Les Gars Rocks KOKO’s Club NME

As the projector screen that hid the stage at Club KOKO in Camden rose, so the three figures of Toronto’s Les Gars exploded. Loud and fast un-syncopated, down-struck guitar, a stage-bounding bass player, and relentless mashing drums not so much shook our hands but ripped our arms unceremoniously from our polite and pointless bodies.

The crowd in the pit before the stage had doubled themselves in the first few bars, when prior to the bands appearance only a Dizzee Rascal track accompanied by giant flashing sexual visuals had provoked the indie crowd to do anything at all. I was reminded that I was really alive.

Les Gars sing at you, all three of them blending in angry harmony. I would love to have heard what it was they were singing. The fact that the vocals were not clear did not matter to me at all by the end of the first track, and as the set progressed it became clear Les Gars were not interested in talking to us between tracks either.

I can’t tell you the names of the tracks. However, being Canadian, and as it is for every Canadian, it is always important to establish: ‘I’m from Toronto, so don’t call me no fucking Yank.’ As it was, I didn’t mind the lack of discernable verbal communication either. This was energy, uncompromising energy, and I was glad to encounter a band who seemed to place this before all else.

They were, and are, and are of themselves. That is to say, Les Gars are, and are of a united theme. Their songs all hang together and vary themselves more in volume and rhythm than in speed and time signature, and they explore this narrow bandwidth expertly. It is a joy to watch musical solidarity in such action. There were moments when I thought they undermined themselves with some high pitched ‘oooh-ing’ and a casual stab at choreography; some attempt to play a song that would have a wider (?) appeal. But so what, I thought, at the core these three gentlemen were all about the speed at which your blood can flow, not least supported by the guitarists ‘Coke is it’ T-shirt.

Coming away from the show, I knew I had not been told a thing, but I had been shown what it was Les Gars are all about. That is why I’m not giving you references to other bands that they sound like, genres they might fall into, or even their names. When you see them, it is between you and them. They want you to make your own mind up. Just let me say this: they are accomplished, go and see. There.

Oh, and then The Stills came on and played stuff you’ve already heard a million times before.

Club NME at KOKO
1A Camden High Street
Camden NW1 7JE