
For a band with essentially zero radio exposure in our city, it’s incredible to see how big Squid have gotten in less than 2 years since I last saw them in the tiny Bar Le Ritz. Even drummer frontman Ollie Judge seems surprised at the jam-packed Club Soda before him: “They never usually open the balcony for us, this is nice!”
After arriving on stage in a flurry of Kraftwerk-esque beeps, the pummelling drums of “Swing (In A Dream)” get the floor bouncing right off the bat. The wonderfully discordant “If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away” follows, its math-rock chaos reminiscent of New York’s Battles. It’s surely a frontrunner for weirdest lyric of the year too, as multiple voices around the stage proclaim, “With the mice and the rats, in the plans for the street / Making cream, making butter, in the cracks under feet.”

“Undergrowth” gets the first big singalong of the night so far, and merges seamlessly into the electronica of “Leccy Jam,” before morphing again into the machine gun drums of “G.S.K.,” its distorted riffs reminiscent of old-school 90’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. The arrival of “The Cleaner” is joyous, finally getting an airing on a Montreal stage after being omitted at the Bar Le Ritz show last time around, although by contrast, “Fugue,” listed on the setlist, ultimately never arrives. I guess you can’t have it all!

Ollie leaves his drum kit entirely on “Broadcaster,” menacingly prowling the front of the stage over a relentless electro beat provided by Arthur Leadbetter left of stage, before returning to his drum kit for the punishing outro. “Narrator” draws another resonant singalong from the crowd, who are happy to provide the screams on the outro. The ominous bass rumbles of “After The Flash” lead into the epic “Paddling,” before Club Soda is transformed into Jazz Club Soda on “Documentary Filmmaker,” the spoken-word vocals of Ollie melding with the delicate keys and bluesy trumpet of Laurie Nankivell. The 80-minute set wraps up encore-less with a cowbell-heavy “The Blades,” the noodling bass-funk metamorphosing into a delicate conclusion with Ollie sat beside his drum kit for the last lyrics of the night.
As the show wraps up, Ollie effuses: “Thanks so much, it’s amazing to see so many people here!” With a show this good, he can expect to see even more the next time they come to town!

Setlist
- Swing (in a Dream)
- If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away
- Undergrowth
- Leccy Jam
- G.S.K.
- The Cleaner
- Broadcaster
- Narrator
- After the Flash
- Paddling
- Documentary Filmmaker
- The Blades




Review & photos – Simon Williams
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