One of the bonuses of being in a band surely must be the fact that you can have some of the best birthday parties ever. Not only was it the birthday of Shred Kelly's Tim Newton on Friday night, but it was also the sixth anniversary of the band. They celebrated with a show at the Electric Owl, party hats and balloons everywhere.

I got to the Owl just as the first band Mother Upduff was wrapping up their set. The two-piece played psychedelic bluesy rock with distorted guitar and screaming vocals, but I couldn't tell you much more than that, other than "loud".

Next up was Vancouver's own Colby Morgan and the Catastrophes, which included Sabrina from This Is The Shoes, pitching in on vocals. They had a pretty straight forward rock and roll sound that would be good in something like the Fox Seeds competition, and wore their influences on their sleeve; a song sounded like mid-90's alt-rock, another like 70's classic rock. Their final song of the night blended all those influences into a long, winding song, which was the highlight. They played a perfectly good, enjoyable set, but it was not especially memorable.

And finally, Shred Kelly hit the stage, adorned in pointy party hats -- except Tim, who got his own captain's hat later on. They opened the set with "New Black" from their album Into The Hills and played about hour and a half spanning their six-year history. From new songs like "Stuck Between", a dark and haunting song featuring Sage McBride’s powerful voice, and "Eyes Are Open" a perfect example of Tim’s blurry-handed banjo playing; to older tunes like the aptly named "Tornado Alley" which builds to a swirling chaotic cacophony, and one of the most cathartic singalongs, "I Hate Work", which had every person frustrated with their job yelling along.
After another highlight of the set, "The Bear" featuring a catchy keyboard run from Sage and some intense drumming from Ian Page-Shiner, the band wrapped up the set with the title track to their latest Sing To The Night. But of course they were back out for one last song, the very first song the band wrote together, "Goodbye July".

Shred Kelly impressed me from pretty much the minute I saw them, on a train car in Melville, Saskatchewan a few years ago, and they have just continued to get better. Here’s to another six years (and beyond).

setlist
New Black, Cabin Fever, Start Again, My Vessel My Grave, White River, Rowed Away, Time is Passing, Stuck Between, Stereo, I Hate Work, Eyes Are Open, Jewel of the North, Tornado Alley, The Bear, Sing To The Night.
(Encore) Goodbye July

photos by Christine McAvoy