STARVIN HUNGRY at the Bovine Sex Club, Friday, March 23 Rating: NNN
Music festival programmers seem to be really into the idea of reunited 90s alt rock bands in recent years, but this is not a trend that’s particularly exciting for anyone else.
However, once and a while that booking style manages to give some deserved attention to good bands who were overlooked in their prime, as was the case with the reunited original Toronto version of high octane rockers Starvin Hungry.
Twin brothers John Milchem and Glenn Milchem (who some might remember drumming with Blue Rodeo) did the trashy garage punk duo thing long before the White Stripes and the Black Keys were putting ragged minimalist rock on the pop charts, but never even played outside of Toronto back in the 90s.
John later moved to Montreal and formed a version with a more conventional full band line up, but judging from the intensity of their first show together in a decade, the original sibling duo have a unique energy that can’t be topped by more members.
Sure, some songs felt like they hadn’t been arranged properly for just guitar and drums, and the music festival crowd were a touch disengaged as always.
But the band are definitely worth watching out for if this reunion turns out to be more than just a one-off.
