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REVIEWS
GSM Beats Inc.TM
Event and Artist Reviews
Reviewing Events, Artist and New Releases
GSM Beats Inc.TM
reviews page features editorials on shows and artist that we
have visited. We hope that you will find these reviews
informative. If you have an upcoming event that you will like to
let us know about, then drop us a line at:
djdarby@gsmbeats.com
Barrie New Music Fest 2010 - September 16th - 19th,
2010, Barrie
By Don J. Darby
There’s
nothing better than a music festival in your hometown. I
actually thought the talent overall was better than what I found
at NXNE earlier this summer. I suppose that is partly because
it’s primarily an Indie Rock showcase whereas Barrie NMF had
artists from several different genres. It was also much easier
for me to catch shows back to back since the venues are all
within walking distance of each other in the downtown core with
the exception of the Georgian College
venue The Last Class. Wristbands were $15, which got you into
all the events all weekend (much more affordable than NXNE’s
wristband prices). Here are the artists I saw:
Thursday,
September 16th, 2010
Avery
Island
This is a
rock outfit from
Toronto
led by vocalist and gear-head Lauren Heenan. Sporting a
microKorg and a tray full of effects pedals, Lauren teamed up
with her brother Brandon on guitars,
bassist/multi-instrumentalist Jordan Plishewsky and drummer Kyle
Rawn to create the alt-rock sound that is
Avery Island. Lauren, Brandon
and Jordan all trade instruments around with all of them playing
guitar at some point. One song they performed, ‘Jive Talking’
reminded me of Rush with the synth and straight-up rock
drumbeats. They incorporate guitar arpeggios into many of the
songs, they’re skilled enough for some interesting time changes
and they have some good vocal harmonies. The overall tone of
their songs is a bit somber, however.
http://www.myspace.com/averyislandmusic
Paisley Jura
With two
A-list musicians accompanying this upright-bass-playing
songstress, the Mansion was filled with sounds of Jazz-Pop and I
couldn’t get over how good the keyboard player sounded. I spoke
with the drummer who usually plays for Sarah Slean and he
mentioned that he feels his vintage 24” bass drum compliments
upright bass, and fills in the spaces where there is no upright
bass, as was the case for a couple Paisley’s numbers.
Paisley mentioned that it was tricky to learn how to
sing and play together, having come from an orchestra
background. She also mentioned that her newest album was
produced by Barenaked Ladies’ producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda.
Good for you Paisley.
http://www.myspace.com/paisleyjura
River
City
Junction
This band
was a solid Blues Rock trio from
Brockville,
Ontario. Vocalist Caroline Addison
said she has only been playing for 3 years; she could have
fooled me. It’s not often you see a female lead vocalist playing
drums. These guys were tight and I had quite the conversation
with guitarist Jason Fryer about gear. Caroline reminded me of
Alannah Myles and Jason sounded a bit like Richie Sambora on the
few songs I heard. Hooters is not the worst venue in Barrie for sound as there’s a lot of wood in
the room.
http://www.myspace.com/rivercityjunction
Sly Violet
Sly Violet
is a strong vocalist and decent guitarist. She plays folk music
occasionally incorporating harmonica Dylan style into her
performance. I told her she reminded me of Bruce Cockburn
because of her earthy vibe and her open tuning and finger style
guitar pieces. Although her music is not as complex as that of
Bruce Cockburn, she does write her lyrics from personal
perspective and has a Canadian flavor with songs about
experiences from different places she’s lived in
Canada. Sly has two albums and
is very comfortable talking to the audience.
http://www.myspace.com/shyvioletmusic
Cold Jack
This 7-piece
band features lead singer/songwriter John Fraser, Michael Kernen
on sax, flute and clarinet, and Daryl Yaeger on trumpet and
flugelhorn. In searching around the Internet for tidbits about
this band, I found it difficult to locate the names of the
current members of the band. I don’t want to say
Cold Jack is a
funk band, but I think their sound is somewhere between Tower of Power
and Steely Dan.
It was a
treat to walk into the Mansion and find these guys playing
something out of the ordinary for this venue. The bass player
was slapping out a groove while the keyboard player had a wide
selection of sounds to choose from with a keyboard stack
consisting of a Korg Triton, a Hammond XK-3c and what I believe
was a Yamaha stage piano. Apparently, the guitarist was a new
graduate from Mohawk and he had some bits of African guitar
flavor along with the other kinds of licks you might expect.
Congratulations on receiving the 2010 NMF Best Jazz Award.
http://www.myspace.com/coldjackband
Friday,
September 17th, 2010
Ten Feet
Deep
This band
came all the way from
New York City
to play the Barrie New Music Festival. Telling the audience they
didn’t have work visas, they gave away copies of their album.
They played covers of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and R Kelly’s
Ignition, along with their original material. They have a tight
sounding pop rock feel with strong vocals. An interesting piece
on the stage was a Gibson/Trace Elliot cabinet upholstered with
red velvet. It’s unfortunate they didn’t get a better sounding
venue as The Last Class has a layout with low ceiling at the bar
and a gigantic ceiling above the raised stage with all windows
and hard surfaces, requiring more of a sound tamer than a sound
engineer. Hats off to J.C. for getting the best out of the room.
http://www.myspace.com/tenfeetdeepband
For The
Birds
Barrie local
band
For The Birds has a full-force, hard rock grunge sound that
flooded the ears of their moderate fan base showing up to see
them at The Last Class. One die-hard fan returned a fallen
guitar pick to singer Caitlyn McCann, another enthusiastic,
burly dancing fan worked up quite a sweat rocking out to the
performance. Unfortunately, the money the drummer will have to
pay to replace the cymbal he smashed would have more than
covered the cost of a metronome.
He is exciting to watch
however, sort of a combination of Animal from the Muppets and
Keith Moon after several Red Bulls. Caitlyn is very confident
with the audience but her vocals are hiding behind two Marshall stacks that were on stage. The sound
guy pointed out that they were both solid-state heads, which
would partly account for why neither Fender Telecaster was
discernable from the other. Their stage performance was well
rehearsed, however, the performance came pretty close to the
decibel levels heard at the Silver Dollar when I saw Teenanger.
http://www.myspace.com/forthebirdstheband
The
Grey Owls
These guys
were my personal favorite for the festival. Sometimes I wonder
if bands have forgotten what Rock ‘N’ Roll sounds like. Well,
The Grey Owls haven’t. Songwriters Jordan Faye and Brian Scarth
both sing and harmonize with Jordan reminding me a bit of Jerry
Garcia both vocally and with the curly hair and glasses. The
lyrics are mature, mid-20’s relevant, and without references to
anything too trendy, which could lend themselves well to a band
with staying power. Bands that came to mind while watching the
performance were The Rolling Stones and Neil Young & Crazy
Horse.
I was
actually more excited hearing them live than listening to their
MySpace, which is a good thing.
Jordan’s vocals are a bit
nasally and the drummer, Travis Thoms’ drumming style is not
terribly exciting, although he keeps solid tempo as they all do.
I like how, although both guitarists were playing telecasters,
they chose amps with different tonal qualities (Vox and Fender)
so each guitar was a distinct voice, in contrast with the two
Marshall
stacks used by For The Birds which blended into mush. The
bassist also had some nice melodic bass lines to complement the
whole sound. The Flat Iron Grill doesn’t give much stage room
but the sound isn’t too bad compared with other venues in Barrie. It didn’t hurt
that The Grey Owls were able to keep their decibels at a
comfortable level for the room.
http://www.myspace.com/thegreyowls
Cameron Austin
I made it to
Oscars to catch the last show of the evening where
Singer/Guitarist
Cameron Austin and percussionist Rick Roy were
performing. Oscars is a
small room where small ensembles play near the entrance, or as I
have seen before, the back dining area can be converted into a
stage for larger bands that need more elbow room.
Cameron’s intimate folk/world fusion or rhythm and groove
as he puts, it is suited for this venue with him playing
acoustic guitar, singing and playing harmonica. Rick played a
snare drum with brushes and a cajón. I really liked his tune
Storm Winds & Lifeboats, which he mentioned was a crowd
favorite, and another one he played with a 12-bar structure and
call and answer style lyrics. Cameron has a very enjoyable
performance with diverse musical influences and a strong voice.
http://www.myspace.com/cameronaustin5
>
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