Three of Southern Ontario’s punk rock beaus put on one hell of a show
The Dirty Nil was one of three southern Ontario-based bands that played a show at Van Gogh’s Ear on Saturday, Sept. 6. Along with Toronto’s Greys, and supported by Guelph’s newest addition to the punk scene, Boar, the three acts created a chaotic feedback-wave of twenty-something rage and deranged optimism.
Kicking off the night at quarter to eleven, five seemingly innocuous and skinny young dudes stepped onto the stage, gave a friendly wave, introduced themselves as “uh…We’re Boar,” and proceeded to rip into the audience with snarled songs about robots, skateboards, daddy issues, and MySpace. However, it was difficult to relate to these songs with the indiscernible wall of noise the sound tech was set to. Amongst the audience, the census was that much of Boar’s potential was lost behind mediocre volume control issues that can plague a young band. Despite these minor flaws, Boar had a small but respectable showing of at least a dozen people who were happy to head-bang and laugh at the lead singer’s ironic use of the word “swole.”
Before their set, and in true punk rock fashion, the lead singer of The Dirty Nil finished his beer off-stage, procured another seemingly from thin air, introduced himself and his band mates, exchanged charming pleasantries with the growing audience, all before diving into the callously apathetic “Pale Blue” and drenching everyone within thirty feet in rapturous irreverence. The Dirty Nil make violently crisp punk for the kids who always wanted to trash mailboxes with baseball bats and ached to be immortalized in wild prom party stunt, but who were ultimately too nice and/or aware of county bylaws to act on any of those impulses. With respect to the local audience, The Dirty Nil played an old crowd favourite, “F***in’ Up Young,” to roars of approval; a song that somehow manages to be as much an apology for rambunctious behavior as it is an indictment. Throwing in some new material from their recently released seven inch Cinnamon/Guided by Vices, the three misfit mosh-pitters howled reassurances that “you can be pissed off if you want to,” to a crowd that came alive at the validation. Whether you’re pissed off at student debt, or the roommate who never does the dishes, rest assured that The Dirty Nil will be roaring blood, spit, and cheap beer right there with you.
The final act of the night’s three part sonic bloodbath was the hard rock heavyweight Greys. There was something almost sinister in the contrast between their shy hellos, half-covered tattoos, buttoned-up oxfords, and the ensuing storm of discordant sound that seemed to rocket out of nowhere. Short and not so sweet, Greys started off with “Guy Picciotto,” a nod to the insistent comparisons made by critics and fans alike to Fugazi’s front-man of the same name. Greys, however, inject a dose of disillusionment into the homage, striking out for their own and claiming, “I do it too” in a fiercely defiant monotone. With the night coaxed into a catastrophe of guitar, percussion, and shredded vocals, Greys pushed the crowd into a fever pitch with the manic, car-crash wreckage of “Use Your Delusion.” In this two and a half minute torch song, the four young men managed to capture the unsettling sense of alienation that comes with being twenty-something and feeling like a stranger in one’s own life. And, go figure, the audience was practically screaming back, “I wish I could be someone else and just go,” too.