ANTI-VIBES, MARINE CORPSE, LIFESTYLE SUB and TAX HAVEN at D-Beatstro, Friday, May 29. Rating: NNN
Cale Weir took a seat at a drum set in D-Beatstro’s main room to start the night off as Tax Haven, amidst sounds of power tools echoing out from where the cafe’s kitchen will eventually be. The mostly improvised set really started to take shape just as the bass-drum-triggered synth pad stopped cooperating. Weir ended the set seemingly defeated but with a smile, happy enough to have tried out the experiment.
Kitchener/Waterloo’s Lifestyle Sub followed and retained that area’s reputation for incubating exciting young talent. Vocalist Hayley was incredible, and together the four-piece sounded raw but never unhinged, carefully borrowing from noise rock and punk.
Having travelled farther to get to Toronto was Indiana’s Marine Corpse, who surprised the hell out of everyone in the room. They’ve been around for some time but don’t have much internet presence, so there was little to go by before they took up their instruments to play.
With their guitarist plugged into a bass amp, they sounded like stoner rock with elements of thrash and hardcore vocals. They found their groove effortlessly, and sounded best when their drummer and vocalist sang call-and-response.
Local act Anti-Vibes closed out the night with a vintage take on punk. Playing songs from a forthcoming record, they embodied the genre’s urgency and its appetite for confrontation. The rhythm section (joined by Weir on bass) held things down while vocalist Claire Whatever and guitarist Sean Kennedy grew brazen.
Confidence seems to be a bit of an issue, especially with how they dealt with the silences between songs and how they announced their mistakes after making them. Performing more often should help with that. And besides, no one wants perfection from punk.
music@nowtoronto.com | @therewasnosound
