BAD RELIGION, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, POS, REVOLUTION MOTHER, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, LUDO, the MATCHES, A STATIC LULLABY, K-OS, CHIODOS, AS I LAY DYING, BAYSIDE, POISON THE WELL, the ACTUAL, JONZETTA, HOT ROD CIRCUIT, GALLOWS, the FOLD, CIRCA SURVIVE, the ALMOST, EVALINE, PEPPER, NEW FOUND GLORY, RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS, ILL SCARLETT, the STARTING LINE, SOCIAL CODE, UNSEEN, TIGER ARMY and more, as part of the Warped Tour at Park Place (100 Molson Park, Barrie), Saturday (August 11), 11 am doors. $40.75. 416-870-8000. Rating: NNNNN
Coheed and Cambria
AKA The emo Rush.
REP Prog metallists able to churn out killer pop-punk hooks and still nerd out on sci-fi with the best of them.
VITALS Upstate New York head cases fronted by burly and hirsute yet womanly-sounding Claudio Sanchez, who structured his band’s trifecta of albums around a convoluted comic book story arc about space, humanity-destroying viruses and bad parenting.
FOR THE RECORD A new disc is in the can (boasting the simple title Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow), so check out their set to peep tracks from the next instalment. Probably safe to assume it ain’t three-chord punk.
Bad Religion
AKA The Rolling Stones of punk rock.
REP Greying vets celebrate 25 years of dishing out fiery, political SoCal punk.
VITALS Do these dudes have anything left to prove? Not at Warped they don’t – Bad Religion’s headlined this tour a half-dozen times already. But don’t expect them to phone it in. Greg Graffin and Co. are an indestructible unit, and even if they keep making the same damn record over and over, there’s something to be said for consistency.
FOR THE RECORD Their 14th studio effort, New Maps Of Hell, is a familiar retread of oohs and ahhs, professor Graffin words (“transubstantiation”) and metronome-precise punk tighter than a squirrel’s ass. It may be interchangeable with their Reagan-era output, but it delivers the goods. You can bet their closing set at Warped will do the same.
Hot Rod Circuit
AKA Old-school sad sacks.
REP Unsung emo pioneer-oes show the kids what feeling bad is all about.
VITALS Ground-floor emo practitioners who started playing the self-pitying punk style back when it was acceptable for bands to wear corduroy pants and Sebadoh T-shirts. Bolstered by their strong relationship to the Get Up Kids, a group who practically defined the genre.
FOR THE RECORD The Connecticut residents released their career-defining If It’s Cool With You It’s Cool With Me in 2000. They’ve put out two records since, but with band headmaster Andy Jackson busy backing Say Anything, it took three years to release the new joint, The Underground Is A Dying Breed. Hopefully it brings them some overdue recognition.
Poison the Well
AKA Metalcore monarchs.
REP Kinda like being able to boast you invented the nuclear bomb, this band is responsible for nearly a decade’s worth of scream-sing metalcore acts.
VITALS Miami’s PTW changed the rules of the game in 1999 when, while still in high school, they released The Opposite Of December… A Season Of Separation. Their vocal experiment – melodic singing behind throat-burning screams – became the blueprint for a genre, and before you knew it every tough guy in hardcore was crooning his choruses.
FOR THE RECORD By the time 02’s Tear From The Red dropped and PTW made their subsequent ill-fated jump to the majors, they were keeping up instead of leading. Their newest, Versions (recorded in a Swedish barn), might be their last chance to reclaim the crown.
Tiger Army
AKA The Brylcreem boys.
REP Inked-up psychobilly rumblefish mix 50s rock ‘n’ roll will Misfits-style punk.
VITALS The Army cuts a pressed-slacks-and-fedora swath right through the lineup on a tour overloaded with longhairs overdriving guitars at obscene levels. Jedd Roffredo’s upright bass and Nick 13’s smooth, Danzigesque voice should be a refreshing respite from the louder-than-thou pissing contest that often develops at Warped.
FOR THE RECORD These Bay Area badasses have always been tight with neighbours AFI, and their latest, Music From Regions Beyond, shows them moving away from their reverb-drenched horrorbilly roots and toward Davey Havok’s radio-friendly goth-punk. They’ve even gone so far as to hire AFI producer Jerry Finn.
The Almost
AKA Jesus Camp
REP Aaron Gillespie of Christian screamo squad Underoath pulls a Dave Grohl, moving from drums to frontman duties.
VITALS The Christian contingent at Warped is always controversial. Last summer, Underoath (one of the tour’s biggest bands) abruptly bailed after NOFX’s Fat Mike gave them an onstage roasting regarding their views. Some argue the presence of faith-based bands undermines what the tour should stand for, but excluding anyone based on their belief system seems grossly intolerant. Let’s just pray they don’t suck.
FOR THE RECORD Gillespie shies away from Underoath’s metal tendencies, moving toward a Taking Back Sunday style of sensitive rock on his Southern Weather debut. On board are born-again Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate and Aaron Sprinkle, who produced God-pondering depressives Pedro the Lion.
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