February 1, 2025
Moshcore fiends C.I.D.B headline the Underground Cabaret in Point Saint-Charles
Underground culture has always found a way to meld different scenes together in an attempt to bridge non-mainstream ideology and interests, as was the case tonight as C.I.D.B headline the Underground Cabaret. Doing so helps all involved find a broader audience and in cases like this, helps artists and performers find more eyes on their chosen art form.
This wonderfully bizarre soiree took place at a somewhat new spot named Tapage, which is part of the incredible Batiment 7 co-op, and if you don’t know what that is, its high time you found out. To say it’s a fascinating story is more than an understatement.
See Also: Voivod and the OSM at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Montreal
Tabage is rapidly becoming the go-to spot for punk shows in Montreal, especially now that certain things that we won’t discuss here have come to light, bringing down the Traxide and everything that it was and represented. Although it has re-opened under a new name, with new people in charge – the history of that area, going back to the days of American John have left a stench that many aren’t willing to forgive or forget.
Tonight was to be a mixture of burlesque, drag, identity and of course the glue that binds counter-culture together – punk rock.
With February being the start of black history month, the focus tonight was heavily on having a diverse collection of artists and performers on stage, and that was certainly achieved. A wide variety of ethnicities and sexual orientations were represented here, with a strong enthesis or the LGBTQ community with the whole punk rock everyone is welcome mentality – and the result was a fun, peaceful night of entertainment with a political undertone.
Hosted by Korra Anarchy, tonight’s edition of the Underground Cabaret had burlesque and drag performers by Yikes Macaroni, Irony, Genevieve Allura and Tristan Nestea (great name, by the way) between three musical performances from the likes of Big Sissy, Jodie Jodie Roger and headliner C.I.D.B.
Big Sissy
Big Sissy seemed a little nervous to start her set, seemingly having a few technical issues and requesting a guitar tuner from anyone in the audience. But all that was soon sorted out and she seemed to settle down once the crowd applauded her first number.
A sort of one-person beat poetry ordeal, using samples played off a laptop computer and a guitar – which was honestly quite interesting and given the warehouse-like ambience of the Tapage, felt quite authentic and real, too. Sort of like how I imagine New York might have been some years ago. Don’t ask me why New York – I don’t know. That’s the image my mind’s eye drew up.
While at its heart, I want to believe the message Big Sissy is trying to put across is positive, much of it comes across as hateful towards men, and I’m really not looking to hear any form of hate spewed about anyone. The world has enough of that as it is. Again, I understand the reasoning or rationale behind it but surely there’s a better way to portray that in this day and age. To be part of the solution you’re fighting for rather than the archaic mindset that you’re against. Just my two cents.
That warehouse ambience worked quite well with the burlesque and drag performers too. I’ve seen both artforms live in the past but always in a cozy, warm and well dressed up venue, on a fancy stage in a room filled with antiques, pianos and things of that nature. Haute cuisine, I suppose you might say. But I might like this dreary setting even more, that’s before taking the punk ethos into consideration.
Tonight’s setting in a cold, dank and dreary industrial spot made things feel more dirty for lack of a better word. Gritty, even. Having a stage so low to the ground, and covered in instruments that almost forced the artists to perform in the audience was also a fun little motive that you might find elsewhere, and that was actually something I enjoyed quite a bit. Everything felt that much more real, more in the moment.
Jodie Jodie Roger
The second musical act of the night was an interesting one, to say the least. A sort of mixture of rap, rock and performance art that walks the lines laid down by artists like Death Grips, Dalek and H09909 while finding its own niche although the way. With, of course, a heavy punk rock influence sown into the whole mix.
Jodie Jodie Roger drops the traditional microphone (see what I did there?) in exchange for yelling into the severed head of a mannequin! I appreciate when a musician, or a band, attempts to bring a visual motif along with the soundscape they’re creating. It brings a full package to the performance at hand, and helps to portray a, well, image to the audience and I think for a one-man project like this, in a space like this, that Jodie Jodie Roger did a great job doing exactly that.
Advertised at the start of the night by host Korra Anarchy as “a sort of rap rock”, I was expecting more rap than rock. Yet the vocals were far harsher than I thought they’d be – which is fine by me. Played over beats played off a laptop, this is where the comparison to the aforementioned artists comes in. As is also the case with artists like H09909 – I found there to be a heavy helping of shock rock akin to that of Marilyn Manson at play here, and I’m all for it.
This is something I’ll have to check out at a later date, to see how the studio recordings sound. An artist that is now on my radar, no doubt.
C.I.D.B
C.I.D.B – or Catapulting Infected Dead Bodies, which has to be one of the best names for a band in a long time – were the final act to take to the stage on the night, and while the cold was permeating this old trainyard building, C.I.D.B were dead set on warming it and everyone that came out to see them up, all toasty like.
There is a fun aurora that flows around the lads in C.I.D.B – a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously and instead just has a good time. That is contagious and it spreads to everyone that comes out to see them. Whether that’s in a mosh pit or just hanging out, watching them do their thing on stage.
There are a lot of really good bands in this city – actually let me expand that to there being a lot of great artists from all disciplines – Montreal is an art city. A cultural hot pot. In the world of punk or metal, whatever you want to call it, few are as fun and light-hearted as C.I.D.B. – and that is their niche.
Apparently, C.I.D.B hate bed bugs. They played a song about their hatred of the nasty little parasites on three separate occasions. The same song, no less. Luckily it’s at most a twelve second ditty. (Not diddy – that’s a different type of parasite. Although, strangely, that parasite also hangs out in your bed, unwanted.)
A mysterious power outage caused a guitar amp to go silent for a few minutes, but not even that could prevent this from being a fun and memorable night. For a second, I thought I might have stepped on a cable or something to cause the issue – but upon closer inspection, noticed I was wearing loafers. (Get it! The Simpsons! Oh, come on!) So it couldn’t have been me. I swear.
I left the Tapage with a smile on my face and a C.I.D.B patch in my pocket, because it has the face of Nic Cage on it, which I found to be too funny to ignore. I don’t even like Nic Cage. He’s ridiculous!
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I stopped in at the adjoining microbrewery named Sans Taverne for a quick black lager to cap off the night. It had been a while since I stopped in and since I was in the vicinity, well, I’d be a fool to pass up such an opportunity.
Tonight had been quite an interesting experience. And one I hope to live again some sunny day. Hopefully there are more shows like this to come at Tapage.
