Walking into the MTelus on a Friday night in Montreal, less than ten minutes to show time and seeing it barely a quarter full is, quite honestly, shocking.
As I was on double duty tonight—jotting down these words you’re reading now (without the help of crap like Grammarly, I might add) as well as photographing the evening—I wandered into the photo pit and discovered the stage set up for a DJ. Ah. It clicked. All made sense now.
Jake Bowen, the opening DJ, is also the guitarist for the night’s headliner: Periphery. Bowen was, in fact, opening for himself. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but you’d think the guitarist of the main act would know that people came out to hear some heavy music. Instead, Bowen lulled the brave few who showed up on time to sleep with some pretty boring electronic music.
Now—let me walk back that statement a bit. I do like this sort of sound… before bed, when the day is winding down, and I want to relax. This, though, wasn’t the time or place. What the hell do I know, though? I shouldn’t have called it boring, I guess, but I’m a jerk, and I wasn’t in the mood. So, yeah. I said what I said.
While speaking to the crowd, Bowen explained he got into what he called his “dork music” by stitching together Periphery songs on their studio albums, and from there discovered that he liked “twisting knobs about” and stuff like that.
He then made the mistake of telling the crowd that his intro piece had been a wind-up by his bandmates in Periphery. They’d recorded themselves chanting his name over a Ghost track he is (or was!) fond of, in mockery of a drunken moment he’d had. Now, he pays the price.
Next, a band named Eidola took to the stage. Finally, the warm-up the room needed for such an event. With the venue now much closer to capacity, the post-hardcore rumblings of Salt Lake City’s Eidola began.
By show of hands, it was revealed that I was in the majority for once: people who had never seen Eidola live before. I’m probably still in the majority after their set, as someone who’d love to see them again.
They brought a duo of vocalists—one to serenade and another to yell, grunt, and scream. Ah, sweet contrast. But the praise should really go to the two guitarists on opposite ends of the stage. One had his guitar strapped high upon his chest—a position of power that normally suggests technical riff work or a lot of finger tapping is coming. Why not both? Yeah, it was both.
And on the other side was an incredibly electric performance as the guitarist whipped his instrument and his curly afro around, playing behind his head and dashing about the stage like a man possessed. Fantastic. Both guitarists brought different elements, like the two vocalists, and it all came together brilliantly.
I admit, I didn’t know this band before arriving tonight, but they’re firmly on my radar now.
Finally, the return of Bowen, but this time with the rest of Periphery alongside him. I mentioned before that Bowen’s introduction tune was a sort of heckling from his bandmates; well, now, at every silent moment since, the Montreal crowd joined in, mimicking the chants from the track. And it had only gotten worse as the night wore on. Now that Periphery was on stage, it had reached its peak, and it was absolutely hilarious to witness. Unless, maybe, you happened to be… Jaaakkkeee Booowwweeeennn! Jake Bowen!
Considered by many as the forefathers of that whole djent thing—which the band insists isn’t a genre (if you consider album names)—they play a progressive sort of metalcore blended with all manner of elements from other extreme music genres.
While the music itself is intricate and technical, with a constant barrage of hardcore-style breakdowns, it’s the energy they bring to their live shows that makes them special. Then again, if you’re going to have a band like Eidola opening for you, you’re going to have to work hard to keep up.
This proved to be an incredibly fun night.
Jaaake Booowwweeennn! Jake Bowen! Jaaakkkeee Booowwweeenn!
Review & photos – Kieron Yates
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