CHASTITY AT LONGBOAT HALL IN TORONTO
On a rainy, chilly, and spooky Devil’s night in downtown Toronto, new wave/grunge artist Chastity hosted his concert in the elegant and rustic Longboat Hall. He encouraged his fans on his instagram to dress in costume for the occasion and they didn’t disappoint. Spotted was the usual skeletons, devils, and nuns, but some surprises were a cult girl from the Midsommar movie, a bloody priest, a panda, and the late rapper Lil Peep.
First, opening the night was Flower Face from Windsor, Ontario, a solo project of Ruby Mckinnon with her supporting guitarist and bassist. Her songs consisted of light strumming on her electric guitar and her hypnotic, soft spoken vocals. Her sound was comforting and drew me in, turning the chatter off around me.
Originally, the second opener was going to be dream pop artist Nicole Dollanganger, but due to a family emergency she couldn’t perform. Wade McNeil of Alexisonfire/Cancer Bats/Black Lungs came to fill in for her as a solo act. He got on stage all in black with a skeleton face painted on. His set was just him and his electric guitar playing some of his own material, a Mitsfits cover, and ending with a Halloween themed song where he hopped off stage and into the crowd, encouraging the crowd to sing back to him. He talked frequently throughout his set. One of the things he mentioned was how he’d been wearing his makeup since 2pm that day and it scared people throughout his day on elevators, in the bank, and getting a coffee; which was funny. He then gave props to the audience members who actually dressed up that night.
Brandon Williams, aka Chastity, came on stage with four costumed band members backing him. He had make up on too - a white face and red around the eyes. The whole group had a moody, gothic presence, though that could have been accentuated by halloween costumes. As he began with his music, there was angst inside the calm in his lofty voice. This was a delicate and unique balance. His music had that spacey, 90’s Tears For Fears vibe, but other moments went hard in grungy guitar riffs like in songs such as “Spirit Meetup” and “Anxiety.” He took brief moments to interact with the crowd. A fan gave him a plastic corpse arm and he posed for a picture, he pointed out the panda guy a couple times, and mentioned how his makeup made him itchy. Throughout his songs, he was really feeling his music in the beats of the drums, which are a highlight in his music. He ended with a fan favourite song, “Chains”, from this 2018 release ‘Death Lust’. Its guitars in the beginning were stuck in my head, even the next day when I woke up. It’s his catchiest and most aggressive song to date in my opinion.
Chastity is a delicate musician with an edge that creates a unique balance between a listening experience, and songs that you head bang the hell out of. His live shows lean more to a listening experience; very moody but entrancing. He is promoting his newest album ‘Home Made Satan’ that came out this past September through Dine Alone Records.