Madball
Support: Lionheart, Dragged In, Meth Mouth, Katatonix, Harangue
Date: Saturday June 25th, 2016
Venue: the Hard Luck Bar in Toronto, Ontario
Sometimes it pays to buy tickets to shows super early. I bought one for this show in March and the show wasn't on Facebook, the bands site or anywhere on the Internet. There weren't even support bands listed. I don't know how I found out about it. And it cost me thirteen dollars. Then two months later all the other bands were announced, the show was on Facebook and the price had doubled. But my thirteen-dollar ticket still got me in!
Fine by me. The only band I'd even heard of was Madball. Some band called Toothgrinder were supposed to play too but they cancelled their tour or something. I'd actually heard of them on the radio recently and I thought they sucked.
I got to the venue towards the end of Harangue's set. They played a harmless style of Candiria or Vision of Disorder minus the experimental side. They were fine.
The next band was a local act called Katatonix. They were an old school, crusty crossover-ish band in the vein of early D.R.I. and Minor Threat. Their singer was actually pretty good but I didn't like their guitar. Too many times he tried to be too technical and I think he should have just stuck with simple power chords. It reminded me of my old band where there were too many ideas and Styles all at the same time and never complimenting one another. They played for about twenty minutes and I caught a few song titles: No Hope, Rust and Deep Stench.
Meth Mouth started their set off with "the riff" from A New Level by Pantera. Anytime a band does that it sets off warning signals to me. The rest of their music was typical metalcore. Maybe a bit more aggressive. Their singer was pretty good but their guitar tone/sound was horrible. If they worked on that they'd be much more enjoyable. I only caught the title of one song called Haunted but they played for about fifteen to twenty minutes.
I'm pretty sure I was supposed to see Dragged In a few weekends ago at another show the same promoter put on. They weren't entirely bad. They were another band in the vein of Minor Threat but they at least had a good guitar sound this time. The singer gets an "A" for effort for being the only person moving in the pit and whatnot. I felt a little bad for them. He mentioned the title of each song but I zoned out and by the forth song it wasn't worth bothering. They probably played ten songs in twenty minutes.
I'm not sure who Lionheart are but a big deal was made of their playing. Apparently it was their last show in Canada since they're breaking up. They weren’t too bad. Their guitar sound was shit but every bands guitars sounded like shit tonight. I didn't really like some of their Beastie Boys trade-off vocals. But they were more entertaining than any of the previous bands tonight. Their merch guy was playing bass and they were joking a lot about the fact that he didn't know what he was doing. Their one guitarist had an old-school D-X shirt on, which is always a win in my books. And the crowd finally moved for these guys. Lots of ninja fighting.
Lionheart
1. Hail Mary
2. Pain
3. Love Don't Live Here
4. Rats
5. ?
6. ?
7. Brothers Keeper
8. LHHC
I saw Madball back in December at this same venue and was very impressed. I got a good buzz going on this time too. They started out kinda anti-climactically for a hardcore band. I think a lot of people were still outside or something because the floor was pretty empty and Freddie was even able to walk around the pit singing. But as the set wore on the band got better and the place filled in more. By the middle of their set things were in full swing. A fight almost broke out in front of me between the two biggest douchebags in the pit during Infiltrate the System. I kinda wish it had of continued to get rid of one of them. The crowd was a lot more different from when I saw them in December. There weren’t as many bald dudes with face tattoos and ascot hats. It was more younger kids doing stereotypical hardcore dancing this time. I actually felt safer tonight. Madball were really good. They played a lot of different stuff from when I saw them last time and that was cool. I would’ve liked if they played Pride (Times are Changing) but they played that last time so that’s fine. They played a lot more songs than I have listed but I didn’t know them. I only know a lot of those titles because the singer mentioned them. I think they played around fifteen songs.
Madball (partial)
• Hardcore Lives
• Streets of Hate
• DNA
• Infiltrate the System
• Look My Way
• Doc Marten Stomp
• Hardcore Still Lives!
_____________________________________________________________________
Follow up:
It hasn't been that long since this show but I remember very little. I'd see Madball again, that's all I can say.
Support: Lionheart, Dragged In, Meth Mouth, Katatonix, Harangue
Date: Saturday June 25th, 2016
Venue: the Hard Luck Bar in Toronto, Ontario
Sometimes it pays to buy tickets to shows super early. I bought one for this show in March and the show wasn't on Facebook, the bands site or anywhere on the Internet. There weren't even support bands listed. I don't know how I found out about it. And it cost me thirteen dollars. Then two months later all the other bands were announced, the show was on Facebook and the price had doubled. But my thirteen-dollar ticket still got me in!
Fine by me. The only band I'd even heard of was Madball. Some band called Toothgrinder were supposed to play too but they cancelled their tour or something. I'd actually heard of them on the radio recently and I thought they sucked.
I got to the venue towards the end of Harangue's set. They played a harmless style of Candiria or Vision of Disorder minus the experimental side. They were fine.
The next band was a local act called Katatonix. They were an old school, crusty crossover-ish band in the vein of early D.R.I. and Minor Threat. Their singer was actually pretty good but I didn't like their guitar. Too many times he tried to be too technical and I think he should have just stuck with simple power chords. It reminded me of my old band where there were too many ideas and Styles all at the same time and never complimenting one another. They played for about twenty minutes and I caught a few song titles: No Hope, Rust and Deep Stench.
Meth Mouth started their set off with "the riff" from A New Level by Pantera. Anytime a band does that it sets off warning signals to me. The rest of their music was typical metalcore. Maybe a bit more aggressive. Their singer was pretty good but their guitar tone/sound was horrible. If they worked on that they'd be much more enjoyable. I only caught the title of one song called Haunted but they played for about fifteen to twenty minutes.
I'm pretty sure I was supposed to see Dragged In a few weekends ago at another show the same promoter put on. They weren't entirely bad. They were another band in the vein of Minor Threat but they at least had a good guitar sound this time. The singer gets an "A" for effort for being the only person moving in the pit and whatnot. I felt a little bad for them. He mentioned the title of each song but I zoned out and by the forth song it wasn't worth bothering. They probably played ten songs in twenty minutes.
I'm not sure who Lionheart are but a big deal was made of their playing. Apparently it was their last show in Canada since they're breaking up. They weren’t too bad. Their guitar sound was shit but every bands guitars sounded like shit tonight. I didn't really like some of their Beastie Boys trade-off vocals. But they were more entertaining than any of the previous bands tonight. Their merch guy was playing bass and they were joking a lot about the fact that he didn't know what he was doing. Their one guitarist had an old-school D-X shirt on, which is always a win in my books. And the crowd finally moved for these guys. Lots of ninja fighting.
Lionheart
1. Hail Mary
2. Pain
3. Love Don't Live Here
4. Rats
5. ?
6. ?
7. Brothers Keeper
8. LHHC
I saw Madball back in December at this same venue and was very impressed. I got a good buzz going on this time too. They started out kinda anti-climactically for a hardcore band. I think a lot of people were still outside or something because the floor was pretty empty and Freddie was even able to walk around the pit singing. But as the set wore on the band got better and the place filled in more. By the middle of their set things were in full swing. A fight almost broke out in front of me between the two biggest douchebags in the pit during Infiltrate the System. I kinda wish it had of continued to get rid of one of them. The crowd was a lot more different from when I saw them in December. There weren’t as many bald dudes with face tattoos and ascot hats. It was more younger kids doing stereotypical hardcore dancing this time. I actually felt safer tonight. Madball were really good. They played a lot of different stuff from when I saw them last time and that was cool. I would’ve liked if they played Pride (Times are Changing) but they played that last time so that’s fine. They played a lot more songs than I have listed but I didn’t know them. I only know a lot of those titles because the singer mentioned them. I think they played around fifteen songs.
Madball (partial)
• Hardcore Lives
• Streets of Hate
• DNA
• Infiltrate the System
• Look My Way
• Doc Marten Stomp
• Hardcore Still Lives!
_____________________________________________________________________
Follow up:
It hasn't been that long since this show but I remember very little. I'd see Madball again, that's all I can say.
Do you like old people porn? Because I just put enough to fill an old folks home in the wrestling section!