A fine folk showcase provided by the good folks at The Holy Oak was just what I was looking for on a recent Tuesday night. Though I’ve caught The Weather Station many times since the release of her sophomore album All Of It Was Mine (buy it/it’s incredible), this was the first time I’d seen her play completely unaccompanied in quite some time. The intimate show gave her the chance to showcase some brand new material, posted below. Nick Ferrio, on the otherhand, I hadn’t seen play in years, going back to my Oshawa-days. He’d swing by The Velvet Elvis every few months with one group or another — The Burning Hell, Weird Weather, The Bloody Miracles — or solo, but that was ages ago and I was super excited to get a chance to see what he’s up to right now. He’s got a shit-hot backing band now and a whole stack of soon to be classic songs, including “Searching For a Way,” posted right up top.
Nick mentioned onstage that he’s just returned from Welland where he put some songs to tape with lil’ Ian Romano. Looking forward to that. In the meantime, him and his band are attempting to put out an EP each month in 2012 themed around different feelings. January’s EP was fittingly titled Depression.
Marine Dreams made their Toronto debut this past November, shortly after the release of their self-titled debut album. Just so I can say the word debut one more time, here’s a new song they debuted at the show! Totally from the heart.
I caught The Skeletones Four at ThriftStock years and years ago, so I made sure to hop on down to The Piston this past August to see them celebrate the release of their sophomore album Gravestone Rock. For this show they expanded their lineup to ten members — it was nuts! The song “Ether Bunnies” is posted up top, but check my YouTube page for a few more songs.
The mysterious Coole & Downes on the final night of their Holy Oak residency in the spring of the year 2011. Here they are playing a song called “Rockwood 1868.”
I don’t have a whole to say about these videos. I’ve shot a Hundred Bucks so many times over the years, but these are probably the best of the bunch. It was a fantastic night, and even though there were some hiccups, like my audio being pretty crummy, it was a learning experience, as always. Many thanks to my new friend Adrian Vieni who has just moved to the city. I’ve long been a fan of his Wood & Wires video series, so it was awesome getting to shoot alongside him. We’re all in this together so hopefully we can do it more often!
I won’t be doing a separate entry for them but I also recently shot some videos of Coole & Downes, Simone from $100’s new bluegrass duo. Everything is up on YouTube. I also interviewed Simone over at Hype Lighter.
Toronto Thaw happened this weekend. It’s a new 3-day festival happening at the start of Spring put on by Teenanger and Telephone Explosion. If you didn’t see one of the awesome posters around town then too bad because you missed out on a lot of fun. Granted, I was only able to go to the Friday show, but I passed by Wrongbar on Thursday at around 1:30am and it was still bumpin’ and Metz were playing Saturday night and they rule, so I can only assume the entire weekend was an unequivocal success. I’m not afraid to make this sort of conjecture, I just call it as I see it.
After being away from the city for six weeks, it felt really good to be back at The Tranzac for this special tribute night to the great Michael Hurley. I’ve really only heard his 2009 album Ida Con Snock and the odd tune here or there, but with a lineup that included long-time favourites like Bry Webb, Evening Hymns, and The Weather Station, as well as folks I’ve wanted to see play for a while such as Gabe Levine (singing Tia Marie in the video above) and Lisa Bozikovic, I made sure to mark the night down as a “can’t miss event” on my Google Calendar.
Ladyhawk played here a few weeks back, at The Shop under Parts & Labour. I don’t even know how I got into this band. My roommate had the Fight For Anarchy 12″ and I gave it a listen, but I’d already seen ‘em at that point a few times, I’m sure. SappyFest two years ago was the best. “Sweat until you puke,” that’s what people were saying about Ladyhawk. They’re a good band, and it’s my fault this video ain’t good. Late night, the room is packed and people just want to rock out, I understand. I heard they’re working on a new record, so I’ll have to catch ‘em when they’re touring it.
Last night, when I finally arrived at a crammed Horseshoe Tavern, I had already missed both openers (Steven McKay and Little Scream) and Julie was well into her set, so fighting my way to the front of the stage took some time and serious strategizing, but eventually I got close enough to get a decent shot.