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

Saturday, February 20th was “Alt Country Rock’N'Roll” night at The Horseshoe and on the bill were four local indie acts: Golden Hands Before God, The Diableros, The Schomber Fair and La Casa Muerte. We missed out on watching openers Golden Hands Before God (sorry fans!) but having previously  heard great things about The Diableros, we decided to venture out early to see if we could catch their set. Having only briefly listened to a few of their tunes on their MySpace page prior to the show, we actually arrived at The Horseshoe somewhat excited to see the live version. We got there just in time to witness five guys on stage setting up their instruments. After grabbing a beer or two, they finally began to play and play they did, but with absolutely NO enthusiasm. They each knew their individual parts well; strumming the guitar and hitting notes on the keys, however this was done with no passion or what appaeared to be any pleasure. Not one of them even cracked a smile during their entire forty five minute performance.

We didn’t get a chance to grab their set list, so it is hard to comment on individual songs, but honestly that didn’t even matter as watching them was THAT painful. The crowd seemed to mimic our sentiments as a few swayed trans-like to the beat of the song and the rest resorted to the bar. A few drinks were what you seemed to need to get through this performance. All wasn’t lost though, the drummer was actually great and eventually started to pull the attention away from the rest of the band.  He was hitting those drums with such enthusiasm and gusto as if he also knew how boring upfront was and therefore tried to make up for it! My verdict? Buy the album, avoid the show.

Next on the bill were bluegrass alt rockers The Schomberg Fair. We were pretty excited for them to take to the stage and relieve us from the comma we were in and they didn’t disappoint. They came on stage and literally rocked the house opening their set with “Angels Wings”; a fast paced song that appears on their latest album Gospel. This song literally begins and ends with a bang with lead vocalist Matt showing off his banjo skills. These guys just really know how to put on a show, and with tons of experience and tours under their belt, it really becomes a treat for those able to catch them live. One thing that really struck me was the contrast between lead vocalist’s Matt and bassist Nathan’s voices. Nathan, or Nate rather, has a voice that literally sounds like the instrument that he plays and when they sang in unison it actually created the most amazing sound that is uniquely their own. From beginning to end the crowd were either singing along or dancing- two key reactions that any musician would hope for.  My verdict? Buy the album AND see the show!

The Schomberg Fair play CMW on March 13th @ Sneaky Dee’s.

photography provided by Nancy Kim.

Canadians are talented people. Yes, I may be somewhat bias saying this, however having travelled quite extensively in my lifetime I can assure you that we aren’t the only people that think this. Ask anyone in the world and they will tell you that we excel in many areas (citing hockey legend Wayne Gretzky as a notable figure). One area that I believe we are particularly adept to “excelling” in is in the music department. Oftentimes it is the heavy hitters such as Celine Dion that have music fans from around the world stirring, however there is another group that appear to be creating quite a buzz south of the boarder recently. Great Lake Swimmers are not a new band, but it is their fourth album, Lost Channels, that have garnered them the most attention on the international circuit. Having recently returned from a plethora of tour dates around the world, the boys are finally coming home to bring the tunes back to (eager) Canadian ears! In anticipation of their sold out show this Saturday at Trinity St.Paul’s Church, iheartthemusic caught up with Tony Dekker and Erik Arnesen of Great Lake Swimmers where they shared with us just a little bit of the inspiration behind their Polaris Music Prize nominated album Lost Channels.

iheartthemusic: You guys recorded this album in a rather unique setting. Can you explain what that was like?

Tony: We recorded on location, most of it in the Thousand Islands where we were able to really get into some unique spaces. There was a castle just over the border on the American side called “Singer Castle” which sits on Dark Island; which is the kind of thing that sounds like it could be fiction but its not, it is real. There was a number of other locations too like a church and a place in Brockville, Ontario called The Brockville Arts Centre which is a theatre that has been maintained by the community for over a hundred years and been beautifully restored.

iheartthemusic: That’s amazing! How did you hear about this place?

Tony: The offer came in from a friend of ours who is sort of a story collector and a photographer in the region. He was the one that invited us to come and check it out. When it came time to record the album, I brainstormed to try and find different locations that would be suitable for us to record and that place just seemed perfect. It [location] has become a really big part of the creative process for us I think. I mean, to be in these places that are charged with the kind of energy that draws your best possible performance, it is really important for us. This one [Thousand Islands] in particular was special because to be in that area and be really inspired meant digging deep-creatively.

Erik: Part of the adventure is getting there too, and figuring out how to work in the space.

iheartthemusic: Were there any sounds that were incorporated into the album that came from your surroundings?

Tony: No, we don’t have any bizarre noises on the album. We are pretty straight up.

Erik: We recorded the bells in the castle.

Tony: That’s true.

Erik: That was kind of just a happy accident. Those bells almost interrupted our recording process and then we decided on our last day to document them and then use it in the record.

If you weren’t lucky enough to get your tickets to this one, don’t worry the boys will be back and hopefully with a new album in hand!

photography provided by Sara Collaton

This band really needs no introduction considering they are one of the most popular and well known groups to come out of Canada, however Alexisonfire have definitely worked extremely hard to get there. With the release of their latest album, Old Crows/Young Cardinals in June of last year, Alexisonfire appear to be striving for a different sound and feel than their previous records. With this album comes a more tender side to the group- which appears to be working for them! Having recently won a Verge Music Award for Album of the Year, we caught up with vocalist/guitarist Dallas Green to learn a little bit more about how these guys view their success.

iheartthemusic: First off, congratulations on your won at The Verge Awards. You must have felt pretty great!

Dallas: Um, yeah!

iheartthemusic: Well fans voted so that is definitely a testament to your popularity.

Dallas: Yeah, those are the only awards that I truly care about. I just feel like panels of people and associations…I just don’t think that means anything . Music is a very personal preference so when a ton of kids get on their computer and vote for you constantly until you have enough [votes] to win, it shows that they are devoted to what you do and that feels great.

iheartthemusic: Absolutely. This award in particular must feel good since you are being recognized for your latest album Old Crows/Young Cardinals, which has been met with some hasty criticism in the press.

Dallas: Yeah, because it is different for us.

iheartthemusic: It is a little bit different for you so what made you switch up your sound for this album?

Dallas: I don’t know really. It’s our fourth album and I think every record we have made has been very different but this one in particular since George has started to try different things. It has kind of thrown some people for a loop but George spent three whole records screaming his head off and wanted to try some different stuff.

iheartthemusic: And give his voice a bit of a rest I’m sure!

Dallas: Well not really. I mean we just wanted to try something else. We [the rest of the band] constantly get to try new guitar things and use different amps and stuff like that, and George was always just screaming so he wanted to try something different with his voice. I am really proud of him for doing that.

iheartthemusic: Well I guess it is important to keep everyone in the band happy!

Dallas: Yeah.

iheartthemusic: Having lived in the UK myself, I had to ask about your trip to Reading this past summer because I have actually had the opportunity to travel to that place and hated it! What was your experience like?

Dallas: Really? I don’t think we ever played in Reading besides the Reading and Leeds festivals.

iheartthemusic: Okay, well then you are safe! [laughs]

Dallas: Yeah, we’ve played in Leeds a bunch, aside from the Leeds festival, and the shows are always great there.

iheartthemusic: You guys played to something like 45,000 people at that festival in Reading. That must have been incredible!

Dallas: It was amazing. But you know what was better? Because we played two shows that day, one at about 1pm on the main stage and then one at about 7pm on the smaller side stage, it was the latter that was truly incredible. Playing infront of 50,000 people is one thing, but playing for like 5,000 Alexisonfire fans singing louder than the PA means a lot.

iheartthemusic: Was that a defining moment in your career?

Dallas: I think that that Friday night show was the best show we’ve ever played in England. It was just so unbelievable.

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite place to tour so far?

Dallas: Australia. I love it there! It is actually just like Canada but only hot all the time.

iheartthemusic: I think that Alexisonfire as a band have definitely paved the way for many young musicians trying to make it in such a tough industry. Being able to cross the border and be successful on an international front is a huge feat. Do you see yourself as role models to these young artists?

Dallas: I think that the mainstream looked at us and were like “okay, they are kind of cool and kids seem to like them, so maybe we have to start playing their videos”. Maybe that opened the door for kids to write more than just three and a half minute pop songs for the radio and that’s cool to me.

You can catch Alexisonfire on March 28th when they support Billy Talent at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

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