You know you really must heart the music when you make the trek in Canadian cold all the way out to the Sound Academy (formerly The Docks), which is nestled between lots of nothing and the lake. It was a bitch to get to, but once inside the energetic crowd and tunes (and maybe a G&T) immediately warmed us up.

The Salads were about half way through their set by the time we arrived (which meant we missed Outspoken who opened up the show, whoops). We were just in time to see the undisguising of the drummer who, after wig and glasses were removed, turned out to be Darrin Pfeiffer of Goldfinger. How Pokaroo! The boys put on a good show serving up a delicious reggae-ska-punk punch cocktail.

Next up was the band we were waiting for: The Johnstones. Yowza! They burst out in chaotic energy running around the stage and playing what looked like a game of musical instruments (the trombone player picked a tambourine before jumping on the keyboards, etc). With the amount of running about it seems like their shirtlessness may be more practical than gimmicky. Full of vigor and fun, The Johnstones played a mixture of original punky-ska tunage with rapid-rap and added their personal flavour to covers (like The President of the United States of America’s “Lump” and, Emer’s fave of the night, Moxy Früvous‘s “The King of Spain”). Another highlight was Ryan Long’s wicked drum solo full of flare and stick flips. This is a band to keep your eye on if your corneas can keep up.

When GOB finally got to the stage and we must admit we were left gobsmacked. Having never heard them before we naively expected overly loud punk metal that can be hard to digest. Instead we gobbled up their polished punk (which could be due to the age/musical maturity of a band that’s been around since 1994). Just one question, if GOB were superheros, would the everlasting gobstopper be their archenemy?

Après show iheartthemusic locked ourselves in a bathroom backstage to chat with Johnstones’ lead singer Jarek Hardy (and were later joined by trombonist Julian Warmé who joined us when he needed to come in a take a piss). Check out that interview…