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

On August 14th Toronto was rocked by the second annual Sausage Fest, presented by 102.1 The Edge and hosted by resident shock-jock Dean Blundell.  Fans of the radio station vied for weeks for coveted tickets to this listener appreciation event held at the Sound Academy.  The Edge provided food for the ears, mind and mouth, in the form of awesome music, a live interview with the legendary Kevin Smith and of course, the event’s palatable namesake: sausages!  The very impressive lineup of The Salads, Moneen, USS and a surprise SUPER SECRET guest made this event one of the most memorable shows of the summer.

Sausage Fest started up in the early evening with sausages served up hot off the grill, and a live edition of the popular edge morning show from the picturesque Sound Academy patio.  Radio personalities Dean, Jason and Todd, kept listeners entertained as they chowed down on the classic BBQ treat. 

Music for the night began at 8pm with Newmarket natives The Salads performing in disguise as “The Sausages”.  The band even dressed the part; resplendent in mustard and hot dog costumes.  If that weren’t enough, the bulky outfits appeared to not hold them back from putting on a rowdy set, getting the crowd ready and moshing for the next band!

Moneen took to the stage next and although we failed to catch their set, we are told that they were awesome.

Electro-rock duo Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (USS) were next.  While sci-fi nerd love ballad “Pornostartrek” was not on the set list (much to this writer’s dismay), USS truly BROUGHT IT.  The duo, that consists of singer/guitarist Ash Bucholz and turntabalist/hypeman the Human Kebab, put on a dynamic and at times acrobatic set, with HK hoisting Ash up on his shoulders during a particularly exhilarating guitar solo.  The set was defined by pulsating rhythms, wrenching vocals and melodic guitar.  Fans bopped to the beat of “Laces out”, and swayed to the strains of “2:15:16″.  Lovestruck female fans could be heard saying “a tack in a paper clip factory?  THIS SONG IS SO ABOUT ME!” (alright fine, I said that, what of it?).  There’s a reason why the Edge is pumping these guys as they are definitely the next act to watch. 

The night ended with an appearance by SUPER SECRET SPECIAL GUEST…THORNLEY!  Surprised fans jumped, thrashed and danced as the former Big Wreck frontman launched into his set.  Looking every inch the rock star, Thornley’s powerhouse vocals and heart thumping guitar riffs mesmerized and energized the crowd, who rocked out to old standby tracks such as “So Far So Good” off their first record Come Again, and new tracks such as “Conscious Consequence” off Tiny Pictures which was released this year. The night of many revelers was made even more apparent when Thornley busted out a classic Canadian hit, namely Big Wreck’s “The Oaf (My Luck is Wasted)”  off the now defunct band’s 1997 record In Loving Memory of… Thornley’s live performance was amazing, and more than made up for the hype and suspense.

All in all, Sausage Fest’s sophomore year was a rousing success, and has definitely raised the bar for the future of this carnivorous musical celebration.  

Written by Nadia Elkharadly

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Passenger Action, an amalgamation of members from punk bands past, played a show at the Horseshoe that iheartthemusic happened to be at. So impressed were we, we bombarded the band after their set and requested an impromptu interview. Luckily for us they obliged. And so Clay Shea (bass) and Allan Harding (drums) entertained us with how the band came to be, where they’re going and mammary massages. [Ed note: other band members are Shawn Moncreiff (vocals and guitar) and Ryan Podlubny (guitar).]

iheartthemusic: How did you guys form?

Clay: Shawn and I played for 13 years in a band called Choke. In 2006 we did our final tour, no wait, 2007. Before we finished we started playing with Allan and Pod; Pod used to play in a band called Tee Fullblast.

Allan: I was also in a different band from Edmonton. I’ve been in almost 50 bands. I play a lot.

iheartthemusic: You slut!

Allan: I started playing when I was 12 in wedding bands and stuff. I’m from Saskatchewan, but I moved to Edmonton to go to music school. I went on the Fullblast tour and met Pod; he was from Edmonton but he was living [in Toronto] playing in a band and going a little bit crazy, so he left the band and moved back to Edmonton and we started hanging out. He was almost done with music but then we started playing in a fun band and jamming and then…wait, how the band actually got started was when Clay had a bass stolen.

Clay: I left my guitar in the back of my car and my wife was using the car to go to the lake. She took it out and put it down while she was cleaning, ran in the house to grab something, and in the time before she came out some kids stole my guitar.  I didn’t notice it was missing until a couple days later. Long story short I needed a new guitar so I went to the shop where Pod works. Choke was not finished but on hiatus, and me and Shawn were looking to start a new project. A mutual friend from Detroit had recommended Ryan, who we call Pod [note: they pronounce it Pud, but we guessed it was based on his last name so spelled it this way]. Pod worked in this shop and we got talking about practicing. I think at this point him and Shawn had talked about the idea as well, and he said he knew Allan, so we got together and practiced and it clicked right away. That was two years ago.

iheartthemusic: How would you define your sound?

Allan: We’re like the new Rush.

Clay: I don’t see us as a punk band, but we all came from punk band backgrounds and I think it’s apparent when you hear us. We try to keep things a lot more interesting than the average punk band.

iheartthemusic: You just released your first full-length album.

Clay: It came out on Feb 10, it’s self-titled.

Allan: It’s on Smallman Records. We released an EP of the first six songs we ever wrote together. We did that in a basement in a week. Then we sent it out to some people and we had a couple offers but ended up going with Smallman Records from Winnipeg.

Clay: It was the label Choke worked with for 10 years.

Allan: They signed us and then they re-released the EP we made on our own and then we spent all of June recording the record in Brampton. We recorded it in June and it’s just coming out now in February so it’s been a long wait. Torture.

Clay: But we’re excited to be on the road again. It’s tough cause we’re a band running on the reputation of previous bands we were in; sometimes people are showing up with expectations. They liked our old band and really want us to sound this way or that way. But at the same time it’s afforded us the luxury to be able to go out on our own and make it worthwhile.

Allan: We definitely have an advantage coming here with past reputations because we can come to the Horseshoe on a Sunday and play in front of 50 people or however many.

Clay: On the Horseshoe thing, my dad, he really does his best to try and take an interest in my music. He’s awesome, but I know he’s always faking it. But the thing he gets excited about every time is whenever we’re playing the Horseshoe. I always tell him and he’s like, “I saw Hank Snow there when I was 20 years old.” And it makes him so happy; it’s like that connection that’s just awesome.

iheartthemusic: So the Horseshoe is just one of many stops on your tour to promote the new record?

Allan: We had a crazy fucking mission to get out East. We started in Edmonton, we played in Regina and Thunder Bay then Montreal to Rimouski and then all the way to Halifax.

Clay: We went from Edmonton to Halifax in a week’s time. The country’s so big and there aren’t a ton of places to play in between Winnipeg and Ontario. Either way it seems you gotta drive pretty much for two days across the country either at the beginning or end of a tour…You drive 20 hours from Edmonton and you cross four provinces. And then you hit Thunder Bay and you drive 20 hours and you’re still in Ontario. It just doesn’t seem like the same place.

Allan: Ontario is halfway to Ontario.

Clay: You’re brilliant…Anyways, within a few days of the record coming out we would have super fans at every show. A number of them anyway, whether it be four guys singing every word or 15 or 20 or whatever. It’s been an enthusiastic crowd.

Allan: I will say this, we’ll probably play in Europe before we play in the States. It’s more exciting.

Clay: I spent a lot of time touring the US with Choke and never really enjoyed it that much, I found it really tough. The things we didn’t do, like go to Europe or Japan, which I know are feasible because we have friends who do it, I think that’s where we want to focus more for sure.

iheartthemusic: What made it hard and tough? Was it the crowd or the venues and bookings?

Clay: A little bit of both. For the most part Choke was lucky, we were pretty successful in the underground scene, in Canada anyway, so we would do well.

Allan: Who did you tour in the States with? AFI… When you dig into the history of the band you’ll see that we’ve all been playing for a looong time.

iheartthemusic: Any crazy fan experiences?

Allan: [very guilty laugh] Tell them the massage story.

Clay: [louder guilty laughter] Giver. This wasn’t a crazy fan, this was just crazy. We were unloading after a show at a bar when all of a sudden  we look up and this girl’s got her large breasts in her hands and drops them on a guy’s shoulders from behind. Huge boobs! Then boom, titty neck massages! It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

iheartthemusic: I’m envisioning those inflatable neck pillows for airplanes.

Clay: Exactly!

iheartthemusic: What’s next?

Allan: We’re hoping to do the Moneen CD release tour, we’re on Warped Tour for Western Canada and we have a Western Canadian tour in April. Then writing and we’re going to go back to work. So we’re trying to keep busy.

Photography by James Blake