A long time ago I saw Gob play in the basement of a laser tag venue in Oshawa, Ontario, after they released the one of greatest punk records of that era. It was probably my first proper punk rock show, and there were probably less than 100 people there. The ceilings were so low the band couldn’t jump while they were on the (tiny) stage. My glasses got knocked off in the pit, and the whole pit stopped until we found them. It was transformative, fucking glorious. It was probably right around the time this performance and interview was recorded:

That show is probably what turned me into a small-venue obsessive.

Anyway. That’s what I thought of when I put on the debut record from Toronto’s No Sunshine Collective. Three guys making fast, short, melodic, no frills punk rock songs, and by the time they find their footing, they’re done. Almost every track has a section that would make a great audience sing-along. Nine songs in thirteen minutes. Nothing even 2 minutes in length. Everything louder than everything else. It’s terrific.

There’s not much else to find out about these guys. The album just came out a few days ago. But any band that can commit this hard to a performance for what appears to be about 35 people in a family restaurant after hours has a bright future:

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