Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

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.

So the “post Chrstmas, pre-new-years” show for Strange Noises and Kismet (mostly known as S.N.A.K.) (www.snakbiz.com) was on December 29th 2006 at Smiling Buddha Bar. Smiling Buddha is, in my opinion, becoming known as the little rock bar in Toronto. I’ve known so many bands to play there, and have been to a large number of shows in a very short amount of time. I think they’ll host just about anyone, and it’s a very wide and varying collection of artists who will play there. It’s small, and pretty out of the way at I think it’s College and Dovercort in Toronto, complete with liberal use of a smoke machine.

The band starts off this show (as with every show) with a round of shots. Oh tradition… And started the set. I know them as playing lots of fun upbeat rock songs, and would justify myself in calling themselves pop. Not extremely pop, just slightly pop, since the songs are so fun, and often silly in their lyrical content.

About the third song, during their self-described “dance number” something decided to blow out. Leaving all of the mics, and most of the guitars and the bass silent through the sound system. Being a band to not give up, the drummer, Ian, and “Wee One” Alex on guitar, continued the now infamous “extended drum solo” version of their song “Magnificent Twist” until the sound tech was able to turn everything back on. Definite fun times.

Sound problems did not cease however. The music once again cut out at another song, and while baffled, Tynur, the lead singer decides to finish the song by shouting at the crowd without the added comfort of a microphone. Again the sound tech is puzzled. Seeing as how the microphones are not on by the end of that song, Tynur then decides that it’s high time for another sing-along, and SNAK plays a cover for everyone to sing to.

The sound problem ended up being equipment from the bar, something they had kept shorting out half of everything on stage. To work around this issue, they decided to turn the monitors around to face the audience for vocals, and that would stop shorting out the circuit. Of course, that meant the band were now flying pretty blind as to who was singing what since they can’t hear anything on stage.

The show finished, lots of giggles ensued because of the problems, but I would still consider the show a success. The show was fun, silly, unexpected, and upbeat. Just like SNAK.

This is touted as Strap-On Tools (www.strapontools.org) biggest show to date. And I would definitely agree. There really is no denying that these guys are my friends, and I’d been following them for a little over a year by this point. I was there when they got the news of playing the festival and I was there for many of their rehearsals, as well as their practice show the week before.

The lineup consisted of the ever-ending members, Brandon (Brando) on Lead vocals and Guitar, Duncan (Dunk) on Lead guitar/Backing Vocals and Chad (Chaddy) on Drums. Relatively new to the SOT clan is their bassist, Mikey (Mikey S.)

This was my first time at Warped Tour, and it seems to be run like a chaotic military machine. Bands sign in early in the morning to find out what time they are playing. They are limited to an exact 10 minute set-up/sound check, 20 minute set, and 10 minute tear down. (For the stage Strap-On Tools were playing for anyways) Fans arrive not knowing when their favourite bands would play, and therefore begin to line up at the gates the night before to ensure the best spot in front of the proper stages.

Onto the set. Strap-On Tools were the lucky/unlucky recipient of the last spot of the day. Good because they can forever claim they headlined the Kevin Says/Hot Topic stage, which was surprisingly 100% powered by solar panels, bad because they were playing up against I believe Billy Talent and NO/FX on the two main stages at the exact same time.

20 minutes. The guys played an amazing 20 minutes. Timing themselves to the near second in which songs were to be played for interest, popularity, and length of the tracks. I would say they made good choices. Unveiling their newest song along with songs that have always been crowd favourites. Everything sounded fantastic.

The only strange part was, while I stood, took pictures, and pseudo-danced to the music, a group of two decided it would be a good idea to start a mosh pit in front of the stage, by running, full force, directly into me as my back was turned. I think my only reaction was to push one guy as he started running back towards his buddy and they continued to body-slam each other for the remainder of the chorus before leaving.

Definitely a great show, I just wish it were longer!