Believe it or not, this was my first time ever seeing Phatstick live, so my only impressions going in were from YouTube clips and audio from their albums. That and my knowledge of their musical resumes and local connections gave me some good promise for a good night of metal! And I will definitely say this: Phatstick are a very talented band with a natural ease on stage, but I bet most bands would be after being around for a decade! That being said, the crowd made up of mostly friends and family of the two local members (frontman Jason Taillefer and drummer Joe LaVergne) must have added to them being more comfortable and loose. Joe in particular seemed to be right at home, engaging in some pretty funny banter with the other band members and the crowd! I found it a bit odd that he did most of the talking rather than Jason, but remember, I haven't seen them enough to be used to that.
How'd Phatstick sound? Musically, they were great, the whole band are very talented musicians! I think Jason Taillefer's underrated as a singer, he can hit some pretty good notes! Good guitarist too, be it acoustic or electric, and he can nail some good solos! He evn played a couple of solo acoustic tunes that worked well, he's very adaptable! Julian Tomarin often seem shrouded in the dark, but his guitar work stood out as well, while Keith Gillam played bass effectively all night, no real complaints on that end! Joe LaVergne was great on drums and on backing vocals, I think he could sing lead in a band if he wanted to! Nope, I have no complaints about Phatstick's musical ability, they're top notch rock musicians! That being said, I was underwhelmed by their setlist for two reasons, one being the widely varying genres of their songs. They did play some heavier stuff, like AC/DC, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden covers, but they also had a lot of stuff from out of left field, like Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz, The Commodores, Coldplay, and Bob Marley. Luckily, they're an excellent band, so the covers worked no matter the genre, but after what I've seen and heard from Phatstick online, I would have thought they'd have a heavier setlist. It reminded me of the varying genres that Turner Up played when Todd Killam was their singer. Maybe it was the family environment, I dunno, but Phatstick were still good!
The other thing that disappointed me about their set was the complete lack of originals. Again, this was my first Phatstick concert, so I didn't exactly know what to expect for my first time, but I know for a fact that they have albums with some really good original songs, like "Loser" and "Bring You Down", and I was hoping to hear at least a couple of them! I did expect a cover-heavy set, judging from what I've seen online from their Southern Ontario shows, but no originals at all? Even still, it was a fun night of music, and compared to a lot of shows I go to, it had a very casual laid back feel that I welcomed, more local shows should feel like that! The crowd, which actually was at it's peak after 1 AM, had tons of fun dancing to the music and enjoying themselves, and in between a couple quick peeks at UFC 116 on the TV at Foggys (Brock won!), I had fun too, even if what I hoped to see didn't totally occur. Hopefully Phatstick come back home soon!As always, I got a bunch of photos, click here to check them out, or visit The Sault Metal Scene's Facebook page! Sorry for the photo quality, I didn't wanna be "that guy" that blocks people's view and wanders near the front snapping tons of pictures, and the lighting wasn't fantastic either. And yes, I got a video! Check it out below, Phatstick covering the AC/DC classic "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"!
To close today's update, I have another video to share that I've overlooked for way too long since I first heard of it. I mentioned a while back that if I find a video or audio of a local non-metal band covering a metal song, I'd likely mention it here, as in the That's Chester videos I found of them covering Iron Maiden and Sammy Hagar and such. Well, here's a metal cover from local progressive rockers Flat Stanley from a 2003 show at Smack Daddy's Bar & Grill! Drummer Glen Thomas (mastermind of The Barking Eye and former local metal drummer) uploaded this onto his YouTube channel on May 26th, an audio recording of their cover of "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, and it isn't bad! The sound's kinda off, but the song isn't a typical Flat Stanley cover choice either. Interesting to note that singer Jim O'Leary isn't saying "fuck" in the chorus like in the original, maybe he wasn't comfortable with swearing on stage. Check it out below, and not just for the metal nature of the song, cause they're quite the talented group!That's all for today, I reckon that's all SMS-wise for our 3rd anniversary, so just a reminder: I'm now tweeting actively at The Sault Metal Scene's official Twitter page! We're up to 6 followers now, let's keep that number rising! Follow us today!!! Stay tuned for much more, including new special feature posts, concert reviews, and more local metal news and updates!
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