A Short NXNE Adventrue

Well, as I stated a few days ago, it's North by North East time here in Toronto. Canada's premier Indie rock festival (depending who you ask of coarse). The festival for me was very short, and is now over. I had planned to head over to the Courthouse Wednesday night, but was still getting over a bout of food poisoning. I'm glad I didn't go, apparently there was no way I would have gotten in. Today I'm off to Ottawa, then Montreal on Saturday to play with Timber Timbre (opening for the Great Lake Swimmers, Eeeee!). So that just leave one day of NXNEing. Yesterday.


I received a call from Olenka and the Autumn Lovers cellist, Patterson. She was in town early (They are playing Saturday night, 11pm at Bread and Circus, FYI), and she was going to see a band called Rah Rah play at the Regency Hyatt for 2pm. I went along and I'm glad I did. At first I was in cynical mode, and found them a bit to Arcade Fire-ish (arcade fiery?), but they slowly won me over with their charm, energy and songwriting. Rah Rah is a young band, and have a some growing to do, but when it happens, I expect it'll happen big. You've got a chance to see for yourself at the El Mocambo this Sunday at 9. Oh and it's worth it to hear the drummer sing! She's got a fantastic voice, and may be a little under used as a singer, if you ask me... which you didn't.


Next up was the Arts and Crafts showcase at the Courthouse. As some of you know, I began playing with Timber Timbre not too long ago. I got in when the getting was good! We had a 5 o'clock sound check that we were all late for and subsequently missed. No big deal. I don't think we ever had a sound check before A&C, and lord knows we've never rehearsed, so we were weren't fazed. We hung around the neighbourhood and I was side stage for Zeus. Zeus is one of those bands that I've heard a lot about, but never had the chance to see. I loved it. This is a tight band. I was trying to think about how to describe them, and I think the best way is to imagine Deep Purple writing Beatles tunes. Although I hate to simplify.

After Zues I had a moment of panic. I don't really get that nervous for shows, I've been doing it for a while, but a few things hit me. 1- We hadn't practiced (we never do), and two songs I'd played maybe once. and 2- Jason Collett and Kevin Drew were side stage watching. Great. But it went fine. Really well actually. I fell pretty confident that we won over many in the audience. Phew.


Next up was Still Life Still. Another A&C band I'd been unfamiliar with. They were loud and extremely energetic. I was surprised at how much they reminded me of Broken Social Scene.... If BSS were packaged for Teenagers. I think that's a compliment.

Anyways, that was the end of our night. Early, but we're off to Ottawa today, and wanted to be well rested. I'm not, but I'll try to sleep in the car. I'm hoping to do a little mini-tour update this weekend, and if you're in Ottawa or Montreal, please come say hello (I'll be the guy with the saxophone).

OH, and I want to hear all about your NXNE experience, please leave some comments!!