Time does no Damage  to the Diodes (and makes for a pretty awesome IPA)

The shit-eating grin never left his face, still dripping with sweat moments after he left the stage, when I asked James Gorry the question.

"What was cooler?" I wondered, summoning all my years of journalism interviewing experience, "Opening for The Diodes, brewing a beer for The Diodes, or PLAYING with The Diodes?"

Gorry, who is the brewmaster at Manantler Craft Brewing of Bowmanville by day and the singer and guitarist for local punk band Tijuana Jesus by night, was almost at a loss for words. "A little bit of everything," he finally said. "It was all cool."

It was quite a night for Mr. Gorry, for Manantler (Ontario's best new brewery, in my opinion), and for the local punk scene when seminal Toronto punk band The Diodes hit the stage at Manantler's cool little brewpub (in the even cooler Bowmanville Factory brownfield development) on September 12.

The Diodes formed in 1976 and were one of the first local punk acts to make it big, thanks to hits like Tired of Waking Up Tired and Catwalker. The band, along with their manager, Ralph Alfonso, also opened Crash 'N' Burn, Toronto's first punk club, which hosted punk legends from
the Ramones to the Dead Boys.

James Gorry (centre) and Chris Allott of Manantler Brewery help
Paul Robinson, the lead singer of The Diodes, launch Time Damage IPA

The band broke up a half-dozen years later after a short stint in England, and the members went their separate ways until Alfonso, a punk legend in his own right, got most of the original members together in 2010 and 2011 and again this year for a mini tour of Ontario and Quebec.

"We wanted to recreate some of the magic we had at the Crash 'N' Burn," Alfonso said of the tour, which saw the band (with Gordie Lewis of Teenage Head fame and his band at two of the stops) visit the Phoenix concert theatre in Toronto, as well as small venues in Brantford, Hamilton, Bowmanville and Montreal. "And people wanted see The Diodes and Teenage Head playing together."

The Phoenix show, Alfonso added, had some of that magic.

"At the end of the set Gordie came out and sang (Bowie's) Jean Genie with the band and one guy went on Facebook and said 'that's it for my bucket list.'"

But how did Manantler get in on the action, I asked him, and what's the story behind the beer?

"Well," he said, his exhibit of rare photographs, memorabilia and albums from the era at his side, "James (Gorry) knew the bass player (Ian Mackay), he played in a punk band (Tijuana Jesus) and he worked in a brewery. So we  said, let's go make a beer. Craft beer is the new indie rock, you know. The big guys are corporate rock."

Gorry remembers talking to Mackay about Manantler creating a beer for the band.

"They contacted us and asked us if we could do the beer and I said, 'can you do the gig?' The Diodes, man. We're in!"

And Time Damage IPA - named after the band's 1977 album - was born. Gorry could have chosen any style - Mackay mentioned something about being partial to wheat beers - but for an iconic punk rock band like The Diodes, only a hopped up IPA would do, he said.

I loved the beer. One of my favourite Manantler offerings, and I'm a big fan of these guys.."Smells fantastic, with grapefruit and mango most prominent," is what I said when I reviewed it on Rate Beer. "Chinook, Ahtanum, Citra and Simcoe hops - the latter an ode to the "Simcoe Sound" attributed to Toronto-area bands of the 70s and 80s by music producer legend Daniel Lanois - give the beer a big citrus punch with just enough bitterness to satisfy. An outstanding IPA."

John Catto, the lead guitarist/songwriter for The Diodes, agreed. "Delicious!" he declared.

(The Phoenix gig - the first stop on the tour - was supposed to be the launch of Time Damage IPA, but "beer agreements already in place" put the kibosh on that plan and the beer was launched in Bowmanville instead. I think I've heard of these 'beer agreements' before.)

With the beer done, all Gorry had to worry about was getting his band ready to open for a legendary punk band. Shouldn't be that hard for an experienced band with ... one gig to their name?

Gorry on stage with Tijuana Jesus

No worries. Gorry's vocals were strong, his pal Matt was crazy and good on lead guitar and the rhythm section of Hooper (drums) and Luke (bass) was on point. They got the crowd of nearly 100 on their feet (there weren't any chairs anyway) and were the perfect lead-in to the The Diodes' set.

The band opened (appropriately) with Time Damage and closed with Tired of Waking Up Tired before bringing Gorry on stage for the encore, which included Catwalker and Jean Genie.

The crowd loved the set, and so did the band, if Catto's opinion the next day on social media meant anything.

"Last night at Manantler Brewery was a ton o' fun, closer to the Crash 'n' Burn experience than anything I've done in years, blasting away in a white painted concrete basement.," he said. "'A "Cellar Full Of Noise,' as Brian Epstein put it, in all the right ways."

Gorry, with that shit-eating grin probably still on his face when he woke up the next day, would second that emotion.