The End Of An Era

Last night, May 24, we saw the end of the great Kitchener Punk-House, The Sweatlodge. Started by Jesse Robertson, Cory Kobbert, Hugh (Sorry, I don't know your last name) and Kristin (Sorry, I don't know your last name either) in the summer of 2007, the house was a home to many others, including 2 Germans and some of my good friends Sam and Adam.

The house was located in downtown Kitchener, very close to what was considered the "sketchy" area of town, apparently only a few blocks from a handful of crack houses. Despite this, it never stopped kids from packing the house on a weekly or monthly basis. The house held a strict "No Drugs, No Booze, No Bullshit" policy, which helped avoid numerous police visits. It also helped a lot of people to see that you can have the time of your life watching great bands, sober. That might seem like a given to a lot of people, but there's a fair share of people who's only reason to go to a show is to get drunk and break stuff. They also kept nearly every show to $5/PWYC (Pay What You Can), and made a point to pay touring bands every time they played. On many occasions, there would be vegan food prepared for bands and guests. On more than a handful of nights, I'd be at my house trying to cook up a giant pot's worth of food for the show, and having to rush so that I'd be able to get down there before the show started.

In case you're curious about the name, it was given to the house after the first show there, in the summer of '07. You see, the basement is barely 6 feet high, which would be alright for short people watching indie bands, but not great for people to dance to punk bands to. So, they held the shows in the house's Master Bedroom. In an attempt to soundproof the room, the one window in the room was filled with soundproofing material and sealed off. Needless to say, the room got hot, especially in the summer. There were at least a dozen times when the first band had just finished playing, and there was already condensation dripping down the walls. So anyway, after the first show, I think it was Erik from The Decay made a comment that "It's like a sweatlodge in here", and at that moment, the house had it's name. One time, after the Brutal Knights finished, I was walking down the stairs, eager for a breath of fresh, February air to cool myself down, and ended up falling down the stairs because they were so soaked with condensation. The thing was, no matter how hot the house room got, no matter how drenched in your own (and other people's) sweat, you always wanted to stay until the last band was finished playing.

The first show at the Sweatlodge was held on June 9th, 2007, where the bands U-Lock Terror, The Derailers, The Decay, A Good Story and Elsa Jayne played. In that near 2-year period, many bands played, including (in no particular order) Mockingbird Wish Me Luck, Broadcast Zero, Hard Charger, Dead City Citizens, Subsistance, Black Bloc Serenade (My first band), Bomb The Music Industry!(Played their first show in Canada at this house), Yakiniku Warfare (our good friends), Empty Hands (Yakiniku Warfare + Black Bloc Serenade + About To Snap), Confustion Bolts! (Pop-punk amazingness, thanks to Adam), Second Guess (My second band), Titan, RAH, Eating Glass, Vatican Chainsaw Massacre, Black Ships, Fathers Day (an awesome hardcore band, thanks to Cory), Breadcat, Life In Vacuum, A Good Story (Adam's folk-punk band), The Decay, The Rebel Spell, The Fallout, White York, Orphan Choir, Red Inside, The Proof, Spy Machine Sixteen, Lemuria, Summer of '92, What Seas What Shores, Barbarian Electric, Dead Dogs, Reprobates, Brutal Knights, Cursed (played their last show in North America before breaking up in Europe), Newberry Vs. Newberry, The Music Box, Elsa Jayne, Wayfarer, Hinindar, The Derailers, U-Lock Terror, Fairy Boy, Aspirations and Demos. I'm probably forgetting a few, but just by the size of that list, you can see how many great people and bands passed through the house.

The final show was held on Sunday May 24, 2009 with the bands Despite All This, Wayfarer, Adam CZ, Jesse Robertson, Empty Hands, The Decay and Mark It Zero playing. I was amazed by the number of people who came out for this show. Nearly everyone who lived in Kitchener-Waterloo who'd gone do more than 5 shows was there, all of our closest friends showed up, a handfull of kids from Guelph biked from Guelph to Kitchener, bringing with them a couple kids from Winnipeg who'd come down to visit and Adam ventured back from Winnipeg, where he's been living since this winter. It was one of the happiest times we'd ever had at that house, and we're all going to miss it when it's gone.

The Sweatlodge did so much for the Kitchener-Waterloo punk/hardcore scene. In recent years, we'd had numerous venues closed down due to the antics of (seriously) dumb fucking kids who have no respect for the people and buildings around them. Without this house, more than half of the bands in that giant list above would not have played in Kitchener, and so many of our local bands would have no place to play, I think The Decay and Empty Hands played there more than anyone else. We also counted and my brother played there more than any other individual, between Black Bloc Serenade, Demos, Empty Hands and Mark It Zero he played a total of 15 times.

I just want to thank everybody who made that house what it was in the 2 years that it was active for: Jesse, Cory, Adam, Hugh, Kristin, Chris, Josclyn, Sam, Christine, Colin, Mike, Branco (for all the poster artwork), Kyle, Steve, Steve the Ginger, Tyler Savage, Erik, the Bens, Jordan, Dan, Scott, Bill and all the Guelph kids, Blar, Cam, Dave, Kay, The Commotion House Kids who were inspired by the Sweatlodge, everyone who went there and had a great time, all I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH! I had some of the best times of my life at that house because of all you.