Sometimes you need to see a band live to get it. Sometimes a band’s recorded music actually sounds different after you see them live. This is the OBGMs.

My kid is a huge Good Kid fan (they’re great!), so when they announced the Toronto show it was a no-brainer. The opener was a punk rock band called The OBGMs. At first listen, for whatever reason, I didn’t connect with it.

But then I saw them play, and holy shit.

They’re a hard punk rock group from Toronto. I wondered going in if they’d be too loud or aggressive for the Good Kid crowd, who skews young. But I underestimated singer Densil McFarlane. That guy can whip up a crowd like almost nobody else, and the band is incredibly tight.

They’re kind of a hip-hop inspired version of Bleach-era Nirvana at their most aggressive. Melodic, grunge-y guitar and screamy but hooky vocals. I was surprised that I recognized a few of the songs after only listening a couple of times, months prior. Their last full length was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize in 2021, and the stuff that’s come out after is even more brash, more melodic, and keeps the same vocal and lyrical intensity:

McFarlane has charisma for days. He had the audience just short of a full mosh — marching back and forth to one track, crouching down before exploding into a dancing mob in the next. He also ran an informal Kendrick v Drake poll, and when he called out to see who thought Drake came out on top, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. In a Toronto crowd. Drake better put something away for retirement, it might be coming sooner than he expected.

Here’s a video about the making of the video for Get Up, above. It’s charming and funny:

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