The Great Sabatini

Bar le Ritz celebrates a decade of amazing shows

PLUS all the great gigs happening in town this week.

A lot of anniversaries have been happening around town and I am only too happy to be tapping out info about that instead of announcing that yet another venue has been shut down due to noise complaints from condo dwellers. Le Ritz (which started its existence as Il Motore) will be celebrating its 10th year of sitting on Jean-Talon and the number of amazing shows at both Il Motore and le Ritz over the years is immeasurable. Congrats and a healthy “Punks Don’t Bend” to you and yours.

If you would like to help celebrate Il Motore/le Ritz’s 10 years of awesomeness, slide down to Saturday’s announcements.

Thursday: For a night of expert songwriting and crooning and riffs that are tooled for the bar, you could do a lot worse than to see Montreal’s greatest bar band: the Mighty Ffud, with Tractor Beam at Barfly. 4062A St-Laurent, 10 p.m., price unlisted

For a night of stoner rock, doom and all the other decibels that ooze in the night, you can get your slow riff on at Katacombes for the second Eargasm “festival,” with Blue Cheese, the Naked High, Pink Cocoon, Luger and Lochness. Let the fuzz fly. 1635 St-Laurent, 8 p.m., $15/$20

On a totally different tip, you can catch the dark electronic and industrial wallop of iVardensphere, Mdd, Creature, Brusque Twins at Turbo Haüs, with DJs Xandra and Dima keeping things spinning between bands. At 11 pm. you can retire to the other side of Turbo as I will spin the best of punk, post-punk, soul and more as part of my weekly Let’s Get Rad Again night. Hotcha!!! 2040 St-Denis, 9 p.m., $11/$15

Saturday: Before le Ritz put their 10-year hat on at 11 p.m., you can check out an early show by Victory Chimes, who launch their new jammer Spinning Wheel. After 11, the decade anniversary of Il Motore/le Ritz begins with DJ duo the Punk Police spinning and a live set from the first band to ever appear on the Il Motore stage 10 years ago, Red Mass. 179 Jean-Talon W., 11 p.m., free

The Great Sabatini

My big pick of the week goes to a capital-G Great local band. For my money, the Great Sabatini is Canada’s heaviest band, but instead of relying on mere sub-tuning and decibel bash, the Sabs are truly pushing the envelope while the heaviosity crowd nip at their heels. Sabatini alone makes this more than worthwhile but the Hammer’s Shallow North Dakota (who resurrect Melvins-level pummelling) makes this mandatory. Also playing is Cellos and Pale Mare. This is at Turbo Haüs, natch. 2040 St-Denis, 8 p.m., $12/$15

Sunday: Turbo keeps things going with its first annual chili cook-off. $10 gets you all the chili you could possibly ever eat. 2040 St-Denis, 5 p.m.

Monday: The Metal Alliance tour puts down stakes at Foufs with Goatwhore, the Casualties (why are they on a tour called Metal Alliance?), Black Tusk, Great American Ghost and Gozu. 87 Ste-Catherine E., 6:30 p.m., $25/$30

Tuesday: The sixth edition of Music Blabber, hosted by the Mighty Ffud’s Mark Goodwin, continues at Barfly with lonesome-folk artist Bobby Dove. You get the drill: some songs played and some blabbering. This will be documented in pod form in case you miss the live presentation, so keep your an eye on this column to find out how you can hear that. 4062A St-Laurent, 9 p.m., price unlisted

The Dirty Nil straddle that fine line between extreme wannabe viral sensation and just a bunch of beer-drinking dudes who have studied their Weezer, Sloan and the Darkness records well. Their videos scream Can-con while their recycled and reheated riffs are sourced from my favourite dad-rock bands. I’m so confused, but making this show rad is openers Pale Lips, who I love without question. Taking up the middle slot at this Esco show is Dead Soft. 4461 St-Denis, 8:30 p.m., $13/$16

Wednesday: If the Can-con-fuelled power-pop of the Dirty Nil still has your head spinning, you can check out the elderstatesmen of Can-con power-pop, Sloan, as they sweat it out to the oldies one more time at Café Campus. 57 Prince-Arthur E., 8:30 p.m., $25/$30

Current Obsession: Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Safe as Milk

jonathan.cummins@gmail.com