The Indies remind us Canadian music is cool

The Sheepdogs win everything, Treble Charger is inducted into the Hall of Fame, and Rich Aucoin turns the show into Grade 5 gym class.

The 12^th annual SiriusXM Indies took place Saturday night, ending the festival of local musical talent that is Canadian Music Week. The awards show was held in the large Canadian (that’s what it’s called) room, at the hub of CMW, The Royal York Hotel. My photog colleague and I sat down at a table in the media room and had a quick look around. A woman with faded pink highlights and a striped blazer glared at us, and said she would need the entirety of the table very shortly. Meet the drummer of Pack A.D., one half of the hardcore rock duo that was set to perform later on in the eve. We quickly obliged and quietly snacked on mini Aero bars and Smarties until the show started.

A mix of bands and industry people, were spread evenly throughout the room, glancing around to see who’s who. It was hard to point out who was who, as most of the nominees in the room were modestly styled, mild-mannered and keeping to their own group – aka Canadian. And then The Sheepdogs walked in. Long-hair, skinny flared jeans and guitars slung over their backs, they sauntered in and sat down at the table behind us. I`d heard about the hype, like everyone else, when they made headlines as the first unsigned band to make the cover of Rolling Stone magazine last August. But to see them walk into a room was like a refreshing time trip back to the 70’s. No antics or gimmicks, just raw talent and rock and roll swagger.

Some subtle gawking and a Diet Coke later, I took my place in the media pit at the side of the main stage, watching Pavlo, a four-piece Mediterranean band open the show, with a lively guitar and percussion performance. They sounded like an older version of The Gypsy Kings, so it was good to see host Jeff Leake, director of music programming of Sirius XM radio, take the side stage shortly afterwards.

The aforementioned female duo, Pack A.D. was next up for the second performance of the night and truly brought the hard rock fix with strong drums, electric guitar and dark vocals that reminded me of the awesome punk band The Distillers. “Haunt You” was a crowd favourite, and the vid is pretty cool, too. Two members from Walk of The Earth – that band that covered Gotye`s Somebody That I Used To Know ala a viral YouTube video – appropriately presented Favourite Video of The Year and awarded it to Mariana`s Trench for Haven`t Had Enough.

Young Empires were up next, performing two songs from their latest album, Wake All My Youth. The lead singer sounded a bit like The Cure’s Robert Smith, with modern techno beats accompanying the lead singer’s high-pitched drawl.

Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene took the side stage afterwards with an amazing, spacey introduction for Treble Charger, that he clearly free-styled while up there. The guys from Treble Charger were the guests of honour that night, as they were inducted into the CMW Hall of Fame. They reunited to perform fan favourite American Psycho (in Converse!) which sounded great, as everyone got a healthy dose of nostalgic pop rock for the evening.

Dan Mangan was up next, who was obviously the unofficial Indies poster boy, as the crowd turned Bieber-fan-crazy as he performed a few tracks off his folky album. He was also the surprise guest at the Arts and Crafts CMW showcase a few days earlier.

I personally thought I was most looking forward to Passion Pit’s performance, until, again I was slightly hypnotized by The Sheepdogs. They came on and performed I Don’t Know and it was over for me. Who Do You Belong To was up next and I was so into it, I forgot to tweet about how much I was into it. Paul Rogers was a surprise guest, who came out to perform a song with the band and later the infamous “Alright Now”, which put a song to the rock star’s face, if anyone in the crowd didn’t know who the eff Rogers was.

Rich Aucoin took the stage next, opening his performance with a large video montage displaying various inspirational messages. Think Baz Lurhman’s “Sunscreen” video with a CMW/SXSW twist. I’d never heard of Rich Aucoin before The Indies, so was kind of blown away by his unique stage presence. Rich constantly addressed the crowd with positive shouts, while mixing random viral YouTube clips with hard, upbeat techno sounds. He crowd-surfed, managed three outfit changes, shot confetti into the audience and encouraged the crowd to “get out of their heads”. Halfway through his set, he threw a large multi-coloured Grade-5-gym-class parachute into the audience and instructed everyone to get under it while he did the same to finish his performance. There were some critics in the crowd, but I personally admired his successful effort at interacting with his fans and making the show an unforgettable experience.  

Boston-based Passion Pit closed the show with an energetic set including hits Sleepyhead and Little Secrets. Graham Wright from Tokyo Police Club was on keys for the evening, giving them the honorary Canadian stamp of approval to play at The Indies.

The show was a perfect close to an amazing week of fresh Canadian music, all yours to love and discover! See ya next year.

See below for a full list of award winners.

Favorite Pop Artist or Group of the Year

Neverest

Favorite Jazz Artist or Group of the Year

Jill Barber

Favorite Blues Artist or Group of the Year

Suzie Vinnick

Favorite Folk/Roots Artist or Group of the Year

Elliott Brood

Favorite Country Artist or Group of the Year

Doc Walker

Favorite Children’s Artist or Group of the Year

Splash’N Boots

Favorite World Artist or Group of the Year

Minor Empire

Favorite Video of the Year

Marianas Trench - Haven’t Had Enough

Favorite Rock Artist or Group of the Year

The Sheepdogs

Favorite Single of the Year

The Sheepdogs - I Don’t Know

Favorite International Group of the Year

Bon Iver

Favorite International Solo Artist of the Year

Adele

Favorite International Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year

Young The Giant

Favorite International Single of the Year

AWOLNATION - Sail

Favorite International Album of the Year

Adele - 21

Favorite International Video of the Year

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)

Favorite Solo Artist of the Year

Dan Mangan

Hall of Fame Inductees

Treble Charger

Favorite Francophone Artist or Group of the Year

Coeur De Pirate

Favorite Electronic Artist or Group of the Year

Deadmau5

Favorite Urban Artist or Group of the Year

The Weeknd

Favorite Alternative Artist or Group of the Year

Library Voices

Favorite Punk/Hardcore Artist or Group of the Year

Fucked Up

Favorite Metal Artist or Group of the Year

Protest The Hero

Favorite Live Artist/Group of the Year

The Sheepdogs

Group of the Year

The Sheepdogs

SiriusXM Emerging Artist of the Year

Rich Aucoin

Favorite Album of the Year

Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

1 month ago  /  0 notes

Canadian Music Week opens at CN Tower gala with Joel Plaskett Emergency and Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers

Canadian Music Week kicked off in the most patriotic way this year, with an opening invite-only gala at everyone’s favourite National landmark, the CN Tower.

It was an exciting and interesting choice for opening night, one that had everyone talking in the supersonic elevator that whizzed us up to Horizons cafe, the designated venue for the evening. “I’m experiencing ‘airplane ears’,” I very loudly exclaimed to my fellow writer friend as I stepped out of the elevator. He replied with a confused “What?” while pointing to his ears. It was evident I wasn’t the only one feeling happily out of sorts. Thankfully our ears adjusted in time to chat about the incredible view of Southern Toronto and rock out with Ben Caplan, who took to the stage solo.

Ben got the crowd going, without his Smokers, by strumming his guitar to the jovial Seed of Love, followed by the light-hearted and fun, Beautiful – “let’s go on a date, don’t hesitate, this could be great”. I’ve Got Me a Woman was a crowd favourite, as everyone sang along to the charming “she’s-so-gooood-to-meee” round-a-bouts in unison. A group of guys lining the back of the floor, provided the perfect baritone while they swayed back and forth to the lovely folk melody. If this is what the East Coast feels like, I’d like to go immediately. Ben’s simple lyrics and rugged sounds made it irresistible to just stand and watch him perform; one was compelled to sing along to his bold raspy tales of romance and passion.

Joel Plaskett Emergency took to the stage shortly after, and the semi-circle shaped floor quickly filled with fans and combative photogs, stepping on toes to get that one good shot.

“We are the highest band in the world right now,” Joel said, and he wasn’t lyin’. The high-energy trio performed new tracks from their forthcoming album, Scrappy Happiness. Northstar and Harbour Boys got everyone in the room WOOing and dancing in their own spot. The real standout of their set though, was Lightning Bolt – a melodic tune that started out slow and strong, then surprisingly picked up speed with a jolt of electric bass that shocked the crowd into a real, sweaty rock show. Nowhere With You was up next, a familiar JPE classic, that has us all begging for an encore. It was the perfect opening night that set the stage for a myriad of great bands to follow.

Will the CN Tower turn into a regular venue for Canadian music acts? I have high hopes.  

1 month ago  /  1 note

C’est What? C’est Cai.ro.

If you haven’t heard of Toronto’s own Cai.ro yet, what are you doing with your live music-going self?? Watching hot hard rock bands in Kensington? Me too. But in all musical seriousness, you should be having your hearts stolen and earholes rocked by this newish indie band, who arrived on the T.O. scene about a year ago.

Thursday night they opened for fellow indie rockers, Crowns for Convoy, at intimate and interactive venue, C’est What with a full 7 song -setlist. All eyes were on lead singer, Nate Daniels as he opened with “Vampyre”; an eerily catchy 3 minutes of dreamy reverb (check it and other songs off the band’s EP here: http://www.myspace.com/cai.ro)

They followed up with “Render”, a ballady tune, led by strong sultry strings c/o Caitlyn, the band’s cool violinist, and soft drum-kit cymbals c/o Matt, the easy-on-the-eyes-guy behind drums. Nate gently wailed over the sound of these awesome instruments, pairing them perfectly with vulnerable lyrics, telling the tale of reluctantly being in love (I think). I took a quick glance around the pub during this number, and it was clear the audience was just a little bit more than captivated… read: mesmerized, trance-like stares to the front of the stage. My friend’s iPhone lit up during “Render” and he didn’t even CHECK IT. That’s how good it was. Uninterrupted attention, y’all.

“All These Colours” was up next, making everyone in the pub bob their head along in tune or do a shoulder sway, to and fro. If you were there, and did not get into this song in any way, shame on you. Your lack of rhythm and recognition of good music is disappointing. Kidding, I digress. Cai.ro’s bassist Dante, accompanied Nate’s emotional vocal lead here, making for a pretty rad combo of soulful sounds. This is the type of song that could easily make it’s way onto the radio, Sirus, whatever, perhaps pushing this band into mainstream territory. I hate to compare but, less a few string sections and Montrealers (although Nate did live in MTL a few years ago… but no accent, and he’s native to BC, so doesn’t count) and this band is equivalent to the talents of the multi-dimensional Arcade Fire. And by multi-dimensional, I mean super talented and interesting to listen to.

Let the motor run, indeed.

Lookout for Cai.ro around town at Canadian Music Week in March and NXNE in June.

3 months ago  /  0 notes