Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Doors: 6:00pm
Mothra: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
Our Mercury: 7:15pm - 7:45pm
Choke: 8:00pm - 8:40pm
Moneen: 9:00pm - 10:00pm

“Aggressive melodic pop” is how Moneen likes to describe their music. But the description tells only half the story of this Toronto quartet’s impressive, complex and ultimately indescribable sound. With influences ranging from the Beach Boys' to the Dillinger Escape Plan and Jimmy Eat World, Moneen display a songwriting sophistication and technical prowess beyond their youthfulness (members are in their early 20s) and brief three-and-a-half-year existence.

Forming from the ashes of the band Perfectly Normal in 1999 in Brampton, they debuted with an EP and then 2001's critically acclaimed full-length, The Theory Of Harmonial Value. Both were released on the Canadian indie label Smallman Records, but by 2002, Moneen had already caught the attention of one of today's most influential and respected independent record companies, Vagrant (home to Dashboard Confessional, Rocket From The Crypt, Saves the Day, and Paul Westerberg, among others).

Together, Smallman and Vagrant have released the latest Moneen disc, Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?, a stunning glimpse into the Moneen universe, the record jumps from genre to genre, mixing straightforward, hard-driving rock and ambient, artsy soundscapes for a progressive pop punk sound quite unlike anything else out there. Meanwhile, the band translates this musical complexity into joyful, gleefully unhinged concert experiences, where it the band strives to break down the walls that separating audience from performer.

Considered by many music critics to be one of the best punk bands in Canada, Choke combine influences from jazz to punk to metal and more. Since their inception in 1994, the Edmonton band has toured Canada and the U.S. non-stop, galvanizing audiences with a combination of subtlety and brute force. That latest album, Slow Fade or: How I Learned to Question Infinity, eclipses any of its predecessors. Building on the foreshadowing guitar experimentation on previous Choke records, Slow Fade combines velocity, powerful vocals and pounding rhythmic intensity.