VIHC.net VAN ISLE HARDCORE BOARD

Much less have heard about it before, but this seriously bums me out. Fuck you, gentrification! I saw Dropdead and 9 Shocks Terror there. I saw Fearless Vampire Killers (John Joseph, Mackie Jayson, Tom Capone and Cache Tolman playing Cro Mags and Bad Brains tunes) there, I saw The Kill Decible and Fucked Up there more times than I can remember. My friend Meaghan and I would quite often make the drive to Toronto just assuming that there would be a show at the bop. If nobody was playing we'd just hang out with the gang of punk kids that were a permanent fixture on the sidewalk in front of the venue. The first time I was ever served alcohol underage was at this venue. The first time I ever saw people fucking in public was at this venue. The intersection where it's located, Queen St. W. and Bathurst, was called "the ungentrifiable intersection" in large part due all the scuzzy punks and metal heads that used it as sort of hub for their communities. In the middle of sea of Starbucks', Pizza Pizza's and other corporate monstrosities the Big Bop was an enclave of DIY and all ages culture And now they're closing down a legendary venue so they can put in a crappy furniture store that none of the people who made the neighbourhood unique and important can afford to shop at. I can remember being 17 and hanging out after a show chatting with Steve Goof (of the legendary Toronto punk band Bunchofuckingoofs. They have a 7" in Black Raven now. Check them out!) about which type of army boots were the best and which 40's tasted better, usualy punk rock stuff, and he just kept telling me how much he would have killed to have venue like that when he was first starting out in punk rock, and that something that always kinda stuck with me. I'm bummin' hard.

http://www.eyeweekly.com/article/78980

for those of you who dont want to read it:

zach is PUNX.







jk sry dude that is lame. i know how it is to live in a small town and watch as we got chased out of every venue in town. deeeepressing.

I'm going to spend the next three weeks listening to "I Miss That Band" by Paul Baribeau on repeat now and reminiscing about the time I met a semi famous person from a marginally well known band there.

ZACH ATTACK wrote:I'm going to spend the next three weeks listening to "I Miss That Band" by Paul Baribeau on repeat now and reminiscing about the time I met a semi famous person from a marginally well known band there.

fuckin love that song.

condolences for the bummin. Props for the quality bummin tune.

I'm bummed about it closing too. saw my first show there in grade 9 (it was either cannibal corpse or immortal) but haven't been in years.

Queen st. these days breaks my heart.