Toronto – Despite it being an enjoyable show, I beat a hasty retreat from The Bonfire Ball at Lee’s Palace to check out Adebisi Shank, who initially caught my interest from their name alone. The Irish Band derives their name from Simon Adebisi, an imposing character from HBO’s awesome prison show Oz and a man who is certainly very handy with a shank. It is my firm belief that more bands should name themselves after characters from Oz. A couple that come to mind are Cyril O’Reilly And The Sock Puppets or The Schillinger Escape Plan. Those are yours for free if you want them , band that currently has no name. The Panic Manual offers them up as a public service
Factoring in travel time between venues, I only caught a couple songs by them at the end of their set, but what I heard, I liked. They had a jerky, math rocky sort of sound, maybe a bit like Don Caballero, but more frantic. Also, their bassist wore a scarf/mask kind of thing to cover his face and head, which is kind of cool.
Adebisi Shank are also playing tonight (March 11) at The Hideout at 12:00. Be there or be shanked.