Killer Riffs, Rolled Up Cuffs And Beer That Tastes Like Crematory Ashes.

A buddy of mine put me onto a band he knew a few months ago. These guys are a Psychobilly (rockabilly songwriting with Misfits/ghoulish lyrics and themes)band from Victoria called the Switchblade Valentines. I checked out their Myspace page and found that the music was good and the production was great for an independent.
Later I find out they are doing a Canadian tour and would be coming to Montreal in September. Great. I set about getting more info on the band and the whole sub - culture. Found an old web site for the band that had the whole first album online for listening. Fun stuff. Digging into Psycho leads me to find out that Montreal, Calgary, and southern BC seem to be the hotbeds for this retro fitted, hot rod loving, roller derby obsessed, but otherwise harmless lifestyle. I won't call it a fad. There have always been billy scenes in every city. The ones today are just a little more jaded with punk backgrounds.
The show is at a small bar on St. Laurent & St. Catherine. Good size crowd out front smoking. Five clams to get in and stamped. The bar is set up like an older apartment. Open area with the bar in front, long hallway to the back, and another open space in the back where the stage is. More ink in here than at the Globe & Mail. The smell of denim and leather hits me in the face the way smoke used to. With the people outside the crowd seems to be about sixty deep. Best that can be expected for a Tuesday night. I had a couple of drinks and six or seven beer before leaving home so I'm glowing. Pitchers are $9 and come with four shots. We take Apple Jacks.
The band hits the stage with a fury that flattens the twenty odd people who make their way to the back to check out the music. First song, broken strings, knocked over drum kit and I know I'm definitely gonna need more beer. My buddy motions me to the bar. We knock the shots and chase with the beer while returning to the action. Somethings not right the beer goes down like one of those halfers you grab on Sunday morning only to discover there are two smokes inside. At first I figure its just the taste of the Apple Jacks fuckin with the taste of the micro brew. Nah the beer is really off.

This bunch of guys really kicks ass. I have never seen a drummer play standing up like that before. Well I have, but not while playing this fast. Too bad most of the crowd left when they started playing. Only about thirty people left in the whole place. Its the 25th of September, and we had an unusually hot day. The walls are melting in this little space and the singer isn't far behind. The boys are going breakneck now just trying to finish the set. They blaze through the last tune and run for smokes outside. I intercept the guitar player and chat for a minute ( he's from Hartland, down home, and a buddy told me to make sure to say Hi) and then make my way out and to the metro.
Good energy from the music and the crowd. Gonna make sure to check out more of the Psycho scene. Feel free to go check out the Switchblade Valentines at:
http://www.myspace.com/theswitchbladevalentines
and feel even freer to go check out any and all unsigned independent bands coming through your town. They are just hard working people like you and me that spend their vacations draggin' it across country to bring you the rock.