Local pizza shop holds their first punk show

By: Liam Higgins

A local pizza shop offered a slice of punk for the first time Sept 29.

Krusty’s Pizza, located at the corner of Ottawa Street and Kildare Road, held their first annual Krusty’s Pizza Punk Rock Fest Sept. 29. The show included local punk bands The Rowley Estate and To The Strongest, and was held to support local music as well as provide Krusty’s with a chance to bring in a broader range of customers.

Rowley Estate bassist Derek Boyce, 24, said he approached the owner of Krusty’s with the idea of supporting local music. Boyce said he has been an avid customer at Krusty’s since it opened in the fall of 2012. He lives down the street from the restaurant and thought it would be a great idea to have a show at Krusty’s.

“Alternative venues for a band like mine are kind of perfect,” said Boyce. “We really try to keep an all-ages scene going and that’s really important to us.”

As tribute to Krusty’s, The Rowley Estate wrote a song about the pizza shop.

“The Rowley Estate wrote a song about Krusty’s Pizza,” said Boyce. “We’re big supporters of local business.”

Although it was raining during the event, about 50 fans of music and pizza attended.

Krusty’s Pizza owner Michael Tersigni said having a show at Krusty’s was about having fun and bringing the people of the neighbourhood together. Tersigni, 40, also said since he is stationed in the Walkerville area, he’s had the chance to talk to Walkerville students and also offer them a chance to show their talents.

“It’s all about local,” said Tersigni. “All my produce and my stuff is local.”

Tersigni said his main goal as a business owner is to bring in more customers and different groups of people. Giving the youth the chance to showcase their abilities helped to make the event successful and bring joy to customers, as well as fans.

“We had an 80-year-old man in here tonight and he was having a slice of pizza, listening to the tunes and he was happy,” said Tersigni. “Older couples were calling in for requests for AC/DC.”

Tersigni said he encourages anyone to approach him with the idea of holding shows and different types of events for the public. Tersigni and Boyce said they plan to have shows again in the future with more bands of different genres.