Trade Wind + Watch The Wolves + The City Gates @ Bar le Ritz

Trade Wind + Watch for Wolves + The City Gates @Le Ritz PBD – September 7^th 2019

Le Ritz PBD hosted three talented bands on a rainy evening this past September 7^th, ranging from shoegaze to post-hardcore to finally something more eclectic but quite soothing nonetheless.

The night started off at 7:30PM in the packed venue with local act The City Gates. The shoegaze/post-punk band was a nice way to begin the evening. This music genre may not satisfy everyone, but as I was sitting at the bar sipping a beer, I saw myself close my eyes and simply enjoy their sound, with some reverb and delay pedals that make it pretty haunting in a way. I do not exactly feel like they’re bringing something that has not already been made to this scene, but I did enjoy myself and looked them up following the show; Their music seems to me more than appropriate if you want to go on an auditory journey and forget about your everyday life for a few minutes.

Next up was another local band, Watch for Wolves. This one communicated quite a contrasting vibe as they are a lot more punk and post-hardcore, which is more my jam I must admit. I could hear a lot of influence from bands such as Touche Amore, Alexisonfire, Defeater and even La Dispute coming from them, while still having a distinct sound and great energy throughout the whole set. Their performance was notable, and Watch for Wolves deserves more attention than they’re currently getting in the Montreal post-hardcore scene. Some of their songs were real bangers and could be real hits! They’re definitely a band I would go see again and that I’ll keep an eye on!

As MontrealRocks supports the local scene, make sure to check the two opening bands out: The City Gates & Watch for Wolves.

Trade Wind closed off the night with a soothing one-hour-long set. The band, composed of Stick To Your Guns’ vocalist Jesse Barnett, Stray From The Path’s guitarist Tom Williams, as well as bassist Randy LeBeouf and drummer Andrew McEnaney, delivered an outstanding performance from start to finish. The band showcased their third LP Certain Freedoms with songs such as the opener “Surrender”, the sparkling “No King But Me”, the John Mayer-esque “How’s Your Head?” (written for Barnett’s friend James who he “didn’t want to text”), and the beautiful (and heartbreaking) tribute to Barnett’s late dog “Nashinga”. Having Trade Wind perform their gorgeous songs in a quality venue such as Le Ritz PBD was a delightful experience and I was more than happy to have the opportunity to talk to the band members after the concert to show my appreciation for their music and for coming in Montreal, a city that tends to be shunned by a lot of bands. Thankfully, as Jesse Barnett pointed out, Montreal had a major impact on his life and 99% of the songs he wrote are about a girl from Montreal (except Close Encounters that is about a girl from Berlin), so Montreal isn’t a city he tends to skip.

If you wish to listen and see again the talented Jesse Barnett, make sure to go see his heavier band Stick To Your Guns; you can check them out opening for Knocked Loose at Club Soda on November 4^th later this year. Tom Williams is also coming back to Montreal soon as he’ll be performing with Stray From The Path at Fairmount Theatre on November 25^th.

Rock on!

Trade Wind Setlist