Punk Night is back at Tommy's Grill and Bar. After staging a successful “punk” benefit concert at the same venue on January 14 (the event raised almost $1,200 split between the Optimist Club and Food For Life charity), local promoter Mark Davidson is presenting four Ontario bands on Saturday night.
Davidson's own band SAF, with five members hailing from Halton Hills and Guelph will be on the bill. The card also includes T.C.I.C. (They Call it Chaos) from Niagara Falls, Poison Fountains from Oshawa, and To the Bloody End out of Kitchener-Waterloo.
Davidson is a 30 year resident of Acton who thinks the negative connotations around punk music have dissipated. “Before the event at Tommy's in January, the last punk show I can remember in Acton was about 30 years ago at the Legion, and that was a pay-to-play event. Times and attitudes have changed.”
About 50 people attended the event in January. “We were pleasantly surprised at the response. It's all about community and we intend to hold more of these charity events,”said Davidson. “People have been asking, when are we going to hold the next one.”
“The show at Tommy's also led to other things,” he added. “My wife Nicole and I were invited to dinner at the Optimist Club where I gave a presentation about music in Acton and Halton Hills. And that lent itself to asking where can we play? As a result of that presentation there were three other venues given to me that up until that point had their doors closed to me.”
Looking ahead, Davidson also hopes to organize a summer music festival in Prospect Park that would include many genres of music, not just punk.
Davidson is a veteran performer and has played in many bands over the years. Hockey Teeth, the Toronto band he's played with for decades achieved some acclaim during its heyday. He's also deeply involved in the punk community and regularly attends and plays at venues around southern Ontario.
The event on Saturday has a $10 cover (or pay what you can), and Davidson wants to stress the fact that this in all ages performance with a user-friendly mosh pit. “The last time we had three full families with kids. It was great to see dad up with the kids moshing about!”
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