Swearin’, Camp Radio and Dead Weights @ Luneta Cafe March 13
Swearin‘ packed Luneta to the brim on Thursday March 13, and it was a big sweaty party.
I have never seen so many people at Luneta in all the shows I have attended, there was well over 100 people crammed in to watch Brooklyn’s Swearin’ pop-punk the place up. The crowd spanned from people who looked like they were in junior high to a rowdy gentlemen who looked much closer to retirement than graduation. It was awesome.
Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love bands that have vocalists of each gender, and Swearin’ do it so well. The high energy four piece played some songs where Allison Crutchfield sings lead and they have a Sleater Kinney-like sound. Then Kyle Gilbride starts to sing songs like ”Kill ’em With Kindness” and they are a heavy rocking loud punk band. The crowd was really into it, with people pogoing and singing along all set. The song that really got the crowd going was ”Just.” The band could feel the love, and Crutchfield said ”This is crazy awesome to be so far from home and feel so loved and have so many people here with us. We love Canada and this is only our third show here.” Swearin’ are one of those bands who’s recordings I liked, but who’s live set I loved. They outplayed their recorded sound and energy, thus reenforcing my love for live music. Check out the sweet interview Showbox’s newest contributor, Sacha KW, did with Allison Crutchfield here.
Ottawa’s pop-punk/power pop veterans, Camp Radio (formed in 2005) set the stage for Swearin’. I have seen these guys play quite a few times in all my years of going to shows, but it feels like is has been a very long time since I last saw them on stage. Needless to say I was quite excited to see them again, especially in front of such a big crowd. Lead guitarist and vocalist, Chris Page, was rocking with a ton of energy, jumping all over the place through his solos and just looking like he was having the time of his life. Between jumping and rocking, he found time to share some advice, ”Go grab some Swearin’ merch, I have mine. You got to get it early and not wait till the end when everyone else is rushing for me. I’m not seasoned or anything, I just know how it works.” They closed out their set with a perfect trifecta of tunes, ”Cosmic Fair,” ”Reinventing the Laugh Track” and ”Slack.”
I walked in as Dead Weights were setting up and people crowded the stage. They’re another great Ottawa band that does not play enough, but hopefully this will change with talk of their new album coming out soon. I am a big fan of their sound, especially the raw raspy vocals. As mentioned, lead singer Jonathan Becker teased the crowd by saying there is a new album coming out this summer, and after hearing all the new songs they played let me be the first to say ”Give us the band’s first full length all ready!” They did also play some of their older material, such as their closing song ”Latitude 45.” Everyone I talked with after the show said this was the best Dead Weights set they had ever seen. Keep it up boys!
Unfortunately I missed the opener Special Noise from Montreal. I was told they were great, so I will not make the same mistake again.