At the Broomfiller show on July 26th, 2008 at the Kathedral, I wondered: how fantastic is it to be the headliner of a show at a birthday party sponsored by Jack Daniels and performing at the end of a raucous line-up that tires out the inebriating crowd by the time the headlining band hit the stage at 12:30 a.m.? 

Perhaps the band was not best served by the circumstances but they maintained momentum with an eager and cozy glee that the few remaining members of the crowd clearly loved, even if they were less exuberant than the band deserved.

Broomfiller is a three-piece punk band whose music is often described as melodic punk along the lines of Husker Du and Bad Religion and, although it seems inexplicably verboten, I would best compare them to Green Day. 

The bass player, Trip Phoenix, kept the band and the crowd energized and humoured on bass guitar with his radio-dj stylings, and the drummer, Dylan Broda, played fat and hard in his own world, as drummers do. 

The gold star of the evening went to Richard Leko, the lead singer, whose voice is blessed with a plaintive quality that is very attractive, especially on the more harmonious songs such as "The Cause" and "Fonzy Snap," their most popular singles. 

It was when they tied off the set with the crowd-pleaser, "The Cause" that I felt them finally come into their groove, seemingly banging off the song with all the energy they had to spare.  Maybe it's their favorite song to play and sing or maybe they were happy to finish the night, but that song did it for me, and the yearning battle-cry of "you can say now, the cause..." reverberated in my head for days after.  It was a gorgeous nightcap to a long line-up of bands and a too-short set for Broomfiller. 

For more information about Broomfiller and tour dates, please visit http://www.broomfiller.com.