september 17 abv

The title track of the second Heartless Bastards record played in my head earlier today. I saw them play once, a lively little set at Montreal's late, great Green Room, a showbar I hated until I loved it. I must have interviewed one of them ahead of the show because we all went out drinking afterward. I remember wanting Erika Wennerstrom (vocals, guitars, keys) to think I was cool because she was cool and I wasn't. After a few beers all of that stopped mattering. All that mattered after those few beers (and the beers I had at Green Room) was that I was at Dieu du Ciel! deep in conversation with Mike Lamping (bass) engaging in my favourite hobby: shovelling dirt on a version of myself I was trying to bury alive. It took me a long, long time to realize what needing three or four drinks to loosen up meant. I honestly thought everyone was like that. I thought my drinking was normal, and for that city, in that scene, at that time, it probably was. I don't know when I "quit" drinking, but…