catl (Anagram / John Borra & Sam Ferrara)
The Silver Dollar Room. Friday, January 15, 2009.
Diligent workers on the local live scene, this show was serving as catl's album release party — coming almost exactly a year after the one for their debut. In the interim, the band has gained a member and a pretty devoted local following, so certainly cause for them to bask in their accomplishments, surrounding themselves on the bill with a couple like-minded but radically different acts.
The evening started off with John Borra & Sam Ferrara. Singing and playing acoustic guitar, Borra, in a pinstriped jacket, presented as a refined and distinguished balladeer, light-years away from his youthful work in Queen Street punks A Neon Rome.1 These days he's more easily found working his his group Rattlesnake Choir, often at their home base at The Dakota Tavern.2 Here he was on his own alongside Sam Ferrara, who added backing vox and percussion via a series of interesting implements. His go-to device was a trio of slinky toys, attached together with rods on top and bottom, allowing him to unfurl them, almost accordion-like, to create a jangling swish sound. He'd also later use sandpaper on a cheese grater — surely something you'd want to undertake with caution — and some well-played singing saw on one song.
"We'd like to do a song now by one of Toronto's finest — the late, great Handsome Ned," Borra announced. I clapped in appreciation, looking around somewhat sheepishly when I realized no one else in the bar was joining me as the duo launched into "I've Come to Get My Baby Out of Jail".3 Borra's own compositions were in a similarly rootsy vein with a goes-down-easy taste. The pair showed their affinity for some of the same music influencing catl with a cover of Memphis Jug Band's "Stealin' Stealin'" and generally kept things moving along nicely for their thirty-five minutes on stage. Not earth shaking, but as a table-setter it had the right vibe.
"We were going to start things off with a slow blues number... then we just said, 'fuck that'," announced Jamie Fleming — also known as the namesake for his band catl — launching into the rapidly thudding lurch of "Grind it Down". With impressive quickness, the bar had gotten quite full. Credit that not just to that boost from making onto the cover of one of the local alt-weeklies, but also as the product of catl's rigourous and frequent gigging over the past year, patiently building up their fanbase. And the packed-in crowd was appreciating it right from the start as the band reeled off a series of songs from their new album With the Lord for cowards you will find no place4. The crowd's enthusiasm kept the energy level high, which added some momentum that might have otherwise been taken down a notch by less-than-stellar sound, with the guitar feeding back frequently during the first few songs. Not enough to spoil things, but it was a bit of accidental aural noise distracting from the blusey murk.
The set included a new one (called "Keep Believin'"?) with Sarah Kirkpatrick leading a gospel-y call-and-response back-and-forth with catl. And by the time a guitar change put paid to the feedback, the band was getting fully warmed up and down into their groove, things really hitting their stride after about twenty-five minutes. The second half featured more songs from their first album and some tear-the-roof off covers ("Thunderbird ESQ" by The Gories, Dylan's "Outlaw Blues") and the set was capped with a righteously ragged "Workin' Man's Soul". Called back up, the band closed it all out with "Pick-up Killed My Ford". Let's hope the band can keep up both this pace and consistent quality. To be safe, pencil in a note for next January to keep a night free for the next release party — though you'll have no excuse not to have seen them a few times by then.
Listen to a track from this set here.
And then, as is usual, more than half the crowd split from the joint, leaving lots of room as Anagram set up. I'd not seen the band before, though I do recall enjoying their '06 disc After Dark. Their real calling card, however, is their rep for an intense live show. Notorious for preferring to play in the later hours, it was a quarter past one by the time the band took the stage, which left more elbow room for the eager crowd setting up in front. Knowing this'd be a roiling, soft-contact kind of crowd, I stayed over to the side a bit as things got underway with the bass, drums and guitars launching into a lean, monochrome, PiL-popping groove. The three instrumentalists stayed pretty much rooted to the spot, leaving vocalist Matt Mason room to get frenetic-like. Like Ian Curtis as a mean drunk or an autistic child wandering blindfolded through a room, Mason spent a good chunk of the set down in the jostling crowd, lurching about and glancing off people like a bumper car — singing throughout and never missing a line. It was more passive-aggressive than menacing, though the same could not be said of the music, which was taut and razor-sharp — perhaps almost to a fault. Which is to say, I guess, that this is a band with their flag planted in a narrow sonic patch, and they're going to play the hell out of it — if you buy into the sound, then it probably doesn't matter that the songs are, if not interchangeable, then at least mutually reinforcing.5
Which works well in controlled bursts, and the half-hour that the band played was actually rather entrancing, bordering on excellent. Not something I'd want to hear every day — otherwise I'd probably be the one wandering down the sidewalk, head down, arms crossed and bouncing off people — but absolutely worth seeing if you can stay up that late.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Sticking it out meant a late finish to the night, and I was starting to wane on my way out. Did manage to stop long enough to pick up a copy of catl's new album — he shook my hand and thanked me for the purchase — and I tucked the platter under my arm as I headed across the street to wait for the streetcar.6 A satisfying night.
1 Borra's career seems to have followed a similar trajectory to his contemporary Scott Bradshaw, who I saw not too long ago opening for Grant Hart. The term "aging gracefully" has a back-handed complement sort of sound to it, so perhaps I should better say that I appreciate that these guys are still among us, perfecting their craft and having a good time up on stage.
2 The only time I've seen Rattlesnake Choir play was in an utterly ill-fitting circumstance to appreciate their music at all.
3 Note to local bands: more Handsome Ned covers!
4 The title comes from "Keep on the Firing Line", an old Carter Family tune.
5 "Is this as good as you remember?" a woman behind me asked to her companion a couple songs in. "I think so," he responded. "I was pretty drunk then, though."
6 Truth be told, the vinyl album isn't going to be a lot of use to me. My turntable has been in a closet for most of the last decade, and I don't miss it that much — in fact, I find this current vinyl romanticism hard to totally identify with. Fortunately, though, the band was wise enough to include a CD tucked in alongside the disc, so I'm well-satisfied.
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