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THE VANS WARPED TOUR 2007 @ Parc Jean Drapeau
By Josh Mocle - The Kids Are So-So - 08/12/2007
Not much can be said about the Vans Warped Tour that really hasn’t been said once or twice before. Over its 13-year history, it has essentially become the tour most punk purists love to hate (and usually end up attending anyway). It’s morphed from a street punk and third wave ska tour that hit most major cities in the US to essentially an alternative flavor of the week showcase that hits outdoor venues all over the globe during the summer. The official structure of the tour has remained the same since the beginning: bands are given 30 minute sets and the schedule is changed every day, thus, fans will only know when their favourite band is performing when they are inside the venue.
2007 marked the fourth year in a row that I attended what many bands have affectionately called the “punk rock summer camp” and my reaction to this year’s festivities is pretty much the one I’ve held since 2004: certainly not incredible or awe inspiring, but not a wasted day in the sun either. This year also marked the first year I was in attendance when the tour stopped in Montreal as opposed to my usual Boston stomping grounds, although as it happened, this year’s Montreal date featured a few performances not available on any other date of the tour.
The first, and possibly most important, Montreal exclusive was an appearance by Only Crime. The group, featuring Russ Rankin (formerly of Good Riddance) on vocals, Aaron Dalbec (formerly of Converge, currently of Bane) on guitar and some dude named Bill Stevenson (of some bands no one has heard of called Black Flag and The Descendents) on drums, had been touring Canada in support of their 2007 Fat Wreck Chords release, Virulence, and saw fit to make an appearance at Warped in lieu of playing an official Montreal show. Now, one would think that given the exclusivity of their appearance and the amount of respect the band members had collectively obtained over the years that they would be given a decent time slot. However, as I entered the grounds at 11:45, I immediately noticed that Only Crime were, indeed, well into their set as they had begun playing at 11:30, when most people were still waiting in line. Another great act, indie-rapper P.O.S. had begun his set at 11:15.
Despite this horrible botch on the part of whoever handles the schedule, the rest of the day proceeded relatively well. 12:30 saw The Flatliners perform on the semi-exclusive-to-Montreal Union Label Group Stage (I say semi-exclusive since the stage and the bands on it appeared at the Barrie date as well). I’ve seen the Winnipeg quartet perform three times now and can safely say that they have improved every single time. Their own brand of horn-less ska-tinged punk was as tight as ever while the band themselves really appeared to have found their true potential. I guess their signing to Fat Wreck Chords was no accident.
I should mention at this point that it would have been impossible for me to catch every single performance that day, as over 100 bands were spread out over 8 stages. I did manage to catch snippets of quite a few sets though, the second of which was Boston’s Big D and the Kids Table. I’ve seen this band too many times to count (and by that I mean 5 times) and they haven’t once disappointed me. This time they focused primarily on tracks from their new record and SideOneDummy debut, Strictly Rude. Many people have said that Big D are currently the only ska band that have mattered in nearly ten years. This statement is highly debatable, but what isn’t arguable is their showmanship. Even when only playing for a half hour in the blistering afternoon sun they managed to put on a tight and entirely enjoyable set, which culminated in singer David McWane announcing that they would be returning to Montreal on their headlining tour later this year (December 8th to be exact) and promising that if they hadn’t played your favourite song that day, then they would when they returned. They subsequently played two of my favourite tracks ("Checklist" and "L.A.X.") to close out their set. All was good in the world.
Shortly afterward, Montreal’s own The Planet Smashers took the stage and despite being the elder ska statesmen, their set seemed to lack the energy and intensity of the Big D set, despite playing similar tunes. I also happened to notice that the crowd, while large, was for the most part just standing there, prompting me to wonder whether people were legitimately there for the music or only there to show support for their city. Whatever the reason, I was bored rather quickly and walked off after three songs.
Killswitch Engage, one of the few metal bands on the tour (there were none on the tour last year, so this was a step up), took the stage at around 3 o’clock. I had always heard rumours of bands flourishing while out of their element, but had never once observed the phenomenon. On a tour of mostly pop-punk and emo bands (none other than Hawthorne Heights played immediately after they did), KSE could not possibly have been more out of their element, yet they put on one of the strongest sets I saw all day. Having not seen them since 2003, I had forgotten the intensity that they bring to their metal/hardcore hybrid that oh-so-many have ripped off in recent years. However, despite becoming one of the bigger modern metal bands, they still seem to value audience interaction, which is something so rarely seen these days. A personal highlight of the set was Adam Dutkiewicz spouting banal anti-emo sentiment from his perch on stage left (such as “I want to feed you emo kids to sharks. Do you know why? BECAUSE SHARKS DON’T CRY!” and “Tell the emo kid that they’re giving away free Warped Tour tampons and then punch him when he runs to look for them”). Apparently the man is a fan of throwing rocks in glass houses, but regardless, the gathered crowd seemed to eat it up and ask for seconds. Whether KSE will make a second Warped Tour appearance remains to be seen, but they did provide at least a slight bit of variety to the proceedings that the tour had lacked in previous years.
Following a rather boring performance by Long Island emo veterans Bayside and a few enjoyable but slightly out of place songs by the second of two hip-hop acts on the tour (in this case, it was Toronto’s K-OS), I made my way back to the main stage to take in Nashville, Tennessee’s Paramore. Say what you will about the band, whose oldest member is 22 and whose front(wo)man is actually an 18 year-old girl, but they create some of the best (albeit entirely safe and TV friendly) pop-punk seen or heard in years. As expected given the circumstances, the gathered crowd was made up of predominantly teenage girls and their jock, Polo shirt-wearing boyfriends. However, amongst the crowd I noticed none other than Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker, which just serves to highlight the amount of respect and admiration Paramore has amassed within the industry, and amongst fans of music in general, in just a few short years. What they do, they sure as hell do RIGHT, and it appears that with the release of their sophomore full-length Riot! earlier this year, a lot more people are starting to become aware of that fact. Where this will lead the group is uncertain, but if there was ever any one flavour-of-the-week band that deserved to become more than just the flavor of the week, it’s Paramore.
Following Paramore’s set, everyone’s favourite stereotypical drunken Irishmen and women took the stage. I am, of course, talking about none other than Flogging Molly, and while I was only able to catch their first three songs, a smile was nonetheless plastered on my face the whole time. Flogging Molly are one of the few pseudo-punk bands out there who can really do no wrong in my book, and that day was no exception.
I then made my way across the grounds to observe arguably the one band that got me to attend the show in the first place, Hertfordshire, England’s Gallows. At risk of becoming a gushing fanboy, I say with zero hesitation that they put on one of the best live performances I’d seen not only that day, but all year (which is no small feat given the amount of shows I’m wont to take in). Singer Frank Carter stalked the stage like a young Henry Rollins while the rest of the band played their own unique brand of British hardcore (or Britcore as I’ve affectionately labeled it) behind his searing vocals. Eventually he abandoned the stage altogether and entered the crowd himself, proceeding to rough up the small but dedicated group that had amassed to watch him. Despite his over the top machismo, it became clear that nothing pleased this guy more than having a group of burly, sweat-drenched Canadians (myself included) scream his lyrics back to him literally inches from his face. The other members of the band seemed to share his sentiment, for all intents and purposes they loved what they were doing and it showed through their performance. Are Gallows the future of punk? The ones who will make the genre truly great again, as all the hype seems to indicate? Probably not, but who fucking cares when it’s this damn good?
Following “punk’s new face,” I made my way over to observe its old one: Bad Religion. This band needs no introduction and even if they did I’m not qualified to give it. All I will say is that for a band that just released its 14th album, they played stronger, faster, tighter, and with more obvious dedication than any of the bands they shared that stage with. It has been 27 years since their formation and they show no signs of stopping. More power to ‘em, I say.
The Unseen took the stage at 7 p.m. and proved why they are still the city of Boston’s reigning street-punks. Of all the bands I’d witnessed that day, they easily packed the most songs into their half hour. Ripping through a whirlwind set of both very new and very old tracks, they made it clear that they are quite aware of their back catalogue and that they don’t plan on forgetting it any time soon (although to be fair they’ve never written a song that’s particularly difficult to play).
Immediately following The Unseen was a surprise performance by Whitby, Ontario’s Protest the Hero, another band who, like The Flatliners, constantly seem to improve every time I see them. Having just spent most of 2007 writing and recording their new record (titled Fortress, out November 8th), they’ve emerged from the studio with the same intensity and energy they’ve always brought to their particular brand of “prog-metal” (whatever that means). However, this time they also brought noticeable technical improvement. They generally seemed to have learned a lot during their time in the studio and I look forward to seeing where they go next. (Oh, and the new stuff didn’t sound half bad either.)
As I Lay Dying, the only other mainstream metal band on the tour aside from Killswitch Engage, were the last to play on the main stage at around 8 p.m. However, at this point, I found myself entirely exhausted, dirty and thirsty, so I honestly can’t recall whether they were good or not. Given their history (and new record), I’d hazard to guess that they put on a so-so performance, but you’ll just have to go track them down to make sure. What I can say, though, is that I feel bad for all the metalheads who had to wait around for 8 hours to catch a half hour As I Lay Dying set, but they probably should have known better anyway.
So that’s that – another year, another Warped Tour. Will I return next year? Probably. Will it continue its recurring trend of being entirely mediocre but still giving me a decent idea of who would be worth seeing in a closed-venue setting in the year to come? Most likely. Will The Mighty Mighty Bosstones finally reunite and play the tour next year like many assumed they would this year? Probably (hopefully) not.
That’s all folks.
Tune in to The Kids Are So-So with Josh every Tuesday from 2pm-4pm
MAD CADDIES + Real McKenzies + Saint Catherines @ Le Tulipe
By Lindsay Wood - 07/29/2007
Last night’s show was a trip down memory lane, an eye opening reminder that there is still some very good punk rock coming out of the Canadian scene and a relaxing reconnection with the California ska scene.
The Real McKenzies, The Sainte Catherines and The Mad Caddies put on a show that oozed a smorgasbord of emotions into the audience all night long.
The Real McKenzies are a band I have seen as a handful of time and one that always does their job as an opening act. They came out with an overwhelming amount of energy although the crowd wasn’t as on board. I think the people in the audience realized after the first song that if they didn’t move around too much they could inhale and get drunk off the booze on the bands breath.
While I don’t expect any less from a Scottish-Punk band that wear’s kilts from B.C., it got to the point where I was getting motion sick from watching the bagpiper stumbling around the stage in a drunken stupor. I was waiting for him to knock something or someone over, which was making me a little uncomfortable. Combined with lead singer, Paul McKenzie’s stage persona (which slightly resembled Avril Lavigne’s sad attempt at choreographed dance moves), it dawned upon me that this band hasn’t really changed their performance. The most punk thing about this band was not how many beers they chugged while onstage. It was the fact that their bagpiper wandered into the middle of Ste-Catherine Street in the gay village and played before the show for change (see photos below). They’ve added a few more songs and drank a few more beers, but that’s about it.
The Sainte Catherines were definitely a home grown favorite. I had a chance to chat with lead singer Hugo before the show, where he told me that the last few shows they played had very little energy and were not so great. Montreal had to have changed that because the crowd welcomed them home with open arms. Everyone at Le National was singing along to every word. It was refreshing to hear so many people listening to such a fantastic band. Their show was energetic and despite the fact that I have never quite understood the need for three guitarists in a punk rock band, these guys seemed to make use of all of them. The show was rad, the vocals were sounding sharp and had great volume on them. I don’t have a single complaint about this bands live performance.
The Mad Caddies tend to blow me away every time I see them. I always forget how great they are live. This is a band that is best enjoyed when you are either under the age of 17 and dancing like a maniac or over the age of 21 and sitting down, remembering what fun it was to skank away when you were 17.
I say this because when you get to be over 17 you start drinking at shows. Then you do dumb things like jump onto the stage while you are loaded (and obviously so, because you aren’t wearing any shoes). Then you start trying to dry hump/dance with the lead singer of the band that is performing in front of 600 or 800 people. When he won’t pay any attention to you, you move your way over to the good natured trumpet player who thinks its funny until you kick the mic chord out of the amp so that no one can hear the trumpet anymore. This happens five or more times till someone from one of the other bands watching comes and takes you off the stage. You resist and then they get so fed up that they chuck you back in the mosh pit and everyone cheers.
OR you are an 18-year-old male that dances around and around on stage and causes the nice, gentle lead singer from the California ska band (probably the most docile form of musician after the late Mr. Marley) to kick you in the face, stop playing in the middle of a slow, pretty part in a song and say, “If you want to be onstage, start your own fucking band.”
I can’t really tell you much about how the band actually sounded until the second half of their set, due to the antics from the audience, but that part was amazing. Keith, the agile little Mexican trombone player weaved his way around the stage so well it made me want to put him in my pocket and carry him around and take him out to play for me whenever I want. The difference in every member of the Caddies stage presence was so much more relaxed once the security from Le National stepped in to deal with the crowd surfing issue. They chilled out and even played a wonderful three-song encore. All in all, I'm glad I went to this show and got to sit for the Caddies performance.
BUILT TO SPILL @ Le Tulipe
By Cody Hicks - Breakfast of Champions - 07/12/2007
I have a long, strange relationship with the music of Built to Spill. It’s based on three classic principals of youth: road trips, high school and pot smoking. Now that I’ve outgrown two of those three things and have no access to a car, listening to Built to Spill has ceased.
As an obsessive vinyl collector I have recently been purchasing albums of theirs, just based on the fact that they were cheap, and available. I think I threw Keep it Like a Secret on the table once for posterity’s sake, but other than that, the sounds of a scruffy Neil Young imitator just haven’t done it for me ever since I quit smoking pot.
But, the show was amazing and I had a great time, but I felt out of place. When going to a Built to Spill show, one must realize that their hey-day was ten years ago. I felt about ten years younger than most of the crowd and I even saw a few kids on their father’s shoulders in the audience.
The only concert goers to move a muscle were a group of frat boys doing the Barenaked Ladies head-bob dance while playing air guitar and flubbing the lyrics in their meathead moshpit. And, I don’t know how old Doug Martsch is, but he looked as stoic as an old soul on stage. He barely moved a muscle apart from his bobbing Joe Strummer leg and nimble wizard hands.
That guy makes axe-slinging look easy. Doug Martsch is a bona-fide indie-guitar-god, and he dealt out meaty riff after meaty riff with gusto. I used to dream of the day when Doug Martsch and J Mascis finally had the flaming guitar duel for the Neil Young’s dirty guitar-hero throne.
I was a little worried after listening to the double-live Built to Spill record, in which there are two twenty minute songs. As a rule, I hate jam bands. Phish make me want to puke all over myself. Thankfully, it seems that BTS have reeled themselves in a bit and the jams were economical and only the final few minutes of the encore ("Randy Described Eternity") left me bored and zoned out.
I was also wary of the setlist. Since their peak in 1999 with Keep it Like a Secret, Built to Spill have been on a real slope into mediocrity. Despite opening with a track from their new album, "You in Reverse", they ignored their two most recent records almost entirely. I was thrilled to hear some of the killer guitar-workouts from Perfect From Now On and I nearly lost my shot when they played some of pop jams from my personal favourite, "There’s Nothing Wrong with Love".
I actually lost my shit when they launched into a blazing cover of "Third Uncle" by Brian Eno, which is as furious as I could imagine Built to Spill ever getting.
Ultimately, I’m a little torn over the show. On one hand, they played all my favourite songs, and that made me grin. On the other hand, it was like seeing some classic rock dinosaurs show up and play a greatest hits compilation onstage. And that’s sad.
But, in spite of the frat boys, "Carry the Zero" is still one hell of a make-out jam and Built to Spill do classic rock better than most these days.
ALBERT HAMMOND JR. + The Dead Trees @ La Tulipe
By Katie Seline - Wrong Side of the Bed - 06/12/2007
Somewhere between the beginning of my love for non-pop music and my discovery of such wonders as the drum machine, synthesizer, ridiculously loud guitars, overly fast kicking of bass drums and screaming, intense vocals (not the emo or screamo kind but the kind that tells me that a singer is really, intensely passionate about what he is singing), I seem to have lost my love for basic rock ‘n roll.
I had known something was up a while ago when I was constantly flipping through my computer play list that was set to shuffle. It was only at the Albert Hammond Jr. show at La Tulipe on June 12th; however, that I really understood what was going on.
To be fair, I was fresh off of an incredibly intense weekend of fabulous music at Toronto’s NXNE music festival which ended the day before the show. Maybe I was tired, maybe I was biased, but something about Hammond’s show just didn’t do it for me.
The whole evening was quite odd as I arrived at La Tulipe, on of my favorite venues, right around 8:30 pm thinking I’d still be able to catch some of the opening band. Of course, I was wrong, because for some reason someone decided it was a good idea to start a 2 band line up show right at eight o’clock. With that said, The Dead Trees already had their stuff cleaned up off the stage and Albert Hammond Jr. was ready to go at 8:45. Who headlines a show and starts that early?
Hammond started off his set quite well and I was happy to see three guitar players and one bass player. His lead guitar player was incredible and when they all played in tandem the sound was amazing! However this novelty got old quite fast when only one or two guitar players would play while the other moved on to light keyboard or just vocals. Maybe the stuff is just a bit too poppy for me, but I’m assuming not since I did really enjoy the album, Yours to Keep.
Being the former guitar player (sometimes lead guitar player) for The Strokes, Hammond’s set really felt like a lighter, watered down version of one that would be performed by The Strokes. I guess if that was the case, I just really felt like the set needed to be louder and that there needed to be more edge, more raspy vocals familiar to Julian Casablancas’. Don’t get me wrong, the set was solid and musically and technically perfect but, simply put, it bored me. Having only one album, they whipped through all the songs in under an hour, and then when asked back for an encore, announced that they had already played all of the stuff that they had. Hammond decided to play a song that he had just written acoustically, which was good, and you could tell that once the rest of the guitar and drum parts were written, that it would be a great song.
The show was over by 10 pm, which in all honesty, suited me just fine.
- Catch Wrong Side Of Te Bed every Wednesday from 5 to 7 pm ET only on CJLO!
THE NATIONAL + Shapes and Sizes @ Cabaret Juste Pour Rire
By The Jay of Spades - Faster, Leonard Cohen Die! Die! - 06/04/2007
Listening to recordings of Brooklyn, NY quintet The National can sometimes be like watching a really good slow thriller film, like the Coen brother’s Blood Simple or Hitchcock’s Rearwindow; it can seem at times like things are moving a bit slowly, until you realize you haven’t blinked in 47 minutes and you don’t want to get up to pee even though you’re on your sixth mocha latte. The National’s music exudes a sort of quiet intensity that is detectable on first listen, but is only really discovered and appreciated after several times through.
When put on stage and behind lights and microphones, this quiet intensity comes out into the foreground as the main ingredient of the music. Just like the great slow thriller films, The National don’t rely on flashiness or contrived stage theatrics to achieve a connection with their audience, but rather on genuine earnestness and personality.
As soon as the band took the stage of the near-capacity Cabaret Juste Pour Rire, the audience was enthralled, hanging on every note, and every word from singer Matt Berringer, who delivered a very personal, heart-on-sleeve performance. Playing a mix of songs from their new album The Boxer, as well as selections from previous albums, it was clear that The National have a very enthusiastic and devoted following. T the crowd sang along to new tracks “Fake Empire” and “Mistaken for Strangers,” as well as favourites “Baby We’ll Be Fine” and “Abel” from their 2005 album Alligator.
Behind Berringer, the rest of the band played a tight but subdued set, which kept the focus on the front man’s vocal and lyrical energy. Brother sets Scott and Bryan Devendorf and Aaron and Bryce Dessner were joined by unofficial sixth member Padma Newsom, an Australian composer who arranged the orchestral element on The Boxer. Newsom energized the band with some incredibly enthusiastic violin playing.
The set continued on with a consistent level of energy, until the last song of their set, when things boiled over with a spirited performance of “Mr. November,” a standout track from Alligator. Like the final climax scene in a film, everything seemed to click and come together. Berringer attacked the song, thrusting his microphone with each word, as if to force every little bit of energy he had into it. His voice strained and cracked, he sang from the floor to the ceiling, he stood up on the amps and monitors... and the audience loved it. The band left the stage to a roaring applause, only to come back for the now obligatory, but in this case heartfelt encore.
Opening act Shapes and Sizes. held their own, performing a well-received set of angular jazz-folk-infused indie-pop/rock (for lack of a better way to describe them). The Montreal-via-Victoria, B.C. quartet, featuring Caila Thompson-Hannat, Jon Crellin, Nathan Gage and Rory Seydel are currently touring in support of their upcoming self-titled album, to be released in July on American indie label Asthmatic Kitty.
Not to belittle the performance of Shapes and Sizes, but this night really was about The National. The last time they played Montreal, it was as the opening act for The Cloud Room at the less-than-regal Main Hall venue. It was definitely their turn to be the hero in this one. And like any great film, nobody left the theatre until the final credits rolled, the lights came on and the 16-year-old employees started sweeping up the popcorn, jelly beans and milk duds off the floor.
THE TWILIGHT SINGERS + Afterhours @ Cabaret (Musée Juste Pour Rire )
By Omar Husain - Hooked On Sonics - 05/27/2006
The last time Greg Dulli ever performed (or set foot) in Montreal was in 1998, touring in support of what ended up being his previous band, the Afghan Whigs’ last CD. One of the first shows I ever saw, that performance still stands up as one of the best, if not the best, I've ever experienced. Playful, relaxed, and tight, (not to mention entertaining), Dulli and co. played several songs from the band’s catalogue, with an additional touring keyboardist and group of backing vocalists. It seemed more like a celebration of the band's history, and rightfully so, as the band ended up parting ways following that tour. Since the break-up of the Whigs, Dulli took a brief hiatus from music, opening some bars and restaurants in what was to become his new home base of New Orleans (Dulli fell in love with the city when the Whigs recorded their final CD 1965 there). A while later Dulli picked up his guitar and the songs began pouring out again. Now with a steady band of backing musicians and a three CD’s worth of material since (not including one covers disc and a solo record), Dulli and his new group the Twilight Singers were back in town for their first Montreal show to promote their latest, and Dulli’s best material since the break-up of the Afghan Whigs, entitled Powder Burns. What so far is, and will probably end up being my favourite album of 2006, Powder Burns not only stands up to Dulli's fantastic catalogue with the Afghan Whigs, but it's also one of the best collection of songs he's ever released. The real question is - how might the live show stack up? Kicking off the evening with Powder Burns’ lead track, "I'm Ready", the band let the crowd know they meant business and things really kicked in by the third chorus when Dulli let his trademark caterwaul howl out of his throat. From then on, the band hit their stride and kept it coming as the night progressed. "Bonnie Brae" started off shaky, but segued into “66”, the only Whigs cut of the night (much to this writer’s chagrin). After, Dulli sat down behind the piano amidst shouts of "Duuuuulliiiiiii!" that were met with a smirk and a "Yeeeees?" Dulli also joked with the crowd how he was suppressing any urge to play ‘Frère Jacques' to which some drunk gal started yelling "PLAY IT DUUUULLIII! YOU BETTER PLAAAAY IT!" much to the audience's amusement. Cracking up behind the piano, he looked out towards her and replied "Lady, when did we get married so you can yell at me like that?". During "Candy Cane Crawl", Dulli then left the piano (while bandmate Manuel Agnelli filled in) and pulled a brunette from the front row up on stage and serenaded her while they slow danced. Dulli is indeed quite a charmer. "There's Been an Accident", my favourite song on Powder Burns, was nicely rendered with opener Afterhours' Dario Ciffo providing some electric violin and was the highlight of the evening, with lead guitarist Dave Rosser stealing the show. Ending off the set with another Powder Burns standout, "Forty Dollars", the band seemed to have been playing the song in an alternative key. I don't know if this was intentional or not, or something they're working on, but it definitely sounded ‘off’. After a short intermission they began the encore the same way their set had started: with some moody music. Then the band returned and kicked it off with Dulli once again behind the piano for a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" before segueing into "Killer" and covering Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (personally, I would have preferred the Whigs' "Crazy", but this was still great) and finally closing with their cover of "Black is the Colour of my True Love's Hair." Leaving the stage, it was obvious the crowd wanted a second encore and they were making it known. The house lights were lit and the PA started cranking out music, yet the crowd didn’t stop chanting, stomping, and clapping for more. I’ve never seen a group of people demand a second encore as exuberantly as they did (they would continue for fifteen more minutes). While the hall was full of past Whigs fans, I wondered how many of them might have attended that 1998 Whigs show, where Dulli and company performed an impressive three to four encores. Maybe they thought he’d relive that experience. Not so. After clamouring about, everyone gave up and walked out. Oh well. In the end, it wasn't as good as the Afghan Whigs performance I had seen before, and to be honest I wasn't expecting it to be. That performance had a lot of sentimental value attached to it for me. Along with being one of the first shows I ever saw, it was the first time I interviewed a band (I had the pleasure of having coffee with Afghan Whigs bassist John Curley), and the Whigs were, and still are, one of my all-time favourite bands. (Note: the first time I ever set foot in an an independent record store as a young teen, the two tapes I bought were Bad Religion's Recipe for Hate and the Afghan Whigs' Gentlemen. Both are albums that figure in my top 10 albums of all time. The Twilight Singers’ performance was both tight and relaxed with a feel you’d expect from Dulli, but I guess the only thing absent was a kind of magic or spark. Dulli clearly still has that but I did feel that something in general was lacking in their performance. Still, Dulli is one of the best songwriters around, and if Powder Burns is any indication, he still has a lot of fire left in him.
THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT + Murder by Death @ Foufounes Éléctriques
By Jesara Sinclair - I Keep Hearing Noises in the Basement - 05/18/2007
I always forget that Foufounes Electroniques is notorious for early shows. I arrived at the Reverend Horton Heat show around 10pm, anticipating a huge line-up of dressed-up rockabilly boys and girls. They were nowhere to be found, so I made my way upstairs, where the concert room was packed and Reverend Horton Heat were spitting out the last half-hour of their set.
I was really looking forward to this show. They're such a fixture on the psychobilly scene and have been around forever, it seems. I don't know if it was because it was so late into their set, or maybe they’re getting a little old, but I found the show a little slow. I'm not quite sure what it was; the music was great, as I had anticipated, but the crowd and the band seemed a little tired. Even when Jim "Reverend Horton" Heath climbed up onto Jimbo Wallace's bass, it seemed like an old, rehearsed gimmick that was only being pulled out because of some performance convention or standard.
Their set was over a few songs after I arrived (and I apologize for my terrible memory not being able to reproduce the set list). They shook outreached hands from audience members, before finally exiting the stage. The crowd shouted and stomped and clapped for an encore, and the band waited their sweet time before returning to the stage. They eventually returned and resumed playing, this time with a newfound energy. Bodies in front started moving as people started dancing again. When the encore was over, I was left with an adrenaline rush that left me yearning for more.
Next time, I'll go early.
BLONDE REDHEAD + Fields @ Club Soda
By Jackson Macintosh - Track Marks - 05/16/2007
Blonde Redhead do not attract a particularly respectful audience at this point in their career. Their sold-out show May 12 at Club Soda was filled with pushers, shovers, in-the-crowd joint-smokers, and horse-whistlers. There was a startling lack of show-going tact.
Beyond that, though, how was the music? The openers, Fields, a five piece from London, did not exactly get things started on the right foot. They were highly competent and deeply dull. Nothing they did seemed to really go anywhere--they definitely seemed like the sort of band that will get a 7.5 or whatever from Pitchfork when their debut album finally drops on Warner or whatever, and then they’ll go on a poorly-attended headlining tour, break up and be forgotten, and the whole thing will be deeply whatever for everyone who isn’t in the band. If we’re lucky, that is.
Blonde Redhead were on next. The Paces, who are Italian twin brothers, and Kazu, who is reputedly an ex-art school student from Japan, stepped out onto the stage. Everything was backlit and mysterious. They started to play. They seemed to be making a lot of sound for three people. I was wondering to myself what kinds of effects and processing they were using on the vocals and guitars to make them sound like there was more than one singer and more than one guitar track. And then Kazu, the singer, stepped away from the microphone and started talking to Amadeo Pace, the guitar player. But the singing didn’t stop! And Amadeo stopped playing guitar, but the sound of guitar playing didn’t stop! Shocking, I know. Of course, they were using backing tracks to reproduce their latest album 23 (no connection to the Jim Carrey film of the same name) as faithfully as possible.
It certainly sounded lush, but I don’t like their new album very much, and I’d rather hear them play with each other rather than play along to a recording of themselves. There was no speaking between songs, except before the last track in the encore. Anyways, I didn’t find the whole thing very interesting, but I think I learned a few lessons that might be helpful.
Here they are:
1. Do not go to rock shows that are attended by more than 600 people
2. Do not tap the large Québecois man on the shoulder while he is busy horse-whistling and waving his arms at the pretty Japanese girl on stage. He will NOT LIKE YOU.
3. Horse-whistling looks like a really effective, respectful way to get the attention of pretty girls.
4. Let short people stand in front of you at rock shows that are attended by more than 600 people if you are tall and you like to think of yourself as considerate.
5. Do not tell strangers that you attend and enjoy amateur female wrestling events. They will also NOT LIKE YOU.
6. Don’t go to see a band’s show if you don’t think they’ve put out a good record since you were in high school.
So there we have it. Seeing Blonde Redhead has clearly enriched my life by teaching me these valuable lessons. Thank you Blonde Redhead.
DWARVES + Riptides @ Club Lambi
By K-Man - 05/08/2007
Tuesday night shows are usually a good excuse to have an easy going -early night. Unless you're going to see psycho-punkrock icons the Dwarves at the always intimate Lambi. It's almost impossible to describe these guys. I like to describe them through Dwarves related experiences.
Like back in '90 just after they released their 3rd(?) album Blood,Guts, and Pussy. My friend just got it and motored to the bus stop to come over and listen to it, you know.. bust shit up. Only he never made it. Some freak at the bus stop saw the cover art, peaking out from under his arm and tryed to beat the shit out of him, screaming blasphemy and all that stuff ( who'd think 2 naked women and a naked dwarf covered in blood would insight that kind of reaction! ) but in all fairness, these guys are dirty, filthy, nasty ( f*ck ) rockers.
In the black corner, hailing from Illinois, fighting out of sunny California, The Dwarves. In the white corner, fighting on home turf from Montreal, in the white diapers...the fans. Deliciously, debaucherously violent, this was a full on barn burner. These boys put the Sub Pop label on the map with their classic '90 release, Blood, Guts and Pussy.
They have been around since '85 and have broken every law/rule in the book....and then some..no joke, I'm still amazed that they even made it up into Canada, legally speeking.
Blag Dhalia (vocals) was in fine form this evening, ' Detention Girl ' was one of the first punches that landed flush in the face of the audience. Followed by the stiffest set of jabs I've heard live starting with these classic lyrics: "...I'm livin', I'm livin', I'm livin'...in the back seat of my car " from their song ' Back Seat Of My Car ', the second jab came in with there song ' Let's Fuck..', ".. I'm the best fucking fuck , in the whole fucking world....." genius, you just can't make shit like that up.
A swift 5 punch combination followed with ' Astro Boy ' , ' SFVD ', 3 songs from their album Come Clean which were ' River City ',' Come Where The Flavor Is ', and ' Johnny On The Spot '( I think it was ' Johnny On The Spot ', or was it ' I Want You To Die ', honestly I was getting pretty ' punch' drunk.
" Going down to the drug store, gonna have me some fun.." was a left hook that sent the audience realing ( the first time that night ), from the song ' Drug Store '. HeWhoCannotBeNamed showed up as usual, wearing nothing but a Mexican wrestlers mask and swinging his guitars headstock ( among other things ) at anybody who got close enough to injure. I'm pretty sure it was Vag Amoral in the pocket, but I'm not sure if it was Salt Peter on bass. Their set list opened like a greatest hits list from their album Blood, Guts and Pussy, and I think the lead guit. actually was The Fresh Prince of Darkness.
These guys have been incorporating a special guest system ,when someone can't cross a border or state line. Including Nick Olivieri and the drummer from KMFDM , Dexter Holland( Offspring ), Black Josh Freese ( the Vandals ), Nash Kato ( Urge Overkill )...the list goes on. People hated these guys for years and now everybodys falling over each other to fill a potential spot...isn't that always the case?
Knock out punch came disguised as ' Fuck You Up And Get High ' ( an oldie but a goodie ), and the cool ' You Gotta Burn ' from there awsome '97 release The Dwarves Are Young And Good Looking, other than that, I honestly cannot remember all of the songs...and that is probably a good thing for a Dwarves show. These guys played a buh-roo-tal set.
When the final bell was rung, we picked ourselves off the canvas and our bells had been rung. They swiftly flew off the stage to catch their next bus to the corner of Psycho and Freakass. I feel priviledged to have been punched out by these legends. The Riptides....mmaaaahhhhhh, if they were food I could purge myself like a bulemic, but alas, I can't trow up my brain...or can I?
[Check out Beyond That Graveyard! III every Friday from 9 pm to midnight ET only on CJLO!]
RJD2 + Bus Driver @ La Tulipe
By Puffy Coates - 04/16/2007
The average fan’s mentality looks to find reliable sources of good music from artists it thinks it can trust, and builds expectations based on the assumption that the artist has a fixed style. So, seldom is the average fan pleased when a favorite artist decides to drastically change their approach.
In mid-2004 when RJD2 vainly called much of his prior catalogue ‘moron music’ in an online interview, it was evident that change was near for the Oregan-born producer. While there was some Internet backlash against this sentiment from confused fans, RJ remained revered because his sophomore release Since We Last Spoke was solid. Touring for the album, he began opening his set with a guitar and a mic, hinting at an ambition beyond the boards that--in retrospect—foreshadowed the Eno-like style employed on this year’s The Third Hand. So why, after RJ played Montreal’s La Tulipe on April 16th with a superb live band, were many fans shocked and disappointed? The boy wonder’s very limited vocal capacities aside, I can only assume that it was because he has moved too far beyond what fans want him to be.
After an impressive set from Freestyle Fellowship affiliate Bus Driver, RJD2 took the stage with 3 musicians and a plethora of instruments including a guitar, a bass, drums, a mini MPC, a Roland Juno and tables. Over the next 30 minutes, these were passed around like joints with RJ, in one inspired sequence, playing the keys with a guitar around his neck before hurrying to the tables to cue up a sample. Powering through live renditions of material from Dead Ringer and Since We Last Spoke, he looked every bit as comfortable playing the instruments as he did behind the tables. The band left the stage halfway through the set at which point RJ returned briefly to mixing and drum programming, his bread and butter.
I had the advantage of being on the balcony so I had a bird’s eye view of the stage and watched, in drunken awe, his hands darting from the mixer to the tables to the drum pads and back. “He should stay on his tables,” the chick beside me uttered. Then the band returned and proceeded to play a more poppy second half consisting mostly of material from The Third Hand, much to her dismay. RJ crooned through most of it, which sounded weird because he can’t really sing, but the music was powerful, unpredictable and brilliantly arranged. While not as striking on record, the live treatment of these songs was something to behold and RJ should be commended for his creative diversity and for having the balls to do something different. Needless to say, the chick left before the encore.
Whether or not the average fan likes RJD2’s new style is inconsequential. He’s already delivered a classic and is currently just doing what good artists do: pushing himself and the limits of how his work is defined. Leonard Cohen once wrote that "the artist’s allegiance is not to the image or its progress in the public domain but to the notion that he is not bound to the world as a given, that he can escape the arrangement of things as they are." So if fans want another Dead Ringer, I suggest they find the cats that are already emulating RJ circa 2003 and buy tickets to their live shows instead. The true artist, meanwhile, is ever-changing and will simply be doing his thing, building new mountains to climb and reaching higher heights.
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