Fresh off releasing their excellent EP Psychic Dance Routine, Scowl return to Montreal on October 3 to play La Sala Rossa, and it’s with an amazing support lineup. There will be direct support from Militarie Gun, whose superb debut album Life Under the Gun dropped in June, and then there’s also MSPAINT and Spite House.

Scowl has rapidly established themselves as one of the most inventive and dedicated punk rock bands. The band has grown significantly since the publication of their debut album, How Flowers Grow, in late 2021. The band’s critically acclaimed record, which was praised for its reality-driven, confrontational blend of hardcore-punk, opened new possibilities for them, including a nonstop touring schedule. It was expected that spending the majority of their lives on the road would have a significant impact on the next stage of Scowl as new songs started to take shape.

Read our review of their Montreal show with The Bronx here.

Since forming in 2020, Militarie Gun has been prolific in touring and releasing music. Life Under The Gun reflects a culmination of hard-earned momentum yet also mirrors the catharsis of lead vocalist Ian Shelton’s past of growing up in a household with family members struggling with addiction. The challenges of his home life were only exacerbated by living in Enumclaw, WA, a sparsely populated rural suburb where Shelton spent his formative years longing for a way out. As he began to pick up instruments, play in bands, and write his own songs, music quickly became a vital outlet for self-expression, but Shelton couldn’t shake the idea that it was also a literal escape route.

Engineered by Taylor Young at The Pit Recording Studio, the album’s 12 tracks take all of the best parts of Militarie Gun’s earlier work and amps them up to the highest possible degree. While Shelton’s singular vision is evident in the songwriting and lyrical themes, collaboration is essential to Militarie Gun. Be it band members or outside sources like Young and James Goodson of Dazy, who sings harmonies on much of the album.