Punk in Canada

Awhile back we opened at the Kathedral for Set your Goals. Another band on the bill impressed us more that night (much tighter a band), which was the Real Deal from Montreal. Never running into them before, we were surprised at how good they were, and had a great time hanging out with the guys, and kept it touch.
Fast forward to last weekend, we went out to Montreal to play The Real Deal's cd-release party (out now on stomp records), which was our first show there ever. On the way, Erik remembered his friend Jeff told him about some awesome pizza in Napanee (Avril's favorite), so being pizza monsters we made the detour. First thing: what a weird little town, seemingly completely overrun by teenagers. Second thing: the pizza was incredible. I forget the name of the restaurant now, but it's right on the main drag and worth a side trip. In Montreal, we set up at Cafe Campus which is a pretty cool venue with great sound. You can hear anything from anywhere in there. We played the show and then slept at our friend Dan's apartment. Ben accidently copped a stare at Dan's roomate making out with his girlfriend, but the guy was so stand up he got the mattress out for us, hung out for awhile and then went back to bed. I accidently got "party'ed up", anticipating a sleepless night on the floor. Trying to wind down, I started wrestling everyone, and when Erik tried to get the wireless passwords from across the room, I invited him to "Get through me first" and him really hard, square in the jaw; he's a good sport.
We woke up early to drive back to Guelph to play with The Real Deal again at the Shadow, expecting to take a detour to Ottawa to get some poutine at Elgin st. Diner. ESD had some good gravy and curds, but their fries are a let down. What wasn't a let down, was the wacky waiter, shouting "I'm going to make like a lion and leave!" or calling everyone 'Pal' and grinning like a mad spaceman. I think he just got his pants out of the dryer, because that's what I feel like when I do that.

The show in Guelph on saturday at the Shadow was great except for our trailer getting stolen and the skinhead/rapper fight. No, not skinheads fighting rappers, but weird urban skins. Like skins, but more trailer trash. I blame the Transplants. Without going into details I'll just say it was a "total boner kill". Also, the word faggot isn't ever going to be wildly acceptable, so you can stop being surprised when people think you're a hick for using it to publicly address anyone.

Being stupid about trailer security, I left ours unlocked while I went back to my apartment in downtown Guelph to go BM because no-one should ever have to use the Shadow bathroom.
When I returned, our trailer was gone. Luckily, after running around crying, hugging, cursing, and counting limited money supplies, Ben found it tucked into an alleyway behind the parking garage. Bastards; but they're almost as stupid as us, so we managed to steal it right back.

Note: Our trailer will probably get stolen for good at some point. If it hasn't been repainted, it says "CRUST" on the back of it. Please let us know if you see it attached to anything but a 2001 Toyota Camry. Right.

Which leaves us at last night, and the title of this blog post. We played with our friends the Rotten from Kitchener, and a band called Winslow from Montreal, who are friends with the Real Deal and Blurt. After talking to them for awhile, we pretty much knew all the same people, but had never run into each other, even though both our bands have been together for a few years. Now, Canada is a pretty big country, but there aren't THAT many punk bands, let alone ones that make large trips to play for a few people in a dingy basement.
In this age of technology where I can easily, at any moment, find someone in kansas who is DTF, you would think getting out there as a band would be easier, or at least getting in touch with like minded individuals. Maybe we just suck at it.

If you're into the years 1977, 1982 or 1994 and have at any point in time, sewn a patch on clothing when there wasn't a hole in it, come hang out with us in Guelph, or let us come to you.