Tom Fun Orca-Wail (Vinyl)

Hailing from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia this energetic nine-piece invaded Guelph, which they lovingly referred to as the nipple of southern Ontario. In his wry manner, Ian MacDougall introduced the "Tom Fun Orca Whale".. to the half-hundred or so patrons who'd come out to the Vinyl on an early August, Tuesday evening (c'mon Guelph - show some support!). Once the small stage was sufficiently packed with an accordion player, banjo-ist, female acoustic guitarist, lead-singer and electric guitarist Ian, bass player, trumpeter and lovely lady violinist (from left to right, 8/9 members attending), all blocking the open-shirted, mustache who manned the drums, they busted into the first tune. It was this mustached-man who led the first track with a driving beat. Everyone on stage had the chance to clear their throats while singing the chorus of this track, and soon thereafter each worked out their respective instruments with an awesome showing during the Highway Siren Song Breakdown. Ian's great gruff voice growled clear (despite many sound system issues), leading the charge on most songs, though Carmen Townsend also lent a female perspective often, and the rest of the band were quick to join in for a chorus, backup or singalong. Vocals were hardly needed on the next track which had an anthemic beat reminiscent of BSS that changed drastically towards hoedown, before returning to the marching beat and then closing out at super speed.

I'd been looking forward to some Rum and Tequila and that dropped next. The violinist must have been looking forward to it as well since she got into it (and out of her shoes into barefeet too). In the spirit of removing clothing, the drummer lost his shirt entirely at this point for the rest of the show. After breaking a guitar during one song, Ian swapped for another and joked about trying to bust this one too while tuning it up. Not one song later he could be seen sliding the neck up and down his mic stand, doing his best to make his prediction true. There were some brief breaks from the musical swell (and not just to try to clear feedback), including the song that cut the hard hitting drums, making for a relatively lighter tune. Back at it, they ripped things up with the excellent Watchmaker that saw Carmen belting out her verses before all of the musicians just let loose, in one of the many instances where I was thinking 'finale', but it didn't come. Carrying on with a few more for the dancers up front, they even tossed some cover lyrics into the midst of their own songs, such as the chorus to MGMT's Kids. With the crashing of the following track it was clear that this was actually going to be the end after many false finales. The last push of this song was clear as they encircled the drummer, backs to the crowd, raising instruments in the air while jamming out, for the equivalent of a good-bye group hug. Too bad it couldn't have been a larger hug (audience-wise) but The Tom Fun Orchestra didn't seem to care as they poured out a full-out strong show much to the delight of the dedicated fans who were in attendance.

Carmen Townsend

Carmen Townsend had a beard and a mustache. No, not the lady, but her accompanying band, as they opened for Tom Fun. More specifically the band was a subset of Tom Fun, that included the bass player (beard) and drummer (stache), but were fronted by Ms.Carmen Townsend (hence the name) now playing a rather large electric (as opposed to her Tom Fun acoustic) guitar. She had a good wail that suited the rock'n'roll show. Opening with a crescendo of sound (I'm not sure that's even possible) they entertained for the whole set, especially with the tune that never seemed to end - growing longer, while getting stronger. The last song was appropriately introduced as a country tune since it definitely had that feel to it, but along with her voice it worked. Altogether, it worked.

Local group, Thunder and Lightning, started the night off. It was a three-piece, though without offense to the drum and bass players, they seemed to be there simply for the singer to play his electric guitar overtop of. With some restrained back beats he blasted out guitar licks for twenty or thirty minutes, with no stage banter (and not much presence). It wasn't unenjoyable, but not overly interesting either.