Big Fernwood show: AK47, Neurospasm, Gnar Gnars, with Ripcordz (May 13/23)
So I caught this in local events on FB a few weeks before the showdate and talked myself in and out of going a bunch of times. Mostly I didn’t feel like busing or paying for two shows in a row but ended up getting a ride to the Kill Rats show the previous night and, more crucially, seeing some guy in the middle of suburban nowhere wearing Gnar Gnars merch a few days before.
Let me just dump my show footage. They were all ~good…..(review over, lol).
At this point they played a cover of Lola but YT blocked it so that’s what I’ve got of this set. They seem like, brocore but through a sort of fun, Scooby Doo-esque bonghaze lens that removed a lot of the moodiness and messiness of brocore. No doubt they have a lot of friends and are very fun at parties. They probably have some wack opinions, like they gave older vibes than I expected, but honestly I was expecting younger and much more wack so I’ll take it. Maybe they’re fully chillers and totally woke, stranger things have happened.
I was most excited to see AK47, for no real reason, but the show didn’t make me feel like owning a vinyl 🤷 they ended on a Cheap Trick cover that got people moving, though. YT copyright bot killed it instantly.
They were good 🤷
Everyone was amped about the mtl out-of-towners headlining. I didn’t know them but it seemed like a few punk dads had decided they should be kiddo’s first show. I stuck around because I was talking to someone.
I missed videoing their later banter about the mtl student strike (I’m practically the only lefty I know who didn’t do a tour there at some point), and about fattal, which I’ve heard much more about than I have Ripcordz, because someone I know used to live there. But it made me think, ok, these guys aren’t apolitical like a lot of B.C. punk bands ostensibly are, they’re Involved. Turns out the out of town headliners were the band I walked away respecting the most. Wild!
Here’s the rest of the vids of their set:
Right on, fun time.