Well known punk singer-songwriter Brian Fallon (formerly of the Gaslight Anthem) will be gracing the Varsity Theater later this month alongside Worriers and The Dirty Nil. Tickets for this show are available HERE.
Doors: 6:30pm // Show: 7:30pm // This event is 18+ w/ valid ID
Worriers
Worriers are an American melodic punk band from Brooklyn, New York, United States. The band’s music is centered on the songwriting of the former vocalist/guitarist of The Measure, Lauren Denitzio.
The Dirty Nil
Juno Award-winning Canadian trio The Dirty Nil play a staggeringly loud, blown-out mélange of hard rock and punk with hoarse, raw vocals. Self-described as a “rock & roll band” and not a punk outfit, they toured for years before releasing an album, winning themselves a spot on the Warped Tour without ever compromising their ideals. Seasoned by years of road work, The Dirty Nil’s debut album, 2016’s Higher Power, was a rough but muscular approximation of their live attack, while their third album, 2018’s Master Volume, was more refined but no less swaggering. Two years later the band issued the punchy Fuck Art, which included the wry and explosive single “Done with Drugs.”
Raised on proto-punk and classic rock, childhood friends Luke Bentham (guitar, vocals) and Kyle Fisher (drums) grew up in sleepy Dundas, Ontario, a satellite town of Hamilton on the shores of Lake Ontario, near the border with the United States. They played music together for years, primarily for fun and practice, but the band did not really take off until bassist Dave Nardi joined in 2009 and they started to play shows in nearby Hamilton, a small city with a close-knit and thriving rock scene of which they swiftly became an integral part.
The band paid their dues with grueling tours across the U.S. and Canada, gradually honing their sound. With a strong D.I.Y. ethic, and in no rush to release an album, they churned out a steady stream of 7″ singles, one of which made its way into the hands of NOFX frontman Fat Mike. Impressed by the young band’s sound, he contacted them with the offer of a label deal on his Fat Wreck Chords label; the resulting 7″, “Cinnamon,” caused considerable consternation among fans of the label’s usually static skate-punk style. The Dirty Nil eventually signed to Dine Alone for the 2016 release of their debut album Higher Power, which recalled various ’90s icons of grunge, indie, and noise rock.
The band’s second album, Minimum R&B, arrived in 2017, the same year the band received a Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) as “Breakthrough Group of the Year.” 2017 also saw the departure of Dave Nardi from the lineup, with Ross Miller of Single Mothers taking over on bass. The hard-working trio was back in 2018 with Master Volume, which found The Dirty Nil sounding more precise but no less committed to their rock & roll vision. The band continued to hone their verbose, garage-punk sound on 2021’s hard-hitting Fuck Art.
Brian Fallon
A singer and songwriter whose music fuses the urgency of punk rock with the passion and songcraft of heartland rock, Brian Fallon rose to fame as the leader of the band the Gaslight Anthem before moving on to a solo career. In 2015, after releasing five acclaimed records, including 2012’s chart-topping Handwritten, the Gaslight Anthem announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus. Painkillers, Fallon’s debut solo effort, arrived in 2016, with a follow-up, Sleepwalkers, appearing in 2018. After 2020’s more personal Local Honey, Fallon released a self-produced collection of Christian hymns called Night Divine.
Having recently turned 40, the New Jersey legend has left more than his youth in his rearview. His former outfit, The Gaslight Anthem, reunited for a string of reunion shows in 2018 but now only exists in that murky grey area known as “indefinite hiatus.” He released two well-received solo albums in the past four years, 2016’s Painkillers and 2018’s Sleepwalkers, but even those records dwell more in the rock genre than anywhere else.
With his new solo album, Local Honey, and a partnership for his own label with the venerated, artist-friendly outpost Thirty Tigers (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell), Fallon has made the record he has always wanted to make and has put himself in a place to release it exactly as he pleases. Its acoustic-leaning, introspective, singer-songwriter artistry is a benchmark of a time and place, a heartfelt and grown-up sound that has been in his mind and in his heart for a long while. Unique amongst his output, Local Honey is a snapshot of Fallon’s current existence and a masterstroke from an artist whose songwriting talent is boiling over.
PLEASE NOTE: Face coverings are strongly recommended for fans who are not fully vaccinated, unless actively eating or drinking, per CDC guidelines. By purchasing tickets for this event, you confirm that at the time of the event you will have received a negative COVID-19 test within 72-hours of the event, OR be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (14 days past final vaccination shot).
NOTE THE VARSITY’S CLEAR BAG POLICY:
Only the following bags are allowed:
- Clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bags (maximum size: 12″x6″x12″)
- Small clutch bags approximately the size of a hand (maximum size 4.5″x6.5″
