Yesterday afternoon a really neat endeavor rolled into Guelph. Busking for Change brought a bunch of talented bands to St.George's Square under the scorching sun to play acoustic sets while raising money for War Child. It can't be said that it went off without a hitch, as the hosting band had car troubles, a few others dropped out at the last minute and the fervor of buses and World Cup rowdies all played their parts but regardless of all that the show must, and did, go on. A show including the Bass Lions, Craft Economy and more...
Members of Still Avenue hurried to the square to get things started with a meager setup, an acoustic guitar and some covers while The Balconies were broke down on the 401 with all the War Child signage. A female member eventually arrived and tried to make herself heard in the busy square. When I checked back later Sandman Viper Command were playing with a handful of musicians and a drum.
The Craft Economy with four of six members present reworked their tunes from their synthesizer base into acoustic jams. This was done really well, and the male/female singers played off of each other especially on songs like Big Dawg, Lil Purse.
Most of the Bass Lions couldn't make it but singer Nathan (I believe) did and accompanied by a tambourine-ist (tambouriner?) played a really entertaining handful of songs. It got intimate as he closed in on the small gathering and played a great acoustic version of Ransom the Sunset. Following a storied musical tale of the relationship between Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson the soccer game concluded. Taking the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach to the whooping and hollering, Nathan waved over a group of Spanish high schoolers who took over the guitar and serenaded us with what I take to be either soccer chants or Spanish folk songs. Unfortunately they didn't relent the guitar until after his allotted time was over.
From what I caught of it Busking for Change was a fun time, and hopefully it raised a couple of bucks for War Child while they were at it!
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Busking For Change (Guelph)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Movement in the Lion Den
The Paint Movement used the following tried and true framework for most of their songs in order to win me over with their set at the Ebar Wednesday night. The song openings would be sparse enough, as each member started up, then they'd work in a couple verses before a refrain which would be repeated as the song grew in intensity and everything became louder. By the three-quarter mark things would be soaring along before crashing to an instrumental breakdown ending. It was reminiscent of another Band I wish not to have to mention in aSSociation with Paint Movement yet again. But it is true, the five-piece rocked as hard (and as loud) as a multi-piece collective. Even with the female section limited to one tassle-booted lady in a dress, and the brass to just a sax, with usually only one wailing guitar, rounded out by a drummer and bassist, the sound was full and rich (perhaps filled out with touches of xylophone, keyboard and foot-stomped tambo). My expectations of a jazzy set were not quite met, though during the instrumental breakdowns there were elements of improvisations no doubt, but it worked nonetheless.
The set was far from perfect, whether that be due to lackluster banter, the super loud soundsystem, slight instrumental miscues, or massive amounts of feedback, but it was definitely entertaining enough to warrant me catching them again after they complete their first-ever real tour (out west over the next two weeks). I imagine after that stretch of shows they'll come back much more polished and will be that much better.
The hometown pride of Bass Lions (see what I did there?) took the stage next. Having recently been listening to (and enjoying) their disc, I was slightly disappointed by the stage performance. Could have been that their song which first caught my attention, Ransom the Sunset was given a different sound and didn't live up to the version I've become accustomed to, which put them behind the 8 ball in my head from early in the set. The double drum set, which I thought was causing the offbeat timing (til they played a song with one set that was still offbeat) added to the volume of the cranked up soundsystem, which may have been trying to compensate for the sparse crowd, but in effect muffled the lead and female-backup vocals, spoiling songs. They earned some points for a decent version of Funeral Shed and carried on with Good God Jesus which ended excellently. Most impressive was the song where they showcased their namesake, the bass guitar, to great effect. As an encore they broke out what they referred to as "party band" which had no vocals since the singer was on the second drum set, but added a guitarist from the crowd and closed up the set with some fun.
(Special thanks to Tanis from the Sound Salvation Army for tickets to the show)
