If you know the general music scene, you'll know that this month in Ottawa, is Snow-Jam. Extreme winter sports in tonnes of white snow with amazing bands, all for the incredibly 'cheap price' of $40+. Belleville got a nice little treat the other night when a little bit of Sno-Jam came to Loyalist and raised some hell for the REALLY cheap price of $8.

Three bands touring with Snow-Jam graced the stage at Loyalist's Thursday pub night on the sixth. Nothing worse than trying to concentrate at a show than having a cold, to make matters worse, I had a hangover... Go figure, the perils of independent college life, head colds and hangovers.

Not as bad as the perils of being in a band that's touring.. I realized that as I stood inside the SharkTank Pub, (The Loyalist College bar in Belleville, Ontario) and heard the members of The Black Halos, and the bassist for Gob, Craig. They were discussing at length this word game they'd been playing on the bus while on tour.. Sort of like writing song lyrics, but each word melded into the next. They seemed quite tormented by this, as they had a few months previous finished a round of it and the words that had spilled forth in the game, came full circle. Suddenly, in the bar at 1:30 in the morning, the few simple words that rattled endlessly in their subconscious seemed more important than sleep. Chatting back and forth, trying to remember the words to their 'song' and when they finally realized the sequence, I shared their enthusiasm. The wrapping up of a concert is sometimes the best time at a show.. The frantic energy has died down to a dull hum and chairs are being stacked, amps are being carried out, and hugs are being passed around. It's a feeling of accomplishment, of a night well spent.

That doesn't mean the rest of the night was a write off.. Far from it. I arrived at the front doors of the Shark Tank, at eight, to find a line that stretched out into the darkness.. I surmised quickly that I'd be standing out there for quite awhile. Fortunately for me, I have a knack for ALWAYS meeting the right people. Who else would I meet on the bus going to the college, but the roommate of the guy running the show. I'd been warned earlier in the day that I'd probably have to pay at the door.. Which meant I'd have to wait in line..

Luck was on my side for once and I was waved in the door. I saved myself 10 bucks and had enough for a t-shirt. The night was looking good. Previously that day, I'd been sent on a wild goose chase to find somebody at the pub to see if I was allowed to take pictures.. Then I had to go to the school newspaper office to see if anyone was shooting the show, THEN I had to go sign out a flash, and had to talk to Gob's 'people'.

ANYWAY.... So.. I got INTO the show, thanked Kevin for the reprieve on ticket price and stumbled through the crowd to the goodie table.. If you've EVER been to a show, you know what I'm talking about.. T-shirts, pins, CDs.. The works. That's where I met Guitarist, Jay Millette of The Black Halos.. We discussed a little of the Vancouver scene, and I watched him struggle with duct taping the t-shirts to the HARVEY'S anti-theft wire mesh that the counter jockeys had locked over the kiosk after it had closed. The perfect place to hang t-shirts DIY style, if one shirt hadn't been such a pain in the ass.. "Jay.. It fell down again.." I replied with a smile as the silver duct-tape slowly peeled itself away from the shirt it'd been affixed to, and the shirt fell to the floor yet again.

"Well, shit.." He rolled his eyes and went to work, trying to get it to stay up again.

"You know what you should do eh?" I said, being ever-so-helpful. "Not that it would help now, but getting some Velcro from the dollar store.. The stuff with the sticky on the back.. That would probably work."

Rob Zgaljic, drums of the Halos, laughed. "Man.. She has all the great ideas.. Maybe she could tour with us!"

Aww gee.. Thanks! I would.. If I hadn't already paid out the big bucks to move to, go to school at, and live in Belleville. It would have been REALLY cool though. Damn.. If I'd only met them in January...

******

After wandering around in circles in the small bar, finally relenting and buying myself a Schmirnoff ICE, telling myself that I'd only have one.. I'd just have this one drink, and I'd be okay.. I was already regretting the night before, but that's for another article. Despite the fact that the beer had been quite cheap, perhaps drinking ALL of that in succession was a bad idea. As I sipped at my Vodka cooler, it was all becoming very evident indeed that hangovers were a bad idea in general.

It seemed I was a little more proficient in pacing myself that evening, as I'd only tucked slightly into my drink when the Black Halos had finally finished their sound check and started to play.

I'd been informed earlier that day of what to expect from the Halos.. "Hardcore... Harder than Gob.. It's Punk." I'd been told. As they started up their first song of the night, 'No Tom', I positioned myself in the pit. Up front and pinned between the floor amp and a bouncer is about as cozy as it can get... It wouldn't even compare to the minutes later when I was jostled and bashed about as I attempted to take some decent shots. Luckily enough, I've been doing this enough years to handle myself in the moshpit, fighting back as I snapped off a few pictures.

It turned out later in the Halos set, that it was a damn shame I hadn't brought more film. I only had a roll of 24 with me. By the time I'd gotten to the store, that afternoon, it'd been closed. The lead singer, Billy Hopeless, ripped off his shirt and proceeded to gyrate on-stage, something similar to the 'Sweet Transvestite' musical sequence in Rocky-Horror Picture Show. It just so happened, that I'm a huge fan of RHPS, so Billy was in luck. To further the shock value of the 'punk-tacular extravaganza,' he shoved the mike down his pants, leapt off stage and from what I could gather, started to hump an audience member.

The security who had been keeping the audience back and the band on-stage, parted awkwardly as Hopeless ran off the stage, and grabbed a female fan, blocking my view, the guards encircled the two of them, protecting them from any more Halo enthusiasts.

The music was hard and fast and I realized what I'd missed in my year away from punk shows. I missed it.. The rapid, wild beats of Rob on drums, mixed with the heavy bass and vocals of Matt Camirand, and Rich Jones on vocals and guitar.

Finishing off the energetic set with a cover of 'Fall' and their own song 'Eagles', The Black Halos, had warmed up the crowd to a gyrating frenzy and mellowly packed up their gear, as DJ'd music piped through the speakers.

Parting comments from The Black Halos?

Jay: "Less Art! More ROCK!"

Rich: "Belleville wouldn't let some Halos fans in because they were smoking pot. We attract the kids that have problems."

Hehe... Sounds about right. Apparently the kids were sitting around the corner behind the pub having a smoke.. When they tried to get tickets to get into the show, they were barred entrance. It doesn't even seem that the friends of the higher-ups can get a break.. <G> Apparently one of those 'fans' was a good friend of a Loyalist Security guard... But I digress... As usual.

Billy's parting comments? We'll have to see if the photos come out.. Heh, then we'll see if the internet police come after me when I put it up. I asked him his thoughts on Belleville and the show in general.. He looked at the note pad.. Grabbed it and replied that he needed an accomplice for this. Okay... No problem, or so I thought. I'd forgotten that this was a Vancouverite.. That this was a punk Vancouverite.. Minutes later he'd grabbed a Halos fan by the wrist and was dragging her up the stairs and into the wooded area behind the college... Uhhh.. "Man we're gonna leave our fucking mark on the fucking internet.. Fuck with EVERYONE'S heads, man.. Yeah... Totally.." Billy mumbled as he struggled to unbuckle his pants, the belt in one hand, the free Heineken in the other..

The fan looked at me nervously. "I don't know about this. Here.. Lemme just take your beer.. Okay? She can take pictures.. I'll hold your beer for you.."

I don't know if Billy had been expecting her reaction, but he waved her off dismissively. "Oh get the fuck out of here.." She made off towards the stairs and he grinned at me from out of the darkness. "I'll hump a tree.."

Okay..

So with his beer in one hand, and his other wrapped fondly around the pine tree, his body pressed up against the rough bark, his pants slipped slightly down his legs. I struggled to focus in the darkness and he laughed. "Take the damn picture, I'm getting splinters!!"

Waiting for the next band to start up, I wandered back to the goodies table and found Harry (the band gear man!) sucking back a free Heineken... Free Beer.. I wasn't in Almonte anymore.. This wasn't All-Ages shows.. This wasn't free water... He was drinking FREE BEER!

He wasn't the only one.

The next band to get up on-stage was Swollen Members, the second of the three Vancouver bands to grace our stage that night. A three man Rap/DJ group, they drank and set up their equipment, splitting their time between drinking from the green bottles and plugging in cables.

Okay.. So they're not punk.. They didn't have the rings and the leather and the hair.. They are something else the public craves.. a decent rapping Hip-Hop band.

But, just because they're not punk, doesn't mean they didn't put on a fantastic set. Rob The Viking, the DJ and producer of Swollen Members, chatted with me as he packed up his turn-tables up after the show, they've been nominated for two video awards and are touring across Canada with the Halos, and Gob until they reach the fine East Coast and then the three bands head back home. Rob's parting comments about the show and Loyalist in general? "Belleville was dope."

Madchild started up the set, rapping a few songs as Prevail sat offstage. Soon he ran on and grabbed a mic, rapping favourites with Madchild like, 'Switchblade' and 'Temptation', as he sipped his own beer. Rob sat at the turn-tables behind and filled the speakers with Swollen Members beats and tunes. He seemed quite content behind the scenes as the two rappers leaped and jumped and used the bouncers against the stage like step-stools. The bouncers seemed to take it all in stride, trying to keep an eye on the crowd.

Those bouncers.. A few of them endured a lot of interesting shit that night, including being ridden like a pony, sat on... stepped on.. At least they can go back to their respective, girlfriends/boyfriends and boast that <enter band member's name here> touched them.

Taking a break from the heat of the dancing, moshing bodies, I stumbled outside into the darkness. Audience and band members alike were all corralled in the back having a cigarette. "When in the hell is Gob coming on!?" Somebody grumbled. "Where in the hell are they!?"

"Probably in their trailers whacking off in their diamond studded straight-jackets." I muttered irritably.. It was close to midnight, and still no Gob.. I was tired and a little wired from the Vodka cooler I'd been drinking earlier.

"Diamond studded straight jackets?" Muttered the guy beside me in confusion. "I don't own a straight jacket."

I looked at him and he took a slow drag on his cigarette. "I'm Gabe." He announced. "I'm from Gob."

Well.... Shit.

Now.. It could have gotten REALLY ugly from here on in.. But it didn't. Generally Vancouver people are really cool, and Gabe was no exception. We chatted a bit and wandered inside to the front of the crowd and I took a few shots of the band. "You wanna?" I yelled to him over the music. After a few well meaning gestures, he got my meaning and I handed him my camera.

"You sure?" He asked as he slipped the strap around his neck.

"Yeah totally.." I replied as he snapped off some pictures.

"Some of them are probably pretty blurry.." He admitted to me between songs.

"Take some more," I offered, "Just make sure there's enough left on the roll for when you guys come on later.. I've only got the one roll.." Gabe nodded and continued shooting. When I get the pictures printed, I'll put his up on the site as well, let you all take a look.

After Swollen Members and their gear walked off stage, there was some more annoying DJ music. Which I guess isn't the DJ's fault.. They have to play music that pleases a wide group of people.. So just playing stuff I like wouldn't have been fair.. It would have been nice though, don't you think?

Gob finally made an entrance at quarter to midnight, varying their set with old stuff and newer songs like "I Hear You Calling", "Been So Long" and the Rolling Stones cover, "Paint It Black" which was featured on the "Stir of Echoes" soundtrack. One could compare Gob's mellowed pop-punk to Blink-182.. But let's not go there shall we? They have garnered and styled their own sound and risen from the small recording studios of Vancouver to a nice little label called Nettwerk. Yeah.. That's right.. The home of Christina Aguilera and other bands that Ed The Sock likes to poke fun at. I don't think Ed could have anything bad to say about Gob though.. and as far as I know, Ed's got a monstrous crush on Christina Aguilera... Or is it Tom? Hehe.. Nope.. Don't think he's a Theo fan.. Definitely a Tom fan.. Any guy who could invent a dance move that looks like Donkey Kong on speed... Definitely cool.. How could Ed NOT love him?! It'd be insane.

Tom, who sang vocals and lead guitar, broke his favourite guitar and showed us all his crazy dance moves while the tech attempted to fix it. "I've only had it a week.." He admitted later. "I got it for about 400 bucks.."

Keeping up with Gabe's drum beats and Theo's vocals and not being swayed by the constant repair of his guitar, Tom was a good guy.. See Tom?! I really DO like you!

Theo pulled faces on stage faster than a duck on a hot plate (Didn't you ever see that episode of WKRP!?) and kept the crowd going with song after song coupled with the on-stage banter of Tom. "WE NEED ALCOHOL HERE PEOPLE! Our record label runs on money.. But they take our money and now we run on alcohol.. We need somebody buy us drinks!" Tom and Theo announced as Theo's apparent no.1 fan ran on-stage with shooters for the band.

"HEY!" Tom yelped indignantly as he saw the fan's shirt which read "I *heart* Theo" in crude stitched on lettering. "How come I don't have a 'I love Tom' shirt!?"

These guys seem about as levelheaded as a band can be, considering all the publicity and crap they've been through. Even after stepping in it a SECOND time with Tom over the straight jacket thing.. Stuff was cool, despite the weird Gob fans telling Tom to kick my ass.. As long as he would have left my camera alone I think I would have been okay.. Hurt me.. Just not my camera.. After all.. I just bought it.. It cost me 400 bucks too.

Like I said. The night ended well.. I traded e-mails with the Halos, kissed and made up with Tom and managed to confuse the hell out of Theo. "Here." He took the notepad from me and signed it. "No.. I wanted you to do something else.." I said with a slight smile, looking at the autograph.

"Well usually when somebody hands me a piece of paper and a pen.." He looked at me confused.

"Did you have any parting comments about Belleville at all??" I asked nervously. He'd witnessed the 'fight' between Tom and I earlier.

Grinning evilly, he took the pad and wrote. "Fuck you." Hmmm.. Not exactly something I can write home to Mum about.. But anyway.. I passed it to Craig who wrote underneath it "Asshole" and signed it. Sweet. Profanity from TWO Gob members.. Something I can hang on my wall! Tom wrote "If you want to dis me. You can kiss me on my bum." With a very nice arrow running down the page to the KISS symbol. "See here??" He said pointing to the S's as he drew it out again, the S's looking more like Z's. "This is the way all my German Kiss albums look. 'cuz the S's on the American albums look like German SS symbols."

Theo wandered off to bug Kevin because somebody had gotten into the office in the back of the pub, and stolen his favourite shirt. I think that's a LITTLE extreme. Stealing a shirt.. That is stupid and I'm very sorry on behalf of all sane Gob fans who would never do such a thing. As I went to talk to Jinx after the show ended and ask him where Gabe went, the stage was crowded with fans bugging him for drumsticks and guitar picks and strange Gob memorabilia..

Once the vans were packed up and the hugs and kisses were passed around (thanks Tom), I tried to phone a cab. "I'm sorry miss.. We've sent five cabs out there already tonight.. All of them have come back empty."

"I'll be here.. I promise.. I'm helping the bands pack up. I will definitely be here.." So she hung up on me and I went out for the last goodbyes.

"We got your e-mail man!" Gabe and Jay smiled. "We'll be in touch."

"Well.. I'll try to get the review up sometime next week.. I have classes and shit though.. So we'll see." I said as Jinx looked at me with disinterest. Okayyyy.. Well...

My cab pulled up about five minutes later and my cabbie looked at me. Shocked I was actually there, I guess. Driving me home.. He was amazed that I was actually in his cab. "I've been back there five times.."

"I know.." I said tiredly. "Your dispatcher seemed pretty pissed at me.. Said I better be there. I told her I would.. and I was." By the time I stumbled in through my front door, and down my stairs and into my bed, the numbers on my clock glowed 2:35am.. I'd be a barrel of fun come 6:30.. Yes indeed.

Then I'd stumbled out of bed later that morning, with a total of three and a half hours sleep and found the box of POGOs still sitting on the counter. Well... Shit.. I'm sure they'll be okay, I told myself as I closed the box and threw them back into the freezer.. We'll see I guess, they're just hotdogs wrapped in dough.. They'll be just fine, it's my supper for the rest of this month.