ROYAL HEADACHE, SHEER MAG and BLACK BARON at Silver Dollar, Friday, August 21. Rating: NNNN
The stage at Silver Dollar was electrified all night long with melodic punk jams from three bands who were not fucking around. These were bands who treated their set lists like the bus in the movie Speed: they did anything possible to avoid stopping or even slowing down, wholly occupied with keeping their unwieldy momentum on course while urgently queuing up the next jam in the still-blazing embers of the previous one.
Hamilton’s Black Baron threw the gauntlet down first, with shambolic vocals that channeled the first two Iceage records and dark guitar washing over a nimble and fervent rhythm section. By the time they finished, the room was looking pretty full and the vibe was in place for a raucous set from Philly punks Sheer Mag, back in town after a memorable shit-show at S.H.I.B.G.B’s this past spring. They shredded through their full discography (which currently consists of two completely essential 7”s) plus a new song, and everything sounded stress-tested and road-dogged to perfection.
At this point the crowd was fully reciprocating the red-hot energy that had been coming off the stage all night, and Aussie rockers Royal Headache instantly turned the room into a roiling mass of friendly moshing. Front man Shogun’s voice had remarkable range and underlying emotional grit – much more akin to John Fogerty or Harry Nilsson than your standard punk snarler – and he earned whoops of approval from the audience throughout the set. All night he stalked the stage as though haunted by a desire he could not fulfill or a wish he could not articulate.
Between songs he said things like, “I don’t wear hipster pants, I dress like shit.” It was hard to tell if the audience felt like these things were at stake also, but it didn’t really matter. Everyone was fully on board with Royal Headache driving the bus, totally flooring it but somehow always in control, coming off the rails without careening off the cliff.
music@nowtoronto.com | @Streetsbag
