Brendan Canning @ Media Club -- 11/29/13

No one can ever accuse Brendan Canning of not being a hard working, busy man. The Broken Social Scene co-founderhas his name to about a half dozen bands, and now that Broken Social Scene is on a hiatus, he has been busy with his new solo album, his second counting Something For All Of Us, under the "Broken Social Scene Presents" line.
But in contrast to Broken Social Scene's bombastic, grandiose sound, his new album You Gots 2 Chill takes a tone fitting exactly with its name; it is laid back and mellow.

I got to the Media Club just as Dinosaur Bones took the stage. With a dark indie rock sound, the band had a great presence on stage. A few times they got the crowd clapping along, and had an effortless energy.
They were supporting their newest album Shaky Dream, and with songs like the moody "Career Criminal" being one of the highlights of the set, and I am definitely going to have to pick up their album.

It wasn't long after that that Brendan Canning was up. Joined by Hark on backup vocals (who opened the show and I unfortunately missed), Canning and his band played in front of a projection screen showing stock footage and old videos (including the old science film Powers of Ten)
After an instrumental intro, he launched into "Plugged In", the first single off the new album, setting the tone for the set with it's very laid back mood. Throughout the set, Canning was occasionally joined by members of Dinosaur Bones, and part way through the set invited a friend up on stage, Torquil Campbell of Stars. Campbell joined backup vocals for "Late Night Stars" -- appropriately enough -- and then a pretty amazing cover of Drake's "Hold On We're Going Home"
The band also took the time to stretch their musical legs, as a few songs ended with extended jams; Canning even mentioned after the swirling ending of "However Long" that they did some on-the-fly improvising. The set ended with the soft and beautiful "Last Song for the Summer Hideaway" and while the rest of the band left, Canning stayed to perform one more song, a solo acoustic instrumental.

It was a great show that was marred a little bit by a shitty crowd. The Media Club has always been bad for noise and conversation, and combine that with a Friday night and Canning's chill set, and the din got to be a bit much at times. But Canning managed to get the crowd to shut up for at least one song, the quietest of the set, and the noise seemed to die off after that. Noise aside, Canning is a hell of a performer, and I would love to see these songs in a more fitting venue.

Paper Lions & Jordan Klassen @ Media Club -- 11/16/13

It seemed like the universe was against Paper Lions playing Saturday night at the Media Club. Three quarters of the PEI band had to make the drive from Edmonton to Vancouver the day of the show -- lead singer John McPhee had arrived early by plane -- and while they left Alberta with plenty of time, blizzard conditions, traffic accidents, highway reroutes, and Vancouver's infamous year-round 24/7 road construction caused them more than a little grief getting to their headlining set at the sold out Media Club.

In fact, their co-headliner, Jordan Klassen almost ran into the same problems, only arriving at the venue when the opening act was supposed to go on. A quick line check delayed the show by a little while, before Emilie Mover took the stage alone for her opening set. She had kind of a jazzy vibe, and her set included a couple covers, including a Townes Van Zandt song, and one in French which was probably the best song of the set. I feel she would have been a lot better with a full band behind her, but with just her, it wasn't necessarily bad, just not very memorable.

After a little bit of stalling, and some more quick sound checking, Jordan Klassen was up next with his newly slimmed down band. Now a four piece, the band consists of old members Jocelyn Price on keys & backup vocals and Simon Bridgefoot on drums, as well as newcomer Mike Noble. They managed to capture most of the same scope of the larger band, and had just as much energy. Especially Jordan, who is always bounding around the stage while switching from guitar to banjo to ukulele.
With a set featuring songs off his recently released Repentance album, Klassen started with "Call and Answer", starting quiet and growing to a rambunctious ending. His rich folk-pop ran from the big and intense "The Scribe of Doorposts" to the much quieter  "Goodhart's Law" which almost got the Media Club silent (no easy task).
He wrapped up the set with the whistley "Go To Me", another song that builds to a big ending, and the more mellow "You Are The Branches"

setlist
Call and Answer, Anatomical Literacy, Ranchero, Balcony, Strengthen Me With Raisins, The Horses Are Stuck, The Scribe of Doorposts, Piano Brother, Goodhart's Law, Sweet Chariot, Go To Me, You Are The Branches.


At this point in the night, the remaining Paper Lions were still a little over a hundred kilometres away, but since John was there and ready to go, he took the stage for a short solo acoustic set. Explaining the situation, he started with a song about their previous tour van's unfortunate run-in with a moose, and played a really strong set. Keeping it loose, John told stories between songs, and getting everyone to sing along to his acoustic jams, including a nice cover of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill".

Had worse come to worst, that would have been a pretty good show, but not long after John finished, the rest of the band showed up from their 16 hour drive, and immediately set up & started their set -- hitting the stage at 12:30, two hours after their scheduled time.

The stunning harmonies of "Philadelphia" kicked off the set as they channelled all their pent up energy and frustration into high energy rockers like "Don't Touch That Dial" and "Sweat it Out", the chorus proclaiming "I'll sweat it out from 9 to 5, to sweat it out on Friday night". The set spanned from new and old, from the ridiculously catchy "Pull me In" off of the new album My Friends, to the explosive "Strawberry Man" that goes all the way back to when they were known as the Chucky Danger Band.
They got everyone singing once more for "Little Liar" and "Lost The War", and wrapped up the set with "My Friend", John jumping into the crowd to tell individual members of the remaining audience "I know you are my friend".
Despite that it was almost 1:30 when they wrapped up, the crowd still clamoured for more, and they obliged with one last song, "Sandcastles" for an energetic and emotional ending to a long day.

The potential for disaster was all there, and I would not have blamed the band at all if they had just decided on a shorter set. But the fact that immediately after driving for 16 hours, they put on a top notch set was incredibly impressive.

setlist
John solo: The Night That We Survived, Polly Hill, Solsbury Hill [Peter Gabriel cover], Ghostwriters, Trouble, I'm On Fire, Travelling. 

Band: Philadelphia, Don't Touch That Dial, Sweat It Out, Pull Me In, The Sheriff, Bodies in the Winter, Little Liar, Strawberry Man, Stay Here For A While, Travelling, Lost The War, My Friend.
(encore) Sandcastles. 

Elliott BROOD @ Media Club -- 09/29/13

Ten years ago, Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, Stephen Pitkin got together and released Tin Type, the very first Elliott BROOD album. To celebrate that anniversary, they embarked on a tour of smaller clubs and venues. In Vancouver, that meant the very first place they played here, The Media Club. And considering the last time they were here they sold out the Commodore, a place with five times the capacity, it was sure to be one hell of a show.

As an added bonus, opening the night was John Sponarski of Portage & Main. He took the stage armed only with an acoustic guitar, the occasional harmonica, and his secret weapon, Savannah Wellman of Redbird helping on vocals. John played a set of his own solo songs, which were a little more countrified than the roots-rock of Portage & Main, and his voice a little more gruff, contrasting nicely with Savannah's lovely voice.

The songs were personal and full of emotion, as John told the stories behind them between songs. He admitted it was only his second time playing solo after he flubbed a song, but that can be somewhat forgiven as he also explained that some of the songs were a mere two days old; even the "oldest" ones had only been written a couple months ago. 

My favourite of the set was the last song, a passionate song that was equal parts celebration and lamentation as a reaction to a band breaking up, with a bit of a sing along. It was a great song, and I am not sure if John plans to do more solo shows, or get some hired guns, but it would sound killer with a full band giving it their all. 

Before Elliott BROOD even stepped on stage, the packed crowd was already buzzing, and there was an explosion of enthusiasm as the trio started off with "Will They Bury Us?" from their latest album, Days Into Years. They played a lengthy set that spanned their entire ten years, and those years of experience has refined their live show to a well oiled machine of "death country".
They are an incredible live band, full of energy and fiery passion. Everything from the songs to the banter seemed effortless, Steve's incredibly tight drumming, Mark switching between guitar and banjo and ukulele, Casey playing guitar while playing bass pedals with his feet.
They got the crowd into early on with the massive sing along to "Oh Alberta", everyone clapping and stomping along, and it hardly slowed down from there; even the the softer and more sombre "Northern Air" had an intensity to it. "The Valley Town" garnered another huge sing along, and they wrapped up the set with "Fingers and Tongues".
But they were only off stage for a moment before jumping back in, somehow upping the energy and intensity with the instrumental barn burner "Chuckwagon", and the night came to and end with the absolutely explosive "Write It All Down For You" and every single person stomping and "hey! hey! hey!"-ing along. It is normally an impressive song to see live, but with the culmination of all the energy and emotion in the room, I am surprised the floor wasn't stomped clean through.

Elliott BROOD is normally a very impressive live show, but put them in a small venue filled with the most passionate crowd I've seen in a long time, and you have one unforgettable show. I can only hope they'll be back to the Media Club for their twentieth year anniversary.


setlist
Will They Bury Us?, T-Bill, Wolfgang, Oh Alberta, President (35), Garden River, The Bridge, Rusty Nail, Northern Air, The Trail, Bowling Green, Lindsay, If I Get Old, Only At Home, The Banjo Song, Old Dan Tucker [traditional cover], The Valley Town, Hold You, Fingers and Tongues.
(encore) Chuckwagon, Johnny Rooke, Write It All Down For You.

Sidney York @ Media Club -- 04/12/13

Hot off the heels of showcases at both SXSW and CMW, and wrapping up work on a new album, Sidney York stopped by the Media Club for a preview of their new material. The album isn't due out until the summer, but they teased us with almost the entire new album.

Starting off the night was Jamison Troy, the Vancouver singer songwriter taking the stage armed with an acoustic guitar in hand, and joined by Nick Russell on electric guitar. His songs were all very earnest, his smooth voice conveying personal songs, full of emotion. But there also wasn't much variation from one song to the next.
It was a solid set, and I would see him again -- especially as he continues to grow as an artist -- but wouldn't necessarily seek out more.

Next up was Seattle pop-rock band, New Heights. They had a soaring sound, with a decent voice from lead singer Travis Graham, but they didn't have much stage presence, even when they tried to awkwardly joke with an increasingly disinterested crowd. They weren't really all that bad -- aside from flubbing the opening of a song and starting over -- but overall, the set was pretty inoffensive and forgettable.

It wasn't long after that Sidney York took the stage. Brandi Sidoryk & Krista Wodelet -- a pair of classically trained musicians who make the core of the alt-pop band --  were backed by Neil Dorin on bass, Devon Lougheed on guitar, and Luke Cyca on drums. Both multi-instrumentalists, Brandi on vocals and keys also pulled out a guitar, ukulele, and french horn for different songs, and bassoonist Krista helped out with vocals and dabbled on keys, synth and ukulele. And they were both bounding with energy; Krista bubbled over with enthusiasm, and the only times Brandi stood still was when she was behind the keyboard, and sometimes not even then.

They kicking off the set with the title track, "Hearts", and after a few favourites, like the infinitely catchy "Dick & Jane" getting everyone clapping and along, they went into the bulk of the new album. Ranging from the soft and lovely "Let The Sparks Fly" to the frantic, almost punk-tinged "The Lion. The Tiger. The Bear.", the new songs had an undeniable edge and depth to them.

A song about our love affair with technology, "Electrolove", was the catchiest of the set and bound to be a hit single, and they ended with two songs that turned out to be my favourites of the set; first a swirling and chaotic song called "I Could Swim", with some fantastic drumming from Luke, and one that I hope is called "Weapons Grade Love" called "Watch Your Back", with great overlapping vocals from Brandi & Krista.

Regular readers (all 17 of you) will know that I've always liked the band, but this was the best I've seen them live; maybe they were invigorated from wrapping up a short tour, or maybe they were excited for playing the new material, but everything was so tight and energetic. If the album is even half as good as the live interpretations, it's definitely going to be an album to look out for.

setlist
Hearts, Mile High Love, Dick & Jane, Math & Fractions, Let The Sparks Fly, The Lion. The Tiger. The Bear., Electrolove, I Could Swim, Weapon's Grade Love Watch Your Back.

Wil @ Media Club -- 12/14/12

It was eight years ago that I went to see Wide Mouth Mason at the Commodore Ballroom, and was transfixed by the opening act, an acoustic roots-rocker who simply went by the name of Wil. I've seen him at least a dozen times since, and I am continually impressed, each time I see him play.

Unfortunately I missed the opening act Ryan McMahon. There were conflicting reports on show times before the night, and I got there thinking I was just in time to see him, but it turns out he had just finished his set. 

It wasn't long after I arrived that Wil took the stage, joined only by Kevin Haughton on drums, at the sold out Media Club, visibly appreciative of the support. You can always tell when an artist is going through the motions thanking the crowd and when they are genuinely touched, and Wil was definitely the latter. His roots-rock sound and rough, soulful voice filled the room, the raw emotion pouring out and his passion for playing immediately apparent, as he candidly hoped for the opportunity to continue playing for many years to come. 

Wil opened the first set of the night with "Rain On" and after a few songs, he went off the setlist and started soliciting requests from the crowd, playing a few older songs, "Mama" and "Dance With The Devil". He also lived up to his "I Break Strings" moniker snapping a string during "Tell You Twice". And as many strings as I've seen him break, he never seems to be trying to do it to live up to a gimmick, but rather just from the sheer intensity of his playing -- his hands are often a blur flying across the body of the guitar. 
And the strings aren't wasted; his wife takes the discarded strings and makes jewelry from them, selling them online and at shows.

After about an hour, Wil ended the first half of the night with a crowd favourite (and mine) "Honey Pie", an incredibly catchy and fast paced, slide guitar driven song. He was back out soon after for the second half of the night, kicking off with the building energy of "Cooder Mountain" and playing a few more songs, including the darker "The Deal" and wrapping up the night with another amazing showcase of his quick hands on the guitar with a song I didn't catch the name of. 

As if it isn't already apparent, Wil is one of my favourite performers to watch live, and as long as he keeps playing shows, I will always be there. 

setlist
Rain On, Gold, Hold Me On, Both Hands, Wedding Dress, Roam, Mama, Dance With The Devil, Tell You Twice, Honey Pie.
Cooder Mountain, Always With Love, Hey Now, The Deal, [mystery song].