I Heart the Music: Your Online Source for Live Music Reviews and Interviews in Toronto!

Green Go have built up quite a reputation as the house-party-destroyer, terrorizing neighbours all across Ontario. That rep is hard to build, and twice as hard to keep up, however, the release of their full-length album, Borders, and their release party at Wrongbar let them confidently plant their flag, solidifying themselves as the young ones your parents told you not to play with. Before the night began, iheartthemusic met with lead singers Fez and Jessica backstage at Wrongbar to ask a few questions and to shine some light on the band that’s making waves in Toronto.

iheartthemusic: You guys are part of this new disco movement that’s been emerging as of late, is this something you set out to do or did it just happen?

Fez: For me, it was something I was excited about. I remember hearing The Rapture for the first time and thinking, “Wow, their live show must be a big dance party.” But I think it’s more about taking from bands that just like to get people moving.

Jess: We don’t really set out to have a specific sound; we never started with that. We just started writing, Fez and I, and that’s just what came out of us. Now as a 5-piece, we still write what we like – there’s no… trying to capture a certain sound. We’ll maybe hear different songs from different bands, and we are definitely influenced by our peers, but we still try to add our own touch to it.

iheartthemusic: Speaking of your peers, you guys did your remix project in February, and took a bunch of artists that don’t usually get remixed. How important was it for you guys to move away from the bands that seem to usually get that treatment?

Jess: It wasn’t really about that. It was more about taking our friends’ music and putting our spin on it as a tribute to them because we love their music so much. So it was about taking music that we admire and just having fun with it.

Fez: I mean, everyone remixes all those big bands, so what’s the point?

Jess: And taking something like The D’Urbervilles and turning that into a club mix – since we’re such good friends, it’s like why not bring them into the club scene?

iheartthemusic: A lot of bands have trouble turning their live presence into something equal on record, but you guys did a really good job of that on Borders. Was it hard to do?

Jess: It wasn’t really. We had to think about it, like we had to be able to translate our live show. We made some changes to the way it was recorded so we could capture that raw, basement sound as much as possible.

Fez: Just trying to get more of a live sound, to have a bit of that imperfection.

iheartthemusic: It adds character.

Fez: Yeah.

iheartthemusic: And some of the songs have been in the works for a while?

Fez: Oh yeah. They’ve been recorded in different ways in the past, but I guess now we see that the new recordings were the way they were meant to be. It’s taken a long time to get those songs to that point.

iheartthemusic: One last question – Green Go’s 5-year plan?

Fez: Umm, still be a band 5 years from now? [Laughs] That would be amazing.

Jess: We’ll see what happens with this release, but I want to be playing music with these people for as long as possible. We’ve only just scratched the surface, and there is a bit of pressure taken off now that we have some people we work with who will help us. That is really important so that we can be musicians instead of being managers and booking agents and publicists all at once; we can focus on what we’re supposed to be doing. So hopefully more shows, more touring, and more fun – more partying. [Laughs] I’m not done yet.

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Following a couple of stellar opening sets by Everything All The Time and The Magic came the act that 300 people came to see. Green Go took the stage with a confidence that most bands can only aspire to gain. Breezing through tracks off Borders, it was clear that these fresh-faced kids were vets; turning their live performance into a party in its purest sense. No restraint, no qualms, just a dance party that the crowd were eating it up, singing along to faves like “Brains For Breakfast” and “Cash Money Gremlins.” Their elongated instrumental jams were enough to rest your vocal chords before the next hook, and more than enough to turn those who doubted the Guelph, ON natives into those forking over some cash at the merch table. Even busting out a new song (which is a make-or-break thing for most bands) drew cheers and a clap-along that had most people wondering what b-side that track was on.

A release party couldn’t go any better: a sold-out crowd and a bunch of happy, dehydrated fans are all a band could ask for. If you haven’t seen Green Go live, do it. Seriously – go. See them before they hit the big stage, and enjoy the up-close-and-personal experience that few bands can offer, let alone perfect. Guess those house parties really paid off.

interviewed and reported by Sebastian Galvez

photos provided by Amy Young

Friday the 17th of April meant a lot of things to a lot of people present at The Phoenix. For the artists, it was an opportunity to perform for an overly excited hometown crowd; to the organizers, Steam Whistle Brewing, it was a ballsy yet confident step in the right direction, moving up from their usual in-house showcases to a 900-capacity venue; and finally, for the people on the dance floor, it was a party in its purest sense with a lineup that tapped into Ontario and Montreal’s best talent.

Arriving before Scarborough natives The Carps took to the stage, there was clear anticipation that filled the room that could be due to the fact that The Carps are famous for their live performance. With a singer/drummer whose vocals would make any top 40 R&B artist tremble in fear of being entirely blown out of the water, the anticipation was well justified! Their set was fantastic! They jammed to new and old tracks, including a much needed re-enactment of the convenience store robbery that takes place during the fast-paced “Compton to Scarboro”. Feeling the floor shake during the “on the count of 4, we want you to lose your shit” moment in “All the Damn Kids” was enough to turn anyone into a fan. Although they were slightly derailed by what seemed to be some sound issues, they didn’t care, nor did it phase the electrified dance floor.

Friday was battle of the duos – a title fight for the tag team championships, so to speak. Quite frankly, neither of these bands took this thing lightly; and headliners Woodhands weren’t going to be outshone. Composed of one of Toronto’s tightest drummer and quirkiest lead singer/keytarist/synth player Ontario has to offer, they came to make their presence known. I was unaware of how insanely popular these guys had gotten in the last few months, so being front row while diehard fans sang along to every one of their songs was overwhelming, which only made the show visibly more enjoyable for the guys. Having people shout requests is something a young band can only hope for, not to mention having the crowd screaming out the lyrics to the singles “I Wasn’t Made For Fighting” and “Dancer”; it was unreal.

While both duos put up a solid effort, the win went to Woodhands, and watching Jahmal from The Carps jam out behind the guys on stage was the handshake at the end of a solid 12 rounds.

reported by Sebastian Galvez

photography provided by Amy Young

Decadence, which has been around since 2004, has been a natural stop for electro heads and partygoers celebrating the coming of the long weekend, and this past Easter long weekend was no exception. The tightly-packed event at the Guvernment featured 19 big-name acts including hometown favourites MSTRKRFT and Carlo Lio, as well as international DJs like American producer Steve Aoki and Italian duo the Crookers.

Around 11 o’clock there was already a throng of people dutifully lined up around the building, jittery with anticipation. At about midnight MSTRKRFT came out blasting, pumping out several of their new tracks like “Bounce” and “Vuvuvu” from their latest CD, Fist of God. They also incorporated older hits from their debut disc, The Looks, to their set list.

Fans were going ballistic and at different parts of the night crowd-surfing ensued. At one point I couldn’t help but stare at the stage mesmerized by very distracting dancing mascots, which was reminiscent to Circa Nightclub’s roving freaks of French Fries, only the furry bunny was fenced off only to appear on stage without any fan contact.

Next up, Crookers clamped down on the crowd with more Ed Banger released remixes like Busy P’s “To Protect and Entertain”. It seemed like every set came into a culmination getting better as the clock ticked. The concert proved that every DJ was on its own a highlight, and Decadence catered for the diverse crowd. Yet the highlight of the night was hands down Steve Aoki.

The half-brother of model-turned-actress Devon Aoki, the Los Angeles-based DJof Japanese-descent continues to spawn major club hits from both established singers and artists like Lenny Kravitz and Snoop Dogg as well as more indie acts like MSTRKRFT and The Von Bondies, who both have released songs from his record company Dim Mak.

Aoki’s sets are always rhythmically flashy and electro heavy. At Koolhaus, Aoki could be seen sitting on the stage’s cream-coloured couch, working double-duty as he partied with friends and prepared the next few songs on his Macbook for the Toronto crowd. Spinning at one of the city’s biggest clubs, Aoki sustained the stream of accolades he is known for in the music industry, which was evidenced by jumping and screaming party revelers still out during the wee hours of Good Friday.

photography provided by Joyce Wong

reported by Chris Jai Centeno

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