On our third night of CMW team “MKAY” ventured out to the Sound Academy to chat and listen to the amazing sounds of Montreal based band Mobile. These guys have been blowing up the charts lately and are currently on tour with our good friends Inward Eye and Bend Sinister. Mobile were not headlining the show (which was a bit of a surprise) but nonetheless managed to outshine their competition. Lead singer Mat’s vocals were incredible and proved that he is a true performer (especially when he was able to continue to play despite some minor mic stand difficulties). The crowd was definitely into it and showed their support when they played “The Killer” and everyone  sang along. They also introduced a new member to their band: Martin Lavallee on drums. He proved to be a great addition as his skill and stage presence that night were unmatched by anyone else. It really felt as though he had been with the band from the very beginning. Mobile ended their set with another popular song off their first album (the one that got them the Juno) called “Out Of My Head.” Once again, everyone in the audience was into it, there were even some mutters in the audience from people who recognized the song but had no clue what the band was called.  Stay tuned for our chat with them!

After Mobile’s performance, team “MKAY” hightailed to Lee’s Palace to catch Matt Mays & El Torpedo. This is a group that have garnered MUCH buzz within the indie rock scene so we were looking forward to seeing what all the hype was about. We arrived in time to catch the end of The Novaks‘ set (another incredibly talented and diverse band). The guitar skills of these guys are out of control and if that was any indication of what’s to come on their album (which comes out next month), we will be the first in line to pick it up!

After The Novaks were our favourite guys: The Waking Eyes. Having previously reviewed and interviewed them, we knew what to expect and 

were (yet again) blown away by their sound and stage performance! These boys just get better and better each time and the fans in the audience all agreed that that was one of their better performances.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo were last to take the stage. As soon as they started to play you could tell that the crowd were comprised of followers and fans and we were right in there with them. We have heard so many great things about these East-coast boys and they definitely did not disappoint. After watching them live and seeing the skill of both Matt Mays and the rest of his band, there is no doubt in our mind as to why they won the Indie award on Saturday. One thing that is quite difficult to do and is often a huge mistake, is when bands take on the challenge of performing a cover song of some amazing classic rock legend. Well these boys were up for the challenge and played a rendition of “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones.  We were so pleasantly surprised by their rendition that it felt as though we were hearing that song for the first time as performed by the original writer. At the end of their set (which lasted TWO straight hours) they invited all the acts from the night up on stage to sing with them one last time. It was great to see Rusty from The Waking Eyes play acoustic with Matt Mays and it was an experience that everyone in the audience knew would be hard to beat. It was an incredible show and definitely a highlight of our week. After this night, we can honestly say that we have seen some of the best talent in Canada.

photography provided by Matt Vardy