Big Rock Finish… reviews of independent music

Alright, with the start of the summer concert season, I knew it wouldn’t be long until I gave up on keeping this website under wraps.

I’ve decided to officially bring Big Rock Finish back in a whole new way… which is basically what we’ve been doing while “on hiatus.”

Big Rock Finish will now concentrate mainly on the music/live photography of me, Angela (rokky/lilfunky1) where I will post my photography from bands I’ve seen while going to different shows. And with each photograph I post, I’ll try to write a little something about the show, the artist, or just what I think of the photograph. Hopefully this will result in more hits/visits to BRF, more bands knowing I exist, and overall more awesome music and more awesome photography.

I’ll be posting about the shows I’m definitely going to, as well as shows I really want to (and will try desperately) to get to. If you want me to post about your upcoming show, drop me an e-mail and I’ll post about that as well (whether I can make it or not, but hey, I might!… especially if you have the power to GL me, because you know… recession and all.)

On average I seem to be posting one new photo every three days. I will try my best to keep up this schedule, but if I run out of content, I run out of content. I’ll do CD reviews still sporadically, but at this time I am not accepting new albums because I still have a stack to go through from a while back.

In short, BABY WE’RE BACK!

I’ve decided that I’m going to use BRF also as a form to let people know where I’m going to be. There’s a lot of festivals and shows that I go to, and if anyone actually wants to meet up with me, find me whenever I post! (Also if you want to promo your own shows? Give me the details, I’ll gladly throw up a post for you to help you advertise!)

This show I’m excited for, I haven’t gone to a show in a while. I also won two free passes (well, I’m guest listed +1) for driving down to Indie Love’s studio on a Tuesday night (the day I flew back from Texas) to kiss a total stranger (”The Ju” from Those3guyS… who was co-hosting on The Show/Hijack Radio) before 10:18 pm. But the show is being held for a good cause so hopefully I remember to kick at least a few bucks in for the organization it’s supporting!

Start Time: Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 8:00pm
End Time: Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 2:00pm (??!???)
Location: The Napa Lounge (inbehind Shoeless Joe’s in Bolton)
Street: 13-12612 Hwy 50
City/Town: Bolton, ON

Description
We will be featuring Independant music artist from Caledon and the GTA produced by Juicy Productions.
the show will be $15 cover @ the door…proceeds of the show will be donated to Caledon Comuity Services
you will be able to win free passes by listening to:
“The Show” on Indielove.ca Tuesdays @8:30pm (that’s how I got my tickets!!)
“the B side” on B105.5 Thursdays @ 8pm
“Those3guyS” on Indielove.ca sundays @5pm

Performing Live will be: Slight of Hand, BROOMFILLER, T.B.A., The Only Factor, Cream Team…
DJ Dave Hall of B105.5

This Will be and all ages show till midnight, after midnight if your not 19 you have to get out…(enforced through wristband policy)

Canada Music Week 2009 - The Apollo Effect, originally uploaded by lilfunky1.

The Apollo Effect (http://www.theapolloeffect.com) not only has a keyboard player, but he’s also a guitarist, and is also a vocalist, and at one point I think he did all three at the same time.

I missed that photo though because I was back to my “sleepy time really ready to go home” phase. But it was definitely an eyebrow raising even to see someone standing at a keyboard while having a guitar slung over his neck singing into a microphone.

Kudos to you band member who’s name I do not know! Three musical feats I never learned to do separately, you’ve mastered together!

Canada Music Week 2009 - The Apollo Effect, originally uploaded by lilfunky1.

This bass player for The Apollo Effect (http://www.theapolloeffect.com) is awesome. At one point he for some reason lost the strap on his bass, and proceeded to play holding it as normally as he could, getting down on one knee to rest the bass on his leg, and finally sitting down on the edge of the stage, and getting one of the guitarists to follow suit.

And there’s just something about that really rich green colour!

Canada Music Week 2009 - The Apollo Effect, originally uploaded by lilfunky1.

Alright, so I had two reasons for wanting to leave the Hideout in a big rush, one was because it was way crowded, two because I wanted to trek halfway across town to get to the Hard Rock Live venue to see The Apollo Effect (http://www.theapolloeffect.com)

I’d seen these guys at least once before (at Tattoo Rock Parlour), possibly twice, and they were the only band name I still recognized on the schedule. Alex agreed only because it was on the way home.

It was late and it was getting kind of obvious that most people had already gone home for the night, well they missed a great set. I had fun, as always, and the music sounds great in that venue.

I’m sure I’ll see these guys again, so it’s not like there’s any danger of that not happening! (Is that even a sentence? Okay, it’s officially getting too late for me to write.)

Canada Music Week 2009 - The Marble Index(?), originally uploaded by lilfunky1.

There’s a question mark because I’m not 100% sure who we ended up seeing here. I’m assuming it was The Marble Index (http://www.themarbleindex.com) based soley on the schedule, and it seems everyone was on time.

Alex (my CMW chaperone) and I ended up at The Hideout, which was packed, (but not as packed as the Bovine Sex Club!) and they were on stage.

It was damned entertaining, the lights were awesome and the venue was cool. The crowd was starting to get to me, especially since I still had my jacket on the whole time, but overall I still liked the music I heard. My only reasoning for a quick escape was because I was starting to feel very claustrophobic.

Alright, no photo for these guys because… there wasn’t enough room. One of very few bands I recognized the names of, Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah (http://www.myspace.com/hellyeahfuckyeah) was one of them, and it was pretty agreed upon that we would try & see them after Justin’s set. I’ve always been told the Bovine Sex Club was a tiny-ass venue, and they weren’t joking. With crap on the walls, crap on the celings, and being told when Alex and I arrived that they were at capacity and we would have to wait (thankfully only for a few minutes as two people left almost as soon as we arrived) we jammed ourselves into the exceedingly narrow venue.

The band is awesome and obviously has a very loyal following of people who enjoy having beer showered onto them. Splash zone I believe was about 4 rows deep. I barely had room to breathe, and being at the tail end of the bar (far from the stage) there was no point in even taking out my camera.

But these guys were definitely entertaining, know how to get the crowd going, and retired one of their songs (I believe it was named 34 bars) at the CMW event because all the locations have since been changed due to the evilness that is gentrification.

Once they were done, Alex took me to see the stripper pole that no one was using, and then off to the next venue that neither of us really knew the location of. (Funny enough, it’s called “The Hideout”)