Sound Pollution

April Bessey
..continued from 11/01/2010
Photos Courtosy of Jeslyn Lamontage

Today our scene may not be as diverse as in the past but the DIY ethic is still lingering. There are many genres and sub-genres around that are starting to gather and play shows because of the lack of bands in one specific genre of music.  This new years eve, Project Pain ( a local promoter ) put on a show with the lineup of one of the regions only punk bands, Terrorist, from St. Catherines,  alongside Niagara Falls death-metal band Bathed in Blood and The KAC, a local hip-hop artist; just to name a few. This could be viewed as a good or bad thing by hardcore lovers of any one of these genres.  Either way, I definitely think it’s one of the first shows of its kind, and a diverse approach to putting on a live show. This is the spirit of a good thing; it’s all about the music and with today’s lacking indie scene, people need to throw more house parties and more unique shows. Over the past few years, within my own experiences, I have seen many local punk bands short lived but they all had a good run like NOP, SFS (single finger salute), The Legendary Klopecks, 40 Deep and Sexual Assault, just to name a few.

Unlike in the past, there is no longer one dedicated punk venue in Niagara, nor do many venues welcome punk music, but several establishments will host punk rock shows and there are also punk houses where the scene still lives on. Not many venues are willing to open up their doors to punk rockers because there is often too much destruction of property and most club owners are concerned about law suits. Most venue’s frown upon pitting and throwing down,even making it difficult for people to really enjoy themselves.  Some local venues that will allow punk rock bands to play these days are Mikados, located in the heart of downtown St. Catharines; 73 also in downtown St. Catharines, and The Vintage in downtown Niagara Falls. Mikados made some renovations over the summer and can now host bigger shows and hold up to a couple hundred people. Local punk band Terrorist, frequent this venue on the regular. The “Mik” is also not just a venue for punk rock, they also host hip hop, metal, and rock n’ roll shows quite often.

Although right now there are not many venues that will actually host a punk show, (which goes along with the lack of punk and hardcore bands), there are always people’s basements. Most recently, for about a year and a half, there was ‘North St.’, a St. Catharines punk house, and without it many people in the scene would have been homeless. I can still smell stale beer and cigarettes thinking about the place. There were a many more before it like Morgan’s House, in Welland, where they had Fucked Up Friday Nights almost every weekend.

Even though there are not many venues or bands right now, there always has been some kind of punk culture in the Niagara region.  There’s a strong do-it-yourself ethic and even though there’s only a few bands, there are many more supporters which will carry on the diy eithc and hopefully serve as inspiration for a whole new generation of DIY’ers, anti-establishment, anti-govern mentalists who just want to have a good time, not being concerned with what anyone else thinks. Even while there’s only a few actual punk or hardcore bands around, some of the other sub genres are getting together and playing shows to support each other and revitalize the indie music scene. Not many cities throughout Canada can say that different genres of indie music are actively showing respect for other genres of music. Here in Niagara, our current day scene may be small but with mutual respect, we can only be headed for a turn around so look out for a revitalization of punk rock music from the region headed your way.  Without the music, what would there be left?

Sound Pollution 2010