Gang of Four at Velvet Underground - Concert Pictures

Uber-influential English post-punk group Gang of Four, featuring sole original member, guitarist Andy Gill, played Toronto's Velvet Underground, opening for The Faint, on October 2. I've been a Gang of Four fan since I first heard the relentless riff and beat of "Naturals Not In It" back in the day. This show marked my first time seeing the band live and it was a great experience.

Gill's guitar sound and playing were awesome. The band's stone-faced posing and heaps of attitude perfectly complimented the solid beats and bass, angular riffs and discordant swaths. There was plenty of on-stage chaos with band members running into each other and creating cable spaghetti as they criss-crossed the stage, while singer John "Gaoler" Sterry utilized all three vocal mics. As The Faint singer Todd Fink would later say about them, they're so fucking cool.

Check out some tunes from their setlist:

"Love Like Anthrax"

"I Parade Myself"

"Damaged Goods"

"Natural's Not In It"

"At Home He's A Tourist"

"To Hell With Poverty"

New music from The Faint: Skylab 1979 and Young & Realistic

The Faint, veteran electro-punks from Omaha, are coming out with a greatest hits album called Capsule: 1999-2016 on September 30 and are hitting the road. They reach Toronto on October 2 for a show at The Danforth Music Hall. I hope to be there, camera in tow. I love the groove and hooks this band produces.

Check out some of the new and classic tunes that will be on this album:

"Skylab 1979"

"Young and Realistic"

Probably my favourite Faint song, "Dropkick the Punks"

"I Disappear"

"Agenda Suicide"

They're on tour with Gang of Four, another band I've longed to see live. Give a listen to "Naturals Not In It".

Pic from Facebook.

Rain Will Fall by I Mother Earth

Back in the olden days we had to go up to club DJs to ask what a song was and who it was by. Just like I asked the guys at the Phoenix for the name of "Rain Will Fall" by I Mother Earth or when I called up Bob Mackowitz to ask about the theme song for a Q107 radio segment called Street Beat - "Naturals Not In It" by Gang of Four.

Yup. First world problems and life before Shazam. The application. Not the super hero.

Gang of Four: Still relevant after all these years

When I was but a young lad, listening to The Mighty Q107 here in Toronto, I heard this great riff. It was used as background music for a concert listings piece that Bob Mackowitz used to do called "Street Beat". I eventually called into the station and asked Bob himself what the song was called. He told me "Naturals Not In It" by the Gang of Four. It was on their 1979 album Entertainment. It's still a great riff to this day.



And it's in a Kinect ad.



And here's "You'll Never Pay for the Farm" from their new album Content.