ups, with guests Mimi Van der Glow, My Shaky Jane and DJ Heidi. My pick for this busy Saturday night, though, would be the NWOBHM thrash attack of Mad Parish, with the always fucking incredible Corpusse, happening at Bar St-Laurent 2. If you’ve ever seen Corpusse wreak complete havoc on an unsuspecting club, this is a no-brainer. Think Gene Simmons meets shock rocker GG Allin—’nuff said.

Probably the biggest show of the week is the return of technical grindcore legends Carcass (featuring former Napalm Death member Bill Steer) with the equally brutal Suffocation and guests 1349, Aborted and Rotten Sound at le Medley. Of course, the only fitting day for such a night of pure evil would be the Sabbath, Sept. 7.

Tuesday night has a great triple-header when bluesy garage punkers Devil Eyes lay it down at l’Escogriffe with the Pack A.D. and Hotel Lobbyists. Afterwards, you can check out the new weekly metal night happening every Tuesday at Vinyl, with DJ Scabies, or go down to the longest running weekly DJ night at Casa with Juan, DJ of Rock and Roll. For my money, Juan (aka Starvin’ Hungry’s “ol’ man Milchey”), along with Crawdaddy Simon, are the best rock and garage wax jockeys currently manning the decks in Montreal.

SHAKE IT LIKE A BOWL OF SOUP…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM