In-store: Do Make Say Think

Do Make Say Think

Sonic Boom Records. Thursday, February 3, 2011.

With local instrumental titans Do Make Say Think at a bit of a between-albums lull, there was a stir of excitement when the band surfaced during the Drake Hotel's Boxing Week series of shows. The hook, if you will, was that the band was doing it "stripped down", inasmuch as they were playing in their original five-man incarnation — no violin, no horn section. Of course, stripped down is pretty relative here, as this is still a two-drummer, two-guitar rock machine, capable of some pretty heavy hitting.

I'd missed that boxing week show, so I was glad to have another crack at it when this in-store appearance was announced. And I certainly wasn't alone, with a healthy crowd filling up Sonic Boom's basement. I'm pretty bad at titles, but one of the band's strengths is how instantly recognizable their songs are — so when the opening guitar lick of "Auberge Le Mouton Noir" was struck up, it was intensely satisfying, garnering a general cheer of recognition. Plus, the song itself is a big chunk o' massive triumphalism — even without the horn parts that I was hearing in my head.

Playing with this lineup might have been a sort of "Get Back" exercise, but it didn't prevent the band from visiting their current material, with "Do" (from 2009's Other Truths) the next up. That had a few complicated shifting parts near the end, including one bit of interplay between drummers David Mitchell and James Payment, where a snare was passed from one drumkit to the other midsong. After, with Charlie Spearin needing a moment to get a wayward amp working, the banter fell (as it often does) to Justin Small, who soliloquized on the difference between downloading music and buying it¹ — perhaps a fitting lead-in to the beautifully languid groove of "End of Music".

There was a long, continuous stretch of music after that, with "Fredericia" seguing into "Goodbye Enemy Airship". In the latter's final section, the band held one chord for an extended length, the members watching each other and laughing, like it was a dare-you sort of game to avoid making the change. That led to the open-hearted joy of "The Universe!" to close it out.

All told, the band played for almost an hour — you truly can't beat that for a freebie. Shows like this happen enough that sometimes it's hard to remember what a privilege it is to have bands like this in our midst — and places like Sonic Boom to see them play.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ "So a lot of people ask me whether or not I think downloading our music is hurting our band or whether I'm bothered by it. Truth is, I'm not. It's an honour to make music, and anybody... how they choose to listen to it is fine by me. That said, buying a record, coming into a place like Sonic, or any of the other finer record stores in this town, and, like, finding that find, buying that record, feeds the soul. Really, it does. For a music lover, it's like love. So, if you download our music, thank you, we appreciate it. And if you buy our records, you and I — we're in love."

² As has been widely reported, Sonic Boom will soon be relocating down the street to take over some of the vacant space in the sprawling Honest Ed's emporium. They'll no longer have the basement, which has been a perfect space for hosting bands, but they've reassured the community that they'll still be holding in-stores. Keep an eye out in the September or so for word on what should be a joyful Grand Reopening celebration.