Danny Michel w/ Wil @ The Mod Club

There was a lot of notable acts creeping around the city on Saturday night. The most notable of these were Dan Bejar's Destroyer at Lee's Palace and Colin Meloy of The Decemberists at The Phoenix. Great acts both, but I've always supported the underdog, and I think that Danny Michel falls into that category. He's got to be the most underrated Canadian act of the moment and I really wish more people would take the time to get to know his music and take in his incomparable live show. Those other shows will no doubt be blogged about like crazy anyways.

Danny's show at The Mod Club was the CD Release party for his new independent release entitled Feather Fur and Fin. He is a singer/songwriter from Waterloo, Ontario and his music has often been compared to Elvis Costello, Neil Young and Ron Sexsmith. I generally add that his sound could also be referred to as Weakerthans-lite, sharing a similar poetic whimsy to John K Samson, minus the harder edge. His CD's are good, but they generally lack the charismatic sheen of his live show. And as usual, I found it difficult to wipe the giddy smile off of my face throughout his set. The band was plagued with some technical difficulties right from the get-go, due to the drummer's drums being "broken", as Danny so eloquently explained. That was unfortunate since the show was being recorded for CBC Radio 2, but leave it to Danny to charm his way out of a potentially uncomfortable situation. Speaking of which, another astute female audience member informed him that he was "flying low" to which he quipped "my eyes are up here!" Yes, as usual, the banter was witty and his stage presence was gold, but it was the music that spoke for itself. He opened with The Invisible Man, the title track from his 2003 "breakthrough" album. The majority of songs were taken from the new one, including Tell Sally, Motorcade, and the awesome title track. He blasted through a set of folksy numbers as well as some rockers before ending things off with I'm 'a Love You Anyway, a terrific rocker, also from the new CD. For the encore, he pulled out a pretty accurate cover of Joe Strummer's Get Down Moses.

Photos: My pics actually turned out really good and they can be seen on flickr.
Myspace: Danny Michel
Download: White Lightning (from 2005's Valhalla) mp3


Opening for Danny Michel was Wil Mimnaugh, known in the biz simply as Wil. Wil is a singer/songwriter from Vancouver Island whose style of folk music treads on similar ground to artists like Jason Collett. The songs were easy to absorb and although they are the type of songs that would likely translate better in a more intimate setting, the setlist was short enough that he whet my appetite for more, without unnecessarily overstaying his welcome. His latest CD is entitled By December and features contributions from 54-40's Neil Osbourne as well as the aforementioned Collett. Definitely worth further examination.

Photos: My pics of the show are on flickr.
Myspace: Wil