RSS

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

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.

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.