10 sweet Montreal shows to tide you over till POP

The countdown is ticking for those about to POP. But for those of you who couldn’t give a toss about the festival that will engulf the city next week and are looking for more serious punk fucking rock that’s guaranteed to leave some marks, you probably already know that the seventh edition of A Varning From Montreal is already underway. The festival started last night and is mainly taking place at the Piranha Bar located on lovely Ste-Catherine West. Of course there’s plenty of side Varning events happening across Montreal, including a flea market, matinee shows as well as the sloppy as fuck after-shows, but for details about those shows outside of the Piranha perimeter, you better just ask a punk. 

Friday: For the second night of A Varning From Montreal, head to Piranha Bar to catch Nukke, Languid, Headsplitters, Shane, Destruct, Absolut, la Milagrosa, Ilusion and Fractured. 680 Ste-Catherine W., 6:30 p.m., $30

Another night that is guaranteed to be slammed promises the urban cowboy twang of Yesterday’s Ring, who will let it all hang out with their full band ensemble, plus openers the Slowinks at Turbo Haüs. If you want to squeeze into this one better log off and run there right now! 2040 St-Denis, 8 p.m., SOLD OUT (but check this link for a guest list draw)

If you have a hankerin’ for early ’80s U.K.-fuelled psych or the U.K. indie C86 explosion, you will want to make it down to l’Hémisphère Gauche to catch the Ember Glows, the post-punk prowess of Talleen and shoegaze wonderfulness of Venus Furs. 221 Beaubien E., 8 p.m., $10

If you weren’t able to get into Yesterday’s Ring but still want to get your twang on, you can check out the countrified goodness of Jeremie Albino and the Rosehall Band with Benjamin Dakota Rogers warming up the always lovely l’Esco. 4461 St-Denis, 7 p.m., $18.50

For those of you who’d like a bit more electronic noise in their Friday night, mount the stairs at the Diving Bell Social Club to catch New Yawk’s Lip Critic with the general fuckery of the Pretzels, Pressure Pin and le Travailleur. A dance party is definitely happening after the show. 3956 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $15

Saturday: Okay, hopefully that afterhours Varning party didn’t completely cave your face in because, at the ungodly hour of 10 a.m., you’ll want to get to Église St-Denis to complain about the rising cost of rare vinyl at le Plateau Record Show. I will be there with bells on and elbowing the crate diggers with the rest of them. Expect pushing and shoving from middle-aged men clasping Steely Dan records. And dammit the plural version of vinyl is “vinyl.” 454 Laurier, 10 a.m., free 

A Varning continues with its final stand at Piranha with Bombardment, Asile, Much, Collapsed, Flower, Warcrusher and more. 680 Ste-Catherine W., 6:30 p.m., $30

Monday: I feel weird making this my gig of the week as the artist seems to be kind of a douche nozzle but Father John Misty did create probably my fave jammer of 2012, Fear Fun. He kind of dropped off to the curb for me in the decade since, and when I saw him on that tour at Cabaret Mile End (now Fairmount) he was such a smarmy fuck that I was tempted to bottle him. But maybe I was just having one of my “moods.” Opening up this show at MTelus is Suki Waterhouse. 59 Ste-Catherine E., 8 p.m., $59.99

Tuesday: Another total fave of yesteryear (1999) would be Thrush Hermit’s magnum opus Clayton Park, which I just recently scored on double remastered vinyl. Over the past couple of decades, main Hermit Joel Plaskett has matured and become the Canadian version of Tom Petty (and can actually pull it off). If you want to see Plaskett in an intimate atmosphere and in what I think is one of the best and most underrated rooms in the city, Petit Campus, you should definitely pencil this one in. Opening is Mo Kenny. I really hope this show happens as this is the fourth makeup date scheduled in the span of two years. 57 Prince-Arthur E., 7 p.m., $29.95

Wednesday: For you heshers who just scan this column looking for riffs, I haven’t forgotten ya, and thanks for making it all the way to the bottom. For crushing riffs, you will want to head down to the metal-tastic Foufs to catch Psycroptic, Fallujah, Interloper and Cognitive. 87 Ste-Catherine E., 6 p.m., $39.95

Current Obsession: Kraftwerk, The Man Machine

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