500 bands and 4 nights to see the most of it.
This is
Canadian Music Week!
Intense as usual this year CMW lineup included
Bloc Party, The Ting Tings, Anvil, Crystal Castles,The Arkells,and
Joshua Radin just to mention few.I've been running all over town to get the most of it and while shooting and dancing till sunriseI couldn't help thinking this was a great way to start off spring season!
Wednesday night I set out to go see
Jason Bajada and
Joshua Radin, and this was certainly broken hearts and messed up relationships night!
Last time I saw
Jason Bajada was about 5 years ago, in a small cafe' downtown Montreal. He played solo, with a guitar and a harmonica, songsfrom his first album Puer Dolor. Back then I fell for his melancholic voice and lyrics and now, five years later, I fall once again for both. His third album "Loveshit", is a confession of broken hearts, unfortunate relationships, beautiful girls and jealousy.Love ripped Jason's heart, but with his new album he will conquer yours in a matter of minutes.
Later on,
Joshua Radin gave Toronto his first and only live solo guitar performance of his tour.With no set list handy Joshua Radin quickly made intimate contact with the crowd and fulfilled their requests playing the heartbreaking ballads “Closer” and “Winter” and the romantic "I'd Rather be with you". Joshua Radin's raw voice can easily induce just the right amount of tear shedding, of which I saw more than a few. Although he made sarcastic comments of all his past relationships with comments like: " don't feel bad,she just cheated on me!!", You can tell, that this album is a healing in the process of past relationship mistakes.For someone who started playing the guitar and writing songs just four years ago, Joshua Radin is up there with the A list artists.Yes, having songs like "Closer" and "Winter" in TV shows like "Scrubs" or playing at Ellen DeGeneres private wedding certainly helped in the making. But he's got talent, so given the chance wouldn't you do it?
Thursday night: another "school" night, another night out!The El Mocambo showcased all bands from Montreal including
Pas Chic Chic, Duchess Says, We are Wolves and the notorious
Malajube.As soon as I entered the venue I got "attacked" by lead singer Annie-Claude of
Duchess Says who literally grabbed my arm to dancewhile I was trying to take pictures! Although, I saw them last summer at Osheaga in Montreal, Thursday night's concert was one of thehighlight of this night.Annie-Claude singing in the middle of the crowd certainly made the show unique and unusual. If you setout to see them on March 31 in Montreal then be ready for some "moog rock" and an enormously intense live performance!
Followed by a heap of fans in orange jail suit printed with,
'Rockin'Rights' on them, Montreal's band
Your Favorite Enemies had pretty much it all to keep the crowd entertained. A lead singer that kisses ladies in th
e crowd, jumps on top of the bar and guitarists with crazy hairdo.
Although the lyricsdidn't convince me, their show gets a 9/10 for entertainment. They know how to Rock'n Roll and are definitely a band you should check out live!
My discovery of the night was local To
ronto band,
Gentleman Reg. Performing songs from his recently released album "Jet Black" he delivered a solid performance. He made the crowd sweat, sing-along and dance. It took me 1 song to like him, 2 to tap my feet to his beat and 3 to buy his CD on i-Tunes. That was a quick sell Mr. Vermue: two thumbs up!
A very nice way to end my night was
Naughty by Nature performance at Circa.
Packed with hip-hip fans these guys could make anyone pull their arm up and swing it to their beat!The crowd was filled with energy, and both NBN band members gave them 100% performance: music, jumps & ripped off shirt included. This was the best end of CMW first night out one could have!
Other bands of the night that I set out to see where: rock/country band
$100,Toronto's
The Warped 45s, the recently cited "Top 10 Hot bands in Canada"
Ketch Harbour Wolves,and punk rock band
SNFU.Having to go to work the next day I headed back home to get some well due rest and be ready for Friday night.
Friday,I might have missed out on
Bloc Party as I couldn't get into both sold out shows, but I had the chance to see many other bands well worthrunning all over this city.
First on the list was Montreal's indie pop,
Mothers Fathers.
The tight stage at Rancho Relaxo could hardly fit their lead singerwho looked way too tall to even fit in!With clean and polished sounds, they're worth being recognized for their excellent music. Listen to "Ghost" or "Caught in your glow" and you'll find a hintof Coldplay if not U2. Why aren't they all over the radio stations is a mystery, but I guarantee you we'll soon hear way more from them.
Can you say:
Sprengjuhollin? If not, given a chance and all five members of this Icelandic band will teach you, at the cost of not letting you leavethe venue if you don't say it right!
They play pop/catchy songs, they entertain their public like no other band and theyare definitely good. As soon as they sat foot on stage they brought me back to Iceland in a matter of minutes with their
energetic music.As some said: you'd have to be stubborn not to like them! Check their myspace page and if you're out to SXSW don't miss them.
Pop Montreal night at Silver Dollar showcased
The Superstitions, The Mark Inside, The d'Ubervilles and
The Ghost is Dancing.
This last one is worth mentioning even just for the fact that they stripped down to their underwear! I did enjoy their indie-pop sound and thankfully not only their presence on stage: that was a bonus well needed at 2am. In between
performances I ran all the way up to Lee's Palace and took a lookat
The Supersuckers. Not my style but the line-up outside and the jam packed crowd looked like they were having the time of their life.
I wish I knew the name of the band playing the after-hour in someone's basement. Illegal? Probably. Worth being out past 4am? Yes, at least just to confirmthat Toronto lives the night ALL NIGHT LONG!
Saturday night was Canadian Music Week's Indies Awards. Performing were:
Hey Rosetta, Jon Lajoie, The Midway State, Anvil, Arkells, Beast,USS and
Crystal Castles. 
Definitely a line-up good enough to crouch down in the photo pit for nearly 6 hours for. Astral Media Radio Favourite Single went to Lights for the song Drive my Soul. She also won for Favourite Solo Artist.Some other awards winners: Crystal Castles as Favourite Electronic Duo, M.I.A for favourite single "Paper Planes", and Anvil was inducted to the Hall of Fame.
I must give a big thumb up to the
Midway State lead singer Nathan Ferraro soulful voice and piano skills, who for the records was nominated at theJuno's for Songwriter of the year. They have reached international success thanks to their song "Unaware" which was featured on the O.C.
I don't have enough thumbs to award
Anvils performance. Their music might not be my cup of tea but I'd set out to see them in a jam crowded outdoorlive show anytime! Anvil,thats heavy metal for: we are above and beyond awesome!
Favourite performance of the night, besides Anvil of course, was Montreal's
Beast. Lead singer Betty Bonifassi has more than an unique voice: she is theatrical in every way. Moves, attitude and looks. The words rapped emanate energy while the beast in some songs is gospel alike.
There's anger and darkness combined and you cant help but dance to their beat.As Betty Bonifassi performs Mr.Hurrican line: "...Don't mess with the Beast Mr. HurricaneYou're not coming for peace stop bringing the insane, Cuz the Beast is in your face!", the crowd starts clapping their hands to the beat and the party continues on. 10 Satans out of 10!
While some bands are worth seeing live, others like
Arkells or
The Midway State are better when listened to in your car. Try out Arkells"The Ballad of Hugo Chavez" this summer on a road trip. Make sure that the windows are all down, the radio volume all the way up and you and your friends singing along!You'll know what I mean once you'll try it out.
The word "wired" doesn't even begin to describe
USS performance. Ashley Boo-Schultz and DJ Human Kebab are all over the place. Mixing Cd's heads upside down, jumping off the speakers and making banana-strawberry smoothies while playing the guitar or singing, these guys can pretty much do it all.Although,that's entertainment for sure I was more interested in DJ Human Kebab to pull out some back flips than listening to their music which I found sounded pretty much all the same. Seen once; wouldn't recommend seeing them twice!
Long awaited, was Toronto's electronic band
Crystal Castles.
Fans from all over, England included, where up front to see them. I don't need to tell you that the 15 minutes performance left all unsatisfied.
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Crystal Castles did NOT choose to end their show after 15 minutes.
This is what happened according to the band label, Lies Records:
"The power was suddenly cut at 1am. The band asked the stage crew to fix this, the stage crew tried using their walkie-talkies to contact someone and instead discovered the walkie-talkies were 'off' as well. 'We lost our power too' was the only response the band received about the problem. We had all assumed it was a power issue until much later when two fans approached the band and stated they had asked security to ask CC to continue playing but the response from security was 'This is a hotel, no noise after 1am.'"
So if there's someone we should actually really blame it's CMW management, who let the show run late and didn't plan this out right. What a disgrace.
As Canadian Music Week approached to an end I ended the night at one of Canada's best live venues, Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern, just in time to checkout Vancouver's
Vancougar band. With charming looks these four girls band will rock you out!
With the adrenaline running high, a new list of artist to check out and a ton of photos to edit, this year CMW comes to an end for me.
Now, I'll get some rest andwait for the coming up NXNE. Another music festival another marathon. Till then, rock on!
Words & Photos by: Corinne Copreni
Posted by Corinne Copreni
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Crystal Castles did NOT choose to end their show after 15 minutes. 
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