The Stills, Dog Day and Still Life Still @ The Horseshoe

When I first heard that Halifax's Dog Day was going to be playing Bookie's Nu Music Nite at The Horseshoe, I was pretty excited. Their CD Night Group is easily one of my most listened to albums of the year. At that time, the Horseshoe Concert Listings site said that they were opening the night, to be followed by "surprise guests." Colour me curious. Later it was revealed that this was to be The Stills CD release party for their brand new Oceans Will Rise release. I'm really not much of a Stills fan, but I know that many people are, and I figured that this was an awesome way to get Dog Day some much needed publicity. Colour me excited. However, the day of the show arrived and the order of the lineup had changed considerably with locallers Still Life Still now being given the opening slot, with The Stills coming up next, leaving Dog Day to fill out the late spot. After The Stills?!?! Will people stick around? Probably not. Colour me irritated.

To describe Still Life Still as a slightly hyperactive band is a bit of an under-aggeration. They are absolutely spastic, and their semi regular stint as part of Elvis Mondays at The Drake has obviously given them quite the supportive following. Their music falls into the 'let's celebrate' category of indie rock, being a danceable explosion of jam-influenced impassioned noise pop. The band shows quite a bit of promise, and several of the songs featured on their myspace page are exceptional. I do worry however that we may never get to experience this future better version of them. The reason for this is the fact that their fans are intense. The way that they were screaming and carrying on may just mistakenly lead the band to believe that they're already the greatest thing in the world, and when you believe that you're already there, where else can you go? Hopefully, the band has that insatiable desire to try to better itself, because despite what their fans will lead them to believe, they're still at that amateurish stage for the time being. Lots of fun, but still a long way to go. That having been said, they've got the fan appreciation quarter of their schtick down, openly inviting the aforementioned over zealous fandom onto the stage to display their overzealousness for all to see. And I 'd be lying if I didn't mention that it was still a lot of fun to watch.

Photos: Still Life Still @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: Still Life Still

I don't really like The Stills that much. I don't dislike them, but overall I'm just pretty indifferent. They are part of the fantastic Arts & Crafts community, and I obviously admire what they've been able to accomplish over the past few years. But other than a couple of really catchy songs, for the most part I personally find them to be quite derivative and boring. Still, I knew that a free CD release party by a band as well liked as they are, is going to be very well supported, and any band is going to thrive in that sort of atmosphere. And thrive they did! The band played a very high energy show that I actually enjoyed more than I thought that I would, even if they overused the standard rock star moves to the point of appearing downright satirical. However, there were a couple of worthy highlights. I actually like Lola Stars and Stripes, and I think this is one of those (very) rare cases where one of the band's biggest hits is actually worthy of being so. And the best performance of the night was their incendiary performance of Snakecharming The Masses, which had Tim Fletcher joining Julien Blais on percussion, creating a pulsating drum sound that was difficult to resist. Finally, the band seemed genuinely surprised that the crowd had demanded an encore, which was a refreshing change to the usual display of mock humility. However, as the crowds were becoming more and more enamoured with their heroes, I was just getting more and more impatient about seeing the band that I actually wanted to see.

Photos: The Stills @ The Horseshoe on flickr
Myspace: The Stills
Video: Being Here on youtube

Just as I anticipated, a large chunk of the crowd had dissipated by the time Dog Day hit the stage, but thankfully The Horseshoe was far from being empty. There was a healthy number of people in attendance and this, coupled with their show in Guelph on the weekend, made their trip from Halifax hopefully worthwhile. They were definitely charming enough, but it did take a couple of songs for them to get into their comfort zone. I chalk that up to the fact that they had to follow two bands with an overexuberant fanbase. Still, once they hit their stride, they did quite well. I'm not all that familiar with much of their pre-Night Group material, but I enjoyed the stuff I didn't know just as much as the stuff that I did. I really have to pick up some of those older albums. One thing that stood out is that I never really noticed The Pixies influence in their music before. I thought it was incredibly apparent this time around though, along with the usual Cure and Eric's Trip influences also. What I would like to see is a little bit more energy displayed by this gang. The songs lend themselves to a fervent enthusiasm, but Dog Day are actually quite subdued on stage. Perhaps they'll pick it up a bit the next time around. Still, the crowd demanded that they do an encore also, and I don't know what the last song, but it rocked in all its punk rock glory. If you were there and you left after The Stills, do yourself a favour and give these guys a listen. They really are exceptional.

Photos: Dog Day @ The Horseshoe on flickr.
Myspace: Dog Day
Download: Sleeping, Waiting mp3

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