Laibach Lee's Palace Toronto, Ontario: November 10 2004 To quote Axel, "Bloody marvelous". They had the misfortune to play in town the same night as Skinny Puppy, so most of the rivet-heads weren't there. Instead they had a room full of Slovenians who really didn't seem to "get" the music. Most of the audience reaction was reserved for the covers. It didn't seem to slow the band down at all, they pounded the music out. Including the two female percussionists/back-up singers who were deliberately martial in their coreography. The Last Dance Convergence IX, Las Vegas NV: April 27 2003 The trouble with Convergence is that the experience of getting together with people you only see once a year, drinking enough to sink a ship and staying up all night in a brand new city tends to kind of, well, overshadow the efforts of the bands who are there to entertain us. On this year they were also overshadowed by the two-week roadtrip we made to get there and back. Sorry guys. It was kind of rough spot for the bands to be in just to start with. The venue was only smoking outside, so lots of people just hung out there. And the bar, oddly enough was in the lobby, so a lot of people just hung out there. Add that to the fact that the sounds was loud enough to be painful and the room was close to empty for most of the gig. I made a point of checking out every band for at least a few minutes, but I had to keep going outside just to give my poor ears a rest from the volume. The bands for the first night were Reverb TV, Babylonian Tiles and Boole. None of those bands really did it for me. I'd had high hopes for Reverb TV, too. However, I did think it was hilarious that one of the guys from Boole kept leaping off the stage, running out to the lobby, yelling at people to come inside and then tearing ass back up onto the stage again. Definite points for amusement value. I missed Frankenstein on the second night, which had me kicking myself, because they sounded like exactly the kind of thing I really like. Bugger. Especially since the other two acts of the night -- Android Lust and The Last Dance - really aren't my thing. I'm utterly convinced that I have seen The Last Dance at least once before, but for the life of me I can't remember when. I do remember not being tremendously impressed by them the first time 'round - so when I saw them this time I was really delighted by how much better they were. I think I might have been drunk enough to say so. Oops. The Leather Uppers Smilin' Buddha Bar, Toronto Ontario: January 6 2006 My first gig of the new year. I ended up going to this because friends The Von Drats were opening. I'm really glad I did, it was a great lineup. The Von Drats do an old-school cheesy surf-rock set that is just plain fun to listen to. For this show they broke out the brand new striped shirts. I always have a good time at their gigs, they're bouncy and energetic and they get tighter every time I see them. Second in the line-up was The Midways A friend of mine had raved about them, so I was very courious to finally get a to see them. I ended up liking them a lot except for one thing - shortly into the set they started pumping artificial smoke into the air. Goddammit, I'm getting old, and I no longer like it when bands try to fucking poison me. The capacity of this place wasn't too bad at all, but it was a long narrow room so the smoke really filled up the front of it. I retreated to the bar to get another drink and wait for the smoke to clear. By the time I came back it had settled out a bit and I was able to enjoy the rest of the set. Edit: One of the members of the band later informed me that the smoke machine was not their idea - that the club must have set it up. I'll buy that, it's exactly the kind of thing that a brand new venue is likely to a) spend money on and b) figure that since they spent money on it they should probably use it. I always have trouble describing music, not because I can't identify differences, but because I often don't have the name for what I'm trying to talk about. Anyway, they bill themselves as a garage band, and they reminded me of early mod stuff - kind Louie Louie, stove-pipe trousers era. I didn't really hear the R&B influence they claim, but the early 60's punk stuff was definitely there. It was really infectious and a ton of fun. The Leather Uppers were the last band of the night, and they took an appropriately rock-star long time to get onto the stage. The venue was packed by the time they came out - forget seeing anything at all unless you were in the front half of the room. And they were great. I'm not sure what I was expecting - I did see them once before in the early '90's when they first formed and were opening for somebody else, but I don't remember anything about their show. They consist of just a base and drums, but they manage to have a very full sound anyway. Their stuff is really bouncy early punk - I thought some of their stuff sounded very early Ramones, Axel brought up The Jam. Lei The 360 Club, Toronto Ontario: June 8 2003 Another band I saw for NxNE. A 4-piece with a female singer & guitar player, second guitar, bass and drums. The music is hard and driving and all the songs sound the same. The woman sings, and her style doesn't change from one song to the next. They had reasonable energy, if a bit "rock star" poserish. They seemed to be getting a very strong response from the audience, and they obviously had a lot of fans there, but I found them a bit monotonous. They were also the last band of a very long weekend, so it would have really taken something special to inspire me by then - and they just didn't have it. I ended up taking off before they were done so I could catch the end of the punk bands at the Rockit. The Levellers Lee's Palace, Toronto Ontario: January 26 2001 This is one of the many bands that Axel introduced me to. I knew he loved them, so when I heard they were playing in town, I asked him if he was going to see the show. Surprisingly for him, he had to be talked into it. We ended up dragging him along with some friends who had just arrived from England. The band got the front of the stage bouncing around in an energetic manner that is almost unheard of for Toronto audiences. Fun band. A bit "folky" for my usual tastes, but really catchy stuff. Life Sex & Death The Spectrum, Toronto Ontario: 1988? I have no idea if the date on this is in any way accurate, I hunted for old tour dates but came up with nuttin'. This is definitely one of the most unique acts I've ever seen. They played at the Spectrum, which was an old coverted movie theatre (and briefly a bingo hall) near where my mother lived. The poop about the band was that the lead singer had some kind of emotional problems. He avoided strangers and slept outside most of the time. There was a brief news item about them the night of the gig, and the host looked at the camera and said, "Stanley is the smelliest human being I have ever met." I thought that was pretty crass at the time, especially if the story about his mental illness was true. The show was fucking fantastic. Stanley is an odd-looking frontman for a metal band. He had short hair and thick Buddy Holly glasses and wore a tattered brown suit that was shredded at the cuffs and stained black with grease in big patches. He was a wild man, leaping onto furniture, windmilling his arms, yelling, jumping and just going non-fucking-stop for the entire set. It was one of the most energetic gigs I have ever seen and the audience went absolutely wild. By the end of the gig he was absolutely drenched. People gradually started filing out of the venue, and he ran of the stage and started darting around the audience, grabbing people in a brief bearhug before running on to the next one. As I was standing and waiting for the crowd to die down a bit at the doors, he ran up to me with a huge grin on his face, pinned my arms in a massive hug and ran away. Suddenly I understood what the TV host was talking about. He was riveting. When I was trying to find the dates I found a few mentions of this band that claimed that the mental illness thing was an act and a gimmick. I dunno. I've done some time with the homeless thing, and I was pretty convinced. Liviride 360 Club, Toronto, Ontario: June 8 2003 This band has a "rock" style of music but with more thoughtful lyrics. The vocals are somewhat high pitched, but not strident. They had good variation of tempo between the songs. In spite of all that they really didn't do it for me. I've seen stickers all over town stuck to mailboxes and lampposts, and the reaction of the crowd seemed to indidate that they had a following. But I just didn't find them very inspiring. Mind you, this was my third day on very little sleep, so that might have something to do with it. All the members were really geeky looking, but while they are playing they come across as competent, relaxed and professional. They aren't a particularily "bouncy" band - they seemed to be much more serious. For their last song they had what I assumed was a "guest" vocalist who looked even geekier than were to do some mildly amusing white boy rapping. This was a lot more funny when I later found out he was actually some local artist who makes a habit of storming stages and doing impromptu rap sets over local bands. And continuously gets away with it. That would explain why the looked kind of lost while it was going on. The smell of pot during their set was overwhelming. LOFI Clintons, Toronto Ontario: December 31 2004 At the time they played this gig they consisted of two people, a drummer and a singer/guitar player. Several times over the night it was announced from the stage that they were seeking a bassist, so I assume they will shortly be a three-piece. The music reminded me a lot of the stuff Nirvana was putting out before they did the Nevermind album. Very grunge-influenced, but unpolished. His vocals were also very reminiscent of Kurt Cobain, although Chris also mentioned the singer from Bush as an influence. I mentally classified them as punk because, well, mostly because they reminded me so much of early Nirvana, and that's what Nirvana started out as. They probably would fit better into some kind of indie rock category. The songs were typical boy-meets-girl, boy-can't-find-girl, boy-is-depressed, you-evil-bitch-you-broke-my-heart stuff. And the delivery, although passionate, wasn't particularily interesting. Spending all that time working meant he didn't have a lot of time for movement around the stage, and of course there are no other musicians to take on some of that role. I honestly didn't find him that interesting. There were a couple of catchy songs at the beginning, but so many of the songs sounded so similar that I lost interest pretty quick. Which is kind of unfortunate, because they were using a very tried-and-true style. They just weren't doing anything either novel or attention-getting with it. The London Choirboys RPM, Toronto Ontario: 1993 I can't find the exact date to this, but I know it was in the spring of 1993. The reason I know this is because it was only a few weeks to a month after seeing The Black Crowes play at Lulu's, which I could find a date for. And the reason I remember that they were so close together is because they were a huge study in contrasts and a lesson in the falability of popular tastes. The Black Crowes played in a huge venue in front of a massive crowd and put on one of the most lackluster, unenthusiastic shows I have ever seen. Pure dishwater. The London Choirboys, on the other hand, who did a similar kind of very loosely blues-based cock-rock, and who hardly anybody had ever heard of, tore the fuck out of the stage. Energetic, passionate and the entire audience were exhausted by the time they left the room. The conclusions drawn therefrom are left as an exercise for the reader. Love & Rockets Stages, Kitchener Ontario: 1996? I was living in Toronto at the time of this show. I can't remember why we chose to drive to Kitchener. Maybe the local gig was sold out. Anyway, Stages is generally a good place to see a show. It's a decent-sized room with a balcony that runs around three sides. We were able to find a decent spot on the top floor where we could see the stage and where the sound was decent. I'm not as familar with L&R's music as I am with Bauhaus, but I still really enjoyed it. It was, y'know, decent. The fact that Daniel Ash was wearing a miniskirt seemed to go over very well with certain members of the audience. Lowest of the Low The Albion Hotel, Guelph Ontario: June 3 1993 The only reason I remember the date for this show is because I found reference to a bootleg. The Albion was a old-man bar that got taken over by the University students. It had seperate rooms for "Gentlemen" and "Ladies and Escorts". The furniture was plain wooden tables and plainer wooden chairs and you could buy draught in those tall half-pint glasses for less than a dollar each. I loved it there, mostly because I could wander in at any time of the night and would run into somebody I knew. And I saw tons of bands there, from folk to punk and everything in between. When I saw Lowest of the Low we were there because some friends who really loved the band dragged us along. The tiny room packed solid with people, the band squeezed against one wall and everybody bounced along to the music. I got marvelously drunk and had a really good time. Great gig.
Last Updated May 26 2006.
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