Gig: Apostle of Hustle / Wayne Petti

Apostle of Hustle / Wayne Petti

The Music Gallery. Friday, May 29, 2009.

Despite having looked around a bit, couldn't find any opener listed for the Apostle of Hustle show, making it a pleasant surprise when the poster at the door listed Wayne Petti as the support. Petti is best known for his work with Cuff the Duke, a band I have drifted away from a bit, but his half-hour set certainly was a good reminder of his appeal. Filled with self-depreciating banter, Petti held forth on Oshawa, the awkwardness (for both performer and audience) of a rock show in a church, and the merits of the Apostle of Hustle mug available at the merch table ("an excellent vehicle for liquids"). The set was based on City Lights Align, his '07 solo disc, with a couple dips into the Cuff the Duke catalog for "Belgium or Peru"¹ and one (possibly titled "I Never Had Enough Time") from the group's forthcoming album. He threw in a cover of Guided By Voices' "Smothered In Hugs" for good measure, and closed on a high note with a rollicking singalong version of "Up On The Hillside".² It's always a bonus when an opening act leaves you wanting to hear more and gives you the impression that he'd be a fine fellow to hang out with over some beers. Good stuff.

Listen to a track from this performance here.

Perhaps a nod both to the Music Gallery's avant roots and to Andrew Whiteman's love for found sounds, the between-sets music was replaced by the looping call of a Buddha Machine, giving the darkened church a trance-y feel as Julian Brown, clutching an LED lantern, led the band onto the stage.³ The gig was the local CD release show for the new Apostle of Hustle disc, apparently a concept album about a loon that ingests darkness and excretes rainbows.⁴ The set started in the darkness and at the far end of the band's catalog, with "Sleepwalking Ballad" and the title track from '04's Folkloric Feel before moving to the new "How to Defeat a More Powerful Enemy". From there, it was a mix from all three albums, though even the old was made new by some radical reinventions, most notably a new arrangement of "National Anthem of Nowhere" that sounded like the song had been folded in on itself like an origami tesseract.

The band was in excellent form, and the textured, Cuban-inspired sounds filled every nook and cranny in the room. The mix was a little pew-vibratingly bottom heavy — even when there wasn't a bass being played — but the band's sonic details were captured well, especially when percussionist Dean Stone left his kit to play cajon and the close-mic'd tambourine. Whiteman had a table of electronics, including a sampler, with which he managed to replicate some of the album's sound montages — live and trimmed down a bit, they felt more organic than they do on disc. The band was relaxed and in fine form throughout, giving a very strong set to their perceived audience of "stoners, loners, introverts and bathtub people". The set ended with an extended version of "Soul Unwind" that compensated for the loss of Lisa Lobsinger's vox with a fiery guitar groove. With encore, the show lasted an hour and a half — quite satisfying.⁵

Listen to a track from this performance here.

---

¹ Capo 7th fret if you're playing this one at home.

² In a spirited life-imitates-art moment, Petti momentarily couldn't remember the start of the third verse, which turned out to be about singing along if you know the words — "it comes from the heart, but my brain just can't remember".

³ Perhaps somewhat thematically, the band started off on stage in near darkness, and the lighting levels slowly went up as the night went on, culminating in the unveiling of the band's homemade footlight, which threw giant, dramatic shadows on the walls behind them. They also played their earlier song "Dark is What I Want" during the encore, perhaps underlining dark's recurring, unceasing appeal, regardless of how much light you add.

⁴ At least this is the impression I get based on the cover art and the band's large banner that was deployed behind the stage.

⁵ Anyone know what the final song in the encore was? ("Space is calling out your name") A cover? Something new or obscure from the catalog? I couldn't place it. Thanks to Zack for providing the missing title.