Legendary Montreal punk band the Ripcordz is returning to Prince Albert on Monday, Aug. 11 at the Prince Albert Heritage Seniors Centre.
Threadbare Productions is bringing the band back as part of a triple bill. Paul Gott of the Ripcordz said that the band is happy to come back after playing Prince Albert for the first time in 2024.
“It’s really cool,” Gott said. “We love discovering new places, and we figure every time we play a place, there will be more and more people. Hopefully we put on a good show and people tell their friends and the buzz on this one is sounding really good. We love playing shows. The more places we can play in the better.”
The band has already been on the road for their tour with dates in Alberta and Ontario.
On July 28, they played in Medicine Hat and on July 29 they were in Lethbridge.
On Wednesday, they played Kimberly, B.C. at noon and then an evening show in Nelson. Gott said that the idea was either impressive or stupid.
Before that, the band’s July 25 Sault St. Marie show at The Distraction was shut down by local law enforcement.
“It was funny. That’s the first time I think we’ve been shut down in like 20 years,” Gott said. “There’s a lot of places that we play that aren’t official clubs.”
The Distraction is an underground venue under a barbershop and, like many punk venues, not an official venue.
“We played there last year, no problems,” Gott said. “This year evidently somebody made a complaint—a noise complaint we think—and all of a sudden the cops were there and it’s really weird because it was a very family friendly event.”
He explained that the show had eight and 10-year-olds there with their parents and the door was being run by a mother and daughter.
“The cops turned up in bulletproof vests. There is no shouting or anything but they are just sort of facing off against a mom and her eight-year-old daughter. It’s kind of crazy,” he said.
Gott said police often show up and let the show continue but this time he could tell it would get shut down because the officers had new questions for every answer about capacity and fire exits.
“It sort of went even beyond the noise complaint. It’s like we’re just looking for everything, and every time there’s an answer for something, we’ll come up with something new, so it got shut down,” Gott said.
He said the last time they had a show shut down was in Oshawa 20 years ago.
“I mean, it was disappointing because we have so many friends, Sault Saint Marie, one of the towns we’ve always played since like 1992 on in the first Western tour. There’s a lot of old friends and a lot of new faces. We were really looking forward to it and unfortunately we didn’t even get to play a song.”
After playing last year at the Spice Trail, this year they will be playing at the Prince Albert Heritage Seniors Centre. Gott said that they like finding new places to play.
“We sort of go where they tell us to go,” Gott said. “We always look forward to a new venue too. I understand this one is a larger venue for a show which is cool. We did enjoy the Indian restaurant last year simply because I love Indian food.”
He said playing in a restaurant was a first for the band.
“The owner’s name is Sheena so of course there is ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’ by the Ramones and we had a long discussion about that. She’d never heard of the song,” Gott said.
“We were actually going to practice Sheena is a Punk Rocker for this tour, just to play for her. But then when we heard there was another venue we didn’t end up doing that.
The show will feature Prince Albert’s Dirty Sanchez Orchestra and the Broken Idols.
The Prince Albert show will have early doors of 5 p.m. and bands at 6 p.m.
“We enjoy the early shows,” Gott said. “(They) allow more people, especially on weekdays, to come out and not have to worry about getting to bed at two in the morning and getting up for work the next day. That’s good, and it also allows more younger kids to come out, which is always cool. I don’t like being up past my bedtime.”
Last time they played Prince Albert they were on the billboard on Second Avenue.
“I’m looking forward to seeing if we will be on that billboard again,” he said.
The band also has a new album. Gott said they plan on mixing in their new tunes with some older favourites.
“We’re aiming to make more fans every time we get that we play there,” he said.
The band has an ever changing lineup with many members cycling through since forming in 1980.
“We put a lot of energy into the set and we have actually we’ve got a brand new lineup this year,” Gott explained. “(We) got a new bass player and drummer who are both 22-years-old, so there’s a lot of energy in the band. We already played 25 shows this year so we’re pretty tight. We’re hoping that everybody enjoys what we do.”
He said that old members stay in contact and the band has many albums so new members can learn the old material quickly.
“There’s songs that are on albums that can be learned quite easily, and we keep in touch with all the old members,” Gott explained. “The new members are like, ‘hey, how did you do this drum roll’ and so there’s a lot of knowledge that gets passed along and then every new member adds a little bit of their own sense of style and energy. I think every time we change members we get just a little bit better.”
Threadbare Productions presents Ripcordz with Broken Idols and Dirty Sanchez at the P.A. Heritage Seniors Centre on Aug. 11, doors at 5 p.m. and bands at 6 p.m., advances tickers at Skin Junkies are $10 and $15 at the door (cash only).
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
