Wow, we can hardly believe it ourselves here at SoundProof: We've made it to our one-year anniversary since officially going online on March 7th in '07. One year has passed where we've shared some great highs, harrowing lows, fantastic interviews, amazing live shows, a hell of a lot of laughs and a bond that has proven time and again that all us SP'ers are one dedicated bunch!
Now, we're normally pretty darn modest, but on Friday night, we packed 'em in at Sneaky Dee's for our officially CMW showcase, which included one hell of a line-up: Hot Panda, Restlesslist, The Pack AD, Hot Springs and The Hoa Hoa's. Capped off by cake, fun freebies and an extended night of drinking and dancing that went on until 4 a.m. thanks to the tracks laid down by DJ Shit La Merde.
Starting off the night, albeit slowly, Edmonton's Hot Panda, unfettered by the light crowd (it was 9 p.m., after all) pulled of one kickin' set, playfully jostling amongst each other and teasing the appreciative crowd. Playing a nice mix of their best tracks, they also treated us to a new track, yet to be titled, but what lead singer Chris Connelly simply called "Kazoo." Damn fun and catchy to boot.
Following on their heels, we had Restlesslist, direct from
the U.K., play their unique, vocals-free, industrial-laden,
post-electronica beats, which, while not for everyone, sure
as hell brought in the scary factor, with demented twists
on carnival tunes and dark, horror-movie-inspired sounds.
Us
SP'ers had a fun time with it, joking about
unavoidable night terrors and freaking evil clowns coming
out from behind the stage curtains. Too bad Restlesslist didn't
add that element to their performance — it would have
seriously worked.
My fave act of the night had to be the next one on the roster:
The Pack A.D. This Jack-and-Meg-esque blues-rock duo featured
Becky Black on vocals/guitar and Maya Miller on drums. What
a stellar voice. The whole room, which was getting pretty
darn full at this point, was taken aback by the stark, masculine,
'70's trucker voice of Black, who powered through an unbelievable
set. The tracks "Goldrush" and " All Damn Day Long" put me
on my ass.
The highly touted up-and-comers from Montreal, Hot Springs,
took the well-primed stage to play to a seriously crammed
room, with Giselle Webber pulling out her unique brand of
crazy onstage antics. God, I love this broad: all wild hair,
heavy, heart-throbbing, guttural screams, howls and whistles,
she's one hell of a performer. Getting the crowd into a mad
dance frenzy, Hot Springs delved into some of their best stuff,
such as the tracks "Headrush" and "Fog and the Horn," plus
a new, untitled track, which she encouraged the crowd to provide
the subject for. Turns out 'bananas' works in a Hot Springs
track!
Not letting down the crowd, we wrapped up with Toronto's own The Hoa Hoa's. The always satisfying, post-psychedelic pop that this rad little band offers up seriously pleased the crowd. Picking up where Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sonic Youth and Spacemen 3 left off, The Hoa Hoa's could so be BFF's with Anton Newcombe and Jason Pierce. As three of the four band members interchanged vocal and instrumental responsibilities for each track, building upon each other's talent, it was clear they are one of the tightest, well-synchronized underground acts on the Toronto scene. Getting people dancing and even moshing thanks to their beautifully layered, supersonic psychedelic sound, the band wrapped up the live acts perfectly.
So what did we do after the bands left stage and joined us
for cake and beers? Why, start the dance par-tay, of course!
Toronto's own DJ Shit La Merde kept the energy cranked for
the rest of the night to the delight of the hardcore scenesters
who weren't quite ready to pack it in. CMW: it's been a blast,
but, as usual, it was just such a fast whirlwind of music,
reporting and fun that we can scarcely believe it's over!
Bring on CMW 2009!
- by Karolina
Rous -
