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Zoobombs
Yonge Dundas Square June 20, 2:30 pm
The pouring rain welcomed the Zoobombs to Toronto. As a result of the environment, Yonge Dundas Square was pretty barren. By 2:45 pm, it had filled out somewhat with umbrellas. The Japanese band didn’t seem to mind the low attendance and lack of participation (it is pretty hard to rock out with an umbrella in your hand) and bombarded the audience with their bass-driven brand of rock-n-roll. Their psychedelic songs were lengthy and sprawling circular guitar riffs were around every corner. The Zoobombs did what they could under sub-par settings; it was truly a valiant effort. Unfortunately their set just came and went as the audience waited for the rain to subside.
- Joe Veroni
Golden Triangle
Yonge Dundas Square June 20, 3:30 pm
The rain slowed down to a mere drizzle and Golden Triangle - hailing from Brooklyn, NY - took over Yonge Dundas Square’s soaked stage. Members of Red Mass were in the audience to take in the show before they would hit the Silver Dollar Room later that night. Golden Triangle would also perform at the Silver Dollar some nine hours later and by set’s end, they must have wished they had skipped the Yonge Dundas show altogether. With the exception of a stoned-hippie-type who was enjoying the crunchy tunes, the audience was unreceptive. The tambourines, the soulful lead vocals and the band’s down-tempo garage style were not working out. Later in the night, the band’s punk side would be showcased to an audience who would eat up Golden Triangle’s style and flair.
- Joe Veroni
Crystal Antlers
Yonge Dundas Square June 20, 4:30 pm
Crystal Antlers were not oblivious to the fate of the two bands before them. Frontman Jonny Bell quipped, “We’re playing Sneaky Dee’s at 1 am. I’m sure we’ll sound a lot better.” If this was true, it would have been a hell of a show as the band from Long Beach, California rocked hard with their crashing cymbals and catchy tunes. Crystal Antlers are indie rock at its finest and not a band to be looked over. “I wrote this song about Amp Energy drinks,” Bell would later say. The comment was no small shot at the scenery surrounding Yonge Dundas Square which is a dystopia of neon advertisement that doesn’t fit the independent theme of the event. I know it’s the same flashy company’s contributions that make NXNE possible but sometimes it can be hard to handle. What this venue needs is something mean and vulgar - thankfully Japanther was right around the corner.
- Joe Veroni
Japanther
Yonge Dundas Square June 20, 5:30 pm
“Stop listening to your parents. Do drugs. Fuck your parents.” Sound advice from New York’s Japanther, two former Pratt Institute students who play some crazy lo-fi shit. With a drum kit, a bass and their ranting voices being backed by tapes, these two lunatics brought life back to a downtrodden Yonge Dundas Square. Drummer/singer Ian Vanek was fond of saying “Hail Satan” between songs as his taped samples raved atrocities from horror movies to the crowd. Vulgarity spewed from every piece of banter but not even the parents of small children seemed to mind too much as the show was simply too intense to miss. Japanther was the most honest show I’ve seen over the past few days and I can’t wait to check them out again. All of this was made even more amazing due to the fact they credited their style to not knowing what they were doing. “We didn’t even know how to write songs when we started,” Vanek said. Maybe true but the duo now has their form down to a science.
- Joe Veroni
The British Columbians
El Mocambo June 20, 8 pm
Finally, a band that actually lives up to their name! The British Columbians, a four-piece band from Vancouver, travelled over 5,000 km for their NXNE showcase. But with their bluesy rock sound, they could have fooled anyone and claimed to be from the U.S. south. Opening with “Rising Sun,” The British Columbians launched right into their hard rocking affair. Lead singer/guitarist Girard Knox is a natural frontman and flourished in the role, especially when guitarist Owen Connell dropped his guitar in favour of the keyboard. Although there was a sparse crowd (it was only a few minutes past 8 pm after all) the band received a loud applause after their first song, a roaring cheer one would expect at the end of a set and not the beginning. Unfortunately for Knox, his guitar amp quickly “blew up” and the band was left standing around for a few minutes while things were sorted out. Drummer Dave Moran entertained the crowd in the meantime with a pseudo drum solo and luckily there weren’t enough people there to be disappointed. Besides, it’s not like there were only a handful of shows to sneak off to. With Connell on the keyboard for the remainder of the set, Knox pulled off the double duty of thrilling the crowd with his vocals and guitar solos. Moran also picked up the acoustic guitar during one song while simultaneously stomping his foot on the kick pedal; an interesting feat to watch. His bass drum was nice and loud, which was probably why there were so few people standing near the front. All in all, despite the little setbacks, The British Columbians did their best a band can do with an 8 pm showcase.
-Jon Brazeau
woodpigeon
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern June 20, 9 pm
With apologies to pro wrestler Lance Storm, from CALGARY...Alberta, Canada came folk pop band woodpigeon. With the rain pouring down outside, the ’Shoe was packed in an instant, which meant the “slow jam” band had to compete with constant chatter and the occasionally inappropriate “yeah” and “woo” shouts from drunk audience members. It should also be noted the performance was live to air on CBC Radio 3 and featured an introduction from Grant Lawrence, who was wearing a hand-knitted CBC sweater. Although it’s almost summer, there was no way he was taking it off as it was a one of a kind item. Woodpigeon opened with “I Live a Lot of Places” from their recently Polaris Music Prize long listed album Treasury Library Canada c/w Houndstooth Europa. The sombre song set the mood perfectly and Mark Hamilton’s high vocals weren’t what you would expect from someone sporting a beard. Keyboardist Kenna Burima joined Hamilton on vocals during most of the songs and the two of them complimented each other very well. Hamilton was also quite chatty on stage and joked with the audience, despite the often dark undertones of his songs, as Hamilton dubbed it, “the saddest music in the world” and introduced one song as “a song about drowning to death.” The band was well-received by the crowd although it probably would have been better if they played in a smaller, more intimate venue instead of the rowdy ’Shoe.
-Jon Brazeau
The Mark Inside
Velvet Underground June 20, 10 pm
Before the Whitby/Toronto four-piece started their set, drummer Geordie Dynes took a moment to get the crowd together and sing “Happy Birthday” to his father in the audience. The Mark Inside then kicked off their actual performance with “Bottom Line,” a straight-forward rock-n-roll song with a chorus that was easily to sing along to (obvious hint: it was the song title). That seemed to be the case for most of their songs and lead singer Chris Levoir was quick to mention most of the song titles before they played them. Levoir took control of the frontman role; a few times he stood on the monitors while looking out into the fairly crowded audience that had gathered near the stage. While singing and playing guitar, Levoir came across as a friendlier Julian Casablancas (perhaps that’s the Canadian way to do it). “Monkeys” featured a more tribal drum beat courtesy of Dynes and should have had the crowd stomping their feet (it was too dark to tell if this was the case). Their song “Shots” received one loud “yeah” from an audience member, possibly someone who just had a shot from the bar. The Mark Inside are young and showed promising potential during their set.
-Jon Brazeau
Novillero
El Mocambo June 20th, 10 pm
Winnipeg-based Novillero celebrated their first show in Toronto in two and a half years at El Mocambo, bringing their style of “Mod-Pop” to this year’s North by Northeast festival. After being declared the Buzz Band of 2006’s NXNE, Novillero remains somewhat of a Canadian indie staple. The band performed a mixture of new and old material, featuring one so fresh it was still unnamed at the time of the gig. Songs such as “The Art of Carrying On” and “Dean” delighted longtime fans of the group and a cover of The Kinks’ “David Watts” on Ray Davies’ 65th birthday paid tribute to their roots and influences. The venue and energy of the fans caused the temperature to raise so high at El Mo that they had to turn on a massive fan to the left of the stage. Concluding with the crowd recognized, hand-clappable “The Hypothesist,” the band’s performance and audience involvement proved that Novillero are at their best while belting out fast-paced, hard-hitting rock melodies and rhythms.
- Heather Adamo
Band of Skulls
El Mocambo June 20th, 11 pm
Band of Skulls are poised to be one of the most talked about bands of 2009, both at NXNE and beyond. The three-piece took the stage at 11 pm for their second performance at this year’s festival (they played with Spinnerette at the Mod Club on Friday) to applause and cheers from a nearly-packed room. The group began their set with raunchy album opener “Light of the Morning” before leading into debut single “I Know What I Am.” Watching Band of Skulls perform harkened back to the days where rock and roll was at its prime and transformed El Mocambo from a bar on Spadina to feel like somewhere “across the pond” in the U.K. The band’s raw energy and understated confidence (they only spoke twice during the entire set and only to introduce themselves and introduce one song) gave the air of true rock stardom, echoed in the audience’s reaction to each track. Performing a mixture of harder and more melodic tunes, the show felt intimate and served as a preview of bigger things to come for these British rockers.
- Heather Adamo
CATL
Silver Dollar Room June 20, 12 am
The Silver Dollar Room had just been shook to its foundations by Teen Anger’s deadly serious punk rock. How could anybody possibly follow that? Such was the task at hand for blues-punk trio CATL. They were sort of like The Sadies - diving in and out genres - but with a million times more distortion. So much distortion on the vocals in fact that it was nearly impossible to even hear singer/guitarist Jamie Fleming’s banter with the crowd. “Unpolished” is the word that quickly comes to mind when thinking of CATL’s style. Musically tight, though a little repetitive, the band rocked their way through their set while the screeching vocals left ears bleeding in the worst way possible (is there a good way to have your ears bleed? Yes). It was a set I wanted to like that could have been enjoyable if it just didn’t sound like shit.
- Joe Veroni
Hot Panda
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern June 20th, 1 am
As a part of CBC Radio3’s live broadcast, Hot Panda actively engaged their (substantially inebriated) audience more than most bands I have ever seen perform. Kicking the set off by introducing themselves, “Hey fuckers, we’re Hot Panda!” (before the official broadcast began), the eclectic and quirky group (they sell hot sauce at their merch table) talked to the crowd in between each song, getting them to participate in the show. The drunken state of the audience certainly helped their level of involvement, as they chanted “CBC, CBC” before Hot Panda even took the stage. Musically, however, the band was spot on, bringing psychedelic elements to their pop-rock configuration and throwing in a trumpet, kazoo and accordion for good measure. Midway through the set, they asked the audience if there were any important messages they wanted to send out through the broadcast and asked them what key they should perform their new song in (resulting in the key of F). Throughout the performance, the upbeat and energetic band kept the crowd singing, clapping along and loving every minute.
- Heather Adamo
Grand Analog
Reverb June 20, 1 am
If he weren’t such a focused, talented hip-hop performer, Grand Analog’s Odario Williams probably could have a second career as a comedian. Either way, he certainly knows how to please a crowd, getting the unlikeliest of fans moving. Their infectious, bass-driven, down and dirty sound is a distinct one in contemporary hip-hop. Featuring an interesting mash of instruments — a synth, turntables, bass and, last but not least, Williams’ impassioned voice — Grand Analog’s funky, dub-infused, and reggae-inspired sound was at times too much for the four walls of Reverb. Williams was clearly blissed out, very focused and at times spring-loaded. Into the second half of the set, the party-hungry crowd thinned a bit with a few of Grand Analog’s songs becoming caught up in effects and samples. However, it was their loss because Williams’ spoken-word skills on more than one song were impressive and captivating, pulling the audience — from the very front of the stage to the bar — into his every pause and every word. The performance was topped off with several hilarious notes, like after some blonde chick jumped on stage and pulled her comatose man-friend with her. Once she was safely back in the audience, Williams’ quick wit got the best of her: “That’s like just when the mushrooms are kicking in. You take them like an hour ago and you’re like, this isn’t working…and then suddenly it’s like ‘let’s go to the stage. Let’s just go to the stage.’” But if you need a better review, Williams said it himself: “Is there anyone here who doesn’t have the Grand Analog album yet? What the fuck! What is wrong with you?”
- Sally Walker Hudecki
The Lovely Feathers
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern June 20, 2 am
It couldn’t have been the 2 am set time that explained the somewhat less-than-tight Lovely Feathers that graced the stage of the Horseshoe Tavern last night. Two am is like everyone else’s 2 pm in musician time. The opening riff of The Lovely Feathers’ first song, “In The Valley,” from their debut album, unfortunately sounded like it wished it was The Clash’s “The Magnificent Seven.” The four smart, short, bouncy guys played a lot of smart, short, bouncy songs, riling up the very drunk crowd. Guitarist Richard Yanofsky and frontman/House M.D. lookalike Mark Kupfert did quite their fair share of guitar swapping, to an unknown end. The sound was in top form, lush and melodic. Drummer Ted Suss played shirtless, for which I do not blame him as the stench of beer-sweat was already hanging heavy over the Horseshoe. The lyrics and between-song witticisms but not synchronized clapping were lost on the drunk-o crowd. However, the boisterousness and energy between crowd and stage was enough to sustain The Lovely Feathers’ set till the even weer hours.
- Sally Walker Hudecki
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