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Favourite punkers to close Boot Pub

Seven bands wrap up Boot Punk Night
1316sidesixtyseven
Fast and loud - Sidesixtyseven at the Boot, Thursday. Photo submitted

Only two Punk Nights remain, Sunday, April 23 and a special edition Thursday, April 27, before the Boot Pub closes shop for good.

Only the best of the best will sound off Whistler’s ultimate anti-club night: seven of Punk Night ringmaster Lindsay Shedden’s favourite bands.

Edmonton’s Choke of Smallman Records is making a special trip out for the Sunday concert, to join forces once again with Vancouver friends Sidesixtyseven. Shedden also squeezed Mandown into the lineup. So many favourite bands, so little time as the wrecking ball prepares to drop.

Three Inches of Blood, A Javelin Reign, Pride Tiger and Slush will stage the last Boot Punk Night ever, packing all of Shedden’s favourite punks into one week of hardcore listening.

Shedden gave her take on each favourite.

Choke is one of the most respected indie punk touring acts in the country, taking their prog-rock tech-punk nationwide.

"They are one of the most moving and powerful bands," she said. "They have this way of getting under the skin of everyone, watching and unleashing something they probably didn’t know they had."

Sidesixtyseven rocks with the best, including joining the 2004 Van’s Warped Tour as well as sharing greenrooms with Bad Religion, Supersuckers, A.F.I., Death By Stereo, G.O.B. and D.O.A., to name a few. "They are my long time favourites," Shedden said.

"They played three or four shows a year here. They’ve been around nine years and I’ve been watching them for seven. They are fast and loud. I like everything about their music. It gets everyone moving. They are wild and fun."

Mandown is a skate punk band from Vancouver that regularly drives Highway 99.

"They are the tightest three-piece band I know," Shedden said. "They get straight to the point and get stuck in your head. They are raw, but catchy enough to stick with you."

Three Inches of Blood cracks reality with fantasy-driven metal music. The Vancouver-band toured globally in the company of platinum rockers The Darkness and released two albums on the prominent Roadrunner label.

"It’s definitely Whistler’s favourite band," Shedden said. "They are so loud. They just roar at you and I love that. I love how they get everybody’s fists in the air and yelling."

Javelin Reign of Lovelost Records punish metal with a positive reggae vibe, sharing stages with the likes of The End and Dissonance, Goatsblood, Buried Inside and Exhumed.

"Hands down, this is one of my very, very favourite bands," Shedden said. "The way (the frontman) moves reminds me of a spider. He stomps around and does these kicks. Their songs are about two sentences long, but the way they sing it, they drag it out for four minutes. They are just destruction."

Slush is Whistler’s oldest punk band, with seven albums to their credit. Expect fast and heavy roaring with plenty of stage-diving to go around.

"They are one of the best bands to come out of Whistler," Shedden said. "I am really impressed how they’ve kept it together: one member spends half the year in Australia. They hook up every summer. They are the good-time band."

Pride Tiger includes two former Three Inches of Blood punks who play ’70s-garage-inspired psych rock.

"They are epic," she said. "They are just heavy rock. They are a stadium rock sound. They have metal roots."

Tickets are $12 at the door for the Sunday show and $20 for the Thursday show. Advanced tickets available at the Boot: 50 tickets will be released at the door.