In-store: Sonic Boom Record Store Day

Sonic Boom Record Store Day (feat. Teenanger / Bidiniband / Rouge / Ben Gunning / Sister / Light Fires)

Sonic Boom Records. Saturday, April 16, 2011.

Once again, the good people at Sonic Boom went all-out for their annual celebration of Record Store Day, crafting an event that really made the store feel like a special destination on a soggy spring day. Besides offering many of the exclusive RSD releases for sale, there was free pizza for the customers and special guest DJ's spinning their favourite songs. And, all day long on the hour there were live sets on the basement stage.

2 p.m.: Teenanger

I missed Modern Superstitions, who were first up on the day, coming down the stairs with Teenanger just getting started, and quickly bringing a considerable racket to the low-ceilinged basement. Bristling with infectious energy, the band spoke punkrock truth to power: "This song's for Stephen Harper — it's called 'Evil Man'." With a few minute-long bursts, like "Tired of You" ("This one's a little bit of a mosher — so keep your children safe, I guess.") this quick set put a lot of climb-on-the-amps energy into the room, ending with the looming menace of "Frights".¹

Listen to a track from this set here.

3 p.m.: Bidiniband

It's not rock'n'roll until someone falls over, regardless of your age. So even if it might seem that one-time Rheostatic Dave Bidini has been spending most of his time transitioning himself to a CBC-approved author, there's evidently still some hunger for rock'n'roll chaos. Bidiniband are not a dramatic reinvention from what he used to do — and in fact the set opened with "Fat", one of Bidini's Rheos songs, and the nimble guitar line and those specific cadences ("I'm sorry / if I said / you were fat") clearly had the same DNA as the newer stuff, its shifting musical and narrative structures being a recurring implement in Bidini's toolbox.

Bidini was backed by a veteran band, including fellow Rheostatic Don Kerr on drums, bassist Doug Friesen and guitarist Paul Linklater. The latter (also a member of The Pinecones) brought plenty nifty guitar moves and swapped Record Store Day stories when Bidini chatted about working at the Albion Mall Music World — and why he got fired.

Meanwhile, there was a mix of songs from the group's first album The Land Is Wild alongside a few from the then-in-progress In The Rock Hall², including the album's title track, which would be the set's dramatic peak. Working up from a slow start ("it starts like every Neil Young song, but don't worry," Bidini joked) to a big guitar showcase with Linklater stepping down from the stage to the floor to solo, Bidini joined him and the stood shoulder to shoulder in a wide stance before doing a back-to-back power move, Bidini leaning over to serve as a table for Linklater to lean back on while he soloed.

Whether it was will-to-rock enthusiasm or just a declaration of seniority, the band played the longest set of the ones I saw on the day, going past fifty minutes, and would have been willing to keep going if allowed. The set closed out with "Last of the Dead Wrong Things", with another build-up-to-guitarpalypse where Linklater managed to unsettle himself and fall over before Bidini slipped in a few lines from XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel".

Listen to a track from this set here.

4 p.m.: Rouge

Rouge was a band I'd been wanting to see for a while, based solely on the members' other strong work. Founded by Kelly McMichael (also of Gentleman Reg's band) and Jessica Tollefsen (known for her work in Green Go) as a sexy disco dance party spectacular, they were now rounded out by Jess' sister Emma on drums. The set started off slowly, fighting against some technical gremlins, but once they started "Modern Lovers I" and the beat picked up, there was no looking back — this had get-you-moving appeal aplenty.

Electro-pop sexual revolutionaries with runs in their pantyhose, the musical imperative was universal enough to generate an extra awww factor when some small fry up front dancing were invited up on stage for the next song. ("I hope no one's paying attention to our lyrics," McMichael mused afterward a little sheepishly.)

With everything "live", this is an exciting rock unit to boot, capable of mixing in a bit of a menacing groove, as witnessed on the final track "Destruction". You can hear a couple songs on their bandcamp, but given that they play around regularly, you should definitely see 'em — all the better if it's late at night in a dark room.

Listen to a track from this set here.

5 p.m.: Ben Gunning

A change of musical gears after that, with Ben Gunning bringing the same expansive lushness I'd experienced last time I'd caught him and his combo. There's more than a touch of Steely Dan and bands of that ilk in Gunning's (quite literal) yacht rock stylings.³ This time 'round the band was without the next-level smoothness of Joseph Shabison's saxophone, but it was still pretty lush, thanks to Michael Davidson's smooth work on vibes.

For me, the real delight was the presence of Allie Hughes, Alana Stuart and Felicity Williams on backing vocals — that's an enormous amount of talent on stage right there. Gunning's slightly adenoidal yelp is sometimes the least elegant part of his songs, so it's to his credit that he's canny enough to use the backing vocals to provide a sweet countertexture. Songs like "Reverence" brought all this into focus, with Gunning's gift for hooks on display in equal measures with a slightly strained vocal. But by no means is his singing the sort of thing to induce seasickness — you should more think of it as the most workmanlike crewmember on a luxury yacht, for there'd be no trip without it.

Listen to a track from this set here.

6 p.m.: Sister

Sister, a "tender, heavy indie pop" unit, is led by guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Carla Gillis (here rocking a Black Mountain t-shirt) and her sister Lynette (drums/vox), both formerly of Plumtree. Along with bassist Pete Johnston, the trio play with a savvy spareness, the fizzy blur of Plumtree's songs supplanted by a penchant for beefed-up arrangements that are self-confident enough to linger and rock out a bit. That was certainly evident on a tasty guitar outro to "Wishbone" early on. They also eke out a fair amount of variation, from the implied twang of "Off Ramp Up Ahead" to the piano-rock of "Imaginary Love Notes".

Frequent collaborator Geoff Miller joined the group on keyboards for "Orion", broadening the sound a bit. At the more rockin' end of their spectrum, the as-yet unreleased "Showed Up on the Beach" is constructed to be easily expandable for as much guitar soloing as the occasion requires, while the set-closing "Feather on the Ocean Floor" came with a bouncy, dance-y vibe — plus an awesome fake ending and reprise that feels incomplete without a disco ball spinning overhead.

Although the music is somewhat unassuming it's good stuff. After a relative abundence of shows following the release of their EP, the band has been quieter of late, but hopefully this augers a return with some new songs in tow.

Listen to a track from this set here.

7 p.m.: Light Fires

With James Bunton busy recording with Ohbijou in Montreal, it looked like this might be a solo set from Light Fires. But vocalist Regina Gentlelady (who sounds something like this guy) managed to find some company on stage by enlisting a couple mannequins from the depths of Sonic Boom's storage area. The set started with an a capella number, employing an autotuned vocal effect (which I didn't recall from when I'd seen Regina before) before hitting play on the laptop to kick in the beats. Still working out the solo kinks⁴ it didn't quite take, and the song had to be restarted.

Some of the songs, like "The Better", had stuck with me from that last time, but it was really with the big beat of "10 Feet Tall" that things really got moving, and I was pleased to see that Regina was getting cheers from the crowd starting to build up for Zeus.

There was also lots of new material, including a "political" song (about a "new revolution") as well as one that borrowed Maggie MacDonald's "I like to work / I like to fuck" chorus from a Republic of Safety song. And the set closed with the kick-ass anthem "If You're Bored", Regina telling the crowd there would be a video forthcoming with no shortage of sass: "The video starts me. [beat] Obviously. [whispered:] Who else would it star?"

Listen to a track from this set here.

There was still more to come, with the biggest crowds of the night assembling to see Zeus and Wooden Sky. I surely would have enjoyed that as well, but I had to head out and duck on to the subway for another show.⁵

Bonus content! I lent a hand to Graeme, who was capturing the day's events for NOW, so my audio is used on the videos for all the bands above.

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¹ This is the title track of Teenanger's new album, which will be seeing the light of day at a release show with Young Mother and Strange Attractor at Sneaky Dee's on March 1, 2012.

² In the Rock Hall has, in fact, just now been released, and came with an album release show just a couple weeks back. Perhaps appropriately for a writer with such a fondness for hockey, Bidini + band will be playing a free (and kid-friendly!) show at Harbourfront Centre's skating-themed weekend right next to the rink in the Lakeside Terrace — February 19, 2012, 2 p.m.

³ As Gunning packed up after his set, celebrity DJ Norman Blake (from Teenage Fanclub) started to play. He was my favourite of the day, playing stuff like The Diodes and Liliput, and seguing from Swell Maps to Steely Dan. It felt befitting, somehow, that I saw Gunning singing along under his breath to the latter as he gathered up his gear.

⁴ Um — not in that way. So far as I know.

⁵ Record Store Day 2012 is coming up on Saturday, April 21. No word yet on what sort of celebration Sonic Boom'll be putting on this year, but I do note that after a bit of a quieter stretch after moving to their new location, it does look like their in-store shows are starting to pick up again, with Boys Who Say No playing on Saturday, February 18, 2012.