I rushed back from Thanksgiving in the city on Oct. 11 to catch Montreal punk stalwarts the Ripcordz at Inferno.
While I missed the Reckless Rebels’ opening set, I arrived in time to catch a punk waltz from The Royal Red Brigade, which segued in to “I put a Spell on You.”
The always fun Motherfuckers were up next with an energetic street of greasy street punk featuring frontman Dan Izzo stripping off his shirt and launching his heavily tattooed chest in the middle of a good sized, enthusiastic audience.
“Rock and Roll ” was a highlight of a very tight set of incendiary beer drenched punk. They gave a shout out to GG Scallywag for doing sound and organizer Alex Currie.
They dedicated one of my favourites “ Old Enough to Know Better” to Currie and followed it up with “More Beer.”
The Ripcordz finished the night with a short, sweet set of rock and roll infused punk spanning their 30 some year career including early songs like “Youth War,” and “Your Mother Wears Army Boots” and frontman Paul Gott sent “Hardcore” out to the frenetic mosh pit in front of the stage.
They dedicated “Beer Pit Girls” to the women moshing in the middle of the pit.
They played a lot of the songs from their most recent CD “Made in Montreal” including “Riot” and BPG (Beer Punk Girls).
In his throat shredding vocals, frontman Paul Gott also had plenty to say and sing about over-exuberant police as well including a newer song “728”.
Throughout, he played energetic, catchy four on the floor, balls to the wall guitar, shouting out to the Royal Red Brigade for showing him how to play guitar better.
“D’oh Canada” was a highlight and a brand new song “Punk Till I Die,” captured the essence of the older punks in the audience.
They wound things down with “You are N
ot Alone” and ended their hot set with “Anarchy.”
