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By Omar Goodness - Hooked On Sonics - 04/24/2006

Aaaaaah, memories. Memories can be good or bad, depending how you reflect on them, and I like to remember the bad ones… it’s how I roll. But, how best to recall bad moments than to mask them with an air of humour. Y’know, mask those buried emotional wounds with “laughs” to hide the true deep dark pain. Weeeeeell, lemme tell ya a little story…

A couple years back, CJLO was getting full into the small show promoting biz to get our station’s name out there. We had thrown a metal show, a punk show, and just threw a hip hop show (aka the Goodness-didn’t-come-‘cuz-he-fell-asleep-while-driving show, a whole other story in and of itself), all of them ended up moderate to full-blown successes. After those, everyone at the station started asking me (being the indie rock music director) “sooooo, when are we having an indie rock show?”. Well, dagnabbit, I thought, let’s do this.

“Think again,” is what I shoulda replied to myself.

Seeing how Braid had just reformed and was plotting a North America-wide reunion tour (*coff* money grab*coff*), they managed to pull together a great lineup to come along with it: Indiana country/spooky post-punk group Murder By Death and Seattle’s poppy math rock band Minus The Bear. At the time, both those two bands were experiencing a surge in popularity along with critical acclaim from big publications with colour photo spreads etc.

Soooooo after a fateful discussion with ex-CJLOer and current Blue Skies Turn Black promo dude Meyer, it had been decided that CJLO’s first foray into show-sponsoring would be a joint venture to bring this Braid show to town. Sounded like a good plan at the time. Posters were placed everywhere, postings on message boards were posted, the publicist for the tour even provided neato colour postcards to flyer with. DJs around the station were remarking how visible promo for the show was. Meyer and I weren’t expecting anything major, we were just hoping to break even, and it looked like, yeah, we might just do that. Goooooo team!

Yeah. That didn’t happen. Presale was terrible and things didn’t improve all too much at the door. Basically, we lost money. We were also supposed to record the show for a future airing, but a) the minidisc and recording gear was first forgotten at the station, and then b) the soundmen wouldn’t let us plug in ‘cuz there were no more inputs. Thanks. In the end, the whole fiasco wasn’t a total waste. We did manage to get Murder By Death into the station for a rad acoustic session (the kids even bought an accordion and a violin to make things a little more special, you can check out pics here). Aaaand I had made a slew of CJLO programs that were handed out at the show (all of them were gone by the evening’s end), and listnership to CJLO (well, my show at least) increased. But still, we lost a lot of money, kids. A lot.

That brings us to the present. This was my first time seeing Minus The Bear since the above flop. And yeah, I had that show on my mind.

As for this show, well, lemme tell ya, there were a lot more people at this Minus The Bear show -- a fact that was not lost on me… *weeps*. Openers, and Minus The Bear’s Suicide Squeeze Records labelmates Metal Hearts charmed the audience with their Hood-meets-Pinback-via-American Analog Set batch of songs from their great debut CD Socialize. The duo of Anar and Flora traded skitterish lines of down-tuned guitar of soft talk-sung lyrics backed with keys and occasional electronic beats provided by their touring drummer Sam. While on record the duo is solely aided by a drum machine, the addition of a live drummer was fantastic and added a whole new depth to the songs, especially when he was playing with the programmed beats. Flora even picked up the saxophone for a great version of “Gentlemen’s Spell”, the highlight of the night that combined the aforementioned live and programmed drums. For some reason they get the early-Modest Mouse tag quite a bit, and while it’s not too prevalent on record, it is audible live. Closing with the title track of Socialize, a song they dedicated to a “new friend” in the audience before mentioning that they haven’t performed it in a bit “and probably should to keep our label happy”, the duo left with a lot of these kids rightfully converted.

The Spill Canvas, however, is just another in the glut of bland emo bands out there, and I guess the only thing that sets them apart (slightly) is their penchant for straight-up rock choruses and a vocalist who coos more than whines. Yeah, uh… ”coo-ing” is not cool, especially if you’re a guy. Nevertheless, as much as I hate this band, they were tight on stage, and the kids were going absolutely bananas for them. They were kids bouncing up and down, yelling out the lyrics, making complete fools of themselves… buuuut, I gotta say, as humorous as those kids looked, it must be pretty neat to be in a band that has fans that go completely berserk for you, hehehe.

Minus The Bear closed the night out with a solid performance. The musicianship of these guys is equally amazing live as it is on record, and unlike their stale and detached performance at the CJLO show, they were in good form tonight. Asides from some monitor hiccups (apparently lead guitarist Dave Knudson was having some serious issues that appeared to be annoying the hell out of him), the sound was great, barring a little low volume on singer Jake Snider’s rhythm guitar. Filling in for the recently departed Matt Bayles (who left amicably to concentrate on his career as a record producer), their new keyboardist/loop programmer was also pretty swell, adding some backing vocals where needed, and filling the space with swirling soundscapes and the occasional plinking of keys. Drummer Erin Tate kept his mad polyrhythmic time signatures flawlessly, and Knudson worked magic on his guitar, half the time with his pick in his mouth while he finger-picked or finger-tapped his way through the songs, using a multitude of delay and chorus pedals to add varying textures to their tunes while the whole band flat out clicked during songs like “Pachuca Sunrise”.

Aside from what felt like a very short set (I think they played only 10 songs), the band was tight technically and the guys clearly are amazing musicians (Snider’s own fantastic guitar-playing gets overlooked a lot), but they still lacked some heart on stage. While they were a lot better than the last time I saw them, they still were missing that special something that sets a show apart from every other show. Either way, these guys put a LOT of bands to shame with their intricate but poppy math-rock songs, and Snider is one of the best lyricists out there.

As for the Colossal Failure© (as I’ve lovingly referred to that Braid show since), everytime I run into Meyer, every now and then somehow that show gets brought up, and we both stare off for a second into the distance (y’know, sorta like that 1,000 Yard Vietnam Vet stare) and mumble how we “just don’t get it” over how that show failed. The fact remains, goddamn we lost a lot of money, but damn is it funny… somewhat… kinda… OK, not really.

Sigh… I never even really liked Braid all that much…

[Tune in to HOOKED ON SONiCS Tuesdays 6pm-8pm.]

By Susannah Hicks - Rock the Plank - 04/15/2006

I have never been to CEPSUM before and when I arrived, I was surprised to see how big it was. It is a huge stadium, reminding me of the Sky Dome. The openers were The Cribs but sadly I didn’t get to catch their act. Throughout the whole night, both Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab mention how much they like the openers, even dedicating songs to them so if you are into both headliners, check out The Cribs.

When I arrived, Death Cab For Cutie just started their set. Their stage was neatly set up with two almost life-sized white cardboard houses and a black screen with painted silver trees on it, echoing the style and visual aesthetic from their new album Plans. I have never seen Death Cab before, so I didn’t know what to expect; I was disappointed with their performance. They seemed distant from the crowd and the sound wasn’t the greatest either because it was in a big stadium and there was a lot of reverb and no crisp sounds. To be honest, even though I really like their music, their set was kind of boring. At some points, lead singer and guitar player Ben Gibbard would change from lead guitar to piano, which was a nice transition but that was pretty much all the movement in their live performance. Songs performed included "Soul Meets Body", "Movie Script Ending", "We May Be Giants" -- which they extended and made into a ten-minute song -- "Sound of Settling" and many more from their new album, omitting several from their older records. The end to their set consisted of guitarist Chris Walla jumping off the stage in unison with Ben Gibbard and smashing his guitar -- it was a cheesy ending and did not fit Death Cab’s style. In the so-called mosh pit area where I was standing, there wasn’t a lot of room and being on the far right, I could only see glimpses of the band members, which could have given me a skewed perception of the show. People around me weren’t even listening or watching the band, they were talking to their friends. They didn't seem into Death Cab -- maybe they were waiting for Franz Ferdinand or maybe they just were not into the performance -- so the crowd made the set less interesting and exciting. The sound also wasn’t that great and yes, their songs were good but because of the crowd and the lack of energy from their performance, I think I would have had as much fun at home listening to their album with popcorn and some root beer.

The roadies -- one wearing a Gang Of Four sweatshirt -- took down Death Cab’s equipment and "shortly" thereafter, Franz Ferdinand came on. The crowd was a lot more excited, dancing and cheering. There was also no room to move, very reminiscent of a sardine can. I do not know Franz Ferdinand’s songs, but I could recognize the second song they played, “Do You Want To”. The backdrop changed from the logo of their new album to the four band members' faces. The fifth song they played was “Take Me Out”, their best-known hit and thus people were really into it. They got the crowd pumped when they paused during the line "take me out" so the audience could sing it. Lead singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos was a great performer. In-between each song he would talk to the crowd and talk in French to get folks excited; he was a real charmer. The band was really entertaining, their set being definitely more lively than Death Cab’s. My favourite part of their performance would have to be the second-last song they played, during which there were three drummers playing one drum set at one point. I thought Franz Ferdinand’s show was more entertaining because Alex Kapranos gave the crowd what they wanted and in some songs he would jump high in the air bending his knees while striking the guitar -- pretty awesome move. He would move all around the stage and stand up on monitors and sing directly to the audience. All of the band members had great stage charisma so even though I don’t particularly love their music, I definitely enjoyed their set more than Death Cab For Cutie’s.

[Tune in to Rock The Plank every Thursday from 4pm to 6pm.]

By Korgüll The Destroyer - Metal for Supper - The Afternoon Edition - 03/21/2006

The cover for this album was disappointingly tame. I mean, if it's not a picture of a maggot colony bursting out of a corpse performing cunnilingus on a dead pregnant body that has demon/mutant/alien thing tearing itself free from the womb, is it really a Cannibal Corpse album cover?

However, while the cover may have taken a step back, the music has lept forward. The songs are complex and well-structured, and you won't find yourself getting lost in the onslaught. "The Time to Kill is Now" and “Murder Worship” start things off with blistering speed and the energy continues from there. The fun song titles are still around, with my personal favourites being “Brain Removal Device” and “Submerged in Boiling Flesh”. While not the most varied album ever, there are enough changes and variations to keep it interesting while maintaining the band's signature brutality. From the catchy and almost upbeat riff in "Barbaric Bludgeonings" to the steady pacing of "Five Nails Through the Neck", Kill shows that Cannibal Corpse still has some of their best work left in them, which is a claim most bands that been around for 15 years can't make.

[Tune in to Metal For Supper every Thursday from 2pm to 4pm.]

By Erin Stewart - Rock the Plank - 04/05/2006

The crowd was buzzing and the atmosphere palpable at La Tulipe, in anticipation of Arab Strap’s return to Montreal. Sadly I missed what I heard was an excellent set from locals The Field Register, and was downstairs preparing interview questions during A Whisper in the Noise’s underwhelming set. However from the first strains of Arab Strap’s recognizable melancholy, I was down front and center-side to finally see a ‘Strap performance after nearly a decade of fandom. Having high expectations of “one of the best shows ever” as exhorted by my friend Patrick in the shuttle bus line, and the excellence of their new album The Last Romance, they did not disappoint.

In attendance at La Tulipe was an older crowd than your average indie rock show, there to witness an older, calmer, more contented Arab Strap. Aidan Moffat was drinking on stage to be sure, but it was in a more subdued manner, even switching to water for a pint. Stories of shows of yore inevitably involve frontman Moffat as well as musical mastermind Malcolm Middleton getting shitfaced on stage, and swearing at the crowd. This night however, the crowd was more abrasive than the band, with a few drunkards yelling at them to drink up, and the most surreal moment of the evening was attributed to a bleach-blonde white-Capri-pant girl, somewhere between a hoochie and a cougar, who climbed on stage and started dancing till security pulled her off. Running the full gamut of their oeuvre from The Week Never Starts Around Here to their newest offering, the songs were full-bodied with the support of three backing players joining Moffat and Middleton on this tour. They played a strong set from start to finish, and after some crowd-stamping, just Moffat and Middleton ended the evening with a beautiful acoustic encore of “The Shy Retirer” from Monday at the Hug and Pint and “Packs of Three” from the first album I owned, Philophobia. After the show, my Rock The Plank co-host Susannah and I were lucky enough to interview Aidan Moffat, who was every bit the lovely, charming Scotsman.

[Tune in to Rock The Plank now Thursdays 4pm-6pm.]