The Unsettlers and Subcollisions: a match made on The Main

Scene: Evening on the corner of Pine avenue and The Main, in front of a dépanneur. Three classy ladies in busty corsets, flouncy skrits and bowler hats stand basked in the glow of a street lamp. A couple of scruffy-faced men in slick suits slouch in the background carrying dark & mysterious instrument cases. This is Subcollisions.

Enter from stage West: A troupe of dark, saucy troubadours in poet’s clothing and possibly-ironic party hats. These are The Unsettlers.

Unsettlers: Hey there strangers…You guys should come see this show with us tonight.
Subcollisions: Are you guys in a band?
U: We are indeed, but tonight we are going to see Ladyhawk. They’re great!
S: Maybe we’ll check them out later… So what instruments do you guys play?”
U: Well, our drummer here plays garbage cans, and this is the accordionist.
S: We’ve also got an accordionist, and this is the ugly stick player and here’s the frog player.
U:You guys are a band too?!
S: Yes. We are the Subcollisions. What’s your band called?
U: We are the Unsettlers.
S: Good name… It sounds like we should play together sometime.
U: Hey are you guys free the 26th of May? We need an opening act for our gig at 1221 Crescent St Pub*

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I have already written about how The Unsettlers captivated me at last month’s Mess. It must have been due to – among other qualities - their frequent allusions to Whiskey. I also adore Willow of Subcollisions who has entertained me on many occasions with her accordian version of everything from La Bamba to Madonna (and graciously passed on the outline of the above dialogue).

The Subcollisions – Willow plus vocals, guitar, upright bass and trombone, not to forget the aforementioned frog and ugly stick - put on a classy, dramatic performance, described on their myspace page as a Cabaret Franglais. Oh, Montreal, je t’aime.

*while the author has taken liberties in the dramatization of this scene, certain characters and events, including:
The Unsettlers + Subcollisions playing on Saturday May 26th at 1221 Crescent St. Pub
are true and should definitely be checked out.