Porter Hall

With a new front-man and a renewed sense of purpose, Calgary's Porter Hall has embarked on a new musical journey. Gone is the pasty emo of their Ten Month Soundtrack debut, replaced with a more aggressive and intense post-punk fury that immediately recalls Moving Targets and Hot Water Music. But it's the gravely vocal styling of Darren Preston (who took over after Jeff Caissie jumped ship in 1999) that will be singled out and lead to the inevitable and not entirely unfounded comparisons to Jawbreaker. Recorded over a period of about 14 months, which started in the summer of 2000, Everything I Know Is Stolen signals a rebirth of sorts for a band that very nearly didn't make it to its first birthday.