Trans Musicales - Day Two & Photo Recap

Hello again from the other side of the globe, I'm currently in London where I actually ended up catching shows by Rah Rah & Dear Rouge, and The Wooden Sky & Yukon Blonde, but I'm going to catch you up on Day Two of the Rencontres Trans Musicales De Rennes!

This was the busiest day for sure of the festival, and it had me running from hall to hall to make sure I didn't miss anything I wanted to see. That said, I made sure to spend some time in Hall 5, where there were about a dozen different themed bars and restaurants set up (including a champagne bar!), and where I had one of the best festival meals I've ever had. Good food really makes a big difference when you're running around all evening! 
I put a few photos in the slideshow to give you a sense.

The evening began with punk/garage rock all the way from Madagascar with The Dizzy Brains. The energy the band had was a perfect start to a long evening, with lead singer Eddy belting it out all over the stage. I only stayed for about half of the set, but their passion was evident, and the loud rock had the hall moving. [Listen to: "Nicotine"]

Over in the next hall was Son Little, a performer I was told I should definitely see. Hailing from the States and working with artists like The Roots, and RJD2, I had high expectations. The smooth vocals, and beat a mix of everything from hip-hop to reggae had the room grooving and definitely feeling sexy. I witnessed several make outs from the photo pit, but that might just be France. [Listen to: "Cross My Heart"]

If there was one band I was looking forward to hearing live most, it was TOTORRO. When looking into the artists performing at the festival, I liked this one so much that I downloaded their album Home Alone and have been listening to it for weeks now. The live show proved to be just as good, with the band going all out and adding a few guests, including a trumpet player. I still compare the soaring crescendos to that of early Broken Social Scene, and when I thought they had the energy of a band like We Are The City, I was proven correct there as well when the drummer continuously stood up while playing a la Andy. If I had to recommend you check out just one band that I saw, this is the one. [Listen to: "Chevalier Bulltoe" or the whole album HERE]

When TOTORRO was done I headed over to catch some of Grand Cannon, mostly out of intrigue as to what kind of show a band that included 70-year-olds would be putting on. What I didn't realized that in addition to drums and guitar there would be less traditional 'instruments', including garbage cans and bags (see photo), metal chains, you name it. They were doing covers when I entered, and I particularly remember hearing "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll", which, to me, kept sounding like they were saying "It's only second row"...given their unconventional nature, I wouldn't put it passed them. [Listen to: "Dirty Ways"]

Slide guitar and soul music, Vintage Trouble, from the United States, had Hall 3 MOVING at 1:30 in the morning. It's hard not to tap your toes and dance along to that kind of music, and feeding off of front man Ty Taylor's energy. The band was great to photograph, and definitely brought the party, but at a festival full of new, raw, different musical sounds, I lost interest after a while, thought the audience was still loving it when I moved on. [Listen to: "Run Like The River"]

At 2:30am a little slice of home came on stage; Dralms, who also came all the way to France from Vancouver, filled the hall with their haunting music, and a large crowd. I couldn't help but smile in the photo pit, finally hearing some familiar songs and seeing familiar faces. I photographed for a little bit and then took in the rest of the show from the crowd, happy to see a positive reaction to my fellow Canadians. Side note, Dralms is performing in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret on February 18th. [Listen to: "Crushed Pleats"]

My evening ended (mostly because I couldn't feel my feet anymore and it was 4:30am) with whom I dubbed the Dutch Sheepdogs, Dewolff! The similarities started with the look (hair!) and continued to the music, although I found Dewolff to be a little more psychedelic in sound, and there were only three of them on stage. I enjoyed their live performance very much, as they were as much a joy to photograph (that hair!) as to watch. [Listen to: "Don't You Go Up The Sky"]

Day Three (final one!) of my Trans Musicales festival experience is up next, which was pretty casual compared to this busy night, but definitely had some highlights!

Trans Musicales - Day One & Photo Recap

Well hello from Europe! I traveled all the way to the other side of the world from Vancouver to cover what turned out to be one of the best festivals I have ever attended: Rencontres Trans Musicales De Rennes!

After being in motion for about 36 hours to get to the beautiful city of Rennes, France, I dove into a unique and fabulous festival at quite the venue. The Parc Expo had huge halls with different genres and styles playing in each of them, where you could move around between sets or hang out in the main bar area (more on that in the next post!).

I arrived just in time to catch Hector Bizerk, a Scottish hip-hop group, performing to a packed hall. The energy was high and buzzing, and watching Audrey Tait kill it on the drums in one of the final songs of the set was a great way to kick off the night.

Next up was one of the bands I was most excited to hear perform live: Her, from France. The band is still relatively new, and the two front men are just as fresh faced. That said, they put on a hell of a show, with sexy lyrics and ear worms beats. The songs were in English, but the mostly French crowd ate up the performance. Definitely my highlight of the day, and they didn't disappoint my expectations.

Finally I caught the 3SOMESISTERS, also out of France, who were one of the most unique performances of the festival, which is saying something when you have artists from all over the world. Difficult to categorize, but entertaining and captivating for sure, the band wore matching outfits (dresses) and elaborate headpieces, and played dreamy pop music that was a great send off to some much needed rest.

Day Two of my Trans Musicales festival experience is up next, so keep an eye out!

Peak Performance Project Year Seven Finale @ Commodore -- 11/19/15

It's over.

Thursday night marked the end of a seven year journey that put millions of dollars into supporting locals bands and talent. I am talking, of course, about The Peak Performance Project. As usual, everything wrapped up with this year's top three playing the grand finale at the Commodore, and the reveal of the winner. First place would take home $102,700, $75,000 went to second place, and $50,000 for third. The winner had been long decided, known only to a select few, and the night was just a celebration for the top three, to play at the legendary Commodore Ballroom. 

Starting off the night was Kamloops' Van Damsel who were, from the beginning, my prediction to take it (though I'm more often than not wrong when it comes to predictions). I have seen them a few times recently, and I think they were on top of their game Thursday night. The band was obviously happy to be playing the Commodore, in front of friends and family that had flown in just for the show. And that joy bled through into their bouncy and upbeat upbeat indie-pop. Especially lead singer Sebastien Ste Marie who hardly stood still, getting everyone to clap along several times, and even leaning into the crowd, arm outstretched, with the apropos lyrics "I just wanna reach you" during "Sophia". 
Other highlights included the swirling intro to "Something Gold", and their big single "Best of Everything", which saw them invite out Conan Karpinski  from follow Top 12 band Little India, and had the dancefloor singing along. 
I thought that would have been the perfect ending, but they had one last song, an instrumental intro spotlighting bass player Matt “Renny” Rennehan building to a bit more of a mellow song. 

Second up on the night was Bed of Stars, Evan Konrad and his band taking the stage to moody lighting and smoke, starting with the soaring single "Nothing Left to Lose". From there, they filled the room with alt-pop songs that matched the mood of the lightshow. 
I had missed their showcase set and it was hyped to me as one of the best, which may be part of the reason I was surprised that the set this night seemed flat. Which isn't to say it was bad; from a technical standpoint it was a good, Evan and his band were on point, and his vocals strong. But there was just something about it felt like it just didn't connect.
There were a couple songs I really liked, though, one that came midway through that I didn't catch the name of, but was a lot heavier and more rocking than the rest of the set, and near the end when he brought some of Smash Boom Pow on stage to help with a very unexpected cover, "Larger Than Life" by Backstreet Boys. It seemed like at that point in the set just getting into it, but it came just a bit too late, as there were only two songs left, ending with a with some bone-rattling bass. 

And finally, I couldn't think of anyone better to end off the night than the man that feels like the unofficial poster boy of the Peak Performance Project, JP Maurice. It was his third time through the program (not counting the couple times he was a hired gun for other bands) but clearly his most successful. 
With a band comprised of some familiar faces (members of Fields of Green, Willhorse, and Bend Sinister) he started with a bit of a slow and moody overture of "The Other One" before ramping up the energy. The set was full of JP's emotion-filled, heart-on-his-sleeve songs like "Get Some" and the unabashed "The Other One". One of my favourites, "Mistake" even saw large balloons bounce around the crowd until they popped, showering everyone below with confetti. 
Midway through his set he started an almost nonstop parade of special guests, first packing the stage with even more members of Willhorse and Bend Sinister, as well as some of The Boom Booms, Benjamin James Caldwell, and Savvie, for a song about touring the vast country of Canada. Some of which stayed onstage for the rest of the night, as he then brought out a horn section for a straight up throwback pop song, Evan Konrad for his bootcamp collaboration, and Roderick Campbell of Mindil Beach for the huge finale to the set, "Big Change" ... at a certain point it was almost easier to list who wasn't on stage. 

And then, of course, came the big announcement. Third place going to Van Damsel, and second to JP Maurice, which meant Bed of Stars took the grand prize of $102,700 in money for artist development. 

And of course, none of this would not have happened without all the hard working people at The Peak and MusicBC. They did an amazing job in their seven year run, and while -- if I'm being honest -- I disagreed with the some of their choices more often than not (for bands in the Top 20/12/3), I can't deny that the last seven late summer/early autumns have been a great time. A great time for musicians. A great time for music fans. A great time for the local music scene in general. I have discovered so many amazing bands and musicians through the project, even made some friends along the way, and I will be more than a little sad when this time next year rolls around, and it feels a little empty. 

Hawksley Workman @ Commodore -- 10/29/15

Hawksley Workman rolled through his self-proclaimed second home last week on his Winter Bird Tour, to celebrate his newest album Old Cheetah at the Commodore Ballroom. And when I realised I had never seen a "proper" Hawkley Workman show -- only as a part of a festival, or one third of Mounties -- I knew I couldn't miss it. 

Unfortunately I did miss the two openers, The Passenger and Fiona Bevan, due to other commitments, getting to the venue just as Hawksley & co hit the stage. They started things off with "Tonight Romanticize the Automobile" from his Lover/Fighter album, and played a nearly two-hour set spanning his 16 year career. All the way back to his first album For Him and the Girls with "Bullets" and "Paper Shoes", up to his new album and songs like the ridiculously catchy "Don't Take Yourself Away (Instant Nostalgia)". 

Other highlights included "Careful Not Beautiful" and the tour's namesake, the soaring "Winter Bird", and the few times throughout the night that Workman invited friends on stage. Both of his Mounties bandmates were out for a song each; Steve Bays for "Teenage Cats" and Ryan Dahle for "It's Really Starting to Snow", as well as his opener Fiona Bevan to provide backing vocals on "Old Bloody Orange".

And even thought the show was over an hour and a half, it flew by. Never a lull or a drag, the set had a great flow to it. There was a portion in the middle where songs segued into each other beautifully, and his amusing stream-of-consciousness storytelling between songs kept the crowd engaged. In fact, the crowd's energy went a long way to making the show special. Workman came across as genuinely humbled and honoured by the response he got, especially when people were singing along, and especially to the "weird stuff". A few times he even pointed directly at people, thanking them for singing along. 

After wrapping up the main set with the somewhat heartbreaking "We're Not Broken Yet" from the new album, Hawksley returned to the stage with a couple friends out once more, Bays and Dahle, for a slowed down, chilled out version of Mounties' "Tokyo Summer". From there he ended the night with a couple older favourites, the crowd just taking over singing for "Safe and Sound" (and Hawksley letting them) and finally, the incendiary "Smoke Baby", leaving everyone breathless. 

setlist
Tonight Romanticize the Automobile, Don't Take Yourself Away (Instant Nostalgia), Teenage Cats, Baby Mosquito, Ilfracomb, Bullets, Clever Not Beautiful, Dirty and True, Paper Shoes, Old Bloody Orange, When These Mountains Were the Seashore, General January, Song for Sarah Jane, All the Trees Are Hers, It's Really Starting to Snow, Make Up Your Mind Tonight, Winter bird, We're Not Broken Yet.
(encore)
Tokyo Summer, Safe and Sound, Smoke Baby.