The Sainte Catherines - The Soda Machine

Canada has been trumping our rock in spades in recent years, what with quality franchises like Fucked Up, Fifth Hour Hero, Weakerthans and Chixdiggit hailing from North of the Border. The Sainte Catherines hail from Montreal, as you might surmise, and ply their trade in smelly guitar-driven punk rock, heavy on the Leatherface. You don't have to say that twice to get me to take notice. Vanessa at Fat had sent me Dancing For Decadence a couple summers ago. It was their debut for the label and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they weren't a third rate Lagwagon rip-off. They were no stranger to a NOFX-y dischordant key change, but all in all, it just reinforced how boring most bands were in comparison.

Soon after, I made my first trip to Montreal and ended up catching Sainte Catherines alter-ego Yesterday's Ring down the street from my hotel. In between stupid fights with my (now-ex) companion, I ended up getting my mind blown by the countrified version of their sound. I picked up all three of the Yesterday's Ring releases while I was in town and vowed to scarf up The Sainte Catherines back catalog as well.

I managed to get virtually everything in their catalog fairly quickly, save for their debut Those Stars Are For You. That record and the early seven-inches are almost impossible to come by, depending mostly on your knowledge of the murkier areas of the Internet. The new Sainte Catherines release The Soda Machine takes a couple steps toward making it a little easier to get the out of print stuff. The Soda Machine is actually the title of the documentary by band confidante Sophie Fortier. That it self is worth the price of admission, but the DVD also comes with a cd compiling 25 b-sides and cast-offs and therein, mes amis, is where things really get fun.

The Soda Machine documentary is well done, exposing such gems as the fact that frontman Hugo is 25(!!!) and that they really had an unhealthy fixation with The Broadways in their early days. The companion cd further exposes the Leatherface adulation, including a pretty great cover of Sour Grapes. The Soda Machine cd has pretty expansive liner notes for most of the songs, with funny insights into their forays into hair-metal acoustic balladry and penchant for baiting Simple Plan. It's packaging like this that makes bypassing I-tunes all the more worthwhile. The whole package is cross-released between Indica Records, D-Tox and Outside Music, but most easily picked up at the Indica website for $15. Can't beat that price for twenty-five songs and a DVD.

The Sainte Catherines are currently touring Mexico and threatening more dates behind The Soda Machine in the Fall. Keep an eye on the sites below for dates and enjoy the DVD while you wait. Look out for a new Yesterday's Ring record, too.

R

www.thesaintecatherines.org

www.indicastore.com

myspace.com/thesaintecatherines

www.yesterdaysring.org

www.fatwreck.com

www.daretocarerecords.com

Dillinger Four: live at Fuck Yeah Fest 7.12 & 7.13.8

Nice to hear that the drunken louts in Dillinger Four were able to get up off their collective fat/lazy asses to make it out here for a show or two. Sure has been a while. There was the ill-fated appearance at Pointless Fest in Philly where Paddy threw up the whole set, but save for St. Patrick making it through town with Sean Na Na, The Arrivals and seemingly every other band on Earth, the D4 has been keeping it local and assumably recording a new record for the last, I don't know, six years. I'm not sure who cajoled them to go out on the road with The Circle Jerks and a coterie of nightmarish electro bands, but if it gets those boys in town, so be it.

Or so I thought until I had to suffer through a Matt & Kim set. Man is that some insipid crap. Just when I though nothing could be worse than Mates Of State, our friends across the East River stepped up and trumped them. Brooklyn, I continue to underestimate you: your capacity to produce irritating crap is utterly unparalleled. It may not be as crassly commercial as shitty bands from LA, but it sure is horrible. While Kim can drum and seems to be very lovely, I would like to punch her partner Matt in the throat forever. I am also in favor of threatening the removal of his fingers if he does not cease playing that fucking irritating keyboard racket. I can honestly say that Matt and Kim are everything that is wrong with music today. Please take your place with Fannypack and Northern State in the canon of ex-bands.

Manahttan economics work to our advantage every once in a while. Highline had a late show booked, so Dillinger Four were onstage by 9pm. One things is apparent: whatever D4 have been doing in their absence, dieting isn't one of the activities. Them is some big boys. It was business as usual for the boys. Paddy was in his usual high spirits, keeping up his regular schtick about how he's dying to sell out and working in a running gag with the head of security being a record company bigwig. Good times, plus a pretty decent set that worked in Mosh For Jesus, Smells Like OK Soda and a a gang of other old school favorites. No new material (in the stage banter or actual songs) but a hell of a solid set all around.

Night two was at Club Europa in the foul smelling neighborhood of Greenpoint. While I pay far too much for my charming downtown hovel, I can take small consolation in the fact that it doesn't smell like a sewer treatment plant. Maybe it's all the electroclash that's fouling the air. Now when you have the same bill and the same door time, you'd figure the bands would go on at the same times, right? You would guess right if it wasn't in a Polish disco in Greenpoint. Todd P deserves props for all the alternative venues he books shows in, but Europa is by no means enjoyable. Nor is the second to last band going on at 11:45 on a Sunday. Come on guys! Over by 9:30 on a Friday but going past midnight on a Sunday with a non-drinking crowd? Well done!

Granted, it was the last night of the tour and the whole thing was supposed to celebrate diversity (a good idea in theory, unless you have listen to it) but diversity that includes at least one not-especially-good comedian and my being subjected to Matt & Kim for the second time in 24 hours is enough to make me hardline. At the risk of over-asserting the point: Matt and Kim are absolutely terrible. I really feel for the families of the kids that listen to that crap. Kim again proved to be mildly engaging and beat the hell out of the drum kit for most of the set, but a tour-ending set with her counterpart thanking everybody in America had many a D4 fan in the crowd contemplating a stage invasion.

The world's unluckliest, and sadly unfunniest comedian got to work the room while Dillinger got set up. I guess he was paid for, but it being the last night and all, they could have killed the second-rate Richard Lewis they dragged out and no one really would have complained. It was better than Matt & Kim, but then again so is hysterical deafness. Comedian #2 went over a little bit better, but all in all, not a good idea late on a Sunday night. When you have Keith Morris and Patrick Costello in the house, you can send the b-list comedians home early.

Dillinger Four, on the other hand, are a good idea all the time. Day, Night, whenever: they truly bring it. Same set essentially from the night before, banter included. I was pleased to find that they had been up til 6:30 the night before with Paul Bearer. Most of the crowd seemed to have no idea who Sheer Terror were, much less be old enough for him to be nasty to them at the door at Brownies, but someone's gotta rep for the old school. It would have been nice to see a guest appearance from ol' PB, but you can't have everything.

Dillinger Four have finally finished the new record, which will assumably be dropping on Fat soon. They are playing a couple of dates opening for NOFX in October, so look forward to seeing Fat Mike and the boys getting their asses handed to them (and hit me off if you can score me some guest list- Vanessa?) and pray for a headlining tour in the Spring.