@ Foufounes Electriques March 10^th 2013

Seeing this show listed I was very interested to check it out, since I am a long time skater, fan of CKY and Bam Margera.  I get to the venue thinking there would be a lot more old school fans, but was surprised to be surrounded by a sea of tweens… I actually had never felt so old going to a show before! I quickly put that aside to get upstairs to view what I was in for at this show.  I really wasn’t sure what to expect since this wasn’t just CKY playing.  It is a mix mash of members from CKY, Fuckface Unstoppable AKA Bam Margera’s alter ego and people that have been involved in and around this crew.

The first band on the bill was Dirt Cannon from Montreal.  The sound is southern rock with a core edge and a flavour of punk mixed in.  I was really taken back by how much energy they had right off the bat and really made full use of the stage.  They had two vocals and the main vocalist went back and forth from Mick Jagger to James Brown moves.  I found they were a great start to the show, a real crowd warmer.  With driving nu-metal, punk drum beats, southern rock guitar riffs and a nu-metal/core vocal, they did not feel as if they had just stepped out of a garage by any means, even though they were not super tight.  The band really played as a whole and was having a great time doing it.  I definitely recommend seeing this band if your into this style of music. They gave me a warm happy feeling after seeing them.

The next band to play was Call of Saints from Montreal.  As this band came on stage they also had two vocalists. The main vocalist was using an old styled 50’s microphone, which, when setting up, was getting terrible feedback.  Sound-wise I don’t agree this was the best choice. The sound guy had to turn him down much quieter than the backing vocalist in order not to have this severe feedback.  I found I couldn’t really hear him, especially when he did the clean vocal because of this reason.  They have a southern style guitar with some core breakdowns and doomy slowed parts at times with a hint of Machine Head influence.  I found the guitars and bass muddy and the solos lack some tightness for what they were trying to pull off as well some Zack Wylde pinch harmonics thrown in.  The drumming was rock/nu metal beats and the vocals were nu metal/core and really well done when I could hear it.  I enjoyed that the clean vocals were at least being sung in key.  As for a whole there were a few catchy riffs but the songs I found were not very decipherable from each other.  I felt they were a less tight blended mess of what the first band on the bill was doing.  They didn’t have much energy on stage and a couple of them looked like they were almost going to fall asleep while playing. The main vocalist was the only one really doing any crowd interacting and seemed to be the only one carrying the band, other than when the whole band got into some core bouncing on stage a few times.  I didn’t see them really get into it and pick up the pace until the second to last song that they played but by then I felt it was too late.

Third up was Monarchs of Disarray from Montreal.  As this band started setting up I realized this was the night of multiple vocals, as this band also has dual vocals. Their style is more traditional rock mixed with alternative and not as much nu metal/core of the first two bands.  With a more simplistic rock style, heavy down riffing and catchy hooks this band quickly got the crowd moving again. Vocally it is rock/ alternative with a slight core tapped in places.  They had a great energy and looked like they were having a lot of fun working this crowd up, even had time to punch a few beach balls around that just showed up out of nowhere.  It felt treated when they ended up busting out a very enjoyable hardened cover of The Beatles « Helter Skelter »  Overall, they were super tight and the crowd really enjoyed them.

Now it was time for the anticipated event of the evening, The Bam Margera Experience with Fuckface Unstoppable Featuring Members of CKY.  To start off I want to explain a bit of who Bam Margera is for those of you not so familiar with his works.  Bam at thirteen first came onto the skate scene as a pro-skater known for his creative street style and crazy antics. As he got into his teens he made the CKY video series, which featured skating boarding, pranks and stunts that he had filmed as home movies. The combination of Bam’s personality and the great successes of the CKY video series became the pilot for the MTV show Jackass and The Jackass movies. Then soon after spawned the MTV series called Viva La Bam. In addition to Bam’s television and film projects, he continues to be heavily involved in the music industry. Directing music videos and hosts a radio show called Radio Bam on Sirius Satellite Radio as well as created Viva La Bands a CD/DVD series and tour. Bam is also the founder and owner of his own music label called Filthy Note.

So when I saw this “band” coming I was super curious to see what it had in store.  Collecting members from the band CKY, aka Camp Kill Yourself, that includes his brother Jessie Margera and Matty J Janaitis, as well as Alex Flamsteed of Guttermouth, a special one night guest spot by Montreal’s own Alissa White Gluz from The Agonist and a few others that came in to switch off instruments and create havoc.  Again I wasn’t sure what to expect and I can say that it was as if I was at a huge chaotic party jam with a bunch of tweens jumping on the stage.  Even trying to explain it I don’t think I could paint the picture accurately of what I saw.  So I suggest looking up some video’s on youtube. The crowd for starters was not the nice metal crowd I am used to dealing with.  The tweens were very aggressive by this stage show and even a full on fist fight between multiple guys and girls broke out half way between the show.  The stage show its self was what looked like a drunken debauchery.  When Bam first came out it clearly was not the Bam I was used to seeing but looked like a chubbier version that had just stepped right out of a dumpster from behind the venue.  I am not to clear as to what the purpose of his alter ego FuckFace Unstoppable is, but I think he portrayed that name aptly.  There were two drum kits on stage and multiple mics, so for every song there was a lot going on like two drums going at once and each song called for a member change over on the instruments.   They started the night off with some heavier songs like Turbonegro’s “All My Friends are Dead” and Clutch’s “Big News”, then carried on to a couple rap/electro songs including “Bend My Dick” and “That’s Why I Fucked Your Mom”, then back to a punk motif with songs like Moistboyz  “Tweaker “ and GG Allin “Bite it You Scum”. Throughout the whole show Bam was open arms to all the people that got on stage and in the crowd.  Alex Flamsteed and Bam were constantly going at each other and pushing each other off stage a lot.  The childlike antics of the CKY videos were well represented at this show.  I had the ability to be sitting upstairs with people that had a meet and greet pass for after the show and before I knew it the show had abruptly ended.  I looked behind me in enough time to see a crowd of people egging Bam on to kick some kid in the balls, which didn’t take much convincing from the kid himself for Bam to do so.  After watching this kid drop like a sack of shit, I left the mob to maul him incessantly.  I have to say I was a bit disappointed to see Bam in that state he was for this show.  I am taking a good guess that he has been having a hard time recovering still from his childhood best friend Ryan Dunn’s death back in mid 2011, mixed with the fact that he is not a teenager anymore and still trying to live within his younger crazy years.   Regardless of this however the show was still damn entertaining.  If you appreciate CKY and Jackass and love jams of pure shamelessness debauchery mashed in with some very different styles of music, then this show is for you!

~Krystal Koffin