The Scope

Joe Belly CD Release Show

Hey everybody. I figured it was about time to break my month long radio silence. I’m finally all settled into my new place in the flat and frigid plains of London, Ontario and I couldn’t keep ignoring the last few batches of videos I took before I left town that hadn’t been edited yet that have been calling on me to finish them when I’m not too busy recording my RPM or doing a bit of scattered job hunting. So it’s taken awhile to get around to it but here is the first of the last 3 or 4 instalments of Throwing Stones at You. Naturally it’ll be hard to continue documenting the St. John’s music scene when I live in Ontario now, so unless someone wants to pay my airfare to fly into St John’s and film their show (that would be awesome) the blog has to come to an end. Sad, sad times (sniff)…

Anyway…

Right before I left town I managed to get down to see the CD release show for Joe Belly’s new album “Nickles and Dimes” at The Ship. I’ve only really gotten to know Joe Belly (aka Phil Goodland — I don’t really understand that crowd’s love of fake names) recently within the last couple months when I somehow ended up at Phil and Sherry’s place at 6am on New Years eve where I was treated to some amazing tiramisu (Phil makes the best tiramisu I’ve ever tasted). Phil and Sherry are a super nice couple who bring out the best in each other musically. They’ve embraced a classic, warm and loose old school country style, and tackle it with more charm and sympathetic understanding than anybody going on the East coast. The show was a lovely familial event and the performances were strong all around, even Phil’s Gibson Les Paul dropping out of tune constantly (I hate Gibson’s precisely for this reason!) couldn’t put a damper on the festivities.

Here’s a couple vids I grabbed to commemorate the occasion.

Here we have Joe Belly and Sherry Ryan singing a duet which is also the first song on the new album “Separate Lives”:

Here we have a cover of the famous Freddy Fender classic “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”:

You should all go out and give Nickels and Dimes a listen it’s a really satisfying country chestnut. I’ll be coming back with my “cleaning out the archives” series of posts within the next week or so, catch ya later.

Catmanduah CD release

I’ve already spent a considerable amount of digital ink this year getting all sloppy and sentimental on my good friend Danny Keating (look here and here for examples of this) so I’ll leave this write up brief. Danny Keating (or “Dank Eating” or “The Origin of The Sound” or “The Catman” or whatever) was my gateway drug into the St. John’s underground  music scene when I first came across his open mic at Bar None about seven years ago now (there really hasn’t been an open mic that I could get into since, and I used to be a huge open mic fiend.) He’s one of the most bizarre and compelling and bizarrely compelling performers/songwriters I’ve ever come across.

Prolific to an almost perverse degree Danny  has always had a sizeable group of loyal supporters, but in recent years he’s become somewhat of a recluse, rarely doing shows or going out. And while he was still making records he would only give out 10 or 15 copies of each one to his closest friends and relatives and never bother trying to sell them. He doesn’t even have a myspace or website that has been updated or even logged into for 2 or 3 years.

That’s why I was so delighted that he is finally coming out of his shell a bit and releasing an album that is actually for sale! I think they even made more than 20 copies of it. So there you have it: Catmanduah (Danny’s most current and muscular band) have released Handful of Gleam which is easily Danny’s strongest album to date, and definitely his most ferocious.

I’ll give you guys a bias warning as I was the masterer on Handful of Gleam and Danny’s one of my most favourite people in St John’s, so I am too biased to give an official review on The Scope. But I’ll say this: if you don’t go out and buy this album now you are sorely missing out on one of St John’s finest, scrappiest howlers and tunesmiths at his most fierce and refined.

The CD release show felt quite triumphant. Even though it was a frigid and miserable January night a large and lively crowd trundled into CBTG’s and the boy’s played one of the most solid sets I’ve ever seen them do. Danny was one of the first acts I wrote about when I first started the blog just over a year ago and I think it’s kinda fitting that he’s going to be one of the last people I write about in it now that I’m a few weeks away from ending the project. Anyway, on to the videos..

Here’s a catchy little groover called “Pink Elephants” about lovers in a heightened state of inebriation.

One thing that has changed about Danny over the last few years is the length of songs. Way back in the day Danny would write giant epics like “Coat Sleeves” and “Green Tea” or “The United States of Ontario” which could go on for ten or fifteen minutes sometimes. Nowadays he’s keen on writing tunes like “Beachball” here which are scarcely over a minute and a half. Someone should set him up with a jingle writing gig, I think he’d kick ass at it.

Here’s the curiously titled “Sports Analogy” and an interesting cover of the Bill Withers classic “Ain’t No Sunshine”.

Anyway, if you want to catch another sighting of the rare and illusive Catmanduah I urge you to go to CBTG’s on Saturday the 23rd. It is my farewell to St John’s concert with yours truly and my very special guests Catmanduah, Local Tough, AE Bridger and Colonel Craze and The Hunch. It’s gonna be fuckin’ nuts! Be there!

Narrows at Christmas

One of my favourite things about Christmas break are the reunion shows.

In as much as the vibrancy and originality of the St. John’s music scene is a product of it’s geographical isolation, it is also a victim of the same isolating force. I remember at one of The Scope staff meetings we were thinking about the annual New Music issue, and afterward I thought “how about an ‘Old Music’ issue, where we look at local bands that have been around for five years or more?”

But I couldn’t think of more then three or four bands in this town that would actually qualify.

Sure, there are plenty of individual performers who have been at it for ages, but in terms of bands or groups consistently playing original music together for more then a couple of years, under the same name, that is something rarer then a good looking tattoo in this town. Is it an inevitability that all the great bands that emerge in St John’s have to split up after a couple of summers? This is a university town I guess, but you’d think we could find more then four or five locals willing to keeping going at it after convocation. You can just blame the economy, out migration and Joey Smallwood I guess.

I don’t want that previous paragraph to sound like I’m trying to guilt-trip anybody who had to break up the band so they could move somewhere where they could actually pay off their student loans. Since I’m dropping out of the province in three weeks, this issue hits pretty close to home. I just wish more of my favourites would stick around long enough to record a sophomore album.

Anyway, on the bright side, people come home for the holidays. And what better way to celebrate then to get the band back together for a reunion show? Narrows was a band I only got to see live twice during their heyday and before the inevitably departure. But they definitely left a strong impression. Their debut album was an amazing piece of instrumental rock. A really, really solid piece of work. They are one of the very few bands in the world with three guitarists where everybody is a virtuoso and nobody plays a strictly submissive or dominant role. Everybody has their own part, and everything fits together very a very intricate and nuanced way.

If you were going to rank musicians in this town on the likelihood that they’ll end up in a Guitar Hero game, everyone in Narrows would be on the top of the list. I’m stoked that I got to document them before my plane takes off.

The Videos

Here is the one song with vocals in their set “Moving Bodies”…

Words? Bah! who needs words? This was a new song I think. I don’t know what it’s called.

This is “Memory Lane,” which I think is my favourite song of theirs. At around five minutes in a weird buzzing sound appears, then there’s a hum. I don’t what this is, but it goes away after a few seconds, so just ignore it. It might have been easier to ignore if I didn’t already point it out to you, sorry…

Narrows seems to be a once in a blue moon type of deal but you can see three of it’s members in a similarly awesome, epic instro band called Surgeon whom I will highly recommend to anyone.

Pathological Lovers CD release show

I can’t believe that in all these years of going to shows in St John’s it’s taken this long for someone to finally break out the lasers and smoke machines! My god! What have we all been doing with our lives?! So many wasted nights without green laserbeams in them! Just think of how many parties and shitty bar shows could have been taken to that next level with the simple inclusion of bright streaming laserbeams streaking through the room!

Smoke machines are all kinds of vile awfulness though.

Anyway.

I, like many other people in this town, have always been in awe of Jody Richardson’s voice. It is a rich and passionate instrument, and after a couple of decades of hollering out to packed crowds it still sounds every bit as fresh and powerful. I guess there’s a reason why he’s been voted Best Local Rock Star three years in a row. I’d been looking forward to the release of The Pathological Lovers debut album Calling All Favours for a long while. At least as long as I had heard they were working on it a couple of years ago. The by’s got the Rockhouse gussied up somethin’ royal for the event, with a 15 foot  version of the album cover as a backdrop, as well as the aforementioned laser canon and smoke machine. The Lovers were obviously excited about being there as the energy output barely dipped once the whole night. It was an evening of rollicking, caffeinated beats and adventurous interplay.

“Wednesday” is my favourite PL tune. It’s just a tight bundle of amphetamines being shot out of a canon straight at the moon. The momentum just doesn’t drop at all, and at three and a half minutes it’s one of their brisker numbers.

This is a fun and abstractly-themed floor stomper called “I Am The Interest Rate” that kinda reminds me of The Kinks but not really. I love the jam out just past the halfway mark.

Nothing could really prepare me for the encore the boys brought out at the end. When Jody came out and announce “do you really want more? well we can do a Yes song for you. It’s 11 minutes long. It starts out really strong, get’s kinda gay in the middle, but ends really strong,” I figured he was joking, but then they kicked right into a really faithful version of “Heart of The Sunrise” from the Fragile album, all 11 minutes of it’s preposterous noodling. I was in heaven. Weirdly enough, I never felt like it was much out of place in the set. Since the last time I filmed the Lovers doing a ridiculous cover gave me the second most popular video on my YouTube channel, I would’ve been foolish not to put it up.

Video from the Atlantis Music Prize gala

Yes, there were fake mustaches.

Well 2009, has come and gone, and I figured what better way to bring in the new year then with a big arse video post of The Scope’s big arse party we held last month for the 2nd annual Atlantis Music Prize.

Seven of the 10 bands nominated this year were able to perform that night, only Amelia Curran, Map To Temenos and Errand Boy weren’t able to make it,  and the evening was packed with a smörgåsbord of silliness and music. I’m not going to bother explaining what the Atlantis Music Prize is (just scroll down about 3 articles if you’re curious) and since I have seven videos I’m not going to talk that much. I usually don’t give myself this much work but I thought it would be snotty of me to leave out any particular act, fortunately I have lots of free time to kill editing video this holiday.

Since there were seven bands plus the roaming half-televised “Best Of” award show/improv comedy show, the music acts were forced into playing 3 or 4 song sets. That kinda upset me a bit at first, but I found out that there is something strangely satisfying about 3 or 4 song sets. The fact that the bands are playing their three best and tightest songs and never get a chance to get tired or worn out helps bring the event a good momentum (even if it inevitably gets broken up with set changes.) Anyway, it gave me a great chance to document some bands I’ve been meaning to film for a long while. I’ve only got a month left in this province to get every band on my list!

Now the videos
First I should apologize for the sound quality in this one, the PA volume was a little low during The Once’s set, so the audience noise overwhelms it a bit. I’m not going to rant about the audience like last time, I promise. Geraldine Hollett has one of the best voices in the country and deserves your attention. They’re singing “The Deserter” from their self-titled debut.

The Dardanelles got the crowd all jiggy with it with some Rufus Guinchard here in this video, and I realized how atrophied my step dancing muscles had gotten. Maybe my boots are just too heavy? They played as deftly as one could hope for.

A mustachioed Chris Kirby played this bright funky number from his album Vampire Hotel. He’s definitely one of those acts that needs to be appreciated live.

Then Kujo took the stage. I’ve talked enough about Kujo on this blog already, and Victor Lewis is my personal Jesus. I’d give my arm to him if I had to.

Here they’re playing the first song “Annalisa” from his brand new album Vic E Lou’s Great Invention this is a totally different version from the album. I highly highly recommend everyone pick up a copy of it as soon as he puts it out there.

This was the first time I saw Class War Kids live and I gotta say, I’d been sorely missing out. Playing songs off their album Reflection! Rage! Rebellion!, a wicked blast of old school punk was just what the party needed.

The mighty Novaks took the stage next, and swaggered through a short set of songs from their newest album Things Fall Apart which I’ve had in heavy rotation since I got it last summer.

Then the winner of the evening — although no one new it at the time — Curtis Andrews, whose beard grows mightier with each passing second, ended the evening with some loose and zippy up-tempo jazz numbers from his album The Offering of Curtis Andrews. If you go to the end of the video you can see him accepting his award.

Congratulations to Curtis and everyone nominated!

I can’t wait to see who get’s nominated next year. Should be an exciting year I think.

Merry Christmas from Throwing Stones At You

Last year I started a tradition of writing a Christmas song and making a video for it just before Christmas day. This year is my second Christmas classic, it is destined to be played in Wal~marts and churches across the nation for years to come.

Merry Christmas! Thank you for supporting Throwing Stones At You, and cheers for the New Year!

Oh and here’s last years Christmas video if you were at all curious..

Colonel Craze and The Hunch CD Release

Buy Colonel Craze and The Hunch’s debut album Reptilian Lipstick… Do it!

Yes, I was the masterer on the album, and yes I am good friends with all the guys, and have even played in bands with two of its members, and am thusly biased. I was born biased, raised biased, and I’ll stay biased until I’m long long dead and eaten by wolves. None of this changes the fact that Reptilian Lipstick is the most ass-kickingest, crotchgrabbingly, bad-ass album you’ll listen to this year. This album will hand you questionable substances, wait for the right moment to touch you inappropriately, and leave you feeling both violated and liberated. This album will change your blood type. This album will force you to destroy everything you own just for the pleasure of smashing it against your face in time with the howling. This album will change your religion, not only that but it will forcibly cancel out the baptism of anybody within earshot.

Maybe I exaggerate, but it’s really good.

This album was supposed to come out sometime in August but many misdealings, miscommunications and just plain fuck-ups with the manufacturers delayed the release of the album more than four months. So it was with great anticipation and total exasperated impatience that I arrived at the CD release show at CBTG’s last week. Finally the damn thing was finished and I could hold the end product in my hand. It was a beautiful moment, but there was something weird in the air that night… I’ll get to that later. First I’m going to do the opposite of what I usually do and  take a look at the videos of opening acts first. 

The other reason I was excited about the show was that I would get to see a band I hadn’t seen for a long while: The Chatty Cathys.

Started by guitarist/singer Adam Greene, The Chatty Cathys (who’s name is a Steve Colbert reference, if anybody is curious) are a rowdy trio of hard rocking moral reprobates playing aggressive and ossified guitar chaos with a bluesy edge. Greene’s stage banter can get notoriously confrontational, which I’ve witnessed get pretty out of hand on occassion, but the man has serious chops and writes tunes that can stick to you for a long time. He kept his mouth in check pretty well for this show and I took a couple of videos to add to my collection.

Also if you took The Chatty Cathys and rearranged them so the drummer and guitarists changed places you’d get The Drunks Rule This Place, who I talked about awhile ago here.

Here’s a song call “Gauche.” It’s apparently about AIDS relief in Africa?

I don’t know the name of this song but it’s pretty heavy:

Going completely out of order, Justin Guzzwell and The Crooks opened the night with his particular brand of compelling ivory pummeling. I think Justin is one of the most interesting and original new songwriters working the circuit last year, and he gets better each time I see him. I wrote about him and took a couple of videos back in the old blog a few months back (see it here if your curious).

This time I caught him and his band doing what is undoubtably his catchiest song, “Bossman”:

And then ummm… My camera batteries burned out?

No, that’s a lie. I can’t avoid it any longer! Sorry but I’m not going to show you any videos of Colonel Craze from their CD release show. Unfortunately for everyone, this was the shittiest Colonel Craze concert ever. And worse still this had nothing to do with the band. Well, maybe it had a bit to do with the band, but if anybody is going to take the brunt of the blame it’s going to go to the shitty, shitty audience that turned up to the event. And before you say “well what kind of crappy performer blames the audience for a bad set?” I would say to you that you are either blind and deaf or just haven’t gotten out of your house to see a show in at least 10 years.

I don’t know if any of you have noticed this recently, but people suck ass nowadays. And what I mean by that is people don’t know how to be an audience anymore, they have no sense of what is appropriate behavior when taking in a show. Usually when you hear that complaint it’s in reference to people being incapable of shutting up for a minute during quiet songs or people to stupid to turn off their cellphones when they’re at a play or movie, but in the case of Colonel Craze I’m actually inverting this sentiment. A lot of complete strangers showed up for the show and while every musician wants more new listeners, these people seemed to have wandered in from some Asperger’s clinic close by. Colonel Craze are a rock band. They play loud, punked-up, aggressive, rock and roll boogie music. The appropriate behavior is to dance, jump around, shout, cheer, drink and be generally rowdy and obnoxious, and that’s what people generally expect and look forward to when going out to a loud show. What is inappropriate behaviour is to stand motionless, aloof and uncheering right at the front of the stage throughout the entire set.

I don’t care how shitty the band is. I don’t care how much the song sucks. I don’t care if you got dragged there kicking and screaming by your boyfriend/girlfriend, I don’t care if the door person kicked you in the nuts on the way in, you better fucking clap between songs. This is just common fucking courteousy. Speaking from far too much experience, playing your heart out on stage and having it met with a room full of cold silence is up there with having your pet die in terms of shitty feelings.

So anyway, the room was pretty tightly packed for a snowy Friday night, but half this audience was intent on sucking all the joy out of the room by standing in silence and literally sneering at anybody attempting to dance in front of them. I mean, what the fuck is wrong with you people? If you’re not having a good time, go somewhere else! There are plenty of other bars on George Street. No one is forcing you to be here. And even if your significant other is forcing you to be here, why the hell are you standing like unmotivated zombies two feet away from the singer’s face? Go to the back of the room!

The Craze were pretty damn ossified (actually they were really, really tanked) but not so ossified that they couldn’t notice that half the front row consisted of these people. The awkward tension in the room was palpable, and the whole evening turned into a giant negative feedback loop of band and audience feeding off each other’s disgust.

I am exaggerating a lot in this rant, but none of the videos I took were fit for anyone to look at, so as a consolation I dug out an older Colonel Craze video I’ve had in my hard drive for a couple of months and uploaded it.

Here’s a feisty and inarticulate performance of “Pregnancy’s a Joke” and “Pressure Control” from Reptilian Lipstick:

The by’s are pretty much my favourite band going and they deserved a better CD release show then that, considering the amount of work they put into it. But anyway, having gotten that little rant off my chest and moving on with my life, I have to say I’m really excited about the future of the band. The album is getting a great response, and The Craze are really excited and happy with the way everything is going with it. Look out for their future shows and be sure to turn up if you plan on bloody dancing and screaming. Stay the fuck home otherwise.

The anti-rape cake from the show.

Wax Mannequin

Hola!

It’s been a while, and I think I’ve just about gotten over my post-vacation depression, although looking at that mountain of crap outside my window I don’t know if that will ever be the case. If you want to see what I was up to two weeks ago then look here and see why I’m bitter and miserable now. Anyway, I got a lot of stuff I’m planning on covering this month, but before I do that I should clear out some videos I’ve been sitting on for too long.

Since I started blogging and reviewing albums for The Scope a few months ago I’ve started suffering from this irritating condition called pitchforkshitbagatitis where I get so burned out from the relentless parade of indistinguishable, shitty new indie bands that I just want to murder things randomly. Lately they all seem to be in competition to see who can be the most watered-down, boring version of The Jayhawks possible, in hopes of getting prime rotation on CBC Radio 3 (fuck that station!)

This is part of the reason I take so much relish in going to acts like Wax Mannequin. Despite the best efforts of professional douchebag music snobs like myself, his work remains nearly impossible to categorize. It’s even impossible to come up with a short list of sort of similar artists.

From the mysterious and magical land of Hamilton, Ontario, Wax Mannequin has been spreading his scruffy, unabashedly melodramatic, throaty cabaret prog-punk-pop (that’s the kinda worthless genre description you get when you try to break down his music) for the better part of the decade. I remember first coming across his music back in 2003 when I used to terrorize the Zed TV website and I became pretty addicted to his song “Message From The Queen“. Since I moved to St John’s around the same time I’ve gotten the privilege of seeing him play here a few times.

I’m used to seeing him as a one-man band with a complicated looking soundboard pumping out backing tracks he would play along to. He would also be covered in roses, which he said “come out of my skin when I get excited. They are troublesome so I throw them to the audience, but it hurts and they keep growing back.”

On this most recent tour on the province he had no roses, sadly, but he gathered up a terrific backing band made up of all-star musicians from across Newfoundland. With Neil Targett and Paul Lockyer from Corner Brook (I’m from CB myself and Kuroda were a huge deal back in the day, if I had video camera/time machine combo I would go back and film them for the blog… I would do this after killing Hitler, naturally) along with Mark Bragg and Alison Corbett from ol’ Sin City. The show was deadly, and, as usual, I played the role of the dork at the front of the stage with his camera out throughout the entire thing. Here are the videos.

A classic Wax track: “Tell The Doctor” from his album “The Price.” “He cooks Christ’s medicine in his cock”… is that really what he’s saying?

This is my favourite song off his new album Saxon called “Something to Hide.” You can read my review of the album here. I liked it a lot.

And here’s two slightly mellower songs from Saxon in one video, “Broken Friends” and “End Of Me.”

Just because I bring the shows to you doesn’t mean you should stay at home. Get out of the house, you lazy bastards!

Floods make waves

Sorry for the awful pun.

Unlike the last blog entry where I had to exclude about a hundred different stories about the band just to keep the size down to a somewhat readable level, today’s post is about a band that I know basically nothing about. Last Friday I got to check out for the first time a pretty new band in town Floods. I’d been very curious about them since I came across their myspace page about a year ago and downloaded their 4 song self titled Ep which was quite a lovely, delicate and lushly recorded package of moody instrumentals (the band is offering it as a free download from here so you can listen to it yourself).

Being a big fan of the local instrumental rock scene (see Narrows, Surgeon, Be Alright and The Kremlin for examples) I was excited to see a new and interesting instro act pop out of nowhere with some high quality recordings already in the bag. Unfortunately, ever since I came across their EP, their live appearances became as rare as a swine flu shot, and I hadn’t been able to see them live until last week. While some aspects of their performance were a little rough around the edges, the guys put on a solid show that was delivered in half understated and contemplative doses, and half in epic, overdriven bombast.

On their MySpace page the band has announced that they have recently completed recording their new album and expect to have it released soon. I’m gonna make sure to give it my undivided attention when they finally do drop it on the public. In the meantime, check out these videos I took on the Friday night show at CBTG’s.

On this one I got a little crazy with the delay effects, so it’s a little queasy to watch. Good solid rocker of a song though.

This song is a right proper epic:

Oh yeah, by the way TSAY readers. After this I’m taking a break from the blog for a few weeks. There are a lot of things in life I gotta catch up with, like working on my own bloody music for one, and finding a job for another. Next week, also, I go on a week-long excursion to Mexico City which should be exciting (maybe I’ll take some videos while I’m out there, but probably I won’t).

Expect the blog to return full force sometime early to mid December. Be sure to keep yourselves warm and dance your arses off while I’m gone.

Cheers,
Patrick

Long live the Kremlin Dance Party of Canada!

Hello you filthy and corrupt capitalist Scope-reading scum! I’ve waited a long time to bring you the socialist wonders of St. John’s long running instrumental surf rock kings The Kremlin. It’s kinda ridiculous that I’m only getting around to blogging about them now after almost a year of covering the St. John’s scene.

I can remember back about five years ago when The Kremlin first started playing around town. Founded on the basis that with instrumental rock music you can pretty much name your songs whatever you want, and that catchy gimmicks go hand in hand with entertaining surf rock. I don’t know if they realized just how rich a vein of gimmick material could be drawn from classic cold war Russian Communist propaganda, but for the last 4 years or so The Kremlin have not run dry on ideas.

What caught my interest at first, beyond their deadly classic surf guitar chops and former  bassist Komrad Trotsky’s amazing ability to rile up a crowd with his extremely over-the-top anti-capitalist audience baiting (in a mostly authentic Russian accent none-the-less) what caught my fancy most was the fact that they started their own political party. The KDPC or the Kremlin Dance Party of Canada was an official (although short lived) political party (I can’t remember if they were going for provincial, or federal) under a platform that emphasized unity through communal serf rock-enhanced rhythmic gyrations. I know they had enough signatures to qualify, but they stopped short of finding a representative to run on the ballot, so there sadly were no KDPC campaign signs in the following election. I still have my official KDPC membership card in my wallet though, and until someone can point to a Wikipedia page that says otherwise, I can’t think of another rock band in existence that actually started a political party in their name.

The Kremlin have become well known through the years for their elaborate sets and performances. Sometimes they construct spaceships on stage and don homemade cosmonaut outfits, sometimes they’re clad in gas masks and Russian flags while hosting proletariat all-you-can-eat borscht soup lines for party members.

A main staple of their shows are the dance competitions where audiences writhe and contort themselves as wildly as they can in the hopes of being the one to go home with the prize cabbage or turnip. I don’t mean to flaunt my dance floor prowess (yes I do) but I’ve won it three times, they made me part of the official KDPC Go-Go Dance Strike Force in recognition of my noteworthy achievements in the art of rhythmic flailing. This will be a part of my resume til’ the end of days, I’ll tell you.

Sadly, The Kremlin have been forced into a partial exile while guitarist Komrad Lenin, who recently finished his PhD in English (so I guess I should call him “Doctor” Komrad Lenin) has taken a job as a professor up at my alma mater, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, and, I guess they can’t play St John’s bar shows too often. Luckily I was able to take in one of their rare shows a couple of weeks ago at Junctions and escape with a few videos.

The by’s were in good form. Despite being away from the stage for a few months, Komrad Lenin on guitar, Commandante Che on bass, Prince Igor on Drums and Komrad Anna Karyna on Go-Go Strike Force Mercenary Tactics, pulled off an energetic and rambunctious performance.

Here they are playing the funky little ditty “All Night Dance Party on The Russian Space Station”:

Here they are playing their francophone propaganda piece, “Danse Les Belle Filles Communistes”:

Here they are playing the ditty “Proletariat Surf”:

The Kremlin brought band promotional propaganda to a new level of sublime ridiculousness, and they leave behind a legacy of deft showmanship and rowdy and rollicking serf rock.

Long live the KDPC!

Halloween at Holdsworth Court

Ah Halloween! Too bad it’s over.

Unlike Christmas, which as soon as the 26th comes around I don’t ever want to look at another friggin’ Santa or Christmas tree or smiling child ever again. Halloween, unlike Christmas, is something I never want to end. People are so much more interesting when they think you don’t know who they are, and life is much more interesting when you spend the night in a skull mask standing motionless in the corner of darkened bar staring at people. Sadly there’s no other time of the year when that’s acceptable behaviour.

Anyway, I spent my Halloween weekend like I spend most of my weekends: hanging out on the deck taking videos of people making fools of themselves.

AE Bridger wrote me out of the blue and asked me to make a poster for his big Halloween show he was planning. I hadn’t done a show poster in ages and I don’t think I’d ever done one for a show where I wasn’t on the bill, but AE Bridger is hands down one of the most interesting bands playing out there (check out my previous post about the AE Bridger band on the old blog here) and they’re all good people, so I figured I’d give ‘er a shot.

It took a bit longer then I expected but I think it turned out pretty good.

All of the bands playing this show have been blogged about here previously, but they’ve never been filmed wearing silly costumes, so this still counts as fresh content (it’s my blog so my word is law, don’t you forget). Although I’m breaking my own rules of not posting the same song twice with this Ye-Yeti clip. But how often do you see a banana getting intimate with a Roland keyboard on stage?

Local Tough’s Anthony Breton had my favourite costume of the evening when he came as an ashtray. Outside on the deck people were using it as the real thing. It didn’t last very long into their performance, as Anthony abandons it about a minute into the second song (posted below) to get properly rowdy in the crowd. This was the liveliest I’ve seen Anthony since he became a daddy a while ago.

Here’s a video that I’m sure will make his children proud twenty years from now:

I think AE Bridger should stick with this look for all their shows. I’d have to say Steve Cowan was the prettiest woman in the group, but Alex was definitely the most authentic, if that makes sense. Alex got me to do a guest guitar cameo and I brought down my special psychedelic hand painted guitar “Mjolnir: The Hammer of Thunder!” to the show.

Unfortunately my lady friend had to go home early and I couldn’t find anyone trustworthy-looking and/or sober enough to handle the camera and film me while I played a lot of clumsy A-minor pentatonic scales over one of Bridger’s tunes. Maybe this was a fortunate turn of events now that I think of it.

Anyway, Steve Abbott took the guitar from me and the by’s ended the night with a ludicrous improv jam session which branched from Captain Beefheart to Doctor and The Medics. Some of it ain’t pretty at all but I just love watching my guitar in the hands of someone who actually knows what he’s at.

Fun times, fun times.

Finally, here’s a slide show of all the Halloween foolishness I caught. Cheers.

Oct 28: You Say Party! We Say Die!

This Wednesday the Mighty Pop sponsored invasion of Vancouver bands continued unabated as  electro/pop/punk/new wave/whatever band You Say Party! We Say Die! dropped into town in an old van with a megaton of buzz.

This being the third Vancouver act through town this week (“Said the Whale” and Hannah Georgas being the other two) you start wonder about how much of a carbon footprint a good rocking out is really worth, or at least someone with some sort of sense of concern for the fate of the planet would think that. Me? I couldn’t give a crap how much my rock and roll destroys the planet as long as booties be shakin’! The world can burn and collapse into an smoldering crater for all I care.

Anyway, YSP!WSD! have been tearing across the landscape supporting the release of their third album XXXX which happens to be their strongest album to date (you can read my review of it here) and this is the first time they’ve ever set foot in St. John’s.

…So it was kind of a weird surprise to see the type of crowd that turned out for the show. I was pretty much expecting a hipster apocalypse to occur within the doors of the Rockhouse, and I was listening to a pile of CCR before heading to the show in order to build up my fortitude and courage to face the onslaught of ridiculous haircuts and ill-fitting jeans I was sure to face. But, luckily, I am gloriously out of touch with hipster culture nowadays, as the crowd showed age diversity with hardly any impractical haircuts to be seen.

Attendance was a bit lax, but I think this has more to do with the crap weather and the Newfoundland cultural aversion to partying on a weekday than anything else (and if you think I’m wrong about this statement, you have never tried organizing a show in this town between Monday to Thursday).

YSP!WSD! put on an energetic and well-lubricated performance with their stage decked out with 4 giant, blindingly bright, illuminated X’s. Lead singer Becky Ninkovic was charming the audience with her famous and slightly awkward dance moves as they ran through a set of material mostly from the new album. I got busy with the camera.

Here they are going through a couple of kinda moody tracks from XXXX “She’s Spoken For” and “Cosmic Wanship Avengers”:

Here’s the weirdly-titled “Lonely’s Lunch” plus a mightily suggestive number whose title I don’t know:

And here they are ending the evening with a fine round of bar dancing and audience mingling (Hey, there’s The Mudflowers!):

Oh yes, much love was also given to opening act The Subtitles who one day, I promise, I will devote a whole blog entry to and not just a cursory opening act bit like I have done again here. They played an excellent, bouncy set. Kirk Penney has one of the best rock voices going, even when he’s not complaining profusly about not having having a cigarette for four days.

I caught them playing my favourite song of theirs, “Zeitgeist”:

A fine evening altogether. People, next time it’s Wednesday night for god sakes go out and get drunk and take in some music.

The Offering of Curtis Andrews

Hey Everyone! Todays post features one of the least covered genres here on Throwing Stones at You: Jazz!

Curtis Andrews has a mighty and powerful beard and a very colourful wardrobe. Besides these already wondrous attributes, he is also one of the most gifted and accomplished musicians this town has put out. An inventive and energetic drummer, he has played in many bands around town, most notably lately with the popular 11 piece reggae/funk/party band The Idlers.

Curtis has a growing reputation as a world traveller and humanitarian, and has recently set up a school in the impoverished village of Dzogadze in Ghana. Sadly he has recently exiled himself away from St John’s out in silly ol’  Vancouver for some reason. He came back for a limited stint a couple of weeks ago and I was luckily able to catch him perform his own compositions with his band “The Offering of Curtis Andrews” (kind of an awkward name if you ask me) at the opening night of the World Sound Festival at The Ship.

Having been most familiar with him through his work in the many local dance bands he’s been in, like the Discounts and The Idlers and through African and world music projects like Mopaya, it came as a bit of a shock to me when I first heard his Offering of Curtis Andrews album and realized he was also a skillful composer in a fairly straight ahead Jazz fusion sense. He was playing mostly songs from that album that night and the band featuring local jazzcats Bill Brennan on keys, Josh Ward on bass, Chris Harnett on flute and saxophone, Brad Jefford on electric guitar and Terry Campbell on trumpet were all in top form.

They opened the evening with this song “Swingshift” which has a distinct Steve Reich flavour to the beginning of it that I enjoy:

Probably the most “worldly” of the songs he played at the World Music Festival would be this languorous number from his album called “Malabar” which spends a few minutes exploring a distinctly Eastern mode before finding its refrain.

Here he is closing the night with an inspired Bobby McFerrin cover “He Ran all the Way”:

Curtis has always been a friendly and engaging dude in my experience, and I strongly recommend helping him out and donating to his school here.

Monsterbator debut + Geinus

Sometimes in this crazy world full of political and economic turmoil, religious zealotry and insurmountable environmental calamity, it seems the world would be better off if everyone everywhere just stopped giving a shit all together. The five man, ultra-incestuous (band-wise) team of musicians who formed the new band Monsterbator seem to be the purest example and the ultimate application of Not-Giving-Any-Kind-Of-A-Shit-ology.

The band is made from two members of Colonel Craze and the Hunch, three members of Amusia and three members of Kill Popoff.

For their debut performance they went with three very unusual and highly questionable methods of promotion.

First, there was the despicable and crudely drawn posters scattered around that featured what seems to be the adolescent sexual fantasies of severely troubled 12-year-olds (most of them were ripped down before the show started), second, there were the CDRs they hung from trees and taped to walls downtown that had one of the crustiest, ghetto-sounding recordings ever made (I think it was done on a boombox during their first or second jam) and third, there were the Facebook invites that claimed they were “a band from New York City.”

All of this would have likely brought disaster to the show if it hadn’t been one of the most violent and energizing spectacles I’ve seen all year. The place was maggoty with partiers.

The music is as belligerent and primitive as it can get. The band hammered on grooves designed to create maximum freak-out potential for the volatile frontman Andrew Waterman (this time unencumbered by any guitar duties) who takes the provocateur edge of his Colonel Craze persona to the utmost extreme here.

Here he is singing (?) their song with the very true title of “Never Trust a Computer”.

And here they are playing “Meeting of the Mimes” (I got the title wrong at first and had to cover it up, but I didn’t do a very good job.)

As a favour to the guys I recorded their whole set and then made a DVD out of it. Maybe in the future you will see it tied to trees downtown. Be sure to grab a copy if you do.

—

Also playing that night at CBTG’s — this was all part of the fifth annual Rock Can Roll festival by the by — was Geinus and Local Tough.

Steve Abbott is my favorite guitarist in town. Every show with him is like watching a master class in playing guitar with balls, and the bands he’s been in have never lacked in gristle. I’ve already covered Local Tough and Geinus on the old blog a good bit (look here and here) but I haven’t seen Geinus in ages and haven’t had an opportunity to film them since I got my new recording gear. So here’s a couple of new vid’s for your eyes and earholes.

I don’t know the name of this one but it’s one of my favorites.

This one is called “Church Donation Box” but I’m not sure of that either. If anybody knows fill me in.

A Screaming Farewell to Map To Temenos

Last weekend amid a slurry of caterwauling we saw the talented group of youngsters Map To Temenos give their final farewell as two of the members prepare to do what every self respecting St John’s 20 year old does and move to Montreal.

Over the summer Map To Temenos did a large tour halfway across the country to support their debut album O! Sweet Guillotine which you can read my review of here, (I thought it was pretty deadly).

Joining them for the evening was the epic doom metal specialists Swords who I haven’t seen since they became a three-piece. Thankfully they have lost little to none of their galactic thickness, dystopic menace and crushingly oppressive volume. If you go to a Swords show without ear protection you. Will. Hurt.

I forgot to bring my ear plugs this time and I stood 2 feet away from the speakers for 18 minutes while I took these 2 videos and the ringing only just stopped a few hours ago. It’s dangerous business, rock and roll. You can read my review of their last album here.

These two videos I took of Swords are meant to flow into each other without seams but I had to cut them into two separate videos. Just click on the second video as soon as the first is over if you want the full 17 minute experience.

Map To Temenos on the other hand had changed a lot since I last saw them — which I think was around 6 or 7 months ago, maybe — and over the course of those months they shifted their sound into a much more raw, aggressive mode. Gone were the long, elegiac instrumental stretches that would punctuate their set and act as a palette cleanser between apocalyptic outbursts.

MTP’s last set on this earth was a non-stop blizzard of feral epileptic cacophony.

It’s unfortunate that I won’t have more time adjust to their new material but I guess the choice of ending with a whimper or with a bang is a no-brainer really.

Here are three videos I took of them. Bon Voyage Map to Temenos…

The Drunks Rule This Place

I took these videos a few weeks ago and have been sitting on them for no good reason.

Drunks Rule This Place is the new(ish) band of an old friend and former bandmate of mine Andrew Mast. Back in the summer of 2005 he was responsible for starting the ridiculous local band The Mudlarks who were notable at the time for being the most physically violent band in town. Before every show the by’s would go on a twisted bender of imported Faxe beer, the 10% alcohol kind, and I don’t think they even liked the stuff, but they realized that something about getting drunk on Faxe caused their rowdiness to go to the maximum.

At their shows I would get really worried they would do permenent damage to themselves or the audience. Watching Andrew get perilously close to falling out the second story window at Roxxy’s bar while jumping off his amp is a nerve-wracking experience, and Victor still carries a bit of a sting in his step from a kneeplant he did while jumping off that very narrow Marshall of his.

But then the Mudlarks inevitably self destructed and for a couple of years Andrew kept a bit of a low profile. But about a year a half ago Andrew and Danielle Trouble took over Tuesday nights at CBTG’s and they’ve played there pretty much every week since. Now Andrew has started a new band the aptly titled “Drunks Rule this Place” and, ironically enough, they seem a bit more under control then the Mudlarks — or at least at this show they seemed relatively sober. But they still play the same propulsive and unusual brand of Pavement-inspired A.D.D math rock only Andrew can do.

This video has them doing an old Mudlarks song called “Arsenal”:

And this video is of a newer song “Razorblades and Hand Grenades”:

If you go down to CBTG’s tonight you can probably see him and give him a beer if you want.

Strange Frequencies at Night Music #79

The world is becoming bigger and smaller every day. With the advent of this thing called “The Internet”  the realization of McLuhan’s global village is firmly established. The effect on creative culture has been profound on just about every corner of world (or at least every corner that has high speed).

While on one hand people can complain about the loss of a unique regional flavor as interest in indigenous music or music that is at least self referencing local styles dwindles and younger players are more and more influenced — or perverted — by the pervasive force of foreign popular culture. On the other hand this phenomenon can create great diversity in any small obscure region since as long as people are interested in different cultures and styles of music and have access to “The Internet” they can access any sound or style of music no matter how obscure it is and be inspired by it. This is the reason a lot of the more interesting local bands could be said to have little to no precedent in the local scene in terms of style or sound.

What does this boring pseudo-academic bullshit have to do with the two new videos I’m posting? Hardly anything at all. Besides the fact that they are performing a type of music I’ve never really encountered live in St John’s before (big exception with regards to the Sound Symposium) and am only familiar with from years of skulking around avant-garde music blog sites like Mutant Sounds and WFMU.

This month’s Night Music at The Ship (number #79 in the series) brought in two visiting sound instillation artists from Alberta; Ian Birse and Laura Kavanaugh as a last minute substitution for BOMBS (a local group of jammers made up of Brad Power, Matt Hender and Elliot Dicks you can see them here) who had to cancel at the last minute.

Night Music organizers Craig Squires and Wallace Hammond joined Ian and Laura in a quartet of improvised, laptop based live electronics and audio manipulation.

The night was a swirling fog of disconcerting drones, random glitches and squeals and raw ambient beauty. It was a treat to see something so rare and ponderous on a rock stage like The Ship’s… but audience friendly and visually engaging this performance was not. I can understand how part of the appeal of this type of performance is in the very mysterious, and sort of anti-performance nature of it, and I understand that things are being performed and created on the fly on their bevy of Macbooks just like any other type of traditional instrument, but I have to admit a large part of me wants to see the process involved and know what sounds are being made by whom on stage. Their motionless performance offers little clue as what it is you’re actually experiencing auditory wise. Which is probably the idea really.

This first video illustrates my point. The camera searches the darkened room for interesting nooks and crannies too look at while the whirling mechanical drones create an Eraserhead-type atmosphere to the scene.

In this second video I get a glimpse of the process going on as I get to the other side of the stage during the very very sparse open jam. I’m (just barely) playing the bass (no musician would call this proper bass playing) one handed while operating the camera. The sound quality is a bit weak considering I’m recording from behind the speakers instead of in front of them, but Mack Furlong’s amazing set of woodblocks can be heard loud and clear.

(If anybody else can find any other live concert videos of bands filming each other while playing simultaneously send them to me. I’m curious if I have a monopoly on this concept or not.)

Kujo CD Release Show

I’ve said it many times before but it bares repeating: Victor Lewis is my hero.

You can look here for my previously documented declarations of affection for the man, but you can just take it as a given that I think highly of him and his music. So it was with great anticipation that I arrived at the Kujo CD release show at the Ship on Saturday. The guys have been workin’ their asses off for months making the CD and organizing this show, so it warmed my heart to see the place fill to brim, and see the box of CDs they brought emptied out.

Everybody should go out and get the Kujo album, because it is awesome, and I’m not just saying that because I mastered it and am incredibly biased towards it (I am incredibly biased it’s true). But it really is a damn good album, even if I had something to do with it.

Opening the show was The Subtitles who grow on me more the more I hear them. They warmed the crowd up nicely with their lively set of 80s-flavored Pop Rocks. Kirk Penney has one of the best rock voices in town and their songs have a really catchy bounce to them.

Here’s a video I took of their song “Actions”.

The place was packed by the time Kujo hit the stage. The by’s decided to go the classic CD release show route of playing the songs from the album in order from start to finish, but I’m gonna start by posting a video I took at the end of their first set, which is the last song on the album “Choppin’ Blocks”. This might be my favorite concert video I’ve ever taken, or at least my favorite since I took this one or this one.

Joining them on stage is Mark Anderson on harmonica who does some deadly squawking. The video is kinda long but there are lots of great moments in it if you’re patient.

Here they are doing the fan favorite number “Hail Kittania”, which is probably the closest Victor’s ever come to writing the perfect pop song.

The first set sorta came off a little bit stiff (the guys were still mostly sober and were trying their hardest to do the album tracks justice) so they decided the second set was gonna be almost entirely classic rock covers which are just about impossible to ruin. They put out an open invitation for stage crashing, and just did not give a fuck for the rest of the evening. This is when the guys really started to brighten up and cut loose properly (and get properly drunk and ridiculous.)

Here’s their version of The Stooges “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Kirk Penney crashes the mic halfway through and starts singing what seems to be a completely different song that seems to work really well.

Ahhhh… What good way to give the boot to summer.

Trailer Camp Reunion Extravaganza

I’m a bit slower then normal bringing this post to you but I’ve been busy.

Anyway, the Thursday before last Thursday marked the one-night-only reunion of much-beloved local rock royalty Trailer Camp. While lead singer guitarist Jon Hynes was briefly back in town from The Big Smoke he organized the event which also marked the first time all members of Trailer Camp from all forms of the band were on stage playing at once. The whole city of St. John’s seemed to be packed into the Rockhouse somehow, and there was much rough-housing and frolicking to be had. I had a bit of a hard time finding a place to set up and do my filming, but I eventually got some fine older Trailer Camp tunes caught on ye olde digital celluloid.

“Lacking Lactate” was especially ferocious with the triple guitar assault (Victor was on third guitar for the evening instead of his usual bass role):

This one I took while on the floor with the audience, and as a result it’s a bit brutal with the jerkiness, but with a song title as good as “Make Like NASA and Rocket” how could I not put it YouTube?

…and finally a particularly rowdy version of “Chelsea Yeah Chelsea Yeah”…

I was always sad Trailer Camp called it quits just before I started the Throwing Stones project. I always found them to be one of the more exciting bands to come out of St. John’s in recent years, and had been itching to get them in my YouTube channel for ages (that sounds really dirty for some reason).

I’m glad opportunity comes to those who wait, and to those who still haven’t managed to leave St. John’s despite their best efforts.

Hoorah Trailer Camp, and Hoorah St John’s!

24 Hour Art Marathon Spectacular!

The Eastern Edge Gallery’s annual 24 Hour Art Marathon is an essential rite of passage for any artist in St. John’s.

For the last seven years it has kept it’s place at the top of my list of the best highlights of the year. It’s hard to even put the experience into words. The sense of community, the condensed frenzy of creativity, the randomness, the physical push to get things done, getting instant feedback from the public, the lunatics, the music, the free food… It’s all a sweet buzz and a blur. It’s always something I look forward to every year and something I always miss when it’s over — although by the end of it I’ve been up for 22 hours straight painting, and am pretty desperate to get back home to my sweet, sweet futon.

This year was no different, although every year is different. The main thing for me is that I brought my trusty camera to share the experience with you lovely readers.

Let’s start with the Weiner Shaman.

This mystic from far away parts unknown is blessed with the gift of divination through specially prepared meats. He is a favorite of the children and the desperate masses seeking any kind of advice for these uncertain times.

You can read a delightful interview with The Weiner Shaman in last fortnight’s issue. Here I filmed my lady Michelle getting the deluxe “Extra Fancy” reading, and trance.

This year, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Eastern Edge Gallery, they had 25 performers throughout the day. Since I was a marathon artist I couldn’t pull myself away from the canvas enough to take in every act, but I did my best. There were a lot of acts which had never played the Marathon before, but The Black Auks were not one of those bands. I’m pretty sure the Black Auks have played every Art Marathon since time began.

The free-improvisation and experimental noise merchants have long been the linchpins of the St John’s musical avant-garde and outsider music scene. I’ve always been captivated by their strange, restrained chemistry, and the telepathic connection they share while they playfully trade random squawks and crashes and delicate melodies. I’ve been itching to get them on video since their current Internet presence is negligible at best (Evidence: their nine year old website.) I filmed their first jam, but had to split it into two videos unfortunately, due to YouTube’s 10 minute limit.

If you click on these videos, be prepared to spend fifteen minutes in a strange noise paradise with no reassuring structure to be found. The second video features Deborah Jackman doing some interpretive dancing.

A new discovery I made at the Marathon was new dark electronic act The Natural State, fronted by erstwhile Scope writer Colin Browne. They brought an interesting hypnotic menace to the evening. I can’t say I got into the solo keyboard material especially, but as a three piece they definitely had a rich sound. I look forward to hear more from them.

The Mount Pearl enigmas am/fm dreams (although admittedly they are become less and less enigmatic by the day) made a special appearance at the Marathon.

I covered them previously on the old blog here. They were in fine form and I decided to capture a couple of their more unique songs.

Here is a tune sung by Marc Poirier, called “Nico’s Lament”:

They are finishing off their set with a lovely banjo ballad “Treehouses”:

Ye-Yeti brought the freak-outs.

By the time they got to the stage, the compromised airflow of the newly-renovated gallery space and the heaving crowd of drunken dancers had turned the room into a fausty old Turkish bathhouse hotbox. It was like being in Mickey Rourke’s armpit. Ye-Yeti somehow overcame the heat though, and they brought the fierce beats needed to keep people moving even though they’d left most of their body weight in puddles on the floor.

The Mudflowers were also suffering a fair bit from playing in a room that felt like a dead zone in a pornstar’s ass, but they pulled it together beautifully. I felt compelled to help them out by acting as personal oscillating device and lifting the fan off the floor and angling it at The Mudflowers to keep them from bursting into flame.

So many talented youngin’s in this town by’. Sheesh. I feel so old sometimes.

The Mudflowers already got a fair bit of coverage here recently in the New Music Issue so I’ll just say I’m a big fan.

Here’s a video of a song they introduce as the only song currently on their MySpace, “Bed Wetter”. Hopefully they get around to recording some more soon.

And here is a song I’m pretty sure she said was called “Ships and Aeroplanes”.

I took a few videos of my heroes KUJO, who closed the evening off, but the sound quality of the recordings turned out terrible and also the weekend after next is their big CD release show, so I figure it was a sign to wait until next week to give them a big spot here.

All in all it was a great day. I made some new friends, saw many weird things, heard many weird things, danced until my clothes were totally transparent, and I also ended up with this thing painted by 8am the next day.

It’s just so satisfying to come to after a good party and find out you were actually productive and made something while you partied your ass off.

I’ll see you all there next year.

Local Pickers and Twisters: Killer B’s + Bread and Roses

The Killer B’s

Since I seem to be on a bit of an acoustic binge lately, I figured I’d do a feature on two of the fresher acts in the local pit of pickers, strummers and claw hammerers.

While I hung out at the last show in town for Spring Breakup (who I featured in a post last week) I turned the camera on the two supporting acts: Bread and Roses and The Killer B’s.

Bread and Roses is the project of Ben Rigby, banjo player of popular local indie folksters Dead Language (a band I was planning to do a feature on but have since found out they are no more — I heard this offhandedly, is this a truth? I don’t know.) Bread and Roses gave an extremely restrained and delicate performance, and Ben Rigby revealed himself to be in the possession of an unusual Yukon prospector voice. I enjoyed the cello, banjo, stripped down drums combination they had.

Here’s a song they did about a bird:

The Killer B’s are a sorta loose-knit supergroup of notable local pickers and improvisors. Darren Browne, Daniel Banoub, David Bridger, and Mike Belbin make up the core of this group of shaggy jammers who want to emulate the feel “of a dance party band from the 40s.” They play a range of material, from ragtime to bluegrass and war era French hot-house jazz, and they proved to be a jumpin’ closer for the night.

Here they are doing the theme song that has been running through my head on loop for nearly 20 years:

And here they are joined by a guest violinist whose name I have completely forgotten (if any of you readers wanna let me know that would be great):

Allan Ricketts CD Release + Sherry Ryan

Last Thursday I decided to check out Allan Ricketts‘ CD Release show down at The Ship. I’ve been familiar with Allan for awhile from his phenomenal pedal steel playing (I played on stage with him a couple of times when he guested in on a couple of Angelshakes shows.) I’d since seen him play around town backing people up on a multitude of different instruments such as banjo, mandolin, accordion, guitar, etc, etc… all of which he is totally unfairly gifted at playing. But I’d never heard him sing and didn’t even know he did. When my girlfriend said that she was totally jealous of his voice that just toppled the whole Jenga pile of jealousy for me.

So after finally getting to see him play, I have to say his voice is really strong. But not just that, it’s a really interesting voice. Allan plays straight-up Irish and Newfoundland traditional music with a clear, lilting tenor and a very strong Irish accent. I would try and compare him to someone the trad crowd could easily identify, but I have to profess complete ignorance.

This is my favorite song he did the night, probably because it’s minor key, and I’m like that. It’s a moody traditional number called “The Blacksmith” sung from a womens perspective. This actually marks the first proper trad song I’ve had on this blog in my 8 months of blogging. Weird…

Anyway, the place was packed and having gotten there at 9:30 I had missed most of the show already, since it was mostly the folk night crowd out and those folks like their 11 hours sleep.

Luckily I caught Sherry Ryan’s performance as one of the supporting acts. She has always been one of my favorite singers in town and has been near the top of my list of acts I wanted to film for this, but I’d never got around to it for some reason.

She was telling me earlier that she had injured her shoulders a couple months ago and was unable to play guitar until she recuperates fully, so in the meantime she’s getting her band to fill in and just concentrating on vocals. This night she was singing with her beau Joe Belly taking over guitar duties.

She played a new song I was quite taken with, called “Burn My Journal”, which had an uncharacteristic Tom Waits vibe to it:

I would’ve taken a couple more videos but the crowd was packed so maggoty it was impossible to get a good angle without someone crashing into you. Which is really annoying when you’re an amateur videographer like myself, but it’s a sign that bodes well for the trad establishment that continues to produce many major talents.