How would you feel if you spent your Valentine’s Day all curled up and cozy with four young bands from the US and hundreds of screaming girls? Some of you might love it, but for me it was not my idea of romance! I spent Saturday night (February 14) at The Pheonix Concert Theatre for the Toronto stop on the Take Action Tour. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the Take Action Tour is an annual charity tour that raises funds (through ticket sales) and awareness of youth involvement in charitable actions. This is their eighth year and chose the not-for-profit organization DoSomething.org to be the recipient of this year’s funds. The 2009 lineup featured headliner Cute Is What We Aim For, along with Meg & Dia, Breathe Carolina, Every Avenue and Anarbor. I went to just check out the headliner and ended up catching some pretty amazing (and not so amazing) acts along the way.

The night (or dare I say afternoon) started with a young band from Phoenix called Anarbor. Unfortunately I ended up missing their set as it was dinner time for me and I figured the opening act wouldn’t start until well past 6pm! Don’t worry though, I  got to catch up with Slade Echeverria (vocals/bass) and Mike Kitlas (guitar) before the show where they threw me a sampler of their new album The Natural Way. It was a tease for their upcoming EP that is due out this year and has already been on constant rotation on my iPod! I know once you have a listen you will be hooked as well. Their sound far surpasses their age (being only 19…they made sure to mention that they were legal in Canada) and having signed to Hopeless Records as early as April of last year. This band is definitely one to watch! Stay tuned for my interview with them!

Next on stage came the fivesome Every Avenue. This band hails from Michigan and was one act that I was definitely excited to see and experience what they had in store for their audience. Well, it was quite difficult to make out what lead singer David Strauchman was saying amidst the screams of all the girls around me; however he did manage to “engage” the audience from my side stage perspective. At one point he got up and sang while balancing on the barricade separating the crowd from the stage. This might not have been the best idea as what seemed like two seconds later at least thirty prepubescent hands were grabbing at him until he fell over. If it had not been for the security guards holding on to him the outcome may not have been so pretty (though pretty hilarious from my perspective). I do have to admit; they know how to put on a show!

They used all angles of the stage and engaged the audience with both their moves (balancing on speakers) and their eyes (which in turn made the screams even louder). The vocals of David were bang on to their album, as was the musical rhythms of Josh Randall (guitar), Matt Black (bass), Michael Govere (drums) and Jimmie Deeghan (guitar). Definitely one that I would go see again!

The next act was one that I was a bit apprehensive about. Breathe Carolina is a two-piece, dare I say, “screamo” band from Denver made up of Kyle Even and David Schmitt (though they had other characters up on stage with them). They came on stage each decked out in different athletic team jerseys as the song “Get Ready for This” by 2 Unlimited came on. I don’t know if this is a Canadian thing, but that song just reminds me of hockey games and hockey was nowhere near what you got. The entire performance (if you want to call it that) seemed like a whole lot of jumping up and down, head banging and screaming. I just didn’t get it. Now I am sure there are tons of you who will disagree with me as their Myspace page alone gets around 20,000 hits per DAY, but it was just not my scene. I didn’t understand what they were saying and most of the time it looked like they were onstage partying by themselves.  I have to admit though, the crowd loved it (yet again) and seemed to be able to decipher what they were saying/singing/screaming. Despite this, the stage lights were pretty amazing and they knew how to sell themselves to the crowd (although I wasn’t buying). Either way, although it was not my cup of tea, it was well worth checking out for the experience.

There was one band that I unfortunately decided not to cover on this tour, but nonetheless will get a mention – Meg & Dia. This band ended up being quite amazing (from the one song I caught) and after their set I was kicking myself for not booking an interview with them as well!

Last but not least: Shaant Hacikyan, Jeff Czum and Dave Melillo of Cute Is What We Aim For took the stage and (if you can even imagine) the screams got even louder. Luckily I found a great spot at the DJ booth overlooking the stage so I didn’t have to have my ear drums ruined! Now I know I’ve been saying that every girl knew every word to every song for the past four bands now, but honestly, this time the band really didn’t even need to be there as EACH member (or, sorry, girl) in the audience knew ALL the words! Shaant had some inspiring things to say while on stage such as “fuck Valentine’s day”, “fuck Hallmark” and my personal favourite “you need to be comfortable in your own skin, its ok.” Alright Shaant, if you say so! The show was pretty amazing and they played all the audiences favourites including “Marriage to Millions” which apparently was written while they were driving down Bloor Street. I also enjoyed Jeff’s rendition of a Dave Matthew’s tune, although I am sure I was one of the only ones in the audience who even knew who that was as everyone seemed to be under 14! They played the party well and even took the time to thank the staff at The Phoenix and all the other bands on tour with them. One point to note is that they managed to mention that Toronto is their “home away from home”. It’s ok guys you had me at “you need to be comfortable in your own skin” or maybe it was “fuck Hallmark”…either way, I was impressed and they found a new fan in me.

Check back this week for our individual interviews with each band!

photography provided by Matt Vardy, www.mattvardy.com