Pkew Pkew Pkew, No Bro, Eamon McGrath - Horseshoe Tavern Jan.10 '20

Pkew Pkew Pkew

The reason for the night came onto the stage like a hometown crowd should - to cries of joy. It wasn't some intense, outpouring or anything - they did play this exact venue less than a year ago - but the ovation from the full, but not sold out house was strong. Similarly, the set was very enjoyable and appreciated but they are not setting new highs with their small-town Ontario tales of drinking, skating, and hanging out. The crowd did get into it and by third song, I Wanna See a Wolf, I was compelled to join the fray. To our credit we moshed the entire way through, enjoying strong tracks like Asshole Pandemic and 65 Nickels, with an incredible amount of body surfing too. There were 3 or 4 people going up at a go, one of whom decided to test the strength of the plumbing pipe that runs across the ceiling; fortunately for us all it held. Near the end there was a song or two not from either of their album releases which didn't quite get as much love as the well known tunes. After 45 minutes of short, ripping songs they waved goodbye, with their perpetually grinning bassist departing last. But in the preorchestrated world of concerts, even without much of a roar (more of an expectant pause), they returned to the stage gushing their thanks to us. They did a couple, finishing with Glory Days, which was the correct call if you ask me, and sent us out into the early morning hours sweaty and happy.

NOBRO

Man, or should I saw "Woman!" - what a treat this was. This four-piece, using secondary percussion including bongos and electronic drums were stellar. They also had a great guitarist though the singer was stronger with vocals, naturally, they all did some instrument swapping along the way. Even as the second band on the bill, after a snoozy (good snoozy) opening from Eamon these gals got the pit moving so kudos to that. For the finale they really decided to kick out the jams. One to watch, I'm glad I got to catch them on their way up.

Eamon McGrath
Accompanied by another fellow, also playing acoustic guitar they went through a solid folk set that even had the filling-in crowd respectfully quiet. A standout display of songsmanship was seen on especially on Guts.

Barasso 

Warming the way jsut before PPP! this four-piece, all-male francophone band played some bludgeoning punk rock. It wasn't bad but was all a little samey (I hit the john). At one point they bantered, in English, "we're singing in French but you don't care do you? It doesn't matter."

Wildlife, Topanga, PkewX3, Reversing Falls (Horseshoe May 11, 2012)

Wildlife

The stage, already shrouded in cloth and smoke, was dimly lit and gave an edgy feel to the set. With their matching arm bands Wildlife took to the stage to some sort of orchestral battle music that built the suspense further until finally the familiar strains of Stand In The Water began to emanate through. (The singer actually broke the trance by asking for the lights to come up and with his overly casual 'Hello, how are you?' after all the suspenseful build up.) Effectively the band played throughout the concert mostly as if it were one seamless piece of music as opposed to a collection of songs (though songs like When I Get Home were included). This meant instrumental interludes in the dark but again this all played toward making this show something special. It was as if they were in a state of constant crescendo and it was constantly awesome. One interlude saw them bring out two remote controlled inflatable sharks that a were flown all around our heads until nearing the end of Brand New Weapon they began to get torn apart.

Other flairs included a trombone on Drunken Heart and two new songs (first about kerosene, second 'rely on me'). Money From God not only had double stand up drums but also the return of the trombone and an invited additional singer (who really, really wanted the crowd to be as excited as he obviously was).

They played Sea Dreamer to appease the crowd and then the moment I'd imagined months earlier while being overwhelmed by Killing for Fun in my headphones. "How amazing would this build into whoa-oh singalong be live?" Better than I imagined actually as everyone was 'losing their minds'. That was still before the much delayed encore (lights up, house music on) that was Baba O'Riley. Oh yes. As if the night hadn't already been fantastic enough!

Topanga

Topanga came out with a four man yell-along and were generally very upbeat throughout. The lead singer was small but packed a punch and their drummer, on stage for the second time this night, showed those drums who was boss. All this energy was infectious and someone even tried to crowd surf during Lion Heart. Their instrumentation was going for epic and achieving it. A familiar song for Radio3 listeners, Oceans, hit its mark too before a Hives cover (Hate to Say I Told You So, what else?). According to my notes they closed with My Boo but according to their discography they closed with Mabu. Regardless they closed out an energetic set with a song.

Pkew! Pkew! Pkew! (gunshots)

With a name like Pkew! Pkew! Pkew! (gunshots) I'm not even sure what I was expecting. I'd heard of them a heckuva a lot (though the sources were long forgotten) and so had expectations for an entertaining gig without a clue of how that would be delivered. What we got was a tongue-in-cheek indie rock show with punk pacing and fun that didn't disappoint in the least. Especially not the crew up front who were practically moshing from the first track and didn't mind the beer froth shooting all around them as the five members played their chords. Four of the members sang as they shared duties and occasional harmonies, even introing a song with Diddy's Bad Boy For Life. Even if the music if rather straightforward it still sounds great and it's really hard not to smile and enjoy yourself when the lyrics are "If those were your glory days, you must be real shitty now!"

Reversing Falls

Reversing Falls were a simple three piece who started out over a drum track before this role was taken over partway through the set by Sicks(?) from Topanga, one of the later acts. Though the set was enjoyable enough there wasn't much too memorable about it. They held out and played their biggest song Is This Thing On? last.