Varnings and
Best Fwends

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Here’s hoping your Halloween was as spook-tacular as mine this year, but don’t get too comfy on the couch—there are a ton of great shows happening this week that will have you braving the bitter chill. Spurred on by the first A Varning From MTL festival held last year at les Saints, the fine, furry folks at Katacombes continue the now annual event, but have thankfully spread the 25-band bill over four days. The sequel starts tonight at Katacombes—you can check out the Spectres, Complications, Rizers, Diskonnected and Bad Habits. Friday, the fest continues with Warcry, an all too rare performance by Montreal’s kings of Motörhead rawk and d-beat Inepsy, Broken, Absurd System, Contagium and Hope. Saturday features Hell Shock, Guided Cradle, Parasytic, Bludwulf, Atakke, Mourne and Abyssed. Sunday, the fest moves to Underworld with Statues, Sedatives, Reprobates, UVR, Omegas, C.C. and Castanets. Phew!

For those of you who aren’t up for blistering punk rock this week, you can check out the cuter-than-a-bug’s-ear pop of Matt and Kim with the lo-fi novelty rock of Texans Best Fwends and the queasy, unsettling sounds of local psychedelic warlords Black Feelings, tonight at Lambi.

WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST?
Holly Golightly

Friday night, Vancouver rock dudes Ladyhawk kick out the jams at les Saints with Attack in Black. Also happening on Friday night is a very rare performance by the Tony Robbins of the Montreal scene, Think About Life, when they take part of the Nocturnes series at Musee d’art contemporain. With an exception of a surprise appearance at Friendship Cove this past Halloween, these fellas have really been keeping it on the D.L., so don’t miss out. If you want to really shake it like a bowl of soup, head down to l’Escogriffe on Friday night and check out le Kid and local legend Bloodshot Bill.

Sunday is the night for some serious psychedelic jams with Ecstatic Peace’s MV & EE and the Golden Road and Whilst. The former hosts the occasional appearance of J. Mascis on guitar, and Thurston Moore gives ’em two thumbs way up, so, questions? This all goes down at Casa del Popolo.

Monday night comes out swinging with Bison B.C., the dude rock of Barnburner and Vile Intent at the new home of heavy, Bar St-Laurent 2. Despite getting their van broken into out front of la Sala Rossa a month and a half ago, Bison B.C. easily stole the show from headliners Baroness and Genghis Tron during the Exclaim Aggressive Tendencies tour, and with the blogosphere still tapping up a storm over their debut record, 2009 should prove to be a big year for these beardos, so don’t miss this rare chance to see their stoner sludge riffs in such small confines.

Tuesday, oddly enough, proves to be the big night of the week with two important shows. First up is the proggy pop of Deerhunter with the lo-fi, post-grunge rock of Times New Viking with the Neighborhood Council at Théâtre Plaza. A guaranteed great show fer sure, but my bet would be to check out the country garage twang of ex-Headcoatee Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs with Buddy McNeil and the Magic Mirrors (cool Beefheart reference!) and Delaney Davidson at la Sala Rossa.

WHY DON’T WE D-D-DO IT IN THE ROAD…JONATHAN.CUMMINS@GMAIL.COM