The weather outside the Hard Luck Bar is not fun as you slop yourself down the street and get into a warm and packed bar. The opening notes from The Heart Attack Kids are leaving the stage and permeating the crowd with the sounds of The Whites Stripe. Yes tonight there are three bands covering three iconic bands. The White Stripes are being covered by two musicians who are both male, but the lead singer introduces the drummer as his weird sister/ ex-wife Meg. These two musicians; Jared Ellul and Nathan Stock come from London Ontario, but rock out like true alt punk motifs. The solid rowdy attitude plowed through song like, “Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground” as well as “Seven Nation Army”. The crowd was partying hard for a weeknight and will feel it at work the next day. They finished off with, “Gypsy Death”, and had the crowd drooling for more.

Here are some pics from The Heart Attack Kids’ performance:

Next up was Robo Whore doing their very fine version of Turbonegro. I just learned about Turbnegro about a month ago, so when I saw the singer get on stage I thought he was a cheap knock off of King Diamond or Alice Cooper. I just found the video for their song, “Sell your body (To the Night)” and understood the message behind the make-up. The bands high energy and craziness kept the crowd continuing  with this ritualistic party. Boy this crowd is going to hurt tomorrow. I particularly enjoyed their cover of April Wine’s, “If you see Kay”.  If you don’t the meaning behind this fun song, email me and I will let you know. The band consisted of two sailors, two gangster types, and one hard working drummer. They teased the crowd with a couple Black Sabbath riffs with Devil horns proudly displayed in the air.

Here are some pics from Robo Whore’s performance:

The gathered mass was starting to froth at the mouth because the anticipation of The Cancer Bats doing Black Sabbath.It was going to be something special. I heard some guy screaming if they play, “Symptom of the Universe” and “ Children of the night”, he will be a very happy camper. I will spoil this for you; he was a very happy camper! Their set list was something that both new and old fans would totally get off on. This place was so packed you would have to hold off on going to the washroom, or you may never get back to you place in the mob.

The lead singer Liam Cormier sounded like he drank a full bottle of whiskey and then broke the bottle and gargled the glass as well. I was happy to see the singer doing it his way, because Ozzy has his own unique sound, and anyone else would bastardize that sound. Being a huge Black Sabbath fan, The Cancer Bats set list was awesome. It consisted of songs like:

Children of the Grave

Supernaut: Are you freakin” kidding me!
Black Sabbath
Iron Man
Symptom of the Universe
Electric Funeral

Into the Void
Fairies Wear Boots
N.I.B.
Warpigs

I enjoyed the fact that there were a lot of young people in the audience, who may never have had the pleasure of seeing Black Sabbath live. This iconic band may be retired now but they will never say die. HaHa, see what I did there?

This was truly a unique performance, by a very respected band in the industry. They showed us one of their true loves and gave it to an audience that will never see the original. The crowd reacted very well with creating a mosh pit and doing some stage diving. The metal energy was in a very hellish happy place. The Cancer Bats finished off the evening doing some of their own original tunes. They ripped up the stage and moshed the pit. They did that well, because that is what they do.

Here are some pics from Cancer Bats’ performance:

To learn more about The Heart Attack Boys go to  http://www.heartattackkids.com/

To see where The Cancer Bats are playing go to http://www.cancerbats.com/

The Hard Luck Bar’s concert listing is here… https://www.facebook.com/HardLuckBar/