Currente calamo: CMW 2011 (Saturday)

CMW 2011 (Saturday)^*

While these shows are fresh in my mind I want to get some quick notes down. I'm a nerd for not wanting to throw my full reviews out of sequence, so there'll be a fuller accounting of the night by and by.

4 p.m.: Zoobombs @ Bait Shop

This daytime show was at a skateboard shop, a very cool old warehouse-y space with the band set up on a platform above a half-pipe. The crowd was both below them in the flat bottom of the half-pipe and above in the overlooking loft. A good environment for the gonzo apeshit rock'n'roll that Japan's Zoobombs bring. Trapped half a world away at a time of grave crisis in their homeland, the band rocked to ease their broken hearts. It'd been a couple years since I'd seen 'em and I'd forgotten a little how much energy and craziness singer/guitarist Don Matsuo puts into it, spinning his guitar around, climbing the walls, mugging for the cameras, all while unleashing a nonstop heavy attack. Absolute fun.

5 p.m.: Dinosaur Bones @ Bait Shop

"Fuck you for making us play after the Zoobombs," joked Dino Bones vocalist Ben Fox, knowing there was no way they could duplicate the intensity that had come before them. Instead, the competed on their own terms with their more anthemic approach. It had been nearly a couple years since I'd seen these guys, too. They were touted as being on the cusp of bigger things even back then, and now, with a new album just out, it looks like their moment may be here. One can see why, with Fox's reach-the-rafters projection and a musical approach that might be summed up as "active brooding". Not entirely my thing, though they do have a couple winning songs. And bassist Branko Scekic is still no slouch in the climb-up-stuff department wither.

8:30 p.m.: Fred Penner @ Drake Underground

Taking the stage to his old show's theme music (of course), this one was — to put it mildly — a bit of a departure. And one for beloved children's entertainer Penner, too, playing to anything but his usual sort of audience. Accompanied by a guitarist and two of his daughters on backing vocals, Penner packed in a mini variety show in his half-hour, with the songs broken up with a storytime break and a couple skit-like interludes. It was shticky as hell, natch, but as adults we're conditioned to treat anything this completely direct as mere corn. So what? This was also kind of awesome, filled with audience singalongs and ending with his most requested song — I think you could guess what that is.

Listen to a track from this set here.

9:30 p.m.: Mockingbird Wish Me Luck @ Wrongbar

Thought that would occupy me long enough to get to Wrongbar, where I was planning to settle in for the night, before the crowds but after the night's first act. It turned out, however, that the sets were running on the bottom of the hour so I got there as this Kitchener quartet was starting instead of ending. I'm sure there's nothing at all wrong with this combo — musically, they brought to mind, say, a harder-edged Buffalo Tom — but they still rubbed me the wrong way. Chalk that up to a pair of gravel-voiced singers, who invested every syllable with a shouted/growled huurgh hurrgh hurgh. Just not my thing.

10:30 p.m.: The Pack a.d. @ Wrongbar

I've been passingly familiar with this Vancouver-based duo for awhile, but I'd never seen them live. That is, according to multiple sources, where Maya Miller (drums) and Becky Black (guit/vox) really shine. And, in short, that's correct. Bringing their own punk-infused approach to the blues, the best moments here were great fun. Miller is an action hero, with hair flying and sticks ablur, as well as a bit of a ham while posing and chatting between songs. There were a couple spots where if felt like they were restraining themselves a little, but it can't all be white-hot intensity. If it were, the one woman dancing like a maniac right up front might have inflicted more property damage than just drop-kicking and hurling a barstool around.

11:30 p.m.: Heavy Cream @ Wrongbar

I'd done no research on this band, figuring I was going to be here to see 'em regardless, so they turned out to be the pleasant surprise of the night. Even while fighting some massive sound issues, this Nashville crew sent out a salvo of fireball punk bursts. Poppy fun throughout their short set, I'd definitely like to see 'em again when the sound wasn't being sucked into a dull low roar.

12:20 a.m.: Ty Segall @ Wrongbar

I also didn't know a lot about San Francisco's Ty Segall, but the reports of his past visits to the city were pretty glowing. The recorded material that I've heard has more of a psychedelic-pop tinge to it, but live it was all filtered through a punkrock roar and came out all like one intense blast. At least I think it was like that — truth be told, my recall of the music is pretty spotty, as it was all subsumed to the intensity of the experience. By this point, the venue was rammed-beyond-rammed, and the crowd up front was moshing so intently that it would have been dangerous if people weren't packed in shoulder-to-shoulder, making it more like a sort of violent brownian motion. I lasted about two-thirds of the set at the edge of it before fleeing to a mildly less crammed spot. As Av. put it afterward, "a Ty Segall show is a good time you don't remember having."

Listen to a couple tracks from this set here.

1:30 a.m.: Teenanger @ Wrongbar

The crowd thinned out after that, but those who remained just had more room to knock into each other for locals Teenanger. Projecting their throbbing bad vibes out to the crowd with maximum intensity, this again falls somewhat into the realm of "you'll remember the experience more than the songs", but it's a pretty fun ride.

2:30 a.m.: White Wires @ Wrongbar

Wrapping things up to a thinner crowd was Ottawa's White Wires, who play good old-fashioned rock'n'roll with pogo-til-you-puke velocity. Vocalist/guitarist Ian Manhire does a good line in catchy choruses, and this was a satisfyingly bouncy way to end the night, giving me a burst of energy to mask my last-night exhaustion.

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^* A note on nomenclature: for years both the industry showcase and music festival components were known as Canadian Music Week. But as of a couple years ago, this was deemed to be too simple and straightforward, and the music portion was "rebranded" as Canadian Music Fest, under the aegis of the larger Canadian Music Week. I see no reason to put up with this and will simply refer to everything as CMW — although there was a part of me that also considered using the slightly cumbersome "Canadian Music Festival presented by Canadian Music Week" throughout.