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

Rebel Emergency are a dynamic Toronto based rock, reggae band that iheartthemusic have had the honour AND pleasure of covering twice already. For a music website that has only been around for a couple of months, this may seem a tad bit much, however, we seriously cannot get enough of these boys. When we heard that they were hosting their debut album release on Thursday, August 27th at The Mod Club, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see these boys put on another stellar performance.

We arrived at The Mod Club to an overwhelmingly packed house of fans, family and friends (we aren’t really sure which category we fell into-perhaps all three) that were all waiting anxiously for the boys to hit the stage. Unfortunately we did not arrive in time to catch the opening acts (Dane Hartsell, Street Pharmacy and King Sunshine), however we heard great things from fellow concertgoers!

When the boys did take to the stage, the entire venue erupted in chants and cheers and you knew this was going to be a performance to remember! The show was in support of their album release of Love Ain’t Free; a continuation of the reggae vibe off of their previous EP. With this album they travelled all the way to New York to record with legendary (and Grammy Award winning) producer/engineer Commissioner Gordon and spent six months back and forth from Toronto to New York to produce an epic piece of music for your listening pleasure; something that you will surely want to have in your collection! The crowd in attendance were definitely there to party and so were the boys on stage! Their energy and passion spread through the crowd like wildfire and by the end of their set everyone was either singing or dancing along to Roddy’s eclectic mix of rock, reggae and ska stylings. A highlight of the night was seeing them come back onstage for a special encore of their single “Wander Far Away” which was played up with Roddy’s signature move of surfing the crowd. As we have said before and will say again, if you haven’t seen Rebel Emergency perform live, please let our THIRD review of them be the push you need to check them out!

SUNRiSER are asking many questions these days, but the one that stands out the most corresponds with their recent album titled Is This a Good Life?.  Having had the opportunity to do tours across Canada, the UK and Ireland (which was made easier by bandmates actually being from that part of the world) the title of their recent album appears to be fitting for this up-and-coming act. They just played an amazing set at the PEACE DOT LOVE Music Festival during NXNE and are currently travelling to promote the recent addition to their musical accolades.

iheartthemusic: Your band consists of a bunch of guys from all over the world, how did you all meet then?

Davey: It was a lot of things happening at the right time really. We’ve all got our own stories of how we all met; some guys are online, some guys are friends of friends, some guys through other bands. Just the fact that we managed to stick it out this long together, we take pride in that.

Declan: I was online. I came here in 2001 and went online and the  lads were advertising for a bass player so I met the guys and then that was it.

iheartthemusic: You guys got very lucky then! So let’s talk a little bit about this album- what was the recording process like?

Declan: It was recorded in Toronto.

Saam: We did the drums and bass in Toronto. Most of the vocals were done in preproduction.

Darryl: It took about a year and a half- it was a long process!

iheartthemusic: Often times bands find the recording process very  strenuous. Are you a band that are more partial to playing live than recording?

Darryl: I am totally live as opposed to recording. These guys love it, but I love live.

iheartthemusic: In the age of digital downloads; were you apprehensive at all to come out with a new album?

Davey: Yes.

iheartthemusic: So why not just do the download thing?

Sean: Well we have both. I think just old school wise it’s nice if you are going to  a show that you have something to take home with you.

Darryl: At the end of the day you might as well just have both!

Declan: You can’t go home with an MP3! [laughs]

iheartthemusic: How was it touring overseas?

Declan: It’s different in every country for me. In Canada there are so many places  and so the advantage of touring in Ireland and the UK is you can play in a lot more places in a faster time. Canada is just geographically massive and so is incredibly different.

Darryl: St.Johns, Newfoundland is the best place in Canada!

Declan: iTunes and MySpace have made it so accessible for fans from all over the world to research you and get in contact with you which is great!

iheartthemusic: So I am assuming you’ve jumped on the twitter bandwagon too!

Darryl: Yeah we have.

Davey: There are only so many hours in the day to update all these social networking tools! It’s like an hour out of your day sitting at your computer!

iheartthemusic: What has been your favourite venue to play at in Toronto?

Davey: We have a really good relationship with The Horseshoe and the vibe and history of that place is awesome. It’s a great room. We also really enjoy The Mod Club. You know it’s a newer place but its really band friendly which is cool.

iheartthemusic: I love seeing shows at The Mod Club, so its nice to hear that a band enjoys playing there too!

Davey: Yeah, I mean the “dives” are cool and you can’t turn your back on that but when you show up at a really posh place it’s a nice treat too.

Saam: Supermarket is nice as well because it is a more intimate vibe and you get a nice connection with the audience.

Declan: But the history of The Horseshoe is pretty intense- I mean you can feel it when you walk into the place.

Darryl: Everyone gets treated the same too. It doesn’t matter if you are The Rolling Stones or  us- we are all in the same room, walking up the same stairs and getting treated the same.

iheartthemusic: Absolutely! Has there been anyone that you were able to play with that blew you away?

Darryl: French Kicks from New York were pretty cool.

Davey: We are certainly hopeful that with the release of this new album we will be able to play with some of these bands that we idolize. That’s sort of where we are at and the place that we want to go.

iheartthemusic: What made you guys decide to play for  PEACE DOT LOVE?

Saam: A friend of mine had been to a few shows and enjoyed them and her friend was actually organizing the festival and then it turns out that a couple of our friends knew the two guys that got killed. So they basically got in touch with us to play.

Davey: It’s also got some other great bands playing, its at the Kool Haus and we’ve never played there before so that is cool. We are pretty honoured to be a part of it. We feel pretty lucky.

Darryl: It’s one of the best things that musicians can do. They are always the first to answer the call, I think. I believe that musicians have a pretty good social conscience.

iheartthemusic: Tell us something that people woudn’t know about SUNRiSER.

Declan: I think musically we are kind of diverse. There are different elements to our sound that other bands don’t usually have.

iheartthemusic: You have to have some stories along your travels that you can share?

Darryl: Well in Manchester we ruined our rental van.

iheartthemusic: Partying?

Declan: Yeah, you could put it that way! It was the most expensive tour ever!

Darryl: We will just say that we had a band member that decided to get the party going in the van before we got home. The cleaning bill was huge and let’s just leave it at that!

iheartthemusic: After this album release what’s the plan?

Declan: We will be going out East supposedly in July.

Davey: We aren’t able to do it all at once, so we are going to handle the East coast in July and then Ontario/Quebec in August and then take it as it comes for September.

Darryl: Hopefully we can head back to the UK at the end of September.

On Thursday (March 5^th) iheartthemusic decided to venture into familiar territory and attend The Secret Valentine Tour show at The Mod Club. Why was it “familiar territory”, you ask? Well, it seemed like the same crowd that was at the Take Action Tour Toronto show a few weeks back was in full attendance at this one too. It was all ages, which became ever more apparent as we never had to wait for a drink at the bar! We arrived fairly early so as to get a chance to speak with the boys from The Cab, one of the bands performing that evening, and noticed that a lineup had already begun well before the show’s opening act was set to perform (don’t these kids have school?). As we walked into The Mod Club there were a few comments directed at us by the girls in line who appeared to be upset that we were getting in before them! I even believe b**** was yelled at us by a 14-year-old girl. It was an interesting way to start the night!

First up on stage was a band from Florida (which was a theme throughout the night) that go by the name of VersaEmerge. What I loved about this band was that it was headed by a female vocalist. You rarely see that in a rock/pop band and so this was a breath of fresh air! Sierra Kusterbeck is her name and she exhibits maturity well beyond her years (she is only 18!), which became evident when we sat down and chatted with her before the show. The girl can sing too! She commanded the attention of the audience and it was hard to look at anything else (let alone the other band members). VersaEmerge ended their set by adding “even though this is half the crowd we’ve played for, it’s the best we’ve ever seen!” Well thank you, but considering the venue was not even half full, I doubt it was the best!

Next up was There For Tomorrow, another Florida based band that consists of Maika Maile (vocals/guitar), Christian Climer (guitar/vocals), Christopher Kamrada (drums) and Jay Enriquez (bass). These boys started off by doing the sound check that they had missed earlier. I won’t use that against them, however, as I later found out that their absence  during sound check  was a result of wanting to go downtown. Having been their first time in Toronto, you have to love a band that takes the time to enjoy the city they are playing in! So after all the tuning was done I have to say they were pretty amazing and lead singer Maika’s voice was incredible. What really got the crowd going were the MANY references to the fact that Canadian girls are so beautiful. On numerous occasions Maika announced, “I like what I see pretty girls”, which either means that their publicist had prepared them well (considering the entire audience was female) or they truly do believe that Canadian girls are hot (and why wouldn’t they!). Either way, this is a band that I am going to keep on my radar as I anticipate we will be hearing more from them soon!

The Cab was next on the bill and I got the pleasure to sit down and chat with some of the members before the show. You may have already heard of them as their single “Bounce” was featured on an episode of The Hills in the fall. When the band first appeared on the stage I was a bit thrown off by the Michael Jackson glove that lead singer Alex was sporting during the entire set, however, they made up for it with their talent. This band went straight into it, there was no chatting with the crowd or telling them how amazing they were like the predecessors. They played their first few songs without even acknowledging the crowd, which I loved since, let’s face it, it’s all about the music anyway! They also incorporated different instruments into their performance, which you don’t normally see with this style of music. Keyboardist Alex (the heartthrob of the group) added a unique touch to their sound. There was one minor instrumental setback during their set when Ian’s guitar was out of tune, but singer Alex was able to cut the silence by singing an old tune from five years ago and engaging the crowd in the process. They invited Sierra from VersaEmerge on stage to sing with them at one point which was great and the combination of Alex and Sierra’s voices sounded amazing. One thing I noticed that lead singer Alex did that I have yet to see any other bands do was introduce and thank each individual member of the band while on stage. I also appreciated the N’Sync throwback that snuck into their set near the end. These boys have convinced me that they know how to put on a show and were definitely the highlight of the night.

Last but not least was We The Kings: the headliners for the evening. I actually didn’t catch their set as I was engaged in some interviews at the time, but managed to hear a bit. What I heard was great, although it was not all original material. I believe they played a cover of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.” I didn’t quite understand this; do they not have their own material? A source close to the tour informed me that that was typical of their performances, so I was a bit disappointed by that. After the show I was able to chat with them and they redeemed themselves in my books. They are really down to earth and truly enjoy what they are doing and all the support that they get from their fans (I still don’t understand the fee  they impose on fans who want to meet them after the show though). I will have to catch them next time they are in Toronto to garner a better understanding of what these guys are really like as performers.

photography courtesy of Jessie Lau