Single Mothers (photo: Lindsey Blane)
With legend of their drunken, self-destructive live sets preceding them, London, Ontario quartet Single Mothers brought their punk roar to Victoria, BC for a headlining show in a half-full venue. Vocalist Drew Thomson claimed early in their set that the band had been sober for the past seven shows, which seemed quite suspect considering he was double-fisting rider beers for the entire show.
After fighting through a vehicle breakdown that caused them to miss their Vancouver appearance the night before, Single Mothers were in slightly subdued form, playing the bulk of their 2014 album, Negative Qualities with less rambunctiousness than we’re used to seeing from them. Dressed all in black jeans and dress shirts, it didn’t take long for Thomson to begin unbuttoning his shirt; bare-chested by their last song, Thomson led all four members out shirtless for the band’s one-song encore. So that was pretty cool.
Those expecting an epic gnar-fest of scream therapy and bashed brains got a more restrained Single Mothers. Sure, Thomson jumped into the small group of moshers during the last song, and the rest of the band did their the-set-is-ending-let’s-fucking-trash-our-shit moves (the part where bassist Evan Redsky just chucked his bass behind his head was pretty badass), but whether it was the smaller crowd or the abnormally high stage for a room the size of Lucky Bar, Single Mothers didn’t fully connect on this night.
They seemed more content to plough away in their own private spaces; knocking out songs like “Christian Girls” and “Half-Lit” with precision authority, but not quite enough recklessness. Thomson did his best to converse with the small crowd, but ended up sounding like a mumbling mess, which I guess is part of the appeal?
Would love to see these guys again in some sweaty basement in the bad part of town, or a creepy shack in the woods.
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