It's now time for our 154th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're taking a look at defunct local alternative/hard rock trio The Din's third live album "Technically Live"! Released on December 26th of last year (but only being looked at now due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer period since our last Din review), "Technically Live" is the much belated end result of their CD release party for their debut studio album "Give In To The Din", which took place on August 12th, 2016 at The W.W. Baldwin Auditorium at The Tech. Recorded live at the show by producer Daniel Schmidt of Pretoria Hill Productions, the tracks were remastered by frontman Mike Haggith for this posthumous release five+ years later. Mike is on vocals & bass here alongside guitarist Tammy Hill (ex-Steeletown Girls/Leaked) and drummer/backing vocalist Brandan Glew (ex-Revolution/Re:Born), who all also featured on the studio album itself.
"Technically Live" is on sale for $10 on CD at
this link, while you can buy digital copies of it on a "name your price" model on
their Bandcamp page, and/or stream it for free there, but consider buying it to support The Din's work, if belatedly! Now, similarly to our review of The Din's prior CD release party live album
"Suburban Sendoff", I will
not be re-reviewing the original songs here, as I have already done so in prior Din studio album reviews (not to mention what was carried over from Mike's prior projects), but I will compare them as live cuts and to The Din's studio versions. Also, I was in attendance for this show back in 2016, you can read my review of both The Din's & openers Gnaeus' sets at
this link. Be advised that Mike did chop out a lot of the between song banter (and an original song outright), but you can hear much of that via
Shaw TV's footage of their set.
With 15 songs running for about 58 minutes in length, let's kick this review off with both it's & the concert's opening spoken word track "Leamington, Ontario"! This did not make the cut for "Give In To The Din", but was previously released on their 2016 live acoustic album "The Din Does Laundry". The album-low 97 seconds long piece is the traditional lead-in to the next song, which definitely comes across deeply in the live element with Mike self-deprecating the band's setup. The extra oomph and passion in Mike's dialogue is welcomed, but I've never thought this stood on its own as its own track and should ideally be included as part of the song proper, "75", which was track #5 on the album, so they definitely did not play it in release order. Live, the song is faithful to the studio version aside from the intro being absorbed by "Leamington, Ontario", Brandan's more prominent backing vocals, and the usual concert asides and variances.
"75" remains a solid hard rocker as in its prior studio appearances, and it was a wise choice to lead off with! Next up that night was
"Alleyways & Apartments", which is again played pretty faithfully, but the live spontaneity does lead to a livelier and faster rendition that I think suits it! The song proper is a mid-tempo alt-rocker with good melodies, so it's good to see that they're not already tinkering with the then-new songs! Mike does leave in credit to recording the song with Dustin Jones afterwards. Track #4 is the title track of "Give In To The Din", namely
"In Search Of The Perfect Moment", and I honestly prefer the live take because I always found Mike's vocal register drop in the chorus suited the song better than in studio, where he sung at the higher register for all of it. The song is otherwise accurate to the studio version, but rougher around the edges as you might expect.
Had this led off the show instead, it also would have worked fine with it's up-tempo energy and forward momentum, and everyone performs well on it! The first of four covers (excepting former Haggith band/Mike solo holdovers) is next, specifically a rendition of The Foo Fighters' classic song "Learn To Fly". Fun to hear The Din's rendition again, but Mike does overdo with the chorus vocals a bit with that echo he does, and I do think the song would benefit from having two guitarists (Tammy's solid as ever but a rhythm track would help). Lively and familiar all the same, and Brandan gets some room to let loose! We return to the studio album tracks next with "Out Of My League", which is again, played very similarly to what you heard on "Give In To The Din", but looser and rawer given the live setting. Not a whole lot new to add, it's an entertaining melodic sing-along track that translates well live, as you might recall from their pre-pandemic gigs!
Next is
"Remember", which was the acoustic ballad of sorts for "Give In To The Din", and while it is played similarly on "Technically Live", it has a fuller sound with more instrumental heft, and also includes an extended call-and-response section where Mike encourages fans to sing along with the "set me free" part near the end. I think the campfire vibes of "Remember" worked better in studio, as the expanded fuller version doesn't feel as cohesive, but your mileage may vary. After linking it to The Din's former "Cover of the Month" video series, we next get another outside cover, this time of The Barenaked Ladies'
"The Old Apartment", which you may have previously heard in unplugged format on the physical run of "The Din Does Laundry". The Din always had this song down cold in concert, and while not as heavy, Mike's deep vocals and their ear for melodies keep it going!
I won't spend a lot of time on this, but the very next song at the CD release concert was not included on "Technically Live", namely "Of Cars & Criminals", despite previously appearing on Mike's then-newest solo record "The Warinside" and unplugged on "The Din Does Laundry". You can see/hear "Of Cars & Criminals" from that night via Shaw TV's OnStage episode at this link. No point reviewing it when it wasn't on the live album proper, but I don't hear any grievous errors to explain it being cut, so it may just have been a casualty of not being a studio track on any release of "Give In To The Din" & summarily being out of place in hindsight.
As you could see from Shaw TV's footage, "Of Cars & Criminals" bled right into the next song that did make the cut, namely
"Flux". The live rendition is played a little faster and does sound a fair amount rougher than in studio, partly because Mike & Brandan's harmony vocals don't mesh the same, but the drum solo bridge is actually better live to me. This song remains a fun & melodic number in any event, and fans were receptive at The Tech! Next is another Foo Fighters cover, this time of
"Times Like These", which also previously appeared in unplugged form on the physical release of "The Din Does Laundry". This version is immediately better than how they played it at The Gore Street Cafe, as Mike's singing the song at a normal register, unlike the deeper, slower way he handled it for that show/CD. The freewheeling nature helps make this a fun diversion, but again, rhythm guitar would help add to the melody and layering of this cover.
Another original is next, namely the fan favourite "Potato (Should've Known Better)", which is about identical to the studio version in arrangement and pacing. The big difference is the lack of effects on Mike's vocals for the chorus, and the rawer, straightforward vocals there are actually an improvement to me. Strong up-tempo hard rock number that fans of The Din and Mike's heavier local-era solo work should easily take to live or in studio! The final outside cover played at the release party is next, namely The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends", which also appeared on the physical copies of "The Din Does Laundry". In fact, both of those live albums have the same outside covers, save for City & Colour's "Fragile Bird" instead of "Learn To Fly" on the acoustic one. This Beatles rendition sticks to melodic formula but is more raucous and has more rock-befitting mannerisms and banter throughout.
Again, I don't find that the vocal harmonies are 100% spot on, but this is a fun cover all the same, and takes less liberties than the acoustic version did! Originals comprise the three remaining slots of this album/setlist, starting with
"The Rose", a true deep cut that was rarely played live by The Din afterwards. This rendition is rawer and harder-edged, so I do prefer it for energy's sake to the studio version, while the ending is abbreviated. Not my favourite song on "Give In...", but well written! Despite appearances, the abrupt ending is because it led straight into the penultimate song and final from the original studio album release,
"A Drive Through The Peninsula", which is an album-long
8+ minutes on both CDs! This meandering song is the biggest surviving remnant of The Din's early-mid 2010s run as an acid jam collective, which works extra well live.
The core song is about the same aside from Mike singing the chorus in a more upbeat way at times, but you do get a false song ending early and a different flavour to the extended instrumental jam in the back half, which gives Tammy lots of room to shine in particular! The last 30 seconds of the track is applause and calls for an encore, leading to the live album & setlist's closer,
"Differences", which was not on "Give In..." initially but a demo recording of it came out on last year's "Deluxe Edition". The then-new song had nothing to compare to at the time, but against the studio demo, this is
much faster and heavier, almost punk-esque in how its approached! In my review of the deluxe edition, I conceded that maybe dropping "Differences" from "Give In..." was a good idea, but not if they'd recorded it in the same aggressive way that they played it here!
Band shoutouts and plugs break it up in between, so you can't cleanly substitute one for the other, but the much more raucous pacing and fuller live audio quality definitely end the show and live album on a high note, and if you wanted more out of "Differences", here you go!
So, what are my final thoughts on "Technically Live"? I'd say that it's an entertaining release that captures The Din at their local height, and the work Mike did to fix up the recordings for public consumption was worth the time and effort! While there was more editing done compared to their other electric live album "Suburban Sendoff, the final product does feel more like an album intended for retail, so you take the bad with the good. Given that this was a release party for a studio album, you would expect The Din to faithfully play each song, and they did just that with only minor variances for the most part. Mike's vocal & bass work, Tammy's lead guitar shreddery (is that a word?), and Brandan's drumming were all on point, and where there were big changes, they were usually to the song's benefit!
What would I have fixed? Well, Mike & Brandan's vocal harmonies often didn't jive that well, I'd still cram "Leamington, Ontario" & "75" together, I did miss "Of Cars & Criminals", and some of the live performances were a little rough compared to the studio copies, but in the latter case, that comes with the territory, and spontaneity and unpredictability arw something The Din always handled nicely in concert! This is well worth your time for fans of The Din & Mike's extensive solo catalog, so buy or stream "Technically Live" above, and I hope you guys liked this month's CD review! In May 2021, our busy concert review calendar will continue as I look at the new self-titled demo EP from young local punk quartet
Vanity (First), so stay tuned for that in the weeks ahead, and for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!
Here's one more weekend concert preview for TONIGHT, as a bunch of familiar faces will join forces at The Dive Gastro Pub! Advertised by the venue as the "jam night for Joy" (the Facebook event page treats it as a normal concert), this special event is the culmination of today's celebration of life for Joy MacMillan, the late mother of Spades GT/ex-Haggith guitarist Daniel Horton, whose support was clear and instrumental throughout her son's local band work in the 2010s, as his friends and bandmates will be well aware of. Joy passed away in late November, but after a GoFundMe campaign, her celebration of life proper takes place today at the Holiday Inn Express (the former Days Inn) from 2:00-6:00 PM, but the concert portion takes place at around 9:00 PM with an advertised reunion of Mike Haggith & The Din, albeit their 2013-2014 acid jam/improv incarnation featuring Daniel alongside Mike & Curtis McKenzie.
Two days after this interview was posted, Spades joined twenty-three other bands to pay tribute to beloved GTA metalhead Walter Froebrich at The Rockpile in Toronto once again, and this discussion leads to some good personal discussion about connectivity and personal interactions among the metal community there, plus coming and going into music and awareness of it, and having the drive and passion to get your name out there and also support other local-to-you bands. Eventually, Tyler does bring up the band's eventful 2024 and plans to return to the studio next month to record their next studio album, as well as plugging some of the band's radio airplay in Southern Ontario last year, while also opening the floodgates to promoters to book them in 2025, especially in markets that they haven't played at before. Following some more Walterstock promotion, Tyler plugs what they have for sale and what they hope to have to sell soon, especially the new CD.
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