THE BRONX AT THE PHOENIX IN TORONTO
On a sold out Thursday night at The Phoenix, long time punks, The Bronx, and up and coming punks, The Chats, had teamed up for a co-headlining tour with a stacked line up of hardcore’s best to open the night.
First up was Scowl, a hardcore punk band from Santa Cruz, California who recently made waves by performing at a Sonic Drive-In with the band Gel; complete with fireworks and video recorded by hate5six. Right off the bat, lead singer Kat Moss yelled, “Let’s get this circle pit fucking going!” and the pent up energy bursted instantly like everyone was beyond ready to go. Kat encapsulated hardcore vibes to perfection by strutting the entire stage, connecting with fans at the barricade who yelled along, and head banged along. The most impressive thing was her vocals. She’s got one hell of a set of lungs for the vocals she performed - not screechy, not whiny, but honestly, one of the best women to do this genre. I can imagine some headlining potential for them very soon as hardcore is waving over the mainstream at the moment. There was also something about either the way she looked or her dancing/energy on stage that reminded me of Alice Glass from Crystal Castles. A highlight of the night and if patrons missed them, they missed out big time.
Next opener was the punk/alternative band Drug Church from Albany, New York. The energy transferred from Scowl to Drug Church as the minute they started, the crowd was back in the mosh. The crowd had expanded as well, and there were a large number of Drug Church fans. The floor was so energetic you wouldn’t have known it wasn’t their headline show. Lead singer Patrick Kindlon was the most attentive to the crowd from all bands, making intense eye contact with members of the audience. He also took the most moments to ask everyone if they were okay, be nice to security, props to all bands of the night. Their brand of hard rock/post-hardcore would be really good for anyone just getting back into rock and they don’t have off-putting screeches, tempos that are difficult to keep up with, and have well spoken lyrics to join in to. The more unique addition to this tour.
Co-headlining act The Chats from Queensland, Australia were up next and it appeared that they had the most fans of the night. A banner behind their set saying “Get Fucked” foretold their overall attitude; straight to the point, no bullshit type of punk. They were a bit late and fans were mocking Australian accents in their antsy state. The band consisting of two guys were the only ones of the night who “dressed up” for the performance in an almost white trash aesthetic. They hopped on bass and lead guitar with no greeting and dove right into their classic punk catalog. Incredibly quick tempos, bare bones, but with more emphasis on being bass driven, it was difficult to understand their words with their speed and accent, but overall made for an understanding of their brand. Their songs were also quite short, so they could have easily fit 20 songs in their hour slot. The crowd was at its peak of excitement - surfer after surfer! The Chats took no breaks to say anything until the end of their set where they talked only because they felt like they had to versus wanted to.
After The Chats destroyed the crowd, quite a few folks decided to skip out the finale of the night with The Bronx. Perhaps the all ages show appealed to the up and coming bands, not as many who had been fans of exclusively The Bronx. Much like The Chats, they too were straight up punk but with a more metal/80s rock vibe. Lead singer Matt Caughthran was also very engaging with the crowd who were definitely long time fans. When he talked, he said Toronto, Canada multiple times as if trying hard to remember where he was. The band was there to give back to the fans as much as they could with favourites, new tracks, and b-sides. The crowd was not as high energy as The Chats, but still up there, - still surfers galore and a really chaotic guy who hopped over the side barrier and climbed on stage, but got slammed down by security real quick. Towards the end of their set, Matt climbed down from the stage into the crowd to open a circle pit. While borrowing a fan’s fur coat, he gave some uplifting words before preparing everyone to collide. Collide they did, and the mob followed him as he moshed his way towards the stage. After attending their engaging and inclusive gig, I may check out their material more, and people who left after The Chats missed out on a good time.
This tour was an incredible line up of some of rock’s best and I’m happy rock is on the upswing in popular media. The crowd was a mix of fans from all bands so it made for a very celebratory time.