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Wide world of weirdThe Weird Punk Montreal showcase |
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 DONE IT THEMSELVES: Tyvek Over the 30-plus years since its inception, the punk genre has spawned children with odd given names like “hardcore” and the odious “emo” (abbreviating “emotional” is bad enough, but jeez). Somewhere along the line, like anything else, punk rock got a little too comfortable in its dimestore Chuck Taylors, crossed over into the mainstream and is now used to sell everything from shoes to computers to cars. In the process, punk has become as musically progressive, inventive and dangerous as a damp dishcloth. Not all hope is lost. There are still bands inspired by hardcore, garage, noise, no wave, hard psych, proto-punk and post-punk who have actually managed to make punk menacing, inspired, lean and mean again, and all under the cute and convenient umbrella tag, “weird punk.” The term was first uttered on the popular online forum Terminal Boredom, and always with tongue firmly in cheek. But if the army surplus boot fits… “This is really the kind of music that we want to bring into the city, and really what we’re passionate about,” says Andre Guerette of promoters Blue Skies Turn Black. Guerette joins Shaun Anderson of the Pirates of the Lachine Canal in assembling some of weird punk’s fiercest bands over a five-night stand throughout Pop Montreal at the unassuming locale of Divan Orange (plus a couple of afternoon barbecues at Friendship Cove). “The idea is to have something for people who like punk rock and noise to go to after other shows instead of just going to some dance bar. If calling it a specific term helps give attention to it, then we’ll use it, as well as attracting people from other cities to Montreal who like this kind of music.” 
WANTED FOR ASSAULT: Shearing Pinx Impossibly punkAlthough often incorrectly credited with inventing the term “weird punk,” the two have definitely served as its ambassadors here in Montreal, notably with the Time’s Up soirée in St-Henri, in which both are involved. If the term seems somewhat ill-fitting as a specific musical definition, it certainly should, as the bands it’s attached to are as eclectic as they come. Guerette and Anderson get a bit giddy when mentioning the term, but judging by the line-up, highlighting labels like Siltbreeze and In the Red, the words “weird punk” do seem apt.
Among the bands included at the festival are Montrealers (and Guerette’s former band) AIDS Wolf and Vancouver’s Shearing Pinx, both known for launching sheer assaults on the senses. Toronto’s Brutal Knights and Career Suicide have plugged directly into the Reagan-era hardcore sound, but have managed to add even more downstroked ferocity, borrowing from Black Flag’s vicious intro on “Nervous Breakdown.” Tyvek share traits with the early-’80s U.K. DIY scene that spawned bands like the Fall and Swell Maps, while the psychedelic freakout of Blues Control has more in common with Captain Beefheart than Captain Sensible. If there is a thread to this mongrel bunch, it’s that they’re indeed everything punk is supposed to be, miles away from the choreographed jumps happening on the Warped Tour’s stages. “I think all of the bands that we have playing are punk bands, but in the true sense of the word,” says Guerette, “and they’re all pretty anti-establishment in their own way. “A lot of so-called punk rock has gotten completely closeminded, but the bands that we’ve got together for these nights are doing something completely outside of what the words ‘punk rock’ mean today. If anything, we would just like to see people that may not know anything about this scene opening up to what punk rock could be.” AT DIVAN ORANGE ON WEDNESDAY, |
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