God bless the east and the cursed north
as we catch our breath and raise our sails the last time.
On a summer’s day in July 2010, I saw North of America perform in my friend’s living room. Somehow, it was one of three times I got to see my favorite band in all of Canada perform that weekend. While each performance was exhilarating, it was the secret house show that was truly special: packed together in a sweaty Calgary living room, down the narrow hall and into the kitchen, friends and artists from all across the country were anxiously poised to watch the reunited post-hardcore pride and joy of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Without exaggeration, I assure you: that nation-wide audience was louder than the band, and we knew every word.
But let’s back up a bit. North of America broke up in 2003, not long after releasing Brothers, Sisters on Level Plane. In early 2010, however, it was announced that the Haligonian group would be playing a pair of reunion shows in Toronto and Montreal, coinciding with both the release of 12345678910 (a rarities/compilation tracks/etc. cassette on Bart Records) and the tenth anniversary of the Blue Skies Turn Black record label. Also reuniting for the Montreal show was Rockets Red Glare, and that settled it: if you were a fan of Canadian post-hardcore and/or math-rock, you knew where you had to be. People flew not just across Canada, but across borders: as Michael Catano notes, “Someone flew here from fucking Japan.”
I’ve got plans for the future but plans never matter
because plans never ever work out.
I wasn’t able to make the trek across the country, but my chance to finally see North of America was nigh. On April 1st, I woke up to the buzzing of my phone receiving a text. The full line-up announcements for that year’s Sled Island festival had been announced that morning, and my girlfriend sent me a text with seven words: “North of America are coming for Sled!”
But wait, stop. It’s April Fools Day. “Is this real?” I texted back, scouring the Internet for confirmation. (Let this be a lesson to festival promoters: April 1st is never a good day to make lineup announcements). I showed her text to my roommate and he went straight to the source, contacting North of America guitarist/vocalist Mark Mullane. By lunch, it was no joke: holy shit, our favorite band in the country is coming!
Sing and dance with abandon discard pretension sin-to-sin and heart-to-heart we’re going down and getting off our party line is heading south again.
What happened after that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that during the house show, I knew I was witnessing something I would never forget. I wanted to capture at least one song on video for posterity, but I only managed to record a minute and a half of “Let’s Get Sick To Our Stomachs” before the battery in my girlfriend’s camera died. Aside from a collection of photos, it’s the only documentation of a show I still can’t believe happened. Still, even watching this brief excerpt — the ebullient joy spread across each shouting face, the unstoppable movement, and voices from across the country united with every word — it feels magical. July 1st may be Canada Day, but July 2nd? In 2010, that was North of America day.
Lost at sea but not alone we’ll survive it all.
(photo: Tom Kerr)
