Friday, day two of Kinetik, I woke up feeling rested and much better. We went out for lunch on Saint Denis, the street our hotel was on. It was a beautiful day, warm but not too warm and sunny. After lunch we decided to do some shopping. I had heard that Cruella, the most notable goth/industrial clothing store in Montreal was closed due to a fire in the building. But then I also heard it was possibly open so I decided to head there to find out for myself.
The walk from out hotel to the store wasn’t long, about 20 minutes. It turned out that there were a lot of shops on the walk there. We stopped in a couple shoe stores, a skater-clothing store, a MAC, and Urban Outfitters. This strip of Saint Denis was a mix of local shops and some chain shops. We continued our way down Mont-Royal to Cruella. Sure enough it was closed. The fire was very evident; the whole second story of the block was burnt out. It was unfortunate the shop had be closed during the festival.
On the walk back we came upon two notable shops. One was a cute little boutique called Blo, oddly enough, which carried, what I would call, streetwear. In the front of the store were a couple racks dedicated to a clothing brand I had never heard of, Bench. I feel in love. All very practical items, hoodies, t-shirts, track jackets, comfy dresses, but with a futuristic flair. Lots of high collar tops, oversized hoods, dynamic and asymmetrical use of text and graphics, and the clothes were primarily black, grey, white, or bright neon colors. All the items would fit perfectly into a “cyber” wardrobe. It made me think of an athletic version of old Kitchen Orange. I bought a grey, pvc, multiple pocket over the shoulder purse for only $30. If had more of budget this trip for clothing I would have bought so much more. After doing a little research later that day I found out Bench is a UK clothing company with many shops across Europe. I was happy to discover they have a store in the Eaton Centre in Toronto, but couldn’t find anywhere to buy it online that would send to the US (Bench’s online clothing store only seems to ship to the UK). The other notable store we came across was Diabolik, a goth/industrial store on Mont-Royal. I didn’t find much that personally appealed to me but there was a good selection of goth/Renaissance clothing and a lot of DIY feel pieces. Blo is located at 171 Avenue du Mont-Royal Est and Dialolik is located at 257 avenue du Mont-Royal Est.
After shopping we rested up in our hotel room for a bit then headed to Usine C for Phase 2 of Kinetik. Phase 2 was dedicated to harsh industrial. This was my personal least favorite day of the festival and that feeling seemed to be reflected in the crowd, which seemed less enthusiastic than other nights. Although all the bands put on decent performances, most of it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.
Soman was Mike’s and my favorite artist of the night. Mike really enjoyed Soman’s latest release and told me he heard Soman put on a fun live show. It sure was fun! Soman danced around his equipment the whole time with a huge happy grin on his face. He also had two female dancers on stage with him; I think he was the only artist at Kinetik to have “go-go dancers”. God Module also put on a strong performance.
As the last bands were finishing up, we left and headed back to the hotel. Although it was our least favorite night of the festival, it was still a good time. I guess there was bound to be one slower night. It did give us a chance to mingle and talk with friends.
– Jennifer
