SHOW ME THE BODY AT THE OPERA HOUSE IN TORONTO
When I arrived at The Opera House, dance jams were being spun by a DJ live on stage, accompanied by some matching lighting to start the party even before FIVE bands. What good vibes to walk in on. The fans were very active in dressing up, either in alternative fashions or wearing merch from all the bands performing, indicating this lineup was in fact stacked. Folks were already dancing, singing; becoming the theme of the night.
TRiPPJONES is a rapper from New York City. He walked on stage bathed in red light, shirtless, pumping dumbbells at hand. He arrived at the mic, and suddenly slipped the dumbbells from his hands with a big thud on the stage before starting his rap set. He was a bit intelligible, mentioning he was getting lit on tequila. His instrumentals were gritty, mid energy, and maintaining the dance/party vibes from the DJ before. He then mumbled, "It's been a journey on this World War Two tour," mislabeling the tour as “World War Two Tour” when it’s titled “World War Tour”, and giving me a chuckle saying World War Two was a journey. He ended his set raising the energy with a high tempo, rave-like song. Ending his set that maintained the good vibes.
Zulu, a hardcore band from Los Angeles, are already making waves with their newest debut LP, A New Tomorrow, that came out March 3rd through Flatspot Records. Blending aspects of hardcore, death metal, and soul, this band directly addresses blackness in America, and the weight it holds on the community to this day while unleashing the fury that comes along with that weight. During their set, the merch line for exclusively their merch was almost out the door to the street. Although their debut album is almost half soul jazz, they only played their hardcore songs which released the crowd out of their pent up energy. The band wasn’t about antics and looked chill playing their heavy, thrashing singles.
Third up was one of my new favourite bands, Scowl. The hardcore/alternative band from Santa Cruz, California are hopping from one hardcore/punk tour to another and are really getting noticed post-pandemic. They have been added to the biggest festivals like Coachella, Reading and Leeds, and Pukkelpop for 2023. I had covered them back in October 2022 opening for The Bronx and The Chats. Immediately I noticed they were down a couple of their main guitarists. Later I found that at least one was being temporarily replaced by a member of Jesus Piece. Drenched in green light to match lead singer Kat Moss’s iconic green hair, they commanded the crowd to get fucking spinning and boy they did it. How it had the energy after the headline-worthy Zulu was incredible, with two more bands to go. It helped that the majority of the crowd was under 25. The new alternative singles from their upcoming EP Psychic Dance Routine didn’t stop the motion of the crowd, but helped let it breathe a bit. Throughout this tour, they have been sneaking in a Misfits cover of the song “Attitude”. For being a fairly young band, they already have that one song that’s a fan favourite and will probably be played forever at the end of their sets, “Bloodhound”. They ended with that and it hits every time. The opening slow beat and prowling, crawling riff opens up that pit with such anticipation before the tempo picks up into hardcore bliss. There were definitely fans among the crowd, yelling along and wearing merch.
Fourth in line was metalcore band Jesus Piece from Philadelphia. This genre is not particularly my forte as I’m still new to hardcore, but this band played like a headline show. The audience could simply not stop the constant energy. With back to back thrashing metal, lead vocalist Aaron Heard mentioned their new album, So Unknown, is coming out on April 14th. He, when introducing a song, said, “This one goes out to my own people of colour in the crowd,” which was met with applause. I looked over into the crowd and there were all types of faces in the crowd, which maybe five years or more ago, wouldn’t be the case. It goes to show how important representation is. Midway through their set, something spilled on stage and the bassist of Scowl came to the rescue with a towel to clean up. This reminded me that through the whole swapping of bands, members would be patting each other on the back, dancing along to the DJ on stage, and having some of the best vibes between bands I think I’ve ever seen. The metalcore band got the surfers to start flying down to the barricade.
The fifth and final band, Show Me the Body from New York City, have been selling out their entire 36 date tour across North America with back to back shows. Their banjo-playing, hip-hop beat version of hardcore has been so unique to dive into, and was made even more powerful with their politically charged lyrics and inclusive outlook. The band arrived in the dark and opened with their quiet electronic existential track, “Out Of Place” from their promoting album, Trouble The Water, released in October of 2022. They followed up with “Boils Up” to build the tension even thicker, having every single audience member pleading out every word and finally being able to move to the thick and thrash hip-hop like beat. Somehow the audience managed to muster even more energy than they’ve had after four hardcore bands. Some backstage audience members eventually passed the barricade to stage dive - they looked like they couldn’t help themselves. The band brands the barricade THE ENEMY on Instagram as in hardcore, having access to the stage as a fan is an important part of the hardcore punk experience. Later in their set, they played one of their most streamed songs, “Camp Orchestra” from their 2019 album Dog Whistle which has this haunting bass, romantic folk-like banjo plucking in the first half before treble charged riffs swap the mood. Some members of the audience picked up partners and started slow dancing with others, lighting up the circle pit with their phone flashlights for a romantic scene. Once the riff came, the whole floor was moving like a sea. Ending their set, vocalist and banjo player, Julian, stage dove into the crowd with a fan, both yelling into the mic for the last song in a powerful cathartic release. The audience didn’t quit for one bit and it was such a united, respectful, and content release.
The whole night’s mood was posed for fans to release, to dance, and to respect others. This vibe is becoming quite commonplace in the modern hardcore sphere and it’s incredibly inviting, and is probably the coolest scene to be a part of at the moment. Show Me The Body is a front-runner of this movement and can be expected to become bigger after this album and tour. The blending of genres have been revolutionary for modern rock. From their opening bands, I can see what has inspired them and it’s a great mixture of cultures and people, and it’s the coolest thing. This show felt like a hardcore music festival and each band had its moment and it wasn’t all about the headliner. Freakin’ great night!
Show Me The Body is a part of a collective called CORPUS, which is part record label, part community, and part movement. It is active to help and fight against capitalism, racism, and empower the disadvantaged within New York City and beyond. Some charities and organizations it contributes to are Blissville Winter Coat Drive, CORPUS Self-Defense, CORPUS Family Studio Residency, coalition support for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Burning World Book Club, the CORPUS Family Mutual Aid Fund, organized actions like “Uprising, A March for Black Women,” and more. Please consider donating to their cause today.