RSS

By Jackson MacIntosh - Track Marks - 11/21/2007

“We’re an extremely important and  successful rock band” were the first words out of Tom Fun Orchestra frontman Ian MacDougall’s mouth during their set at the decidedly urine-scented Les Saints. MacDougall’s deadpan restraint in assessing their situation was admirable, as there were about 90 people in a club built to accommodate about 500. Things probably looked pretty bleak from up there. They’d drove 20 hours from Sydney, Nova Scotia the day before to play their first Montreal show, and they’d been busking in the metro all day to drum up support for their show. While they’d made a handsome sum in loonies and toonies, it clearly hadn’t been successful as a promotional effort.

Before I write too much, I think it would only be proper to admit that many members of the Tom Fun Orchestra are close friends of mine, and that I’ve seen them about 50 times in the past two or three years. I grew up playing music with them, and we’re all from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. I’ll probably be fairly partial towards them because they’re my pals -- and that’s what we do with our pals when they start making headway against the swift current of Failure River and we can see they’re not too far from the sandy beaches of Success Point. Just today I saw their new teaser EP advertised on the iTunes front page, and it warms the cockles of my cockles.

So it was especially nice to see them win over the sparse crowd, which seemed to increase continually throughout the evening. They play folk instruments, but I wouldn’t dare call them a folk group; it’s more like a hillbilly wall of sound. There are three guitars, a banjo, a fiddle, an accordion, a double bass, a trumpet, some drums, and sometimes a mandolin, and they are all being played hard at almost all times. There’s an admirable irreverence in their live shows, and Ian’s an excellent showman with a good growl.

The opening band, Mars Hill, were not quite as rewarding to see, although they are clearly technically proficient and serious about what they do. I gather that they recently moved to Montréal from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in a bid to be closer to where the action is. While I admire their take-the-bull-by-the-horns attitude, I am not so fond of their jam band sensibility and the overall sterility of their sound. They’ve built up a loyal following on the East Coast, though, and I imagine that within their particular niche they are held in high esteem. They make excellent gouda in Prince Edward Island, and I’m pleased to see that they now have other kinds of cheese to export.

Moving on. By the end of the night, the Tom Fun Orchestra had the audience riled up enough to have them demanding an encore, which they provided in the form of a song called “No Sex with Monks” which concerns some of the finer points of the Roman Catholic Church. It was met with uproarious approval and applause, and the band members showed their enthusiasm by piling on top of one another, which is very dangerous, considering they were all holding sharp-edged musical instruments; I am surprised nobody lost an eye. What a foolhardy young group. If they come to your town, I would recommend going to the show, but bring and helmet and wear some kneepads if you really want to be prudent.  

Tune in to Track Marks with Jackson every Wednesday from 10pm-12pm

By Josh Mocle - The Kids Are So-So - 10/10/2007

I’m not gonna lie -- writing this review was pretty difficult for me. The first concert review I ever wrote for CJLO was for Gogol Bordello’s last Montreal show almost two years ago, and when thinking of things to say about their most recent visit, I began to realize that I said them already. Focusing mostly on tracks from their 2007 release, Super Taranta, the band once again performed their now-trademarked brand of “Gypsy-Punk” with a level of intensity not seen by bands even half their age. The crowd was still more diverse than the average rock show and Eugene Hutz (and his crazy moustache) remains one of the most brilliant (visually and lyrically) front men I have ever witnessed. Hell, I even managed to attend this show with a family member over the age of 45. A good time was had by all and my mind was blown once again. Let’s face it though, as a band they haven’t really changed all that much in the last six years, let alone the last two; however, this show wasn’t exactly a re-run, and it certainly wasn’t boring.

The first and most notable change was the fact that last time around, the band was unable to fill even half of Le National, a noticeably smaller venue, whereas this time they completely sold out Club Soda weeks in advance. As Hutz himself declared at the beginning of their set: “there’s a few more of you here this time…I bet most of you motherfuckers just found out about us though.” Whether that is actually the case remains to be seen, but what is obvious is that the band has seen an immense surge in popularity in the past two years and I’d imagine that it’s tied directly to the surge of publicity they’ve received since signing to semi-respected independent label SideOneDummy in 2005. But hey, a decent chunk of the crowd was aged 55 or above (and clearly not there because the band is the flavour-of-the-week amongst the snotty music critic illuminati), so that certainly says something.

Another thing I noticed was the band’s increased focus on their gypsy heritage while on stage (even though, if I’m not mistaken, Hutz is the only one of Romany descent). It has been apparent in their music since day one, but this was the first time I’d seen the Romany flag painted on the bass drum head, and the closest thing I’ve seen to Hutz being outright preachy about his people, who remain largely under the radar to most of the world. Perhaps this patriotism is due to their rise in popularity, or maybe they feel they can be more opinionated on stage now that they’re better established. If the latter is true, though, it’s saddening; people shouldn’t have to stifle themselves when it comes to supporting their own people, but maybe I’m alone in thinking that.

One of the most obvious changes, however, was the introduction of bassist Thomas Gobena to the mix. Previously, I was unimpressed with the band’s rhythm section in terms of their presence on stage. While my mind hasn’t been changed in regard to guitarist Oren Kaplan and drummer Eliot Fergusen, I found Gobena’s presence to be bold, often rivaling that of Hutz himself. While musically, the bass lines are still relatively simplistic, I never would have thought that replacing their short, Israeli bassist with a rather large Ethiopian man would change the entire on-stage persona of the band as much as it did, but I apparently stand corrected.

So there you have it; not really a new review, but more of a set a footnotes for the previous review (which you should also read). Go see this band, people. I don’t care who you are, you’ll enjoy it. I promise.

Tune in to The Kids Are So-So with Josh every Tuesday from 2pm-4pm

By Jessica Hemmerich -  On The Rocks - 10/04/2007

I felt like it was a concert especially for me. I stood front row center (not that there were enough people to even make a row) in the midst of Saphir Bar's red lights, which set the mood for what would turn out to be a killer night.

The Two Koreas played Pop Montreal on October 4^th. Headlined by Brooklyn’s electroacoustic Slow Six and Victoria B.C.’s pop rock The Paper Cranes, The Two Koreas' genuine indie rock was a tall glass of water for this rock fan. The fifteen other people who were there seemed to appreciate them just as much as I did.

Walking up the stairs to the venue, I felt as though I was walking into a burlesque house. The red lights glowed and established the atmosphere for an intimate night with Stuart Berman on vocals, Kieran Grant on guitar, David Gee on drums and Ian Worang playing bass. Jason Anderson, who normally plays the farfisa, was in absentia with a broken arm.

One of the first things that went through my mind was, how will The Two Koreas, with all their crazy antics, fit on that teeny-tiny stage? My question would soon be answered. The boys came on and, kicking it off with a rocking bass solo, initially kept to their traditional boundaries but quickly broke free from the confines of the stage. Acting as a leash, Berman’s mic cord kept him at bay and, like a dog tied to a light post, he could only go so far. Thrashing on the floor with his fans did not, however, seem to affect the quality of his vocals. Worang also got down and dirty with his fans, casually sipping from his beer and pouring it all over himself as he headbanged his golden, sweaty locks from here to Timbuktu. Grant wailed on his guitar and, even though Gee didn’t really have the option of getting up and getting jiggy with his fans, just by looking at him we all knew that if he could, he would.

The show ended the way it began. Berman, fresh out of beer, ran off the stage to tend to his intense desire for another Alexander Keith’s while the rest of the band closed the show. Keeping the beat with Gee’s drums, Grant and Worang gradually put their last song to sleep. But, just when we all thought it was over, the situation quickly escalated into a war between Grant and Worang, concerning whose instrument could screech the loudest . With their respective guitar and bass face to face with their amps, it was the battle of the feedback. Right when I was about to put those poor instruments out of their misery, both musicians gave in and put them down, the soldiers that just didn’t make it. After a hearty applause, the remaining members joined their vocalist for a brewsy.  Cheers.

The Two Koreas are from Toronto, Ontario. Their album, Altruists, was released December 15^th, 2006.

Tune in to On The Rocks with Jessica every Thursday from 10am-12pm

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 8^th 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 14^th 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 8^th), 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