Glitter Glue, School Damage, and No Brainer Live at Pin-Bar

Photo credit: @Guttershotyyc (Myles Marleau) - No Brainer

The only thing better than a long weekend starting on Friday is kickstarting it on Thursday night with a loaded trifecta of Canuck Punk at beloved local haunt, Pin-Bar. Matt and Rampant Slime Productions came through again with this rager, even though his own outfit, The Motherfuckers, were an unfortunate late omission to the bill.

Glitter Glue have been bringing solid vibes, on point messaging and an infectious energy to the local scene and beyond for a few years now. Constantly a force to be reckoned with, they wasted no time getting the crowd juiced with sing along vox and punishing rhythm that got the place moving and warmed up. Thursday night’s setlist was clearly constructed to take no prisoners and deliver the arsenal that we’ve all come to expect from this fierce 5 piece barrage. I’m stoked to continue following their inspirational and inclusive journey, they’re exactly what we need more of.

Photo credit: @Guttershotyyc (Myles Marleau) - Glitter Glue

Rolling into town on their Western tour, Toronto’s own School Damage brought that gritty road warrior ferocity that only comes from running the Prairie gauntlet. This trio’s been cranking out some of the rawest punk cuts this country has to offer over the last decade and a half. Armed to the teeth with a relentless list of tracks, they held nothing back and made it clear that no matter where these guys are ripping, they’re playing for keeps. Paying respect to their punk rock elders, they enlisted local talent to join them in a blistering cover of SNFU’s “Step Stranger”. This seems to be a main stay on their Western run, bringing locals into the fold to belt out Chi’s legendary lyrics.

Photo credit: @Guttershotyyc (Myles Marleau) - School Damage

With their first show of ’25, hometown heavyweights, No Brainer exploded into their set like a freshly nuked can of AGD. Still running hot off last year’s tour de force, Dead Weight, the fellas quickly reminded everyone that they came to throw down. Sound issues be damned, nothing got in the way of them tearing through a set of known faves and a new track called “Progress”, a grim nod to what we seem to be seeing less and less of everyday. The crowd cranked it into overdrive and impressively kept up the pace until the bitter end. An obvious takeaway was the insatiable thirst from a room full punks hoping this is was just the first of many outings of the year for these champs. Who knows, maybe even a run with Puttin’ on the Foil is in the cards?

Photo credit: @Guttershotyyc (Myles Marleau) - No Brainer