Firstly, I want to thank Jay Perron for the complimentary tickets for the show! Very nice of him! Despite doors opening at 9:30 PM last night at The Canadian Nightclub, nothing got started until an hour later, and while I waited for some friends that I promised tickets to, I believe I overheard some troubling things about the show's status from some staffers near the tour buses. I don't know specifics, but nothing bad happened, except maybe a bit of a delay. Your openers were Desperate Union, and they weren't bad at all! For kids this young, they show a lot of talent and are sure to grow into something special as time goes on! Their sound reminds me of a lot of radio hard rock bands, but they put their own melodic spin on things, and it works out well for them! Singer/guitarist Alen Worsoff has a nice voice that works well in heavy and soft ways, though I imagine he'll get better and deeper with age! Good stage presence too, and he seemed very grateful and happy to be there, along with the rest of the band! Drummer Jason Pierce, despite an odd stage placement on the far left, really impressed me with his movements and energy on the drums, while guitarist Adam Spears and bassist Kyle Teixeira both performed well on their respective instruments!I especially liked their songs "Don't Forget Me (Angel)" and "Black & White Lies", but I do think they could stand to ramp up their heaviness and include some guitar solos. Even still, they performed a solid concise set, and they show tons of promise! Big things are likely to come to these guys, and their radio hard rock style will find lots of fans, including hopefully lots of people at last night's show!
Your headliners were Crash Karma, the Toronto pop rock supergroup featuring a number of 1990s Canadian rock veterans! Former I Mother Earth singer Edwin, ex-Our Lady Peace guitarist Mike Turner, and Tea Party drummer Jeff Burrows joined together with bassist Amir Epstein of Zygote to form this supergroup, and they delivered a good set, though I do have reservations. Their set included ten songs from their self-titled debut album, along with four classics from the members' past bands, and you know something? I honestly enjoyed their covers more than their originals. This is NOT a case of me liking what's familiar, but the Crash Karma material seems a bit too light and standard compared to what I was hoping. But when they busted out "Superman's Dead" and "Temptation", I was right at home, and they delivered on all accounts! But the new songs didn't do as much for me, though they were all very well played. I admit I was more into the Brian Byrne era of I Mother Earth, but Edwin's voice was in top form last night, as was the rest of the band! Amir Epstein deserves credit as well, his bass work was really good, and his playing style (high on his chest) was unique too!Good stuff all around, but I wouldn't really call them "hard rock" on the basis of the Crash Karma material. But these guys are very talented, and this truly is a supergroup, so they are worth checking out! Good solid alternative pop rock, and you'd have missed a good show if you weren't there! My metal tastes did lean slightly towards Desperate Union though, but it was fun! Yes, I got photos, so click here to check out my Desperate Union shots, or visit the SMS' official Facebook page! Note that the Crash Karma picture above was NOT taken by me, I'll replace it with one I took tonight when I get home. And yes, I have a Desperate Union video, so here's the band playing their song "Black & White Lies"!
To cap off today's post, here's three smaller news stories that I've missed over the last while! As always, these are in alphabetical order by band name:
- Garden of Bedlam have launched a brand new Facebook page! This is separate from their Facebook group, and is pretty sparse for updates so far, but it does feature a cool lengthy biography on the band and a full resolution copy of the poster for their concert on FRIDAY at The Rockstar Bar! Become a fan today by clicking here!
- When going through band links on the SMS the other day, I discovered that the website for defunct local metal band Renderware has been closed. This doesn't appear to be the band's doing, as it was hosted on Geocities, which has been shut down. The same thing happened to The White Knights' old page. Never fear, as I've replaced the link with their MySpace page, so they won't be deleted from our listings! Make note though if you notice it's gone.
- I received an e-mail recently from Riverin singer/drummer Matt Hicks. Apparently, the call for live backing musicians for their upcoming debut concert has not produced a whole lot of interest, so he was wondering if I could help get the word out again. If any of you guys play bass, drums, or keyboard, or you know someone who does, contact Riverin's members at this location for details and song previews! They deserve some great musicians, and the sooner they get them, the better!
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