14 March 2016

New Questioning Coyote Brigade Review



For fans of rebel culture like myself there is not a lot to engage us here in Steepleton. Barns burn down here all the fucking time but churches never do. So on the rare occasions someone presents something at odds with the prevailing conformity I try and support it. There is more to life than beer and hockey, motherfuckers.

So I was both pleased and surprised to learn Gerry Hannah and the New Questioning Coyote Brigade and a couple other bands were putting on a rock show on Saturday night in Cherrydale. It would be my first night being entertained in my neighbour town since my mom and dad used to take my siblings and I to the drive-in that used to be there.

If you ever find yourself in Cherrydale at night, as I did Saturday, do not be surprised if you find a lot of young men driving around town shitfaced in their pick-up trucks looking for trouble. It would appear it is illegal to go out of doors without being bombed and prepared to get even more so.

Found the pub where the show was taking place without much trouble. Pretty hard to get lost in as small a place as Cherrydale. Cost me a dollar to park all night in the lot next door. No credit card required.

Very much to my surprise the pub was already packed when I got there. Turns out people in Cherrydale start their pre-drinking around noon and arrive at shows two hours before a show when they really start drinking.

Got a NQCB button with my $5 admission. Talked to Gerry who was stationed near the door selling his band's cd. I bought one and he graciously signed both my cassette copies of his jail time production "Songs From Underground." We made small talk. I have a lot of time for Gerry and people like him. Just because I am a rebel does not preclude me from appreciating revolutionary activity.

Got myself some beer, ordered up some food and found a corner that I could defend if shit got out of control. Turned out I need not have worried. It was a university crowd. I had forgotten there is a little one in Cherrydale where they teach people how to pick corn, milk cows and shit like that.

First band was Cozy Pines I guess. They were fucking great but louder than fuck. Gerry came to the back of the pub where I had begun to realize this was going to be a way better night than I had bargained for. We talked about old times. Shit was bad back then. It has got fucking worse.

Next band was the Broadway Bombshells. Their female lead singer was sick so their set did not go as they had planned. Even so they were pretty fucking excellent. Had a funky Hendrix thing going on. I cannot wait to see them when their singer gets better.

Hannah's band was far better than I expected. Old metal head me likes some wicked guitar playing and the guy on lead was wicked as a long weekend beer shit. Gerry played his rhythm guitar through a Vox amp which gave him a cool '69 VU sound. Rhythm section was rock solid.

Got to hear three Subhumans song I thought I would never hear again and hearing all those songs I have loved for 31 years on Gerry's cassette played live was like Christmas in March. Best one, "The Madness," was last. Gerry's songs from the mid-80s may not be birthday party material but they are well crafted and unique as all fuck.

The New Questioning Coyote Brigade is playing a show with Art Bergman at Dope City's Fox cabaret on May 20th. Buy yourself tickets, motherfuckers. Support your local rebel culture.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip about the upcoming show. Saw Art Bergman a few years ago at his comeback show somewhere on Granville St. or maybe some old joint on Seymour. He was great, with his guitar parts played by Tony Balony and the rest of the band being his regular players.

Reminded me how old I am, first saw him play with Los Popularos (Formula was a great hit song for me) around 1979 or 1981 or something, back when it seemed like we always ended up at some party with the band and other audience members at the white house or somebody's cool punk apartment.

I really got into his last album (1985?), with My Baby Needs Oil, the one about Marianne Faithful, and The Junkie Don't Care and a bunch more. I think those songs ended up on the Lost Art CD too, not going to go look that up right now.

See ya,

Jonku

Bergman obviously gets it.

Anyway it will be a great night and I look forward to seeing the show. Never saw the Subhumans but that will be fun too.

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

In the mid-'80s I looked into a career in the then promising music recording field. In one of the studios I visited as part of my research sat Art Bergman with his guitar and a cigarette. It looked like he may not have have slept for quite some time and that he would not sleep for some time to come. It was an image that remains as clear to me now as it did that very moment. In the end I decided working in a fucking sawmill the rest of my life was not quite as disadvantageous as I had thought when I began looking for a way fucking out.

Art is a brilliant artist. Always thought so. Thinking many of his records may be hard to find now. They are well worth searching out.

If you see somebody at the show in Dope City with a big orange John Horgan button on his black leather jacket say hello. I'll buy you a fucking beer.

Bill said...

Beer... I am of the same generation as you but have mostly travelled down different paths. I think that is one of the reasons that I appreciate your blog so much.

I would buy anyone with a big orange John Horgan button a beer!

Cheers