Last Friday, March 22^nd, 2019, three awesome Montreal local punk rock bands – with each their own sweet styles – invited us to join them at Petit Campus, despite the squishy wet weather, for an evening honouring FIGHTFACE’s newest EP, “There’s No Such Thing As FIGHTFACE.” Joining them were punk band The Lookout and psycho-horror punk band Les Necrophiliacs. Petit Campus is of nice enough size to fit a decent crowd and still remain dark and strangely sultry, so it was really well suited for the event. The venue even has red pillar lights to fit the B horror movie themes going on. It was a cozy haven from the outside spring showers. Arriving early, I noticed the quiet setting up of merch tables and even had the treat of meeting a band member; I don’t care how local or underground bands are, it’s always great to meet the people behind the magic.

Not long after the lights going darker than they already were, The Lookout came out to our applause. These guys clearly have a great friendship with one another, or at least on stage they do. All their songs were extremely catchy and well written. Any punk fan would have appreciated them. They made me feel like I wanted to be outside drinking in the hot summer sun with my buddies at a punk festival (psst! They will be part of Pouzza Fest this year!). I got strong The Interrupters vibes, maybe because both bands have badass frontwomen who are always smiling on stage and super personable. Vocalist Martha made things real with us, making us bust out in giggles when she told us she had given birth just six months before the show, and that their return to performing felt good…even though she may or may not have peed her pants a little from rocking so hard. Kudos to all you warrior moms out there! By the end of their set they had everyone in the room smiling and ready for more fun.

Second in line for us were Les Necrophiliacs. Stepping out in three different masks and outfits hinting that they each had their own stage personas, they already seemed interesting. Something that will never get old is hilariously terrifying and creepy lyrics speaking of things like “Don’t fuck your babies or they’ll turn into psycho killers.” Not an incorrect message, but also not for the faint of heart. Cue social justice warrior whining.

These guys are a comedic punk dream team. I believe they could really use a backup singer or a lead guitarist. Vocalist Unnamed Mexican Wrestler Punk Dude seemed like he could use a break from guitar solos, that weren’t great but didn’t take away too much from the show, and focus on his frontman character, which was his obvious strength. At this point, his guitar was dripping in beer and seemingly doused in liquid red stuff. Did he paint himself or was he fucking bleeding?! Either way, it was cool. Towards the end of their set, they gave us a tune called “X,” and I’m a sucker for heavy and quick instrumentals, especially when the musicians execute it masterfully. The drummer, Unnamed Traditional Asian Dude played like he’s being doing it for about a hundred years.

The night peaked when all the old TVs stacked on each other turned on to a strangely beautiful white noise channel, all synchronized and flashing to a whispering voice saying “There’s no such thing as fightface…” and our main act appeared. You could tell the band put a lot of thought into their set and had talked about details together such as visuals and atmosphere setting; they seemed as happy to be there as the crowd was.

FIGHTFACE were extremely true to their theme and genre of murderpunk with the synths dealing classic creep vibes and full band grooving to each other. With every song, they had people in the crowd doing the twist to the music, and everyone was having a genuinely creep-tastic time. It felt like a party more than just a show. It’s not every day you can see a punk rock band that makes you wish you had invited your parents and danced with them there too. “Dead Bodies Dying of Death” was absolutely the hit song everyone was waiting to hear, as spectators were chanting the lyrics. If the night had turned into a murder scene with a slasher killer, I wouldn’t even have been mad…wasn’t I already in a B horror movie? If we had had it our way, we would’ve gotten an encore with more about cheerleader zombies, but we can leave that for next time.

Written by Talia Plante
Photography by Michael Kovacs
*edited by Mike Milito