Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Sister and Suns

Recorded at The Baby G (MFS 10th Anniversary Celebration / A Night of Rock Music!), March 2, 2019.

Hooded Fang - Sister and Suns

Although I don't get out to as many rawk shows as I used to, the 10th anniversary of this blog felt like enough of an occasion to warrant a special Saturday night kind of celebration. With a limited preview run of a new best-of compilation tape on the merch table quickly selling out (side note: second batch coming soon!) and a mini-remount of my MFS listening station, it felt a bit like a party, but what really made it was seeing so many familiar faces out for the hang.

There was no band that I wanted at this show more than Hooded Fang, largely because my tenure as a fan overlaps pretty much exactly with this blog's life. The first time I ever saw the band was at the second show I ever wrote about here, before I was even recording gigs, so I've seen the group evolve through different lineups and sonic approaches. This show even gave me a chance to properly document another wrinkle – with bassist/lyricist April Aliermo out doing fieldwork on her sonic art projects, Charise Aragoza (of Mother Tongues as well as her own projects) stepped in on bass, holding down the grooves as the band rocked some Dynasty House music as well as some older faves.

[Hooded Fang will be playing the Monarch Tavern on Thursday, May 9th along with Luge, Body Lens, and Nikki Fierce.]

Recording: Lane Halley & Alex Whyte

Artist: Lane Halley & Alex Whyte

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 58), January 21, 2018.

Lane Halley & Alex Whyte - [excerpt]

There were some different faces, including a couple rock'n'roll ringers at this edition of Audiopollination's "self-curated" series. Guitarist Lane Halley is most often seen with the likes of Hooded Fang and Bart, but has recently been pushing in some newer directions. There was heaps of room to explore in this duo set with trombonist Alex White, with plenty restrained swells and muted lamentations.

Michael Lynn captured this whole night in black and white, so you can view the full set over on youtube:

[Audiopollination returns with the second Del Stephen-curated "Spirit of the Inner Child" show on Friday, February 23rd with spontaneous recombinative sets from Allison Cameron, Bea Labikova, Del Stephen, Jeff Sinibaldi, Julian, Mira Martin-Gray, Simone Baron and Tomasz Krakowiak. The next "self-curated" Audiopollination will be on Saturday, March 10th.]

Recording: Bunny

Artist: Bunny

Songs: One Less Heart + Fat City (feat. Marker Starling)

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), January 13, 2018.

Bunny - One Less Heart

Bunny feat. Marker Starling - Fat City

I'd missed the release party for Bunny's superb self-titled album, so I was glad to see them reprising their role as openers at another Marker Starling release. There was a slightly-reshuffled lineup behind Drew Smith and the anchoring rhythm section of Jay Anderson and Andrew Scott with Lane Halley (Hooded Fang, Bart) sitting in on guitar as well as a now-rare Dan Werb sighting behind the keybs (although he did, indeed, play a lot of the keybs on the album). There was a tasty selection of material from the new album, and to close things out, Chris Cummings (another of the album's guest performers) came out to sing this new one to which he'd provided lyrics inspired, I'm given to understand, by the John Huston film.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Songs: Mama Pearl + You Don't Know How It Feels [Tom Petty cover, with Simone Schmidt + Scott Hardware]

Recorded at Lee's Palace (Dan Burke: 60 plus 20), December 8, 2017.

Hooded Fang - Mama Pearl

Hooded Fang with Simone Schmidt + Scott Hardware - You Don't Know How It Feels

Although things didn't feel exactly right, taking over Lee's Palace instead of packing The Silver Dollar, there were good vibes and all-star jams a-plenty at this night dedicated to Dan Burke, celebrating his 60th birthday as well as twenty years of promoting shows. Hooded Fang spent most of their set stretching out their grooves and highlighting the material from their Dynasty House EP, but in the spirit of the night, they brought out some special guests for a pass-the-mic tribute to Tom Petty.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Nene of The Light

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, January 27, 2017.

Hooded Fang - Nene of The Light

A question mark had been hanging over the Silver Dollar's future for months, but this was the night that officially marked the beginning of the end, with a firm closing date suddenly giving a sense of finality about things — and a jolt to a music community suddenly seeing an epidemic of venues closing. Marking the moment, Hooded Fang called up booker Dan Burke for a bouquet and a heartfelt thank-you. Outside of that bit of ceremony, going in I was basically expecting the same set as when I had seen the band back in December, so I was rather pleasantly surprised to hear more new songs and perhaps some hints of the band's next sonic pivot. There was talk from the stage of a new EP already being in the can, and for several tunes (including this one) Scarlett Rose (who'd recently been touring with Cindy Lee) joined the band on keyb textures. That brought a hint of early Public Image to the proceedings, but even if the new songs were slowed down a titch from the Venus On Edge material, this may also have been the moshiest Hooded Fang set I've witnessed.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Plastic Love

Recorded at The Baby G (Telephone Explosion presents: Xmas Food Drive), December 30, 2016.

Hooded Fang - Plastic Love

As is usually the case, the otherwise-quiet gap in between xmas and New Years Eve was filled in with a slew of worthy shows for good causes, including this two-night food drive at The Baby G. Playing to a crowd ready to dance along, Hooded Fang bounced through a set filled with Venus On Edge's non-didactic protest songs — plus one new one to boot.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Shallow

Recorded at Christie Pits Park (Bloor Ossington Folk Festival – Day 1), September 17, 2016.

Hooded Fang - Shallow

It was a bad news/good news sort of vibe down at Christie Pits. There was a sense of triumph that the festival — for the previous five years a well-curated, intimate event with an enjoyably-casual vibe — was happening at all, given that it was at the very precipice of the plug being pulled in the face of some expected grant money not coming through. The joy at the fact that the organizers found a way to go ahead with it was tempered by the sadness at the corresponding announcement that this would be the festival's final edition. On Saturday, the fact the event had been downsized — losing its main stage and moving everything under the beer garden tent — turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the day arrived with the (seemingly annual) dose of rain. The park was eerily quiet but it made everything feel extra dry and cozy as the bands played.

Through sheer bad luck, I hadn't seen Hooded Fang playing since their Venus On Edge album dropped. There's a slightly-altered pulse behind the band, with Jonathan Pappo (also of Whimm) towing the hypersurf beats without trying to slavishly imitate the inimitable D. Alex Meeks. The propulsion of the newer stuff had Dan Lee referring to some lyrics on a music stand, and it was a little sad to see he had the only mic on stage, limiting April Aliermo's essential banter. With only a couple glances back to older stuff, the band hummed and bopped along in fine style, essaying the knotty tensions of the newer stuff.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Miscast

Recorded at Mercury Social Club, July 17, 2015.

Hooded Fang - Miscast

Mercury Social Club, a new venture from the former proprietors of Saving Gigi has the potential to be another asset in the emerging cultural district on Geary Av. if it can be rescued from what sounds like an ongoing bureaucratic quagmire. In the meantime, it's being used as an occasional special event space, and in its current semi-refinished state, it feels something like hanging around in a reclaimed rec hall. A fairly wide space, there's a likeable amount of elbow room with a rough-hewn make-do charm. The sound's a little rough still at this point, and the room got hot like a sauna as the crowd built up, but I'm hoping there'll be a chance for this to become a regularly-functioning space.

Hooded Fang's latest batch of songs depend on an intricately speedy rhythmic attack while their live presentation tempers that with a certain indeterminacy. Which is to say that if in a sweaty-hot room the band was bit of a hot mess, it was the sort of hot mess that you'd want to take you home. Word on the street is that the band's new album is mostly done, so we'll see when it emerges — and who can fill the shoes of drummer D. Alex Meeks, heading off on educational leave.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Dead Battery

Recorded at Double Double Land ("C.R.E.A.M. All Ages" - Day 2), June 21, 2015.

Hooded Fang - Dead Battery

Created as an alternative to a concurrently-running large corporate music festival, this weekend of events at DDL included kid-friendly all-ages vibes (so much so that there was even a colouring book on offer) over two afternoons. Sunday's show felt low-key and casual and included sets from Ken Park, Lido Pimienta and Petra Glynt. The afternoon closed with Hooded Fang bashing out a series of their new songs — the core sound of which comes off like a break from a disco 12" cranked up to double speed and then rocked over with precise abandon.

[Anyone wanting to celebrate the current rhythmically-driven incarnation of Hooded Fang should hasten up to Mercury Social Club on July 17th, where the band will be playing on a spectac double bill with Darlene Shrugg.]

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Tunnel Vision

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, November 29, 2014.

Hooded Fang - Tunnel Vision

Some day, when we look back over Hooded Fang's body of work, it'll probably be easier to see them as a band that was constantly developing, rather than one that was jumping from style to style. Returning from a Euro-hiatus with a whole bunch of new material, someone who hadn't been paying attention might have been jarred with the precision-bursts of this set-opener. Far beyond the sloppy garage, there's a sense that this is the work of a band that's been listening to dance music, and instead of filtering out the slo-jam haze that had gone into Phèdre is channelling the body-movement imperative with post-punk fury. (That makes those ESG cover sets less anomalous and more like signposts.) How their new album balances the tension/release dynamics heard here will be quite interesting to observe.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Bye Bye Land

Recorded at The Great Hall ("Long Winter KIDS"), December 28, 2013.

Hooded Fang - Bye Bye Land

Full review to follow. Pushing its all-ages mandate even further than usual, the Long Winter team put together this special afternoon edition aimed at the "0 to 12 set". Besides mixing kids' entertainers with indie rockers, the off-stage component was very well programmed to keep even the fussiest tykes and toddlers engaged, including: getting a chance to bang away on real instruments in Ben Cook's Rock Box; making buttons with the Girls Rock Camp crew; drawing pictures of mystery smells; exploring gloopy science; or grooving out at John Caffery's dance workshop. The day also raised awareness and funds for the End Immigration Detention campaign.

No strangers to playing for all-ages crowds, and possibly aware that quite a few of the young 'uns had already headed home for naptime, Hooded Fang turned down the volume and relaxed their tempos, making for a pleasingly unique set at a time when their stagecraft usually revolves around sloppy velocity. It felt like the proper way to close out a most successful afternoon.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Sailor Bull

Recorded at The Great Hall ("Long Winter, Year 2, Volume 2"), December 13, 2013.

Hooded Fang - Sailor Bull

Full review to follow. After a long stretch of Euro-touring, Hooded Fang are back in town to splatter their slop-pop for a few more shows. You can catch 'em at Long Winter's special kids edition as well as the Tranzac's always-awesome New Year's Eve party.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Genes

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point ("The Final ALL CAPS! Island Festival"), August 10, 2013

Hooded Fang - Genes

My quick notes for this set can be found here.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Graves

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, May 31, 2013.

Hooded Fang - Graves

Full review to follow. A celebratory hometown release party for the band's new Gravez album could serve as a chance to remember how far the band has moved over the last couple years. But even moreso, it was an opportunity for a sweaty dance party. The band is going to be taking their new tunes across (and beyond) the continent, so it was nice to see it get a good launch.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Ode To Subterrania

Recorded at Lula Lounge, April 4, 2013.

Hooded Fang - Ode To Subterrania

Full review to follow. "Dry Range" hasn't displaced "Big Blue" yet, but once the band was warmed up their set was filled with the songs from their forthcoming Gravez album, which you should oughtta be getting excited about by now.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Soybomb HQ, October 19, 2012.

Hooded Fang - unknown

Full review to follow. Fresh off some time spent recording, Hooded Fang brought some new songs and a slice of spastic heaven to the sweat-drenched dance inferno of Soybomb HQ. The band is headed overseas for some tour action and won't be seen around these parts for a few months, so it was nice to be able to send 'em off in style.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Linus' Boon

Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, December 2, 2011.

Hooded Fang - Linus' Boon

Full review to follow. A bittersweet night, with Lorna Wright announcing that this would be the last show for her and Nicholas Hune-Brown. With the shift, the band "retired" some of their Album songs by playing them for the last time, and as one last look back, dug out this early composition, which has recently found its way into the setlists of Hut, vocalist Daniel Lee's other band.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Brahma

Recorded at The Academy Lions of Crossfit Gym – Outdoor Courtyard (Wavelength 526), September 24, 2011.

Hooded Fang - Brahma

Review to follow.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Sleep Song

Recorded at the "Live Love Large" benefit concert, Metropolitan Community Church, January 28, 2011.

Hooded Fang - Sleep Song

My notes for this set can be found here.

Recording: Hooded Fang

Artist: Hooded Fang

Song: Almost Done

Recorded at Sonic Boom, November 13, 2010.

Hooded Fang - Almost Done

My notes for this set can be found here.