School's Out, but Summer School's in? And Winona Fighter are on the Register!
- Michael Drukarsh
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
By: Michael Drukarsh
Toronto, Canada - By night I may be MICHAEL DRUKARSH PHOTOGRAPHER! By day though I am Mr. Drukarsh, grade 7 Science teacher. After finishing the year only a week or so ago and looking forward to a wonderful summer, I did not expect to get called back so soon. However, when Winona Fighter personally invites you to attend Summer School, well, you go! And so I found myself at Idobi Radio’s Summer School Tour '26 hosted by The Phoenix Concert Theatre.
Drives the Common Man
Opening the night’s six band bill, Drives the Common Man delivered a great set of high energy tunes to get the party started. A Mi’kmaq singer, songwriter and producer, Drives the Common Man did a fantastic job having fun and interacting with the packed house getting the crowd hyped and ready for a long night of amazing music.
Drives the Common Man Photo Gallery (all photos by: Michael Drukarsh)
Chase Petra
I have always loved the power of a female lead singer! Growing up in the 80s and having the privilege of hearing new music from Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Lee Aaron, Debbie Harry and so many more left such a huge impression on me. When I found out that three of the six bands on stage were fronted by female lead singers I was very excited. The first, Chase Petra, another two piece, both female, delivered another high energy performance with awesome crowd interaction, which was important because one of the fans in the front row was in danger of losing his life if the crowd didn’t get into it, not her rules... management's rules!
Chase Petra Photo Gallery (all photos by: Michael Drukarsh)
South Arcade
I was not prepared for the amount of pure Punk attitude that was about to storm the stage next, the second of three female fronted acts, South Arcade, hailing from across the pond in Oxford, England took no prisoners as lead singer Harmony Cavelle commanded the stage with the confidence of a Punk rock Queen!
The rest of the band, Harry Winks on lead guitar, Ollie Green on bass and Cody Jones and drums added to the assault and carried the incredible energy over through the entire set. Along with introducing their latest single "Deadmeat", and fan favourites "Superman" and "2005", South Arcade treated the fans to an unexpected rendition of "Riptide" which sent the pit into a frenzy!
South Arcade Photo Gallery (all photos by: Michael Drukarsh)
Games We Play
Things calmed down a bit with the next band Games We Play taking the stage. After playing just one song, Emmyn Calleiro (lead vocals and guitar) along with the rest of the band thanked the audience and started to walk off. Of course the packed house wasn’t going to go for that and very quickly, the band came back and broke into an awesome set of pop-punk tunes that just kicked ass.
An interesting point in the set came when Calleiro opened up about the lack of touring over the last year. Due to his insecurities and his unhappiness with co-writing songs, Calleiro stepped away from the scene and decided to do things his way, so he sat down and wrote every fucking word of "I Wish I Never Quit", his latest song coming out September 18th. It was very apparent that the audience was very happy he didn’t quit. In fact one lucky fan actually got a chance to get up on stage and back Calleiro on the keyboard for a tune.
Winona Fighter
I mentioned at the top of this writeup that LoudTO were invited to the show by Winona Fighter, and like all good photojournalists (especially those who still live in the 80s when it comes to music) I did my research and checked out a few tunes before heading to the show. Did it prepare me for what happened next? NOT A FUCKING CHANCE!
I can’t even say that Winona Fighter took things to the next level. They took things to a completely different world! With a few impressive jumps, frontwoman and guitarist Coco Kinnon took the stage in an otherwise unassuming manner and quickly gave a hug and a smile to bandmates Dan Fuson and bassist Austin Luther before unleashing complete Hell and Utter Punk Chaos (in the best possible way) to the waiting fans.
Kinnon did not stop jumping, dancing, spinning, running, headbanging all the while delivering an absolutely killer set of tunes including "You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers", "Subaru", and "Bombs Away", with the now drenched in sweat crowd singing along to every word. Loud, aggressive and sounding absolutely incredible, Kinnon didn’t say much to the crowd other than to instigate a massive pit delivered with some safety rules, “Don’t touch someone who doesn’t want to be touched, otherwise I’ll come and kick your ass myself. If someone beside you falls, pick them up. Otherwise, beat the shit out of eachother!”
The crowd did oblige (without beating the shit out of each other... we are Canadian of course!) and delivered the biggest circle pit of the night along with some awesome crowd surfing (big shoutout to The Phoenix security who are absolutely amazing). A ramped up version of The Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" featuring an awesome bass line from Luther was followed by "Wlbrn St Tvrn" and set closer "Hamms in Glass". As a concert photographer we are only permitted to shoot the first three songs, which in this case I have to say I am a little thankful for. I don’t think my card could have held the pictures from an entire set!
Set List
R U FAMOUS
Swear to God That I'm (FINE)
Subaru
You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers
I'M IN THE MARKET TO PLEASE NO ONE
BOMBS AWAY
Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)
Wlbrn St Tvrn
HAMMS IN A GLASS
Winona Fighter Photo Gallery (all photos by: Michael Drukarsh)
Winona Fighter Online
Honey Revenge
Headliners Honey Revenge brought things back down a (just) a notch, delivering more of a pop-punk sound to the waiting fans, who continued to go nuts on the floor. The last of the female lead vocalists for the night, Devin Papadol along with guitarist Donny Lloyd brought a funkier, dance club feel to their set which by the reaction of the crowd was definitely loved.
Honey Revenge ran through a set heavy in new material from their upcoming album Loving and Losing scheduled for release in September. \Using the two screens on either side of the stage as video walls the band ran the lyrics so fans can sing along to the new tunes, such as "Technicolor", "Run Your Mouth" and "Risk".
Bringing out a "referee" during "Rerun", Papadol encouraged the fans to ride the crowd and be graded for their efforts. After all, she reminded us, this is summer school. I’m happy to report everyone got an A. The rest of the set featured fantastic grooves and pop-punk attitude, with Lloyd delivering some wicked licks and the bassist laying down some amazing rhythms. Encouraging the packed house to release themselves as butterflies and jump to the sky, Papadol and Llyod had the crowd jump in unison as the song started, to my amazement and testament to the incredible fans, the concrete floor of The Phoenix actually vibrated.
Honey Revenge Photo Gallery (all photos by: Michael Drukarsh)
The prospect of going back to class, as a teacher or student, in September is never top of mind at the beginning of summer. However, attending Summer School '26 Saturday night at the Phoenix was definitely worth it and learning about new bands is never a bad thing. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!
Show Date: July 4, 2026
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