Posts Tagged ‘The Social Threat’
Looking to kick off the release of their new EP, “Even Honest Talk is Cheap”, local punk band, The Social Threat are playing an all-ages show this Friday, along with some more punk-rock goodness from the likes of The Ativans and Colour in the Clouds (both from Calgary). The show is at Station Coffee Company, located at 644 2 ST SE. Entry is $10 and will start at 7:30 PM (doors open at 7:00 PM), Friday, March 14th, 2014.
Speaking of their new EP, you can now purchase it from iTunes or listen to it online.
Here’s a video for a track off their new EP titled “Strong and Free”:
The Social Threat Website
Facebook Event
Station Coffee Company on Facebook
The September Threat
The Social Threat, a Medicine Hat-based punk rock band who is no stranger to the seemingly dormant local music scene in the city is putting on shows all through September, starting Saturday night (September 8th) at Starbucks at 7PM. This acoustic set will be totally free, joined by another local talent, Christie Kurpjuweit. Join them this month in reviving the scene a little bit.
From the press release:
The music scene is Medicine Hat used to be strong. Venues like The Doghouse and The Ottoman would host shows every other night of the week. Kids were putting on all ages shows at places like The Legion and The Kinplex. But some of those amazing people, who would sacrifice a lot of their time and potentially money putting on shows, moved on. Some of the venues got sold or mysteriously burnt to the ground. This is the Medicine Hat that The Social Threat was founded in. That was three years ago.
Since then, The Social Threat has been busy. They have recorded two albums, shot a music video and are working on a second, filmed an acoustic ep of some of their songs, toured all around Western Canada, and are on the cusp of their 100th show.
“It’s been a while,” says Kyle Hodgman, The Social Threat’s drummer, “since we’ve played a show in Medicine Hat. It’s time we’ve returned our focus on the city that brought us up.” So The Social Threat came up with the idea of The September Threat, a blitz of concerts in Medicine Hat every Saturday night for the month of September.
“We have a variety of fans, so we wanted to create a show for every kind of fan that we have.” The Social Threat will be playing an acoustic set on Sept 8th, an all ages heavy rock show on Sept 15th, and a concert at Whiskey Creek on Sept 22nd. Their September finale will be on Sept 29th. It will be their 100th concert and will be their 3rd birthday as a band. The pop punk show will be an all ages event at The Kinplex. And there will probably be cake.
The Social Threat’s songs focus a lot on social justice issues. So they wanted to put their rock into walk. The most important part of this series of events is that The Social Threat will be raising money and awareness for Walk for Justice. Walk for Justice is an event held on Sept 23rd that raises money for International Justice Mission (IJM), an organization that rescues people from slavery and the sex trade in 3rd world countries, reunites them with their families, and helps them find jobs so they don’t end up in the same situation they were rescued from. After cost, 100% of admission goes to Walk for Justice and there will be a chance at the shows to donate whatever you want to the cause.
The Social Threat will be doing a FREE acoustic set at Inspire Café this Friday, March 30th from 8:00pm until 10:00pm. Come on down, grab a coffee, and chill to the sweet punk-acoustic tunes.
Here’s a little taste of what to expect:
Time: Tuesday, November 8 · 7:00pm – 11:00pm
Location: The Legion, 702 2nd St SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta
Fall City Fall is on their Western Canada tour and are stopping in Medicine Hat again, along with Deadbeat (Edmonton/Vancouver hardcore) with local Punk Rock legends (is that too epic?), The Social Threat. The show is all ages and is $10 at the door. According to the Facebook event, “It’s gonna be the best $10 you’ll ever spend”. Who am I to disagree?
Here’s a video performance of Fall City Fall, from their last stop in Medicine Hat:
On Facebook:
The Social Threat - Protest Songs Cover Art
The Social Threat is a 3-piece local punk band… er… possible the ONLY local punk band (now that One Shot Left is in hiatus mode). I admit that it is hard for me to get excited about punk music nowadays as my musical preference swings quite the opposite way, as of late. But I can still take the time to enjoy the memories and appreciate the musical aesthetic that The Social Threat is striving for. That’s kind of what listening to “Protest Songs” reminds me of; memories of my youth, going to some cool punk shows in Regina, back when punk was just getting huge again.
Musically, they are quite similar to bands like MXPX, Good Riddance, Dogwood and other punk rock bands from the 90’s and 00’s with fast drumming and harmonization. Lyrically, it’s heavy on politics and social change – like many of the bands of the time as well. It’s quite anachronistic when listening to it with this notion, yet nostalgic at the same time. That leads me to believe most of the appeal of The Social Threat is knowing punk rock from a decade ago. That’s not to say people new to the genre can’t enjoy their music, but I definitely think it would be harder for the layperson.
The Social Threat
There is some good production value on this sophomore album; however, it still feels of DYI in many ways, which I think lends itself to the music quite well. In interview with the band, it was discussed how if they had the choice (budget wise) that they there would be more production value on the recording, so the intention of a DYI aesthetic wasn’t focused on necessarily, but merely due to financials. I was lucky enough to get a physical copy of the album and was glad I did. The whole package was designed by Kyle Hodgman (Drums/BGV), which features a very nice composition focusing on symbolism, poetry-esque messages (on inside cover/insert/poster). It all feels cohesive and put together well (both design and packaging wise).
I feel thematically that the lyrics are good and range nicely from song to song; however, they are very straightforward, rather than relying on metaphor. It’s clear that they want you to hear the message and understand their music on that level. This also becomes transparent as each song has a different theme and clear-cut message of focus. Is that a bad/good thing? The songwriting and instruments are all top notch.
Normally this is where people give a rating out of 5 stars or 10 dinosaurs or something else that doesn’t mean anything. I’ll skip that, and let you decide if this is something you would be interested in. If you listened to punk music during the 90’s and 00’s I would definitely recommend this album (and I don’t mean that in an elitist, hipster kind of way). It’s also a local band, so you should support them! Duh!
Links:
Their full album is $9.99 and can be purchased digitally on CD Baby or iTunes. Alternatively, you can snag a cool physical copy by emailing them, or grabbing one at a show. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, March 28th - Whiskey Creek Pub
Punk or punk-ish shows in the city are far and few between, but that’s not really the cities fault, but more indicative of the genre’s popularity as of late. Tough Guys and Girls Cry, all the way from Tofino, British Columbia are ready to rock Medicine Hat with local punk band, The Social Threat. I haven’t listened to The Social Threat before tonight, but wow, they remind me of the good ol’ days of punk music and kind of sound like early Dag Nasty, Pulley or something I can’t quite put my finger on. Tough Guys and Girls Cry are a bit more indie-rockish-punkish that kind of remind me of some of the post punk and progressive stuff that punk bands were doing during the 80’s (Bad Religion, Into the Unknown style).
The Social Threat on MySpace
Tough Guys and Girls Cry on Myspace