Viet Cong – The Kings Arms January 21, 2016

It seems January gigs at The Kings Arms hold a special kind of charm. Often the venue is hot, sweaty and jam-packed with fans anxious to start the new year off in a rock and roll frenzy. On this particular evening the weather wasn’t so hot, the room not so packed, but the band was extraordinary.

Hailing from Calgary, this Canadian quartet has been garnering interest since the release of their EP, Cassette, in 2013. Their self-titled debut album, out at the beginning of 2015 generated even more excitement, and seeing them perform in a club like the Kings Arms it’s easy to see what all the hub-bub is about.

They’ve been described as “post-punk”, or “post-rock”…there are elements of math rock, noise rock, prog rock…you name it, but the result is a high-tension sound that is both exciting and challenging.

The band took the stage at 10:30 with gangly vocalist/bassist Matt Flegel centre-stage flanked by guitarist/keyboard players Scott (Monty) Munro and Daniel Christiansen. The heavily-bearded Munro looked like the ghost of the recently-deceased Dan Haggerty of Grizzly Adams fame. Meanwhile blonde-haired, shirtless drummer Mike Wallace cut a stunning figure behind his kit.

They began with Throw It Away, from Cassette, with vintage film footage of a motorcycle cruising down the highway projected behind them. I was immediately impressed with Flegel’s fluid bass lines, often difficult to play while singing.

The vocalists ended the song with a smile on his face, obviously pleased with the band’s performance. While the music was often dark, jagged and complex, there was always a sense of fun felt during the set.

Monty threw down some fine, angular guitar lines during Unconscious Melody, then as the band was preparing to play Silhouettes, Flegel took a swig from his beer, wiped his mouth, while Monty literally hopped up and down in anticipation. The enthusiasm was contagious.

A highlight was March Of Progress, which featured a grunty guitar riff and evolved into a noisy jam. This led into Continental Shelf, which consisted of the band jamming on one, long chord before Wallace cut in with a cyclical beat.

During the set, the focus seemed to shift from front man Flegel, to the two guitarist, who did double duty on keyboards during March Of Progress, then, finally to drummer Mike Wallace for the epic set closer, Death.

On the album, Death runs to 11 minutes, but this version stretched past the 20 minute mark and every moment was thrilling. After several minutes of jangly guitar interplay, the tune built in intensity until Wallace led the charge with a devastating human drum loop that seemed to never end. He clearly enjoy smashing the bejesus out of his kit and by the time they finished…exactly an hour after they’d begun, there was no need for an encore. There was enough substance in what they had just played to satisfy the most hungry music fan for hours afterward.

The band has announced that they plan to change their name, after copping some flak from folks who find it offensive, perhaps they should change it to “Awesome”, because that’s what they were tonight.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Christopher Zwaagdyk:

Viet Cong set list:

1. Throw It Away
2. Unconscious Melody
3. Silhouettes
4. Bunker Buster
5. March Of Progress
6. Continental Shelf
7. Death