NXNE 2008: Day 3 featuring Kreesha Turner, Spookey Ruben, Spiral Beach, Hey Rosetta!, God Made Me Funky & Tin Bangs

Reading some of the other reviews, I can see that while my schedule was quite busy, I didn't catch nearly as many bands as some of the other bloggers out there did. My Saturday still seemed incredibly busy though, since I did actually attend a wedding earlier in the day. (There was no reception if you were wondering.) Therefore my evening was still filled with musical wonderfulness. For the most part.

We headed on down to Yonge and Dundas square to catch the fun filled pop stylings of Spookey Ruben, who was scheduled to go on at 7pm. But it seems that the storm on the previous night did quite a number on the sound system, causing delays, problems and headaches. This put ol' Spook's set an hour behind, which meant that we were actually there in time to see a girl named Kreesha Turner. Right from the moment her band and back up singers hit the stage, I could tell that this likely wasn't going to be my thing. She's your basic R&B pop singer whose songs have been featured on shows like MTV's The Hills and apparently her song Bounce With Me is a hit. She seems like a sweet enough girl, she's got quite the voice (which is especially noticeable in her more soulful numbers) and she's cute and stuff but whateverz. Like I said, not my thing.

Photos: Kreesha Turner @ Yonge and Dundas Square on flickr
Myspace: Kreesha Turner

I caught Spookey Ruben at last year's NXNE festival, and the show was so good that it actually changed my views on his simple, and often saccharine song stylings. Since then, I've become even better acquainted with his stuff and I have to say that I've really grown to enjoy it.

Even after the hour long delay, the show still took a while to get going. It had me wondering if it was just the storm that caused the problem, or if maybe the sound guy(s) had a little 'chicken with its head cut off' syndrome. Either way, it was well past 8 by the time Spookey hit the stage, but when he did, he seemed as happy as ever. In fact, there's a good chance that Spookey Ruben just may be the happiest guy ever. The band came out wearing various animal masks, or at least something that looked like animal masks. They did not keep them on long enough for me to take a picture.

Since last year, Spookey has put together his own band, (as opposed to the quickly thrown together but still quite proficient band that he had last year.) They all worked together well, providing a more than adequate accompaniment to his quirky pop songs. The show was all kinds of tom foolery, particularly during the song Eye Of The Storm, when two guys in Chinese dragon costumes held up a big flag with a hole in it, which Spookey used to stick his head through whenever he sang the chorus. Because the set started so late, he was told that he had to end his set after only a few short songs, which was very annoying. Thankfully they went ahead and performed Shawna anyways, complete with the whole speaking in the phone routine that I enjoyed so much last year. As soon as he was done, it was hilarious to watch the stage guys rush the stage to get everything cleared up and ready as quick as possible. God forbid that they should cut 5 minutes into Bran Van 3000's set!

Photos: Spookey Ruben @ Yonge and Dundas Square on flickr
Myspace: Spookey Ruben

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we went to The Horseshoe where CBC Radio 3 was hosting a live to air thing featuring many of the biggest up and comers, including the two that we caught: Spiral Beach and Hey Rosetta!

The place was absolutely packed, and the lineup extended on down to Spadina but thanks to our trusty media badges, we got to stand in the shorter line. This is when we ran into Dan Wolovick (of TWM fame) strolling by with his small entourage of sorts. (It was actually just his fiancee and a couple of friends but it looked like an entourage.) He wasn't interested in waiting in line, and he made me laugh when he told his peeps to consult their schedules, which they all pulled out and studied at the same time. It looked hilarious. Guess you had to be there. Anyways they took off to catch another less lineup-y kind of show. Speaking of hilarious, we also caught sight of David Foley from Kids In The Hall leaving The 'Shoe, which allowed room for me and my wife to stroll on in.

Spiral Beach was certainly the most hyperactive act that I saw this year. I was taken aback by how young they all looked. But the music was not juvenile by any means. It had a bit of a 60's surf vibe combined with B-52's quirkiness and a Go! Team-like dance groove. They did not slow down for a second, and each song had the crowd working themselves into a mad mad frenzy. I thought their stage presence was all kinds of cool, and they looked like they were having a lot of fun up there. They are the type of band where everybody is going to have a favorite member, and mine would have to be bass player Dorian Wolf. They all play a vital role to the sound, but Dorian just oozes rock star cool without even trying. As can be seen by the enthusiastic crowd, I'm pretty sure that the band is on the verge of the big time, and it may not be too long before The Horseshoe is simply not going to be big enough to contain them. Heck, it hardly is already.

Photos: Spiral Beach @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Spiral Beach

In preparation for this years NXNE, I got a whole bunch of CD's by many of the artists performing, and although I haven't gotten around to listening to all of them, so far Hey Rosetta!'s Into Your Lungs is easily my fave. They are a six piece from Newfoundland, and their music is an energetic display of heartfelt compositions accompanied by varied instrumentation giving their work a very full and anthemic sound. This is no doubt thanks in part to the production of Hawksley Workman, and man known for having a taste for theatrical production. Tim Baker is easily the ringleader of this indie rock circus, and his dedication to this project is apparent in his emotive vocals. There was both a violinist and a cellist on stage, creating an orchestral vibe that would not seem to work in a small venue like The Shoe, but it did. They sounded great and their style is definitely something that has potential to grow on me even more. The band is apparently already huge in Newfoundland, and the east coast contingent was definitely there in full effect, making their presence known.

Photos: Hey Rosetta! @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: Hey Rosetta!

This is where the night got a little bit strange. We had contemplated sticking around at The Horseshoe and seeing Matt Mays and El Torpedo, but it was really hot and full, and we just didn't feel like being somewhere that crowded. So we left. We then thought maybe we would go to Lee's and catch Miss Derringer and Redd Kross. But I figured that would also be crowded, and I'm not actually that big of a Redd Kross fan anyways. So we just took a walk down Queen Street and figured we'd just surprise ourselves.

We caught one song from a band that was doing nothing for us at Kathedral, so we headed next door to The Reverb to see God Made Me Funky. We based this decision solely on the fact that the name made us smile. Now I don't know what we were expecting, but when we walked in, it was apparent that this was some sort of a hip hop band. Now I should mention that I am not funky. At all. I am about as far from funky as a human being could be. But there seemed to be a whole lot of action going on up on that stage, so I told my wife that I was just going to run to the stage and get a few pictures. She said that she'd just wait at the back.

When I got to the front of the stage, something strange happened. I found myself getting consumed by the funk. My booty started shakin' and my hands were in the air! Like they just didn't care! When MC Phatt AL was telling all the funky people in the house to say "HO! OH!" I started saying it! I may even have thrown in a third OH! because I was just feeling that funky! This Juno nominated R&B funk act is nothing short of awesome to see live and I can totally understand why people consistently leave their live show in a good mood. When I went back to see my wife again, she too was engulfed in tha funk, and we danced together enthusiastically for the rest of the concert. Besides their own music, the very talented band also threw in some old school funky covers of songs like Biz Markie's Just A Friend and Rick James' Super Freak.

I tried to listen to their CD the next morning, and quite honestly, my funkiness was clearly just a temporary thing. But I was glad that I caught God Made Me Funky's live show, because everybody should experience that, at least once.

Photos: God Made Me Funky @ The Reverb on flickr
Myspace: God Made Me Funky

After that, we headed back next door to The Kathedral and caught my old reliables: Tin Bangs. In a weird way, their set was the perfect follow up to the funky dung we enjoyed just a few minutes prior because, although the styles are completely different, both bands are very energetic, entertaining and enthusiastic bands that you can dance to.

I was surprised by how relatively empty the venue was, especially since Tin Bangs is one of the best live acts the city has to offer. Ultimately though, I guess it didn't matter, because the people that were there (including the increasingly more infamous historyjen) were dancing the night away and having a ton of fun. Once again, Robbie Butcher demonstrated the various reasons why he is the best rock star in the city, pounding the skins with rabid exuberance! They ended their set with The Skinny which, for some reason, hit me as the best song possible to end the official portion of this years NXNE festival for me. This isn't really due to song message or anything like that, it's just simply the fact that this song rocks with unmitigated Torontonian enthusiasm, and every time I hear it, I think about what a great indie music scene we have here in our fair city.

Photos: Tin Bangs @ The Kathedral on flickr
Myspace: Tin Bangs