Maggot Fodder The Albion Hotel, Guelph ON: 198? I moved to Guelph to go to University in '84. That was really when I started following the Canadian indie scene in a big way. I had always been a big fan of going to bars to check out live bands but doing that in a large city was a very different experience. In a small town where all the musicians know each other and all their friends come to the shows it becomes very incestuous and meeting a couple of people eventually morphs into knowing everybody. I became a big fan of certain hangouts because I knew all I had to do was show up on any given night and I would know somebody. This was accelerated by the fact that I didn't really have much in common with most of the other students. And by hooking up with my ex-husband, who was one of the local musicians.. Every season a different band would take on the role of "darling" of the indie set. One year it happened to be Maggot Fodder, a punk-influenced quartet who did a set of grinding songs with manic lyrics and strong melodys. I must have seen them play a dozen times over the course of the year. They were definitely my favourite band while they lasted Somewhere out there is a copy of a compilation album called Just West of Something Big that was put together by the University radio station. It has probably my least favourite Maggot Fodder song on it. There was supposedly also a casette that was sold at one point, but I've never been able to get my hands on one. Malhavoc Sneaky Dee's, Toronto ON: 1994 Malhavoc were the first metal band I ever heard to really mesh their music with techno. Or maybe they were the first techno band to play metal music. It ended up being an entirely demented insane mix. It made you want to commit socially unacceptable acts of mayhem. And dance while you are doing it. The gig at Sneak's was typical, it was packed to the gills with sweaty leather-clad people who just could not stop moving. At one point they had the entire room jumping up and down in unison and yelling "Fuck!" on command and at the top of our lungs. Hilarious. Last I heard James was DJing under the name Jimi La Mort. I was pretty sure that I also recognized somebody in a band called Mountain Mama that I saw at Reverb one night - a hilarious mesh of metal, glam and 70's polyester fashion sense that were loud, raucous and tons of fun.. Masochistic Religion Convergence 4, Toronto Ontario: August 21 1998 I managed to live in Toronto for years without seeing this band. I'm not sure how that's possible. So they played the opening night at Convergence, complete with Mitch being carried up on stage in a coffin and setting a bible on fire on the stage. It was hilarious. The audience had no idea what to make of them. Personally I think their music fits into the "wall of noise" category, but the stage show is hysterical. People afterwards dubbed them "The Gothic Gwar". Brilliant. Metallica Copps Coliseum, Hamilton Ontario: April 14 1992 Robin fell asleep during the show. And I think that's all that needs to be said about that. Mindless Self Indulgence Babylon, Ottawa: December 9 2003 I fucking love this shit. Not rap. Not punk. It takes most people a couple of listens to decide whether or not they like it. Then they like it a lot. This band sells out their Toronto show every time they come here, but I happened to have the night off when they were playing their Ottawa gig. Casper, Axel and I made plans to go. I saw Casper the week before and reminded him that he needed to ask disastrid if she was going to be able to make it. So the day before I still hadn't heard anything so I called disastrid. "You going to be able to come tomorrow?" "Come to what?" So not only had he forgotten about the show, he had also made plans that he could not get himself out of. So the three of us ended up driving the four-and-a-half hours to Ottawa, making it in the door seconds after the band had started their second song. Jimmy Urine is a strange, demented little boy genius. He was not only all over the stage, but all over the venue. The songs were punched out with the speed and energy of a machine gun, it was exhausting just to be there. I noticed that he happily came out and chatted with all the fans, and Axel bought a commemorative tshirt specifically to annoy Casper with. And four-and-a-half hours to drive home. It was so worth it. The Mission Opera House, Toronto Ontario: September 30 2002 Whitby Gothic Weekend, UK: November 2003 We found out about this show completely by accident. I just happened to spot a single poster on a door somewhere downtown. The Opera House had no listing for it. The band website didn't mention it. There was nothing anywhere to indicate that this gig was more than just a temporary hallucination on my part. So I went back downtown and searched for the poster. And there it was. So Axel and I made plans to go. And we asked a bunch of our friends if they wanted to come with us, and every single one of them curled their nose up and said no. Not interested. The Mission are boring. They haven't done a new song in years. Who? And the most incongruous reason I heard, Wayne Hussey is fat now. OK then. So we went and got treated to a fantastic show. That poster must have been the only ad the show ever got because there were maybe 60 people in a venue that easily holds 10 times that number. So we got our asses right up against the stage and bounced around while a non-fat Hussey ran back and forth and jumped around and gyrated all over the stage. The musicians he had with him were tight and energetic and it was great. All from six inches away. There was an opening act who was a single female with a keyboard. I have no idea who she was but she bored me silly. The next year I got to see Wayne Hussey do an acoustic set at Whitby. Since this was him without his kickass band and in a room of 1500+ people, it was a very different experience and not nearly as memorable. Monster Magnet Opera House, Toronto Ontario: 199? Phoenix, Toronto Ontario: 1994 I went to this gig mainly to see Sister Machine Gun, who were opening. My partner at the time kind of liked the headliners, so he came along as well. I fell asleep. Before you think this is any reflection on the bands whatsoever, it was my own damn fault. I got both my nose and ear peirced a couple of hours before hand, then didn't eat anything afterwards. So when the endorphin crash came I was out like a light on the table. I was just lucky there was a place for me to sit down. And the bastard ex wouldn't take me home. So yeah, kind of a wasted show for me. I remember thinking the bands were really good but holy crap did I feel like shit. And being very amused by the fact that Monster Magnet had some coloured gels swirling around on a transparency projector and beamed at the stage. Edit: I am informed by my ex that they also opened for White Zombie when we saw them at the Phoenix. For some reason I don't remember much about that show either. Fuck. Morphine Angel Spellbound I, Cleveland, OH: November 4 1995 A friend of mine was involved in putting together a weekend event called Spellbound, so my roadtrip partner-in-crime silentq and I decided to make the trip to Cleveland. Another friend of mine was seeing a woman in Cleveland, so he caught a lift along with us for the weekend. The first night consisted of an open mike in a local coffee shop. Um. Good idea in theory, I guess. In practice it was several hours of Vogon poetry without benefit of anaesthetic. They followed up with an opening ritual in the basement of the coffee house. Again, maybe a good idea in theory. I've never subscribed to the idea that all goths are pagans, but I guess these ones were so ok. Saturday was the actual club night. The line-up consisted of a "freakshow" act called Circus Apocalypse featuring the appropriately named Andrew the Impaled. Mr Impaled had one arm in a plaster cast, a fact which I thought was absolutely hysterical at the time. He did the usual routine of poking spikes through his cheeks, chewing on broken glass and getting his lips sewn together. I think this is the only time I've ever been able to watch a freakshow close up, so I was watching pretty closely. Looked authentic. I mean, there was blood. Following that were the bands. Minstrels of Enchantment were a hippy percussive act that my friends put together. Lots of swirling around with brightly coloured scarves. Amusing if nothing else. Next up were Apocalypse Theatre (Do you sense a theme here?) who impressed me so little that I remember absolutely nothing about them. Then Garden of Dreams who were typical goth fare. They weren't bad actually, if a bit formula. And Morphine Angel. Who I fucking loved. Aggressive gothrock with just enough of a metal influence to kick your ass. Really really really enjoyed their set. A lot. Did I mention I really liked them? Morphine Angel were actually booked to play in Toronto shortly after that and I was all hyped to go see them again, but they got turned back at the border. Bum. The next day we went on a tour of the Lakeview Cemetary and I got to go inside Garfield's Tomb. Lots and lots of stone angels. It was pretty cool. And we got to try and explain to the nice tour lady why all these people with the brightly coloured hair and the visible piercings were so interested in looking at statues. That's always worth a giggle. Mortmain Kathedral, Toronto Ontario: December 20 2003 Holy Joe's, Toronto Ontario: September 25 2004 Both times I've seen him perform he was on stage with Bleep and Convertible Robots The first time was the Kathedral gig and the opening of the show was a little confused. He got up on stage for what we all - including Len - thought was going to be a soundcheck. As soon as he hit the stage they brought the house lights down, and a couple of minutes into it we went, "Oh! I guess this is his set." Because of the way the stage was set up, he spent the entire time with his back to the audience. As he put it, "there's nothing to see", which is technically true - just a man operating a computer. But it's still kind of weird from the perspective of seeing a live performance. The music itself is of the "wall of noise" variety. Some of the effects are really evocative. He told me afterwards he has an "evil" button and I knew exactly which effect he was talking about. The sound seemed to roll out from the stage like molten lava. I told him that if I ever make a movie I want him to do the soundtrack. He'd have the audience shitting themselves before the first bad guy ever made any kind of appearance. Motorhead The Docks, Toronto Ontario: April 28 2002 I'm not much of a metalhead, but my ex really got me into Motorhead. I suspect seeing Lemmie in Eat The Rich didn't hurt. So I had been meaning to see them for some time, and they were playing at a venue where I had never been. I figured this was a good chance to check them out. So I dragged a bunch of my friends out, and after we had finally figured out how to get there we lined up with about 4 billion other metal fans to be patted down and filed into the club. The place is cavernous. According to their website they could move walls around and create different sized spaces, but they everything opened right up for this gig. They are right on the waterfront, so there are places where you can walk outside and lean over the lake while you smoke your whatever. The opening bands were Speedealer, Razor and Voivod. I don't remember thinking much of any of them. I used to know a couple of guys from Razor back when I lived in Guelph, but it looked like they weren't in the band any more. Motorhead were great as expected. I had forgotten the whole noodling at very high octaves that metal guitarists do, and my ears rang for about two days after the show. I can go to punk gigs every day and not damage my hearing. I'd also forgotten that everybody in a metal band gets to have a solo, which I've always thought was one of the most boring traditions in live music. Whatever. Other than that, totally worth it. Lemmie is one of the most laid-back frontmen I've ever seen, but he has the cool confidence to completely get away with it. They also did a tribute song to Joey Ramone that got the entire room cheering like mad. Last Updated July 23 2006.
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