April 11, 2026
The Meteors play first ever show in Montreal
Seminal UK Psychobilly band The Meteors blasted the main stage at Foufounes Électriques, in Montreal, this past weekend. This would mark their first visit to Canada’s hardest musical city.
Specializing in classic UK imports, promoter Macadam orchestrated the evening, adding none other than local champs The Lab Ratz, Bloodshot Bill and a special Déjà Voodoo performance, featuring band founder Gerard Van Herk. Bloodshot Bill would pick up the sticks and bang out percussions during that set.
See Also: Emperor at MTelus, Montreal
And, who could forget the evening’s witty host, in the form of a certain Arno Schultz. The Montreal tattoo artist successfully rallied the crowd time and time again between sets, expertly wasting our time with off kilter banter and dirty jokes. As you can tell, this was quite the grand ol’ psycho opry. For those not yet convinced, let’s dive into it and try to digest portions of what went down.
The Lab Ratz
Montreal is a weird place with an incredibly fertile, musical soil. And The Lab Ratz, psychobilly denizens extraordinaire, are among the best mutant plants to have grown on this local filth.
The local, 3 piece band didn’t waste any time and immediately dominated the stage as the night’s first act. I mean, look at that monstrous, vandalized bass. Charly Martin, who wields this impressive weapon, is a performer like no other. A top dog entertainer, he literally rode the mammoth-like bass with an ease that spoke to his years as an experienced performer and stage savage. Mick Decosse and Kustom Pat were tight, on guitar and drums respectively, providing the tight skin and bones to the heavy and fast cardiac bass rhythm.
Founded in 2014, the band has many great releases. I hear they’ll be visiting Europe as well, so stay tuned to by airline tickets to go see them abroad.
Bloodshot Bill
Bloodshot Bill may be the musician I’ve seen the most times. At this point, I think it’s more than fair to dub him a veritable king of Montreal music and one of our finest exports.
Despite his still growing international fame and notoriety, Bloodshot Bill is as unassuming as can be. Sitting on stage with his cobbled together bass drum and rudimentary setup, he’s a saliva spitting, knee jerking, back bending rock n’ roll maniac. His shows feel like a congregation of sin, a sort of free space where you can wobble around without fear of judgement. A real party!
At one point, Bloodshot Bill addressed the crowd between songs, in his typically cocky, laid back yet somewhat timid fashion. Taking a long, healthy gulp from a can of Labatt 50, he switched from Dr. Jeckyll to Mr. Hyde. Within minutes, he was licking his guitar, lustfully moaning and panting pervertedly like a man who’d just had a slow, prolonged orgasm after eating 10 plates of spaghetti and meatballs.
I’m convinced that within Bloodshot Bill there are several characters all battling to be released via his vocal chords, contributing to his unique singing style. There’s so much going on with his vocals in a given minute of singing, that it’s difficult to accurately describe. There’s rasp like early Wanda Jackson, Howlin’ Wolf’s well, howling, and a plethora of other points of reference. Yet nothing entirely does it justice. It’s simply Bloodshot Bill de Montréal.
You’ll just have to go see him play the next time you can and try your hand at describing his style.
Gerard van Herk
I’ve used several lofty words such as ”king” and “legend” to describe the night’s artists, and Gerard Van Herk deserves them all.
With a musical trajectory originating as far back as 1980, Gerard, along with drummer Tony Dewald, founded the band Déjà Voodoo in Montreal, along with their record label Og music; they also famously created ”sludgeabilly”, an obscure branch of music you may be hearing about for the first time. Despite Dewald’s passing in 2024 due to cancer, Gerard has played some recent shows, along with Bloodshot Bill on drums, keeping the legacy alive.
While watching Gerard sing and play, I knew I was seeing something special. His vocal delivery was ghoulish, straightforward and awkwardly melodic. Think B52s with a deeper, horror twist. New to this man’s music, I was immediately under his spell. The songs are nerdy garage-rock with surf vibes, dressed in absurd low brow imagery. I vaguely recall songs about food and other topics taken straight from the pages of of Eerie comics.
Stepping out onto the stage, Gerard towered over the crowd, imposing yet calm and utterly friendly as he spoke to the crowd about his songs. Joined by a mysterious man with dark shades on drums, the set was a complete riot. The crowd was immensely grateful at having this Montreal monster of rock play for them. Hopefully, we’ll get another chance to catch Dèjà Voodoo in Montreal, in one form or another.
The Meteors
Well! After all that, The Meteors were finally up next. And the crowd reacted perfectly, with energy and a pit that wouldn’t quit.
The last remaining original member of band, P. Paul Fenech aka PPF666, got on stage. Without wasting much time, he got his hand twanging it barely stoped strumming until the last note was buried alive. To either sides of the stage, private band security were present to stop people from jumping up on stage, I imagine. And eventually, to stop me from taking photos, a task I was granted permission to perform.
Don’t touch the stage stage fruit, I guess, eh?
I admit, I was a bit surprised that the first track was a cover of ”These boots are made for walking”, but afterwards, writing this article, it didn’t take long for me to realize they’ve been playing this one at live shows for well over 30 years! One thing’s for sure though, the crowd was loving it. They slurred and crashed through classics from all over their illustrious repertoire; myself, I ended up getting swept away into the pit, sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly, forgetting to take notes about the show. The crowd was fueled with the purest musical gasoline they could syphon. A killer set, though a bit static at times.
Read More:
>> Black Label Society at MTelus, Montreal
>> Vulgaires Machins at Théâtre Beanfield, Montreal
>> Live at Place Bell, Laval
It must be noted, that long time Meteors drummer Wolfgang Hordemann had recently passed away, in March 2026. He had played with the band for over 30 years and was generally regarded as one of the Psychobilly’s pillars among musicians and fans of the genre and beyond.
The Meteors showed up to Montreal for the very first time and we got Foufounes Électrique’s floorboards creaking and moaning, the entire venue shaking with the incessant whirl of the dance floor’s mosh pit and the fans, smiling with delight the entire time.
