As my band headed out once again yesterday to play our latest show, we were excited to be opening for Montreal's own Subsistance. Having seen them once earlier this year at a basement show, and having them melt my face with their awesomeness, playing this show was definitely something to look forward to.

The promoter told us to be there by 5:30 sharp, so off we went dodging rush-hour traffic...only to be blocked by a major accident a few blocks from the venue. A good 20 to 30 minutes later we arrive a little late, although we would soon discover it didn't matter.

As we arrive, we quickly realize no one else is there yet, although we're informed by the owner that the gig was moved to the bigger downstairs venue. So far so good. The other bands eventually arrive, everything is set up and we begin the agonizing wait until showtime.

Eight o'clock rolls around and the crowd outside is...less then what we're used to to say the least. Oh well, the show must go on, and on it went.

As we tore into our opening track "Zero Hours Left", we play and realize...we can't hear ourselves. Seems Mavericks decided to put a new guy on sound (as opposed to our friend Ben from the Sewer Rats who does an awesome job) who either didn't know how to work the controls properly, or just didn't care. I think it was both. We made the best of the situation and tried our best to play through every song without losing rhythm or timing and with the exception of 1 song, I'd say we did pretty damned well. The crowd ate it up and our Friend Jessica took some pictures so our band finally has something to show. Props to her!

The Obscene Bastards put on a very fast aggressive set a la 80's UK sound, while the Suicide Pilots afterwards sounded almost IDENTICAL to the Dead Kennedys, Jello-esque voice included. In their mosh pit, there was a lady who must have been at least 50 years old, and couldn't have weighed more then 110 pounds, and lemme tell ya she kicked the shit out of us youngsters. It's good to see people stick with it throughout their lives and never give up on what they believed when they were younger, but I digress.

Machine Gun Dolly hit the stage next playing old favorites from their last self-titled CD, and giving the crowd exactly what they wanted. Never a disappointment, and I'm looking forward to their new album in a few months.

Subsistance was up next...and no one could have prepared me for one of the best live sets I have ever seen in my life.

If I had to sum up their performance in one word, it would be relentless. Blasting through some of my favorites like "Police State", "Keep up the Fight", "Quiet Revolution" and "Lacrymogène" off of their full-length "Bleed, Sweat & Strive"(which I will be reviewing this week, so watch out for that). Throwing in a cover of Agnostic Front's "Gotta Go" got the crowd going like no other.

If the fact the sound was against them like all the other bands throughout the night, or if that crowd was smaller then usual, it was impossible to tell. Blending the perfect amount of crowd interaction, epic sound and stage presence, they were a force that no one would dare reckon with, and that remained unchanged for their entire set.

I think the thing that really stood out to me, is that they seemed to care about what they were singing about. And they had fun while doing all of this. They brought back the atmosphere I used to feel when I was a lot younger and going to shows.

After the show, Jesse from Machine Gun Dolly, my friend Sarah from The Dead End Kids and I headed out with Subsistance to the Dominion Tavern, the local punk bar not too far from the show and shared stories over pitchers of beer. The lads from Subsistance told me they were impressed with the crowd at the show. Even though there weren't as many as I had hoped, for them it was a good local turnout.

"Hardly anyone in Montreal comes out for all-local band shows anymore" their lead singer and bassist Matheo informs me. "If there's a bigger band, sure they'll come out, but all local bands?", "Forget It!" he says. "The kids here in Ottawa, they move, no one moves like that in Montreal anymore". With those words, I suddenly felt proud to be a part of our punk scene here.

We ended up staying at the Dom until about 3am when they kicked us out. We all piled back into the Subsistance van, where we made our way across the city to Jesse's place to pass out and find some grub, after nearly getting arrested by the cops, and getting lost twice.

I live for this kinda shit.

Band Listing:

www.myspace.com/subsistance (Or search 'em up on Mohawkradio!)

www.myspace.com/machinegundollymob (Or search 'em up on Mohawkradio!)

www.myspace.com/thesuicidepilots

www.myspace.com/zerohoursleft (Or search 'em up on Mohawkradio!)

SUBSISTANCE - Bleed, Sweat & Strive – Arisen Records

Reviewed by: Massimo Ligazzolo

Voices of the Streets Fanzine - Austria

Yeah, finally it's time for some good old Hc-Punk again. I neglected this kind of music a bit for a while but thanks to the Canadian band SUBSISTANCE this sound is back in my cd player. This band surely is one of the best bands in this genre. If I had to open a drawer I would compare them to KILL YOUR IDOLS but there is a big BUT, SUBSISTANCE have a lot more melodies in their songs. The melody comes from the lead vocals, the great backup vocals and the fantastic basslines (e.g." Police State"). Because of this superb basslines I grabbed out my own bass again. One of the best songs of the whole album surely is "Madrid's verdict" one part drives into another and all these differents parts are hold together by this energetic chorus, great! If you haven't noticed yet, I really dig this album. Also the lyrics are very engaged, so this Cd is a must have!

War Birth Fanzine - France, Subsistance : Bleed, sweat & strive

 Tout d' abord je commence par des excuses, les mecs m' avaient envoyé une première démo et j' avais jamais vraiment prit le temps de m'y attarder pour en faire une chronique. Mea culpa! Hop je me rattrape c' est partit. Premier album donc, en 8 ans pour les quebecquois de Subsistance et apparemment le Québec ça énerve. 13 titres de hardcorepunkcrust en 30 minutes. A voir l' artwork fortement influencé par Crass on sait à quoi s' attendre. Le monde craint, sa fin est proche et ça fait du bien de gueuler toute sa frustration et sa colère dans un micro. L' album noir de Rancid est très proche, F Minus sont pas loin, le punxnotdead anglais non plus et on pense aussi parfois à Inner Terrestrial sans le reggae. Les lyrics (principalement en anglais mais aussi en français) sont veneres, sombres et remettent en cause quasiment tout ce que notre éducation nord occidentale nous a inculqué. Bref 30 minutes de rage sombre qui nous rappel la merde dans laquelle on vit. J' adhère.

2007 - Arisen Records - www.subsitance.net - xGx

Bang Bang Magazine , Montreal  , Subsistance - Bleed, Sweat & Strive

La formule a depuis longtemps été explorée à fond mais Subsistance la reprend bien. Un street punk rapide et accrocheur avec des solides passes de basse qui peut s'apparenter à un croisement entre Rancid et Subhumans UK. Si Subsistance venait de Californie et que Tim ou Lars de Rancid avait eu vent de sa musique, il se retrouverait fort probablement sur Hellcat présentement plutôt que d'avoir réalisé son album de façon DIY. Le moins que l'on puisse dire, c'est que les trois gars de Subsistance ont le spirit. Des chansons dénonçant la brutalité policière, l'exclusion sociale et le besoin de changement dans notre société dominée par le profit. Exactement le genre de groupes qui aurait fitté au Loudhouse il y a quelques années. Disons que pour un premier album réalisé de façon indépendante, c'est pas mal impressionnant comme résultat. Mention honorable pour avoir placé le fameux extrait de Keith Morris dans le DVD American Hardcore au début de la pièce Reduced To Silence.

Exclaim

Subsistance
Bleed, Sweat & Strive ..Subsistance-->
By Keith Carman

Thanks to their similar nature — testosterone-fuelled vitriol and a generally overdriven, uncompromising attack — crusty punk and hardcore seem an obvious pairing. However, few bands ever attempt to bridge this genre gap and of those that do, fewer manage to obtain results as impressive as Subsistance. Packed with abrasively confrontational songs, Bleed, Sweat & Strive unites the steely-eyed confidence of hardcore with the ravenous, politically charged attack of crusty punk. The results are an album that shoots for the jugular during verses and steps back enough in the choruses to infuse some half-time hooks and chant-along barbs. Moreover, it confirms that being equally influenced by the likes of Crass, Decontrol and Sick Of It All can produce a unique yet commanding sound without being outright weird, dated or stale.

Punkme up!

By Cath B. - 8/10

Nouvel album pour ce jeune groupe engagé à tendance street-punk qui avait accouché de son album éponyme il y a un peu plus d'un an. Leur premier disque était distribué gratuitement via des annonces sur divers sites (Quebecpunkscene.net par exemple) pour le faire connaître le plus possible et ainsi se donner une excellente vitrine. C'était donc via cette annonce que j'avais reçu ma copie d'un disque fait entièrement maison, de la pochette à la peinture sur le cd. Distribué entre autres par Anger Distribution, fière distro anarchiste et engagée qui distribue des albums étrangers et locaux tout en restant fidèle à son idéologie anarchiste.

Voilà donc Bleed, Sweat and Strive, un album qui montre un groupe ayant pris beaucoup de maturité depuis son premier jet. La maturité est autant du côté des paroles que dans la structure des textes, mais le plus gros pas a été fait sur la musique, les arrangements ainsi que sur la voix. C'est un chant agressif et enragé sans toutefois crier à s'en arracher la gorge, ce qui est un point positif pour plusieurs. La musique est aussi très rapide, hachée et violente comme l'est souvent le street punk façon un peu CASUALTIES et compagnie. C'est un excellent album pour ceux qui aiment leur punk engagé certes, mais aux textes et aux propos intelligents, qui ne chialent pas uniquement pour faire du bruit et vendre des disques. Ils nous parlent du pouvoir, autant politique que de la part des entreprises, de la démocratie et de sa mauvaise utilisation au profit des riches et des puissants, des médias et de l'influence qu'ils exercent sur nous, bref, il s'agit d'une grosse dénonciation sociale et de tout ce qui ne fonctionne pas dans notre société et dans le système dans lequel nous vivons. Les chansons sont rédigées presque à part égales entre le français et l'anglais, ce qui donne un bon équilibre et l'usage de l'anglais est bien dosé. Il est intéressant de voir un groupe oser chanter en anglais et en français sur le même opus puisque bien peu de bands se lancent dans cette aventure qui est pourtant très sympathique à l'oreille.

C'est également très intéressant de voir un nouveau groupe faire dans ce genre de musique qui se cherchent des nouveautés à présenter. Ce style, punk rageur, était davantage populaire il y a quelques années, dans les obscures salles de bars louches et dans les sous-sols d'églises. La flamme s'était calmée pour finalement presque s'éteindre petit à petit, laissant sa place au emo et au hardcore dans le lecteur cd des gens, sauf dans celui des puristes qui y croient toujours. C'est pourquoi les groupes comme SUBSISTANCE, qui croient encore au D.I.Y., des groupes qui continuent dans cette voie, qui continuent d'y croire, sont vraiment les bienvenus. Punks de ce monde, unissez vous et tirez l'oreille vers ce jeune groupe des plus prometteurs!