Recording: The Strange Boys

Artist: The Strange Boys

Song: Be Brave

Recorded at The Silver Dollar (NXNE), June 19, 2010.

The Strange Boys - Be Brave

My notes for this set can be found here.

NXNE 2010: Saturday (Part 2)

NXNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto, 2010.

Saturday, June 18, 2010. Featuring: Comanechi, The Strange Boys, The Peelies

c. 1:45 a.m.: Comanechi @ The Silver Dollar

Heading out from the D'Urbervilles set, I made a slightly quixotic stroll over to Wrongbar to see if there'd be any chance to get in for Les Savy Fav. No dice — the place was at capacity with a sizable lineup. So I walked right past to the streetcar stop. A guy with a ukulele in one hand and an open can of beer in the other staggered by, bumping into most things. I made my way out of Parkdale.

And anyways, no festival feels complete without a trip to the Silver Dollar to check out Dan Burke's hand-picked rock'n'roll rabblerousers. As I walked up into the venue, I has to squeeze in to a pretty crazy room full of frothing people. Comanechi, finishing off a three-night NXNE stand, were getting the place — to use a technical term — all batshit crazy.

The duo of Simon Petrovitch (guitar) and Akiko Matsuura (drums/vocals)¹ come from the London punk scene. A bit like a Bizarro-world version Lullabye Arkestra, the band features damaged Sabbath riffs, like early Sonic Youth on an angel dust binge, plus Matsuura's shouty/screamy vox — a bit like Miho Hatori's shoutiest moments in Cibo Matto times about twelve. Shortly after I arrived, Matsuura came out from behind the kit — she was replaced by a guest drummer identified only as "Troy" — to get close to the heaving crowd for the band's most noted song, "My Pussy". Ostensibly about a lost cat — paging Mrs. Slocombe! — the song had at least a veneer of subtext, and with the grinding guitar and shouting vocals, was kinda fun. Closer "Big Cock" was, um, less subtle, in the way that a sledgehammer to the face is not subtle. Having caught about fifteen minutes of this, I had the sense that that was about enough — the band mostly seems to grind in one gear, so one's reaction is probably going to relate to how fun you find that mode. A little bit terrible, maybe a tiny bit awesome too.

2:15 a.m.: The Strange Boys @ The Silver Dollar

Ofttimes at NXNE, a place will clear out pretty thoroughly between sets, but here, the floor stayed packed, with people jockeying for spots near the stage. There was definitely a more palpable sense of of anticipation than usual. The Strange Boys, also playing nightly sets, were obviously getting some repeat customers, with people shouting out requests in between songs. The band, out of Austin, have been around for awhile, releasing two full-lengths, and building a rep for their live show, which seemed perfectly aimed at the Silver Dollar set.

"What you all hootin' and a-hollin' about?" asked Jenna Thornhill-DeWitt (ex- of the now-defunct Mika Miko) between songs. A fairly recent addition to the band, she added backing vox and played sax — more in a disruptive post-punk fashion than with R&B grace. That and singer-guitarist Ryan Sambol's Fucked Up shirt were the most overtly "punk" things about the band, though there was some punk in their attitude to back the music, a rangy, wired-up rock'n'roll sound.

There were some sound problems throughout, with out-of-control feedback bursts and the like, but the band wore it well. And there were undoubtedly some good moments, especially when they brought a bit of southern-fried goodness to bear, like on "Be Brave" (the title track to their recent second album).

"We're gonna do a cover we've never done before," Sambol said toward the end of the set. "It might be sloppy, but you guys deserve it." It turned out to be Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man", also nicely in the band's sweet spot. At some other points I wasn't especially overpowered, but there was a lot of energy in the crowd for this.

Listen to a track from this set here.

3:30 a.m.: The Peelies @ Sneaky Dee's

Made a quick dash from the Dollar at the end of The Strange Boys set, which ended late. Thought I might miss the start of The Peelies, but they were still setting up when I got in. Which was good news for me, but also a sign that they were having an awful lot of gear trouble, and the late start was soon dragging out to a very late start — if the band weren't the last of the night, it might have been doubtful if they could have got this set off at all. It looked like the band was scrambling to deal with a dead amp, but eventually they got themselves set up, with some help from Femke Berkout of The Hoa Hoa's, who stayed up on stage for part of the set playing tambourine.

I'd dug the Montréal quartet last time I'd seen 'em, and was glad to have a chance to get caught up with them, especially as they lead off with the delightful "Merde in French" — a song which puts their best feet forward with a rambunctious beat, snarling guitars, and semi-comprehensible French lyrics ending with a smiling "la la la la". Even when their lyrics are filled with put-downs, there's an underlying sunniness to their sound which goes well with their frills-free music. Once things got going, it was a lively set, though there was a mildly annoying/riled-up crowd in the venue — part of that funnelling effect of the late last call where the drunkest people all end up packed together into the last venue going. That element got louder as the set went on, and the patched-together gear got dodgier — one song toward the end had a constant feedback-y hum in the background that apparently no-one could get rid of. I was glad to see the band, and they did pretty good under the circumstances, but it wasn't the best of all possible sets. Still, I enjoy what they do and wouldn't hesitate to see them again when they make it back to this end of the 401.

So, circa four a.m., wrapped up another year's festival.² It gets to be a bit of a slog, yes, but for now, it's good to pack in a bit of music overload. Maybe by the time it rolls around next year I'll have developed enough maturity and refinement to keep me away from the whole circus, though that seems doubtful.

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¹ Matsuura is also in noise band PRE, plus serves as a touring drummer with The Big Pink.

² Although I did catch some of the "Live in Bellwoods" picnic series in Trinity Bellwoods park the next afternoon, with relaxed acoustic sets from Olympic Island, The Peelies, Allie Hughes, the Elwins and Ruby Coast. But I was pretty burned out by then, and was more there to relax, so those sets are "off the record". You can see some video of these performances at Live in Bellwoods, though.