October 24th, 2009. St. Matthew's Church, Halifax, NS/The Paragon Theatre, Halifax, NS Fellow Concert goer: Joelle Grant/Chantelle Rideout, Luke Adamski Headliner: Jenn Grant/Japandroids Supporting: Timber Timbre/You Say Party! We Say Die!
Timber Timbre @ St. Matthew's Church On a miserably wet and windy day, it was a relief to get under the roof of the old church and enjoy some chillingly beautiful music. Taylor Kirk came out of the darkness, sitting down with his guitar and a kick drum along with his two supporting musicians playing violin, pedal steel, and other instruments. The show started off with the church completely dark except for a dim red glow while the band played haunting and ambient sounds with the squeal of violins and pedal steel before Taylor Kirk started to sing No Bold Villain. The first handful of songs all bled into each other, but at the first sign of a pause the audience erupted with loud applause. He played seven songs off his latest album, which all sounded perfect in this setting. While the Coast said it was "boring" and "His stuff just wasn’t big enough to control such a powerful and airy space", I completely disagree. The way he performed made it seem like these dark, deep, and personal songs are a very delegate thing to bring into public, and if you stopped paying attention they would disappear. He put on a fantastic show which ended up being one of my favourite parts of HPX.
Jenn Grant @ St. Matthew's Church Earlier this year, Jenn Grant was selected as best local solo female by the Coast. After seeing her show it is obvious why. She is not only a great performer, but also a great entertainer. To start off the show, her and her band went around the venue throwing and handing out Halloween candy to the audience. Before and after songs she would tell hilarious stories about the origins of the songs, or things that were going on in her life such as a mouse which was living at her apartment. Each story drew smiles and laughs. At one point she pulled out too flashing lights and told the audience we were all being arrested for being too cute. The songs sounded excellent, featuring a variety of instruments. For her last song, she went out into the audience, sat down on top of a pew, and played a song on her acoustic guitar while her band surrounded providing beautiful backing vocals. The most memorable part of the show however was when she came out and closed the show with a fully costumed ghostbusters sketch (see video below).
You Say Party! We Say Die! @ The Paragon Theatre This show was being broadcast live by CBC Radio 3 online. YSP! WSD! came out with four brightly glowing white X's on the stage in support of their latest album xxxx. The show featured mostly songs from this record. The Vancouver based band's energetic songs combined with an excellent front woman in Becky Ninkovic kept the crowd dancing the whole time. Becky had a great stage presence as she delivered the vocals, making sure the audience felt part of the show. At one point she came down and sang amongst the crowd, and at another point she let the crowd support her as she crowd surfed. Japandroids @ The Paragon Theatre The headliners of the show ended up only playing a set that was less than half an hour long because they were going to turn the lights on and pull the plug on the show since it was the wee hours of the morning when they came on. That combined with the fact both Brian King and David Prowse were sick meant the show did not reach its full potential. Regardless the garage rockers were able to get the crowd moving with an energetic mosh pit the whole show. The songs were loud and powerful considering it was all coming from two guys playing the guitar and drums. They were very apologetic about being sick and having to end the show early, but promised to come back to Halifax.
October 21st, 2009. St. Matthew's Church, Halifax, NS Headliner: Bruce Peninsula Supporting: Valleys, The Got To Get Got, York Redoubt I already briefly mentioned this show in my HPX09 Wednesday entry. The Herohill Showcase featured two local bands; the upstart and hyped York Redoubt and The Got To Get Got. York Redoubt played through an energetic set, but hope you didn't blink. They only played for twenty minutes. The Got To Get Got also played an energetic set featuring a full band and multiple instruments. Valleys put on an ambient and stirring show. The music of a hazy dream, although they were having some technical difficulties at the beginning which delayed the start of their set. The highlight of the night was the set put on by Bruce Peninsula. Album sales are a good indication of the impact a band has on the crowd. Before they were finished playing their first song, multiple people went to the merchandise booth and bought CDs, a trend that continued throughout the night. The band featured four female vocalists, two male vocalists, and multiple instruments. All of their voices worked together in perfect unison to fill the Seahorse with a beautiful and haunting show. All of the members are very charismatic, displaying passion as they sing their hearts out. At times it was like watching an elementary school music class in the sense that everyone was playing an instrument, clanging a tambourine or banging another noise maker. The songs all have a very organic feel to them, making it easy to connect to and appreciate the music. During the encore, they did a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "the Chain" which they absolutely nailed.
Throughout the week I was sending twitpics and these journal posts to the Coast online since they were offering some tickets in exchange for Pop explosion feedback. Friday afternoon I found out I was the winner of a single ticket to the sold out MSTRKRFT show that night at the Palace. Hey Rosetta! was playing at the Grawood earlier in the day, but not as part of HPX. Obviously I couldn't pass up going to Hey Rosetta!, so after that show was over I scooted over to the Palace. Going to a show that featured DJs instead of people playing instruments was a different experience for sure.October 23rd, 2009. The New Palace, Halifax, NS Headliner: MSTRKRFT Supporting: various DJs MSTRKRFT know what they are doing. The Toronto duo dropped tracks for over two hours to the delight of a building full of sweaty, dancing people. There was never a dull moment as they spun their mixes of songs such as D.A.N.C.E. by Justice, Thunderstruck by AC/DC, and One More Time by Daft Punk. The set was filled with aggressive rock driven songs, heavy on base, and light on annoying top 40 chart toppers. Some have the idea that this genre of music is not music, but after the MSTRKRFT experience, it is obvious that a strong musical background, a keen ear, and loads of creativity are required if you are going to fill a room with thousands of people and keep their attention for two plus hours.
Day two of volunteering. This time I was selling tickets/ushering. Its always fun to work with a team of music lovers.
October 22nd, 2009. St. Matthew's Church, Halifax, NS
Headliner: Herman Dune
Supporting: Julie Doiron
An all ages show in a historic church is considerably different from a bar show. It looks different, people all sit in rows and listen to music. It smells different as the smell of booze and wine isn't overpowering. And most importantly, it sounds different. Every note played, every word sung, and every beat drummed is heard by all there to enjoy the music. This puts all eyes on the performer to put on a great show.
Tonight it was Julie Doiron from Moncton, New Brunswick and Herman Dune from Paris, France. Julie opened up nervously, not quite used to the new strings on her guitar. But as she sang through a beautiful set she became more comfortable. She was joined on stage by a drummer as she strummed her electric guitar through a set that featured some soulful slow songs and some other more upbeat and energetic songs.
David Herman Dune then took the stage playing a couple of songs, just him and his electic guitar, before being joined onstage by Nerman Herman Dune playing drums and occasional backing vocals. There set contained a mixture of vocal heavy songs and longer instrumental songs. An event like this can seem too serious with not much chatter between or during songs by the audience. But David was able to break down some of this wall telling a story about a conversation he had earlier in the night about a Simpsons episode about Seinfeld before going into a new song which was about the moment when a superhero has to tell his girlfriend that he is actually a superhero. There were many humorous lyrics spread throughout the set of this excellent singer-songwriter duo.
Halifax Pop Explosion is one of the best things that go down in Halifax. The city looks beautiful with the leaves changing coulours, everyone has busted out their leather and denim jackets, and there are awesome bands playing awesome music all over the city.
This year is my first year volunteering with the festival, and based on last night's experience I will be doing it for years to come. I started off the night selling tickets, but soon was asked to sell merchandise for the Got To Get Got (Halifax). I ended up working the whole night selling merch for Valleys (Montreal), and Bruce Peninsula (Toronto). This gave me the opportunity to watch the show as well as interact with the artists. The folks in Bruce Peninsula were fantastic and appreciative of my work. A couple members came back and talked to me for quite a while. It was great chatting about music, stuff to do in Halifax, and life. I thinks sometimes its easy to forget that musicians are just people to and enjoy the same things as everybody else. An explosion of music lovers and musicians all over Halifax? Yes please.
P.S. I'll do some more official review type things throughout the week.
I already briefly mentioned this show in my HPX09 Wednesday entry. The Herohill Showcase featured two local bands; the upstart and hyped York Redoubt and The Got To Get Got. York Redoubt played through an energetic set, but hope you didn't blink. They only played for twenty minutes. The Got To Get Got also played an energetic set featuring a full band and multiple instruments. Valleys put on an ambient and stirring show. The music of a hazy dream, although they were having some technical difficulties at the beginning which delayed the start of their set.
October 23rd, 2009. The New Palace, Halifax, NS
An all ages show in a historic church is considerably different from a bar show. It looks different, people all sit in rows and listen to music. It smells different as the smell of booze and wine isn't overpowering. And most importantly, it sounds different. Every note played, every word sung, and every beat drummed is heard by all there to enjoy the music. This puts all eyes on the performer to put on a great show.
