Spiral Beach / Boys Who Say No / Romo Roto @ The Garrison

Basically it's been a combination of the winter blahs and good ole fashioned procrastination that has caused me to neglect this review of my last show for 2009. It took place all the way back on December 19th of last year, and even I have to admit that a time period of three weeks may be pushing the boundaries of acceptable tardiness for concert reviews, but thankfully this was a memorable show and most of the details are still firmly planted in my mind.

I don't know what it is, but I always like for my last show of the year to be awesome. There were of course some amazing shows going on for New Years Eve, but I prefer spending December 31st at home cuddling with the wife. (Yes, I'm a man who likes to cuddle; do you have a problem with that?) Additionally, the Handsome Furs show that I saw a week earlier was decent enough, but certainly not 'last show of the year' worthy, in my pretentious opinion. So, knowing Spiral Beach's capacity for throwing a party made me realize that their show at The Garrison had the potential to be the perfect way to segue into my late December / early January concert going hiatus with a bang. And sure enough, I was right.

As I arrived at the venue, Romo Roto was just beginning their set. The band consists of one guy (Tomas Del Balso), one girl (Alexandra Mackenzie), four drums, and one boombox blasting keyboard recordings from well worn cassettes. This is one trippy sounding duo, and at first the output can be quite jarring as the sounds catapulting off that stage seemed to lack any form of musical gel, while the vocals seemed to be nothing more than random screaming. The strange thing is though, that after a few moments I found myself actually dancing to these bizarre sounds. Their music kinda creeps up on you and that coupled with their endearing stage presence caused me to enjoy the show quite a bit. They ran into a few glitches at the start when it looked like either the blaster had gone kaput, or the cassette was being mangled in the deck but even during that potentially embarrassing moment, they seemed to take it in stride as Alexandra joked about the possibility of them leaving the stage after a one song performance. Thankfully things were sorted out and Romo Roto went on to perform an energetic show.

Photos: My shots of Romo Roto @ The Garrison are on flickr
Myspace: Romo Roto

I last saw Boys Who Say No back in September during the Summerworks Festival and really enjoyed their quirky brand of folkish indie pop. Not much had changed for this performance in the sense that the band continues to put on a solid show. Although their sound is quite different than Romo Roto, there is a huge similarity in that, like the previous act, it's pretty hard to accurately describe their sound. There are some hooks and melodies in there, but it seems to be hidden amongst a lot of shouting and talking, but not in an annoying way. Luke Correia-Damude's vocals are gruff and it almost sounds as if he's mocking pop music, in a way. I like it. Difficult descriptions aside though, the band fits in nicely with the current state of amicable local young-ish looking bands and I will certainly continue to enjoy seeing them perform throughout the city. It looks like the next time they hit the stage they'll be sporting a slightly altered lineup since apparently this was David Stein's last show with the band, undoubtedly focusing the bulk of his attention on his other band Key Witness. According to one interview, when Stein joined the band, he was considered to be the professional one and the one they all leaned on for the 'technical stuff.' From what I'd seen at The Garrison, the rest of the band has since been trained well and although Stein's presence will be missed, there is no doubt that BWSN will continue to be an endearing presence on the local scene.

Photos: My pics of Boys Who Say No @ The Garrison are on flickr.
Myspace: Boys Who Say No

Things got exciting pretty early on during Spiral Beach's show when a misplaced footstep caused vocalist Maddy Wilde to take a tumble off of the stage during setup, pulling her massive keyboard along with her. If it had not been for my cat-like reflexes she likely would have been seriously hurt and the show would have been doomed for sure. Thankfully I was standing at the front of the stage (like always) and I managed to catch Maddy in one arm and the keyboard in the other, singlehandedly saving the show!

(Editor's note: OK, the fall was probably not as dramatic as I remembered it, and I only really managed to catch Maddy successfully, while I lost my grip on the keyboard and it went crashing to the ground pretty hard, although I don't think there was any major damage. Also, the number of people who approached me asking if I was alright leads me to believe that it looked far clumsier than my description would imply, and I probably looked less like Spiderman and more like an octopus with crazy arms flailing all over the place, but I'm going to take credit for saving the show anyways :P)

Thankfully the show went on as planned and Spiral Beach put on a performance that was definitely worthy of being my last concert of the year. It's hard to pinpoint the one thing that makes this band one of my favourites to see live. There are just so many ingredients. First of all, they're just so much fun to watch. They have that youthful energy on their side, and their style of music stands on its own in that it's just weird enough to not sound like anybody else. They also elicit one of the best audience reactions around. It's funny, but as I was dancing amidst a crowd of delighfully spazzy early twentysomethings, it occured to me that this group of bouncing fanatics are the very same people that my crotchety old self usually complains about in other settings. But the energy transferred by the sounds of Spiral Beach actually causes me not only to tolerate them, but actually enjoy their company and even sort of become one of them, albeit perhaps in a slightly more reserved way. As expected, this show was one heckuva party and the newer songs from their latest release The Only Real Thing sounded great alongside the classics as the band satisfied the crowd with a full set and two encores.

Photos: My shots of Spiral Beach @ The Garrison are on flickr
Myspace: Spiral Beach

Boys Who Say No w/ Fox Jaws @ The Theatre Centre

For a few years now, the Summerworks Festival here in Toronto has been an excellent way to promote independent art and theatre in the city for an affordable price. Last year was the first time that the organizers decided to include live music into the schedule and I heard that it was a great success, even though I personally was unable to attend. This year thankfully I was, and even though I didn't get to have as great a share as I would've liked to, I was very happy with the bands that I did get to see.

I realize that if I cover the Fox Jaws one more time, I'm going to have to rename this blog "It's Not The Band I Hate, Actually I Only Love The Fox Jaws" but in actuality it had been several months since I last saw these guys perform, and since I wasn't going to be able to catch their CD release show at the El Mocambo, I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss this one. At first it looked like the crowd was going to be a little more modest than preferred, but thankfully they shuffled in just as the performance began, enabling the band to put on their usual powerhouse of a show.

It's a confirmed fact that frontpeople Carleigh Aikins and Daniel Allen are a couple of incredibly energetic performers and the fire that they exude on stage never ceases to amaze me. What really stood out for me this time was the fact that this energy has apparently spread throughout the rest of the band as well, to the point where the attention that I have previously devoted to the Aikins / Allen combo is now divided evenly amongst all five members. Brandyn Aikins killed the drum kit, Andrew Shropshire displayed the techniques of a very skilled guitarist and Evan Rosevear was the bass player with rock star swagger. If I remember correctly, their set was composed entirely of songs off the new album At Odds, which I reviewed last week. The songs are excellent for the live stage since their increased edginess and slightly experimental nature gives the band an opportunity to prove that their talents are genuine and not simply a result of studio wizardry. For me, the evening's highlight was Home and Native, with its infectious laughing chorus, that even had the audience singing along.

Photos: Fox Jaws @ The Theatre Centre on flickr
Myspace: Fox Jaws

My only real exposure to Boys Who Say No was by hearing one of their songs played on the previous week's Zygiella podcast, but the tune No I Won't was just quirky enough to peak my curiosity. As the band was setting up for the show, they continued to peak my curiosity further by setting up cardboard cutouts of various wilderness creatures and blown up garbage bags all across the stage. Vocalist Luke Correia-Damude commented that this was meant to be their statement against the city's garbage strike but then acknowledged that since the strike is over, most of what's onstage doesn't make any sense. That sense of humour was present throughout the course of their set as they played a collection of songs that were eccentric and unpredictable, yet rather enjoyable. There are definitely some traces of alt-country displayed throughout their mix, but definitely more of the playful kind, as opposed to the seriously rootsy variety. I was a big fan of their instrumentation, but I'll have to admit that Luke's voice will take some getting used to, although its similarity to the pipes of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock would likely be more of a selling point for most people.

Photos: Boys Who Say No @ The Theatre Centre on flickr
Myspace: Boys Who Say No