Date of Show: May 15, 2013
Written by: Chiara DiAngelo
Opening up an early show in support of Pennsylvania band Daylight was Niagara/Toronto’s Shook. Comprised of Phill Paxton (vocals), Cory Aaron (guitar), Michael Alsop (guitar), Matt Bresee (bass) and Brandon Santi (drums), the five-piece prepped the early-arrivers with some heavy-hitting garage-punk. With two aggressive vocalists, they managed to be just growly enough without erring into screamy territory. The rawness of Paxton’s vocals didn’t necessarily translate as well in the slower portions of some of the songs. He was much more suited, and appeared more comfortable when backed by the heavy sounds of the rest of the band.
Paxton effused passionate anger and aggression while yelling, yet demonstrated all the right niceties in his banter, expressing his gratitude that people had come out over the dinner hour to see them. While arm cycling and attempting jumps can often times come off as gimmicky, in Paxton’s case, he was fully feeling it and the actions seemed to effectively encourage a response from the small crowd in attendance.
Playing all four songs from their debut EP Skeleton Lake throughout their set, they closed things off with the last song on their EP, “Not Quite Sure.” Having just released their first recordings back in March, Shook is a band just starting out, but they show potential and really started to come into their own towards the end of their set. I’m quite sure that you’ll be hearing more of these guys in the future.
You can check out their 4-song EP, which is available for free download over on Bandcamp.
buying shots for bands 
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