Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

So I went to Lee’s Palace to see Harlot (www.harlotmusic.com) play on the 12th. I already wrote about another band I met there just prior to them going on stage. So here’s what I thought about Harlot. Before I begin, let me note that it was a Friday night, and there was this MASSIVE lineup to get in.

I’ve never been to Lee’s Palace before so I wasn’t sure what the fuss was about, I’ve never seen a line up to see a bunch of indie bands. But I stood in line, talking to everyone around me, when I realized everyone was in line for the Dance Cave that was upstairs. I walked up to the Bouncers and asked if the lineup was to see the bands, they asked how many people were “with my party” (just me) and let me in immediately.

I was also guest-listed which was awesome since I’ve paid for the first two Harlot shows. It’s not that expensive (I think the cover was $5.00) but considering how little money I brought, the extra 5 bucks went wisely towards the purchase of a CD.

Onto the show. Harlot are a very high-energy band. The lead singer I heard someone comment as “Wow, she really is only 3 feet tall” (she’s short, but not THAT short) but has a big voice coming out of such a tiny frame. I’ve always really enjoyed their music, while I don’t often do comparisons, they remind me of Evanessence, but a lot better.

Their music is a lot on the loud, angry type genre that I don’t listen to a whole lot, but when I do it’s because it’s well put together and really good to listen to. Their stage show is also pretty fun, since Annique (the lead singer) always plays it up with the rest of the band, singing and flirting with the guitarist, drummer, and the bassist (former Strap-On Tools bassist Mikey S)

I don’t know their songs exceptionally well because they’re a pretty new band (I think they were put together over the summer,) but their myspace provides some tracks and I’ve been to a few of their shows, so the songs I recognize I absolutely love every time. Their new songs are equally good, just not as familiar. And it’s a pretty long set to be so full of energy and being angry and jumping around for so long. I think in the end they played about 40 minutes of loud rock music.

The funny part was when Annique was drinking some water, I guess it went down the wrong way, and she started coughing/choking a bit. The band was starting the next song as she was like “Wait I’m choking!” So the guitarist came over to rub/pat her back a bit and as soon as he did… she burped. Quite loudly. Right into the microphone. Very ladylike. Heh. They obviously played it off and went about the show. But it was really funny either way.

Point of trivia, at their/my first Harlot show (I’ve been to all 3 shows they’ve played in Toronto so far) I thought Annique looked familiar but I couldn’t place it. After messaging her on myspace I finally realized, she went to my high school. I kept threatening to bring my yearbook to get her to sign, but I never feel like bringing it. But it would be funny I tell you what!

I had gone to Lee’s Palace to see Harlot, who was headlining this particular show that night.  And arrived just early enough to catch the last half of The Weather Underground (www.theweatherunderground.ca).  Having missed half their show, this will likely be a short review.

I didn’t know any of the songs they played, except one sounded oddly familiar.  Everyone’s convinced it was a cover, while I am not contesting it, I feel that I’ve watched them play at other shows before, which is why I recognized the song. (Not that I know what it is) Either way, the band sounded really good, really loud, and much the rock band that one would expect.

Most of my experiences with the band stemmed after the set.  I went up to the lead singer to ask about buying a CD.  I was two dollars short but he let me buy it anyways.  I asked to have it signed, with a sharpie, and he searched high and low for a sharpie to autograph my cd with.  Then searched high and low for the rest of his bandmates to also sign the CD for me.  I even had the bass player autograph the cd “To eBay” for me.
I also met the artist who “designed” the artwork, he’s a painter who’s art they used for their coverart, and he got to see the CD for the first time and we talked about his art & where it’s displayed etc.  I ended up leaving my CD with him while Harlot was starting.

Came back to find my CD had gone off with the artist’s girlfriend upstairs to Dance Cave so she could show all their friends his art, and I waited around to get it back.

The band is definitely filled with nice guys who are jokers, drinkers, and general musicians.  While leaving and walking past the band as they were loading gear into their car we got to talk even more.  I’ll definitely try to check them out again.

I’m just finding out now that my DNS hasn’t fully moved over to the site yet.

This domain name used to be pointed at another server which is still up and running.

And about half the people I get to visit the site (From all around the world) are sitll seeing the old site.

I changed this over a week ago so I don’t know what’s taking so long.

I hope it gets fixed soon so that more people can check us out!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start working!

Just thinking that it might be a nice service to also offer a listing of shows of bands that I’ve either reviewed, or going to review, or just bands that bother to message me with their upcoming shows.  The problem is in the logistics, I know that shows can get booked pretty last minute so I don’t want to get people hearing “Sorry I already posted the list” or anything.

I’m thinking of doing this twice a month.  And only announcing shows that are happening within two weeks time.  So that if a band is going on a big gigantic tour, they don’t take up all the space on a post, and at the same time their dates don’t get pushed into posts three months behind.  If I post on the 15th and the 31th of every month, the 15th will have shows showing from the 16th to 31st of the month, and the post on the 31st will have upcoming shows from the 1st to the 15th.

This makes it so it also won’t inundate my review posts, which will likely happen every 8 or 9 days, so there is an average of 3 reviews per month, and two upcoming show posts per month.

So many things to think about…

Whoever said setting up a blog was easy, obviously wasn’t trying very hard to set it up right.

Much love,
~rokky

I’ve been spending the last week of last year going through my CD collection to see what albums I wanted to start the site off with.  At first I figured it didn’t matter what albums I would review as long as I had something there, but I don’t really want to start off the site by reviewing too many albums by the same band/groups.

I think I have enough to keep me going for a while though, and to have enough that there will be lots of interesting things to write about.  Hopefully by then there will be bands volunteering their music to me to review and check out (and hopefully become a fan of) as well which will keep me super busy.

A week seems too predictable when it comes to review releases though.  I want it to be at least a week, so I don’t go through albums too quickly, and to give me good proper time to enjoy an album before I start analyzing it.  I was thinking 10 days between reviews but that seems too long.  So I’m settling on either 8 or 9 days, since that’s between 7 and 10, but more just so the days are staggered, it won’t always be Wednesdays a new review comes up, or always the 10th of the month.

I’m definitely strange like that, people who are new to the site… you’ll get used to it, I swear.

~rokky

I bought this www.bigrockfinish.com domain name back in March of 2006. The plan was this was supposed to be a band name for a backing band, a group of musicians that were knowingly thrown together to create something wonderful for a solo artist. Their master plan was to become a well known back-up band for various solo artists.

Each member of said band were very good at what they did. They could have been pretty awesome if given half a chance.

I believe they were given a quarter of a chance. They rehearsed lots for I believe about two months. They played one show with one artist. Then it sort of fizzled and disappeared.

The domain name is still active, and I decided that after months of talking about wanting a new website, and a new blog, and a place to express… well the same opinions I’ve expressed for years regarding music, that this site should exist.

Hence, I bring forth for the viewing public, Big Rock Finish: Reviews of Independent Music. A website/blog that will showcase bands, musicians and other musical artists that are not the same cookie-cutter cash-grabs that I am finding popular/commercial music is becoming.

While I set up my website, who’s official launch date has been pushed back time and time again, the tentative start date is currently February 13, 2007. Come back and check us out then. Or whenever, whilst I continue to set this up so it looks more rock, and less… whatever.

Much love,
~rokky