October 1st, 2025
Earslaughter on Montreal’s St-Hubert Plaza
Endless Swarm and friends invaded Montreal’s Lopez this past Wednesday; Muscle Memory, Pastoral, Pavel Chekov and Endless Swarm were on the bill. It was a civilized evening of ear splitting, musical intensity.
Opening the night was Muscle Memory, playing their first show as a unit. And boy, it did not disappoint.
See Also: Dwarves at Foufounes Electriques, Montreal
A fastcore band formed of local music veterans from Montreal, fronted by master shredder Nick Pappagiorgio. The band played a short but powerful set to a full house. They must have played for a maximum of 15 minutes. During that time, everyone was rapt with attention.
The crowd was like a pack of raccoons staring at a mountain of delicious Oreo boxes. Transfixed and unable to move like deer staring down death in the form of car headlights, the crowd devoured the aggressive riffs with gusto. But before I knew it, their set was done. A real tragedy!
Pastoral.
Now, I’m not a very religious man. And though I can’t say for certain, I’m willing to bet a small, worthless object, that Pastoral are not god fearing folk either. Their existence seems blasphemous to me in the best way possible. The oozed humour. The singer Matt’s banter between tracks was shotgun short and deliciously awkward. The crowd giggled. I appreciated that the band was smiling, occasionally laughing as they ended songs. A band having fun, is a band worth seeing!
On the flyer, they were labeled as powermince, which is a word that makes me want to eat a sandwich-of minced meat, of course- while seated in the furthest pew, way at the back of the church, as I wonder what the hell it is I’m doing in a holy establishment to begin with.
I may not even have napkins, and be forced to use my sock or possibly a page of holy scripture to wipe the sauce off my chin. You see, I’m not a very religious man. But I’d eat a sandwich in a church with no napkin in a heartbeat.
Pavel Checkov
I always watch bass players and Pavel Checkov has an insanely dope, heavy bassist named Todd Thompson. I spent about 20% of their set admiring his bass; it looked like it had been chewed on by a beaver, sanded unevenly on all the edges and perhaps snacked upon by the bassist himself in a life or death situation.
The singer, Alan Dailey who stalked around an invisible perimeter like a madman, may also have been damaged but in ways not visible to the naked eye. His performance was attention snatching, to say the least, as he stomped around planting his feet and leaning back to yell out his particular style of vocals. A very dynamic set.
Though the guitarist seemed slightly understimulated, his riffs shook the room. What was really cool was the fact they used very well chosen audio snippets, as interludes or introductions before songs, which really added a ton of atmosphere to the set.
They also had a great tendency to break into these groovy passages that really got your head banging. They were perhaps my favorite overall performance of the evening.
Endless Swarm
This fast and furious show was rapidly coming to an end, but not before Scotland’s own Endless Swarm took the floor. Fronted by singer Graham Caldwell, they presented a very rich tapestry of musical extremism.
While Graham seems to transition from one oddball character to another as he sings, standing on his head, running into the crowd and constantly being unpredictable, the band itself maintains a solid stance, pumping out heavy music like pros.
I remember watching drummer Dave Taylor and appreciating the smooth, technical drumming I was witnessing. So much energy was released by this band during their set, it could power a small city!
All in all, it was a very memorable night, with everyone in the room smiling the whole time. The venue, Lopez, is a small and cozy streetwear shop on the St-Hubert plaza, in Montreal, and occasionally plays host to fast and heavy musical displays.
Read More:
>> Bruce Dickinson at Mtelus, Montreal
>> Korn at Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
>> Descendents at Metlus, Montreal
Not only has the store imposed itself as a neighborhood staple, but it’s also carved a clear presence on the Plaza for Montreal subculture.
Clearly, they aim to remain ambassadors or at the very least, facilitators, for the local underground music scene. In a world that is increasingly introverted and focused on shallow digital realms, we wish this humble bastion of live music ongoing success and prosperity. We’re look forward to the next show!
