RSSJuno week wrap-up
Apr 20
Live show, Show reviews alexisonfire, bucket truck, carolyn mark, chmr, fred's records, great lake swimmers, hey rosetta, idlers, iron giant, japan batteries, julie doiron, junos, mark bragg, matthew hornell, nq arbuckle, pick a piper, postdata, rozalind macphail, sean mccann, shelter with thieves, sherman downey, the motorleague, wintersleep No Comments
Wow. I don’t even know how to start this, but I think it’s fitting that my first show review is actually a summary of nearly a week of music here in St. John’s, NL. Of course, even though the Juno awards were last night and my Junofest bracelet came off yesterday, there was at least one more big show tonight. The wonderful Mightypop hosted a post-Juno hangover show at the Ship with Julie Doiron, Wooly Leaves (Will from Constantines) and local favourite Sherman Downey. Just like so many of the shows I attended, despite the work night or the time the band got on stage, people showed up and stuck around until the last note was played or breakfast was being served up the street.
Ah yes, the late nights were certainly an interesting factor. With some of the bars serving up until 4am and the last band not hitting the stage until 3 or later, St. John’s didn’t want to stop once the ball was rolling. Of course, both the locals and the musicians who waited in airports for days knew it would all be worth it once everyone made it to the infamous downtown core of the harbour city.
So, since I may be departing from Town (yes, with a capital T. In NL there is Town, which means St. John’s, and everywhere else in the province) in the morning, I will provide the true highlights instead of a complete recap of all I saw and heard.
The “if I could make funny statues I would” awards
Best local surprise – Matthew Hornell and the Diamond Minds
Best venue – CBTG’s
Best touring artist surprise – NQ Arbuckle and Carolyn Mark
Best show of the whole damn thing – Fred’s Records in-store
Best attempt to keep people off the island – Mother Nature
Best impression of a firefly – Darryl Hopkins from Japan Batteries
Best sign that the industry isn’t all bad – Amelia Curran winning her first Juno
Best attempt to keep people on the island – Mother Nature
Best sign that people still give a damn about good music – the audience at Fred’s, which included kids below my knees and an older man who bought the Great Lake Swimmers ep after watching their set.
Thursday
CHMR Delta lobby station take-over with Rozalind MacPhail
After seeing Rozalind play the Rose and Thistle the night before I decided to head up to the Juno hotspot that was the Delta lobby to check out her interview on Memorial’s campus radio station CHMR. Before I knew it there was a mic in front of me and her and I were on the air for over an hour with no strings attached. We didn’t push the boundaries of good taste as some folks have done in the past when left on the air. In fact, I’d like to think we showed good taste with a few tracks from musicians like the Motorleague, Postdata, and Pick a Piper. I even got to put in a dig towards the people who shut down Peace-a-Chord by playing a track from hometown heroes Bucket Truck (note: cut from the included mp3).
Friday
Friday was one of the only nights where I knew for sure where I was going and who I would see: Wintersleep. After seeing the band since their start in Halifax, I knew that I had to see them play to a crowd in the province in which I grew up. Playing a mix of tracks from their soon-to-be-released album New Inheritors and some old, obvious crowd favourites, it was great to see the band being so well received outside of their old stomping grounds. After an encore including “the whale song” the night’s main show was over and we quickly ducked out to find something else. Five minutes later we were standing in a place called the Well and I got to see Mark Bragg with a band, which made all the difference compared to his solo set when opening for Hey Rosetta! months ago. Sadly, his set was on its last gasp and we were soon left looking for more music, which on George St. is never hard to find. Thus, we found ourselves at the Levee watching The Idlers play their Newfoundland reggae to a capacity crowd. In most cities that would have been enough, but as was the case throughout the weekend more music was just across the patio at a lovely little space called CBTG’s. I had already ended my Thursday night there, but little did I know pretty much every night would have me standing there until 4am.
Saturday
This was the day when I had to set an alarm to ensure I made it to the in-store at Fred’s Records. With the Great Lake Swimmers set to open, I knew it would not be once to miss. Sean McCann, NQ Arbuckle, Postdata and Tim Baker (HR!) all followed in what was not only a celebration of Record Store Day, but also the best show of the week for me. After Tim played a great version of Epitaph, which sadly did not lead to a sing along from the crowd, I was on to the next show. With my friends from Shelter With Thieves still stuck in the Halifax airport, I opted to skip the all-ages show they were supposed to play and headed home to grab lunch and some earplugs. With a full stomach, earplugs, and snacks in my pockets, I rushed to the Delta to see if I could get in to the Alexisonfire/Motorleague show. Over an hour later, myself and numerous others were ushered into the warmth of the ballroom. With the schedule far behind I only managed to see my good friends from Moncton get the crowd going for AOF, but that was worth it alone. In a rush again, I headed to the Well to see Postdata for the second time of the day. The venue was not the best for such a show, and the band felt it enough to make a comment or two. I still wish I had seen them with Brian and Julie at the Sonic Temple in Halifax, but twice in one day was almost as good. Luckily, the change of venue from a record store to a bar proved beneficial for the likes of NQ Arbuckle and Carolyn Mark, who made such a great team at Trapper John’s that I fell in love with Six Shooter Records all over again. Leaving my heart with them, I headed to Distortion to see if Shelter had made it, and was treated to the final few notes of Iron Giant‘s set, crowd surfing and broken ceiling tiles included. Finally, at 3am Shelter torn into the kind of rock and roll that gave everyone a reason to stick around, which they did.
Sunday
Sleep, sleep and more sleep was the name of the game for most of Sunday with a little Shaun of the Dead thrown in for good measure. The day/night would not have even been worth mentioning if it was not for finally getting to see Japan Batteries and Matthew Hornell and the Diamond Minds. Both acts helped solidify the fact that St. John’s has a great music scene happening with or without the Junos and all the bands that came from away. On top of that, Shelter played another great late night set at Distortion that was probably rowdier than the previous night despite the smaller crowd. It was great just to see a band give it their all no matter how many people were watching.
Fin.
written and pondered over while listening to a strict diet of old Odds music,
Ryan
