Mean Red Spiders Sneaky Dee's May 15, 2009

There are some Toronto bands (ahem... SIANspheric) that test your patience significantly more than others.

A long seven years have passed since the Mean Red Spiders released Still Life, Fast Moving, but it seems as though they're finally on the verge of a new album; their MySpace is unusually active and the frequency of their shows has increased (to two or three a year, up from none).

On this night at Sneaky Dee's, the layers of rust were evident. The Spiders are slowly getting back into game shape but a few of the new tracks they hauled out were performed dreadfully. It's likely the songs will improve with practice (and also that they'll sound much better on disc). There were a few instances of reclaimed glory, mostly during old tracks that were dominated by washes of guitar army feedback. They can still do loud as well as anyone.

Shoegaze in Toronto has been sorely lacking bands like this over the last few years. If they can get their shit together, they have a chance to resurrect alt.rock in this town.

(2.5/5)