Sloan w/The Golden Dogs @ CNE Bandshell

I keep getting older but the Sloan fans just stay the same age. Those were my initial thoughts while attending the show at The Ex yesterday. I'm up front standing next to a group of young 'uns who apparently all met each other via the Sloan message board and I was immediately awed by how my favorite Canadian rockers are still able to draw a young crowd despite having been around for over 15 years. Many of them were approximately the same age that I was when I first cranked "Underwhelmed" from the crappy speakers of my first crappy car. Of course, if you've seen them perform, you know why the kids are alright! I think the days of a Sloan show being somewhat of a hit or miss affair are long gone. The band was tight, solid and more fun than it should be legal to have on such a miserable day, as it was yesterday. The fact that they're currently performing songs from "Never Hear The End Of It" also helps, seeing as this is easily their best release in years. The newer songs elicit the same hyperactive cheers as the old ones do, and they threw out a generous mix of both. Because their latest CD has such a huge whack of contributions from Andrew, he was also able to step out from the drum kit on more than one occasion to take center stage, even playing "People Of The Sky" which made me positively giddy. Patrick and Jay also seemed to be in high spirits, doing all the rock star riffing required to put on a solid show. When Chris asked Patrick how fast he can go, you knew they were about to lunge into the wicked spazzfest of "HFXNSHC,"which sounded out of control live! And then there's Chris. He was in full 100% pure Canadian ham mode, mugging for the cameras, stage kicking all rock star like, impersonating Bowzer from Sha-Na-Na and generally putting on a fun show, as usual. Sloan has proved once again that, although there may be other Canadian bands that get more recognition, both here and south of the border, when it comes to the sheer spirit of rock 'n roll, there is no other band currently in existence, Canadian or otherwise, that holds a candle to the boys in "Slo-oooo-aaaannnnn!"

Photos: Sloan @ The CNE Bandshell on flickr
Stream: Never Hear The End Of It (full album)
Myspace: Sloan
Videos: Flying High Again (Super 8 film) youtube
I've Gotta Try youtube
Where's Jay? (Funniest. Video. Ever.) youtube


The opening act was Toronto's own The Golden Dogs, who apparently rocked the clouds into submission yesterday evening. It rained on and off all day, even culminating in a thunder storm just an hour earlier. But when The Dogs came out to play, the rain stopped, the sun came out and the band blasted through a 50 minute set full of hyperkinetic energy! Dave Azzolini refused to sit still, keeping the show going at a steady yet frenetic pace. As keyboardist Jessica Grassia regularly displayed the song titles on a stand out front, the band blasted through several songs from their latest release "Big Eye Little Eye." Some of the highlights were the band's sort-of breakthrough single "Yeah," the driving march of "Saints At The Gates" and their indescribable cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five." The latter song had Dave going positively manic on the guitar, with a solo that refused to stop, causing me to sport the goofy spellbound grin that I tend to sport when I'm standing in the midst of greatness. I also want to mention, Taylor Knox: drummer: best. rock. star. ever.

Photos: The Golden Dogs @ The CNE Bandshell on flickr
Stream: Big Eye Little Eye full album
Myspace: The Golden Dogs
Videos: Construction Worker youtube
Never Meant Any Harm youtube

Songs From A Room and other weekend festivities.

This weekend looks like it's going to be another wacky unbalanced trio of live events for yours truly, so in preparation, I should get some rest and keep this post relatively brief. We'll see how that goes.

Pictured above is a local Toronto band called Songs From A Room. I really don't know all that much about them but I throughly enjoy the songs they've got posted up on their myspace page. They have a super solid heavy rock vibe with a vocalist shriek that could strip the paint off a building ... with ... several coats ... of paint ... on ... it. I'm so tired that even my analogies aren't flowing as freely as I would like. However I think you get the point. They're playing a free show this Monday August 27th at The Horseshoe in support of their new CD, which is to be released that same day. I guarantee that I'll be returning from that show with a more thorough (and articulate) review.

Myspace: Songs From A Room

Sunday night is the Camera Obscura show. I had already seen them once this year and enjoyed it very much. I figured that it wasn't necessary to see them again but a) my wife really wanted to go and 2) The Last Town Chorus is the opening act. That's an incredible double bill, and there is no way I could miss this one. The last time I saw TLTC I was feeling a little bit under the weather and sadly didn't get the full impact. I'm anticipating a more enjoyable show this time around. The downside is that they're playing at The Phoenix or, as I like to call it, big sweaty dumb stupid town. Hopefully my wife and I will be able to get up all good and close so that we can see something. The Phoenix isn't really designed for people under a billion feet tall.

Download:
Camera Obscura: If Looks Could Kill mp3 / Let's Get Out Of This Country mp3
The Last Town Chorus: Modern Love mp3 / Oregon mp3

Myspace: Camera Obscura / The Last Town Chorus

Videos:
Camera Obscura: Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken youtube
The Last Town Chorus: Modern Love youtube

And to start things off, we're heading to The Ex for the first time in forever years. I have to admit that the thought of cotton candy and a discofied dog show doesn't exactly thrill me as it once might have, but the real draw for me this Saturday is the fact that Sloan will be playing with The Golden Dogs at Exhibition Place for what, I believe, is no extra cost. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure that I'm right. However if I'm wrong, and you do choose to quote me, I'll deny it. Either way, it's been a dang long time since I've seen the boys in my favorite all time Canadian band play live, and their last album was their best in 10 years so it's bound to be a stellar show. The Golden Dogs are great too, and their brand of sunny ultra-hip power pop will complement the Sloan gang nicely.

Stream:
Sloan: Never Hear The End Of It (full album)
The Golden Dogs: Big Eye Little Eye (full album)

Myspace: Sloan / The Golden Dogs

Videos:
Sloan: Flying High Again (Super 8 Film) youtube
Sloan: I've Gotta Try youtube
Sloan: Where's Jay? (Funniest. Video. Ever.) youtube
The Golden Dogs: Construction Worker youtube
The Golden Dogs: Never Meant Any Harm youtube