Sepultura - Babylon, Ottawa, 25/2/2010

  by Andrew Carver

published: 13 / 2 / 2010

intro

On their first visit to Canada, Andrew Carver watches Sunderland hardcore punks Leatherface play a feisty set to a small, but excitable audience at Babylon in Ottawa

Sunderland's Leatherface is a band with reputation and influence that far outnumbers its fanbase. The band has pushed hardcore out of its rut with intelligent lyrics, a refocusing on melody and frontman Frankie Stubb's one-of-a-kind whispery rasp. With a new album out, the band has embarked on a tour which took it to Ottawa for the first time. The band has joked in interviews that they've been preparing for frosty Canadian shows by rehearsing with the heat off, but by the time they got to Ottawa the weather had turned distinctly mushy, with a combination of snow and rain turning sidewalks into a mess of puddles. In between complaining about wet feet, an audience of slightly more than 100 was treated to brisk sets from Ottawa bands I Refuse and Year Zero and Montreal's Yesterday's Ring. I Refuse put on a jumpy set of shouty hardcore to the small crowd that had wandered in before 10 p.m. Like Year Zero, who followed them with an equally swift set of Nils and Jawbreaker-influenced melodic punk, they professed their adulation of Leatherface from the stage and admitted they were getting on and off as quickly as possible so they could watch them. Yesterday's Ring sprung from streetpunks The Ste. Catherines, but have set aside their former combo's crusty bits for a more rootsy strain of punk, complete with acoustic guitar, harmonica, even a banjo. The result sounded a bit like Mike Ness of Social Distortion's solo work (without the Johnny Cash covers) and Finnish Replacements idolaters Jalla Jalla. Frankie Stubbs now bears a beard that looks like it was made out of steel wool, along with a twinkle in his eye that makes him look like a mischievous uncle. Everything matches reported accounts: The hopping and skipping dance, raspy vocals and chugging guitar attack. The band kicked things off with 'Isn't Life Just Sweet?' from their latest, 'The Stormy Petrel'; the audience was delighted to shout out the "USSR/USA" choruses to the somewhat more venerable 'Colorado Joe/Leningrad Vlad', a song recorded about the time some of the younger audience members were born. Then it was onto 'Springtime' from 'Mush'. The serious moshing began a few songs later when the band launched into 'Hoodlum' from their last album 'Dog Disco'. The band included a generous number of new tunes; it's a sign of their continued creative powers that songs like 'Never Say Goodbye' and 'My Worlds End' packed the same punch as well-received earlier material like 'I Want rhe Moon' and 'Sour Grapes'. Stubbs' banter was somewhat obscured by what passes for a thick accent in these 'ere parts, eh, but he did make a point of letting one woman in the audience who had told him earlier in the night that she was trying to learn 'Dead Industrial Atmosphere' a closer look at his pickwork. "We played all the sensible songs," Stubbs announced at the start of his band's encore, "so now well play the un-sensible ones," before launching into 'Hops And Barley' and concluding with a cover of 'You are My Sunshine' -and how many punk bands could get away with that? Setlist: Isn't Life Just Sweet? Colorado Joe Leningrad Vlad Springtime Never Say Goodbye Diego Garcia Little White God Peasant in Paradise Hoodlum Nutcase My Worlds End I Want the Moon Sour Grapes Broken Disgrace Not Superstitious Pale Moonlight Dead Industrial Atmosphere Hops and Barley Dead Industrial Atmosphere

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