North By North East (NXNE) music festival came and went last week in Toronto in a flash. You may have thought we were sleeping or hungover like dogs here at Music Vice given the lack of NXNE reports online thus far (don’t fret, they’re coming!) but the truth is we had something special up our sleeves for NXNE this year…Milo Goes To Canada – the Descendents inspired cover of the special edition Music Vice zine available to buy now for worldwide shipping

NXNE 2011 had a punk feel to the line-up, especially the Thursday night headline trio of Fucked Up, OFF! and Descendents who played to Toronto’s Yonge & Dundas Square. In honour of this line-up, I thought it would be cool to go back to our roots and make a special edition zine. This was a very last-minute idea.  It’s been a long time since I attempted to make a zine – back in the old days in the UK – but I shared the idea with the MV crew and plenty of them were keen to be involved  so we set about making it in just over a week before NXNE was due to start.

We quickly set about doing interviews and features for the zine. I also got in touch with the NXNE team and they offered us table space on Thursday at the NXNE Indie Market at Yonge-Dundas Square to sell the zine. We ended up sharing The Descendents table for an hour before their merch went up that evening.

It was a lot of work and a lot of late nights to get the zine done on time. The final stint involved me taking a day off work on Thursday and staying up all night on Wednesday before hitting a copy centre on Thursday afternoon to get 100 copies of the zine printed, folded and stapled together with the help of local Toronto contributors Natascha and Jackee.

It’s a buzz making something physical, something tangible. That’s why I still like zines; anyone can post a blog or whatever on the internet in 5 minutes. Piecing something with X-acto knives and magic tapes is a bit more of an effort and an art.

Zine contents

The end result is a kick-ass little 20 page zine. The contents include:
* interviews with all three of NXNE’s Thursday night punk headliners; Descendents, Fucked Up and OFF!
* an album-by-album guide to every Descendents record made
* a DIY guide to home recording by guest contributor Death O’Connor
* Henry Rollins/Black Flag feature with original art
* An interview with Toronto blues trio CATL about their punk roots
* and other stuff including Chad VanGaalen artwork, a rock and roll story, poetry, a stupidly easy crossword

Get the zine!
We ended up only selling a few copies of the zine at our NXNE table - just 4 in fact!!, haha – and then a few more later that weekend. Loads of copies still available… This zine is only available in print – it won’t be online. To order one for worldwide delivery to your home, send $4 by Paypal for Canada/US delivery or $5 for Rest Of World – this works out to about a buck for the zine, and the rest to cover the postage and envelope. Paypal with your address to: zine@musicvice.com  (In the spirit of DIY, we will also accept trades – send us your zine and we’ll send you one back for free. Our mailing address can be found here.)

n.b. I also had a few prints made for our table, a few of which I framed. These went unsold on the night. If anyone in Toronto would like a 16×20″ print of Iggy Pop at NXNE 2010 or of Fucked Up playing at Toronto Reference Library then get in touch. Will take offers over $40 for a print framed in wood with glass, or $5 for a print. See the image below for a preview.

Here’s a few pictures of our zine getting made; the journey from the make-shift cutting table (a cardboard box on top of a mattress), to the copy centre, to the table at NXNE:

Brendan Canning (red) and Adan van Koeverden battle for the ball at last year’s NXNE charity soccer (Brian Banks in background)

NXNE 2011 in Toronto is coming to an end but not without a bang. Come nurse your post-festival hangover in the sun by watching the 5th annual NXNE ‘Put The Boot In’ charity football match.

The game is a charity fundraiser for Right To Play, raising money to help kids enjoy the most basic of human rights – the right to play sport!

The Rockers, captained by Brendan Canning (Broken Social Scene) is a team of musicians and record label people, who take on the might Rollers, captained by Olympian Adam van Koeverden, and featuring a rag-tag mob of media including myself.

Kick-off is 1.30pm today at Lamport Stadium (just east of King/Dufferin). Entry is pay-what-you-can, all proceeds to Right To Play. There is also a raffle with some great prizes including a signed Michael Essien jersey.

More details on the Facebook event page. For more info about the cause or to make a donation to right to play click here.

See you at the game – I’ll be the tall dude with no ball control. Go Rollers!!

Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

NXNE Festival 2010 round-up part 2: further reviews

The Festival: North By Northeast (NXNE) 2010
Where: Various venues across Toronto, Ontario, Canada
When: 14-20 June 2010
In One Word: Girrrly

Music Vice was out in force for North By Northeast (NXNE) music festival in Toronto this year. Our writer Andrea Mateka gives her take on the bands that she caught. Also check out the festival review and photos by Music Vice editor Brian Banks, plus writer Natascha Malta’s lessons learned from NXNE.

Lester Bangs once wrote, “Balls are what ruined both rock and politics, and I demand the world be turned over to the female sex immediately.”  As a member of the fairer sex, part of me reveled in his statement, even though I don’t think it’s entirely true.  Well, with the exception to the political part.  That’s probably spot on.

But it’s true.  Rock’n’roll is something inherently masculine.   Maybe it’s the ego thing, I couldn’t tell you.  There have not been many women who have been able to hold their own in this world, and those who did, could have probably taught the men a thing or two.  History has shown that with a careful balance of feminine wiles, heavy eyeliner, and a scowl that says “Take your best shot”, women can rock it out.  Hard.   I don’t think I’ve ever given my sex its proper dues.  That was until this past weekend.  NXNE has delivered some women worth admiration.

Bella Clava took the stage at The Hideout around 9pm on the Thursday night.  Personally, I wasn’t planning on attending the show, but after a late start and a quick shift in my scheduling, I went with fate and jumped off the streetcar just as it past by the venue.  With bluesy rock grooves and the keys actually sounding like keys, I was kicked back into 1975.  The scene set was complete with fringed dresses and hippy hair.  Jefferson Airplane would have been proud.

Backed by her masculine band members, Caitlin Dacey, lead vocals and keys, drew my attention.  She never let her spastic male counterpart, Steve Suttie, take too much control.  The exuding energy from this band was as epic as Steve’s mustache.
I was in love, and ready for more.

After her set, I followed Caitlin’s painted cat’s eye to the El Mocambo, where she was the newest member of Toronto rock duo, Little Foot Long Foot.  The band, a usual guitar and drum set, now had the addition of keys. I cannot compare the sound to the band sans keyboardist, never having seen them live before now, but overall it felt well rounded; a welcomed augmentation. This being their first show as a threesome, I figure they are still in the experimenting process, and I have two words for them: Keyboard. Solo. Enough said. With all due respect to Isaac Klein, a driving force in the drum department, it was the women’s show tonight. Joan Smith, lead guitar and vocals, is a force, acting like she could kick the shit out of a trucker, and she played like it too.  Their closing song, “She Looks to You” should be on everyone’s playlist. Now.

So far, my Thursday night was ruled by the women, and it wasn’t going to stop there.  But there was a bit of the guys thrown in for good measure (of course there was.)   The boys of Turbogeist, a London, UK based punk band who played at the Silver Dollar Room around 11 pm Thursday night, got me riled.  Like the good Brit punks they are, they gave it to me hard, fast, and under three minutes.  Just the way I like it.  With song titles like, “The Rats”, written after a trip to NYC, I really couldn’t have asked for more.  Though, like the length of their songs, their set was a bit on the short side, and once again I was back at the El Mocambo for some female inspiration.

Fox Jaws is a band I have seen every NXNE year ever since I knew what NXNE was, which is arguably only three years, but still.  This band always delivers, which is why I make that special effort to see them.  Carleigh Aikin shows that a woman in a band can be not only be beautiful and rock the tambourine, but can also be an incredible talent.  Take that, Nico.   For me, her frantic spirit was the glue to this band.  Like all great front (wo)men, her performance had its own gravitational pull, leaving the rest of her band to just unobtrusively focus on musically supporting her.  And support they did.  They seamlessly jumped between a country twang to a heavy metal interlude. It was a great way to end off my first night of NXNE.

But ok, I hear what your saying.  What about the boys?

Well, for the boys, I can’t say much.  What I can tell you is about an old man, an Old Man Luedecke.  One man with a banjo, witty remarks, and a good sense of self.  To say his music was of the uplifting sort would be an understatement and quite possibly an insult.  He sang songs like they were stories, reciting life from the slower, relaxed part of the Canadian country.  Songs about little birds and naptimes, foreign tongues and a life on the road.  There was even a seemingly off-the-cuff performance of a recently written song about having a horrible show in Maine.  Everyone in the Dakota Tavern on that early Friday night was singing along and sipping beers.  Inspiringly enough, I went home that night and got some of my favourite songs from the evening off itunes.   Hands down, my favourite show of the weekend.

As for the rest of the Friday, well, other than the random black out that left me wandering Queen and Spadina in search of electricity, I don’t think there’s anyone else worth talking about.  This is simply based on the fact that I can’t recall any of the bands, which says that they probably weren’t worth remembering in the first place.  The only exception to this would be Ten Bears, once again at the El Mocambo, who played some solid pop rock so well rehearsed, it could have a been a studio recording.  Then again, I only caught their last song, a cover of an early 90’s dance hit, “Pump Up the Jam”.  Not exactly my cuppa tea.

Saturday Night.  If you weren’t at Iggy, then I don’t care where you were.  I know where I was, and that was 3rd row in, getting bruised, but loving every minute of it.  Iggy’s first step on the stage had the crowd go wild, bodies crushed to take up any space that wasn’t already filled.  Somehow with these things, I always find myself sandwiched between a big sweaty, fat dude, and a girl with an overprotective boyfriend.  Not ideal, but at least they act as good crowd control.  I was near enough to Iggy to see that he wasn’t a young man anymore, not by a long shot, but do you think his age slowed him down?  Not a chance.  He ripped through each song like it was still 1970.  His performance of “I Want To Be Your Dog” was a highlight. He takes a stance, down on both knees and microphone hanging from his mouth, and starts the sexually suggestive song.  The crowd singing along with chorus as Iggy crawled up the steps of the Yonge and Dundas stage on all fours.  It’ll be a performance that I’ll never forget.

I’m issuing a formal apology now to the bands that followed in his wake.  After experiencing something and someone as altering and influential as Iggy Pop, anything witnessed directly afterwards isn’t going to hold much of a flame.  Both The Zeros at the El Mo and Teenager at Silver Dollar that Saturday night left me a bit bored.  By 2 am, the haze had receded slightly as I moseyed my way into the Horseshoe, physically and mentally exhausted from the past weekend but still wanting to drain every last drop that NXNE offered.  The Stanfields were my closure and a suiting one at that.

The Stanfields; A group of rowdy, seafaring men hailing from the East Coast took on the issues of dirty drunks and awful one-nighters.  With the flair of punk rockers, the Celtic influences of their hometown, and the crassness of drunken bar hoppers, they left the few night stranglers of the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern entertained.  The boys knew how to put on a show.  I took their advice in “Crocodile Tears” and left NXNE, because there was no room left in this festival for my exhausted tears.

Toronto. Good night.

All in all, my lessons learned:
- Watch out, boys.  The girls are back in town and they aren’t taking shit from no one.
- Men with banjos can be quite charming.
- At no age are you too old to rock it out.
- And I need to head out to the East Coast, cause they sound like they know how to party.

© Andrea Mateka, Music Vice

NXNE Festival 2010 round-up – full review and photos

The Festival: North By Northeast (NXNE) 2010
Where: Various venues across Toronto, Ontario, Canada
When: 14-20 June 2010
In One Word: Groundbreaking

North By Northeast 2010 saw Toronto and Canada’s premier music festival move to a whole new level. I first experienced NXNE in 2007 and to see how it’s grown and expanded in just three years has been incredible. Now in it’s 16th year, NXNE is not only Toronto’s premier music festival but also now makes a very strong case for being Canada’s ultimate annual music event. The organizers, staff, artists and all the bands and fans involved deserve an A++, and plenty of gold stars and smiley faces for creating what is now an international showcase festival that Toronto and Canada can be proud of.

My experience at North By Northeast 2010 started a couple of days earlier than most. On Tuesday and Wednesday of NXNE week I checked out NXNEi, which is the new ‘interactive’ element that was introduced to the festival this year. Aside from the free coffee and a couple of interesting conversations with people from out of town, most of what I experienced at NXNEi left me unimpressed. In fairness, it was the first year of NXNEi and I do believe it has a lot of potential. I don’t want to soil this review with mild grumbles about NXNEi, so I’ll save that for my next Editorial Pissings. Let’s just talk about the music, shall we?

Wednesday, 16 June
For those who bought a ticket, or the 200 NXNE pass or wristband holders who got to the Phoenix early enough, NXNE 2010 kicked off with a wicked gig by Eagles of Death Metal. See the full concert review and photos here.

Thursday, 17 June
Thursday was the first full night of NXNE, and blind faith led me to stop in at the Hideout on Queen Street. Bella Clava, “I Didn’t Come Here To Love You” but your music caught me and found its way into my affection chamber. A four piece with vocals being shared between the leading duo of guitarist Steve Suttie and keyboard player Caitlin Dacey, there was plenty of classic rock grime to counter the catatonic honky-tonk chime. Suttie was the showman, noodling on his guitar for solo departures while throwing shapes. Their whole set had me gripped, a real highlight of NXNE 2010.

77’ era Los Angeles punks X at Dundas Square? You bet I was there. Seeing Exene Cervenka, John Doe and co. perform at Dundas Square was a trip.

By 11pm on Thursday I’d found my way back to the College/Spadina block. I stopped in at the El Mo an Silver Dollar but nothing sparked my interest. For some reason I ended up in Comfort Zone where I stuck around till the end of the set from a dreary Toronto bunch called Another Blue Door. Their music was pretty damn depressing, but  enjoyably so. Maybe you have to come from Scotland or some other part of Grey Britain to relate. I enjoyed the deadpan banter between songs “this next song is our upbeat dance number…” and there was a similar kind of drab sensibility and dark humour to the vocals.

I headed over to Sneaky Dee’s at midnight to see L.A. noise outfit HEALTH and saw a huge double line-up of people snaking West along College Street outside the venue. This show was a hot ticket, and Sneaky’s was at capacity and not allowing anyone else in – thankfully, I had a friend on the inside and I became one of the lucky ones to catch HEALTH play a mad set. HEALTH maxed out my Thursday night in the best kind of way. Fucking insane.

My mix of catching old and new bands on Thursday night was complete by seeing Montreal old-time punk rockers 222’s at Bovine Sex Club. I’d never heard a thing by the band before but I thoroughly enjoyed this set from these Canadian punk veterans. As old school punk rock goes, the lyrics were pretty smart and lead singer Chris Barry held a captive audience with an engaging, fully committed performance.

I don’t think I could’ve seen a better set of bands in one evening at NXNE if I tried. Thursday was an absolute blast.

Friday, 18 June
Out of pure curiosity, I began my Friday evening by attending Avi Buffalo’s show at The Great Hall. This is one venue I’d never been to before, so that seemed like a good enough reason. So, The Great Hall is pretty neat – an authentic old theatre hall, with seats up top for people to look down on. As for Avi Buffalo? Their ‘freestyle brand of alt rock seemed to fall flat among the sparsely accommodated venue. It was a little awkward and stifled… stuffy. A brief but all too brutal guitar solo rendition of “Star Spangled Banner” was my cue to leave. The band will be playing at the Opera House on 31 July and providing they pull a strong crowd, I’d fancy that gig to be a complete contrast to tonight.

The Mercy Now had made a great first impression and kicked off their set at the Hideout with an explosive start. Perhaps too explosive… moments into their second song of their set, there was a total blackout at the Hideout. Credit to them, the Mercy Now kept on playing in the dark, going fully acoustic… well, until Russ Fernandes’ voice got too hoarse and strained from shouting to be heard. Thankfully, that led to the band gaving up before anything got too kumbayah. A shame about that power failure, I’ll be sure to seek out the Mercy Now in the future.

A good chunk of Queen West had been knocked out by the power-cut but thankfully Bovine Sex Club still had juice. I caught the tail-end of De Staat, from Rotterdam, Holland before watching Queen Kwong. I’d been looking forward to seeing Queen Kwong after hearing some of their tunes on Myspace. It was disappointing to witness Queen Kwong stumble through their set. The band were frustrated and distracted by problems with the sound. They never got into any kind of a groove but the Bovine crowd remained hospitable.

Some typically slow-to-the-point-of-being-non-existent Friday night service by the TTC (Toronto transit) led me to eventually give up on any hope of getting to Bloor street via the Bathurst streetcar, so I hot-footed it up from Queen and made it to Lee’s Palace just five minutes into Japandroids set. Japandroids, a garage rock duo from Vancouver, BC were one of Canada’s greatest exports in 2009 and their popularity continues to swell, deservingly show. Japandroids were unreal and had the whole of Lee’s Palace jumping.

More than have the crowd in Lee’s excited after Japandroid’s set, but those of us who stuck around got to enjoy more great music from another solid Canadian garage duo. Kingston, Ontario’s PS I Love You are a grungier, gnarlier, and fuzzier garage rock monster – well, depending on which stomp boxes Paul Saulnier is using for a particular song. For the last song PS I Love You were joined on stage by Diamond Rings, which is the camp-as-you-like electro-pop solo departure of D’Urbervilles frontman Johnny O’. Diamond Rings, dressed in gold spandex pants, plugged in his strat and pedals and joined in the garage thump of PS I Love You. Great stuff.

Saturday, 19 June
In total contrast to their mildly shambolic Friday night gig at Bovine, I saw Queen Kwong play a strong set under the blazing midday sun at Dundas Square. This second outing (their third and last at NXNE) was tight and got increasingly better with the band seemingly buoyed by the fact that they were both sounding good and could hear themselves properly in their monitors. Queen Kwong are still working on building their set, and it’s evident because it is a bit on the lightweight side. I’m hoping they can come up with more songs of the calibre of their hot n’ dirty thump “Pet”, and the  Garbage reminiscent “A Better Bet”,  with their debut album set for release by end of this year. [Hear more about Queen Kwong with an interview I did with the singer and star of the band Carre - that’ll be published soon and a link will be added here.]

Before running away from the scorching sun, I stuck around at Dundas Square to catch another band from L.A., Mini Mansions. Mini Mansions were a real surprise package. This trio deliver poperpop with a psychedelic, alternative twist, while a Beatles influence is unmistakable, especially in the harmonies. The band played features Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman who handled lead vocal duties while standing right at the front-centre  behind a snare drum, cymbal and floor tom. Flanked by a keyboardist and bassist on either side, Mini Mansions create a surprisingly full sound from such a lo-fi set-up. Mini Mansions have Canadian and US dates for the remained of June and early July – check them out if they’re coming near you this summer.

After escaping the sun for a few hours, I returned to Dundas Square later that night where I saw NXNE headliners Iggy and the Stooges. Epic. Click here for the full review and pictures from Iggy and the Stooges at Dundas Square.

Sunday
My experience at NXNE 2010 ended by playing in the charity football match at Toronto FC’s stadium BMO Field. What a way to end the weekend! I played in the media team, “The World”, versus “The Rockers”. I played right-back, playing in defence alongside Olympic 3-times medal winner kayaker Adam van Koeverden and went up against players including Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene and Murray Foster of Great Big Sea. That’s something for me to write a postcard home about.  We won on penalties after the match ended 2-2. It was a fun send-off to an outstanding week. After a post-match BBQ  and a few more beers I found myself hibernating for a day to catch up on all the lost sleep after all those nights out past 4am in a row.

NXNE 2010 was brilliant and I already miss it. I can’t wait for next year.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

NXNE 2010 Photos

Pictures of bands at NXNE 2010 featuring: Bella Clava, HEALTH, Avi Buffalo, Another Blue Door, De Staat, Queen Kwong, 222′s, Diamond Rings, PS I Love You, Japandroids. Click here for pictures of Iggy Pop. Click here for pictures of Eagles of Death Metal. All photos by Brian Banks.

The Gig: Iggy and the Stooges – NXNE 2010 headliners
Where: Dundas Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
When: 19 June 2010
In One Word: Legendary

On Saturday night Iggy and the Stooges, headliners of NXNE 2010, took to the stage at Dundas Square in Toronto. This free show attracted thousands of people, with Yonge Street closed off to accommodate the massive turnout. (Apparently this was the first time Yonge Street’s ever been closed.)

I can’t recall a concert being so hotly anticipated – bar perhaps my previous encounter with the Stooges. I mean, it’s the Stooges: if you live in Toronto and have any kind of interest in music then there were no excuses for not being here.

The night was hot and humid but the threat of rain and thunder never transpired. Thousands of Torontonians got hot and sweaty together while the ever-shirtless Iggy Pop doused himself on stage with water bottles.

The Stooges were always going to deliver. Their stage manager is an intimidating, no-nonsense kind of guy, and it was amusing to watch as he shouted at the sound guy and other stage hands during set-up: “There’s no sound in this monitor. What?!… Come here and listen for yourself then!” There was no doubt who was calling the shots and running this show – that Napoleon type figure makes sure everything is in order for Iggy Pop.

Dundas Square erupted when Iggy made his appearance. The audience became a human tidal wave, as everyone crashed and rolled and within moments I’d moved five rows forward. For the next hour and a half the people hanging off your pockets became your friends.

The Stooges played through material from all three of their albums. Every moment was soaked up with a jaw-dropping, transfixed gaze – “Is this really happening? Iggy Pop. Wow.” Gobsmacked.

Early on in the set, Iggy invited some of the crowd to jump the barrier and join him on stage – those people will have an extra special memory from tonight, but everyone will have their own story.

My own story is that I was denied access to the photo pit for this show – that was frustrating but I was determined to get some shots of one of rock music’s true icons, and one of my ultimate favourite bands ever. Concerts and moments like this are the reason why I moved here from my wee rural village area of Scotland. I’m not here for a vacation: I’m here to try and make a career around this rock n’ roll thing that I’m addicted too, so you bet I was on a mission. As a photographer, I had to document this, and other factors like potential damage to my camera (already held together in places with electrical tape) did not cross my mind…

Look out honey, ’cause I’m using technology
Ain’t got time to make no apology
Soul radiation in the dead of night
Love in the middle of a fire fight

Legendary night. An “I was there” concert if ever I saw one.

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Pictures of Iggy and the Stooges:

The Gig: Eagles of Death Metal and Small Sins at NXNE 2010
Where: Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ON, Canada
When: 16 June 2010
In One Word: Devilish

Just a fortnight after Virgin Mobile Canada left Canadian music fans disappointed with the cancellation of Virgin Festival for this year, the company scored some good vibes and new fans by presenting this Eagles of Death Metal show at the Phoenix. Virgin couldn’t have dreamt for the show to have gone better, while North By Northeast (NXNE) kicked off in the best possible way. It was an absolutely rocking night for everyone.

Jesse Hughes - the Red Devil

Support act Small Sins from Toronto came on at 10 and proceeded to romp through their set of electro pomp. Their music was synth heavy but not heavy, if you follow – it lacked weight as a whole. I found it all a bit middling. At one end of the audio spectrum, things didn’t spark to a sharp or fast enough point, while the slower stuff just didn’t interest me. I can happily devour electro that is either hyper or chilled but Small Sins float in a rather grey area between both. I was into it at first but slowly my interest waned and I just wanted the Eagles of Death Metal to come on. Given all the anticipation for the main event, it’d be unfair to be more critical. It was a tough slot for Small Sins and they weren’t bad at all. I was impressed by their guitarist who added something much needed to the waves of synth sounds – he was expressive but suitably refrained. A decent opener.

Eagles of Death Metal were brilliant. Frontman Jesse “The Devil” Hughes was suitably lit up in red under the venue lamps and rejoiced in being a rock n’ roll bad boy. Sure, his performance might be a bit of a parody, but there was no shortage of girls reaching out to be pulled up on staged for a kiss and a dance with Jesse. By the end of the night over half a dozen beautiful girls had found themselves watching from the side of the stage, while many more jumped around in the audience. An immense set of thumping desert rock and a bevy of beautiful girls? Yup, you bet us boys were having fun too.

Josh Homme was not present but those familiar with the band’s touring line-up should have expected that. A more notable absentee was bassist Brian O’Connor, who was back in Los Angeles resting after undergoing surgery for cancer earlier in the day. Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) deputised and together he and the rest of the Eagles delivered an intense set of desert rock.

The big songs like “Cherry Cola” and “I Only Want You” provided predictable high-points – they were the maraschinos on top of what was one hell of a rock n’ roll show.

©Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Pictures of Eagles of Death Metal and Small Sins:

The Cunninghams are one of the hundreds of independent Canadian bands performing at NXNE (North By North-East) festival this week in Toronto. On the eve of all the ensuing madness at NXNE, I caught up with three-quarters of the Cunninghams to find out about their preparations and hopes for the festival. Nigel, Regibald and Clapsbury also defined their “high-class rock n’ roll” sound, and spoke of their appreciation for Iggy Pop and good tea.

Listen to the interview in full via MP3 podcast using the player below:

The Cunninghams interview (12 mins 10 secs)

© Brian Banks, Editor, Music Vice

Related links:
The Cunninghams – Myspace

The Library Is Your Friend – Recommended Reading
In the past fortnight the public library here in Toronto made a few more friends. There was the fantastic free show with Fucked Up and $100 at the end of May. 700 people came out for that free show – don’t miss our interview with Simone from $100. Your local library might not be as forward-thinking enough yet to be putting on free concerts, but I’m sure at the very least they’ll have plenty of good books and music available – if they don’t then you’ve walked into the wrong building. Here’s another installment of my recommended reading…

Nick Cave – The Death Of Bunny Munro
This novel by musician Nick Cave (Bad Seeds) is a sordid delight ripe to be devoured by your dirty mind. Bunny Munro plies his trade as a beauty product salesman, which is an ideal job for for him given that he is a total sex addict. Bunny also has a nine year-old son, Bunny Junior, who has quite the opposite personality of his sleazy father, being very thoughtful and respectful. That’s the basic synopsis, while the title of the book should give you a clue as to the ending.

It’s dirty for sure and as shallow as a puddle – definitely not something you’d ever want your mother to read! But while this book has plenty of sleaze, it’s not what I’d consider too twisted, and all-in-all I found it a very humourous and entertaining read. The multiple references to the intimate anatomy of Avril Lavigne and Kylie Minogue are legendary.

For an audio accompaniment to this book, check out Dig!!!, Lazarus, Dig!!! the fourteenth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. This album is brilliant, nay, essential. It doesn’t have the smut of Bunny Munro but it rocks like a bastard. A mind-blowing array of musical styles and genres are deployed with a seamless cohesiveness. You just need to hear it.

The World Cup Kicks Off Tomorrow!
Excited much?! The biggest party in the world kicks off on Friday as the 2010 Football World Cup commences in South Africa.

…Wow. Pinch me.

Has it really been four years since the last World Cup? Germany 2006 seems a distant memory now, but most of that four year gap was the usual agonisingly long wait – well, it’s agonising as a Scotland fan and having to witness your nation once again fail to qualify despite a ‘brave’ effort. Sigh. Anyway, Scottish blues are forgotten (at least until qualification for the next World Cup begins). Right now I’m buzzing with excitement knowing that the tournament will be underway in less than 24 hours. Seeing as I’m a starving artist without such luxuries as a television, I will be taking advantage of some of the many cafes, bistros and bars in Toronto that will be showing the World Cup games – it’s really great seeing so many places with the flags of the 32 nations draped outside their entrances. A great reminder that Toronto is a truly international and diverse city. I did notice one bar that had added an Irish flag – cute, but of course Ireland won’t be at this World Cup, thanks to the hand of Thierry Henry.

Shakira’s “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)” is the official anthem for the 2010 World Cup. The video does a fantastic job of capturing the energy and passion of the World Cup, as so many hopes and dreams fall to the feet of the chosen few. If the hair on your neck is not raised by the football action in this video, then maybe at least your pulse will be raised by the delectable Ms. Shakira.

Waka Waka? Hmm…

My Own Personal World Cup – Ten Days Till Match Day At NXNE
The charity football game at this year’s NXNE music festival in Toronto is now just over a week away.

I’m pleased to say that the total combined fundraising efforts of all participants has now eclipsed the goal of $5000 for the charity Right To Play. Awesome! Remember, every $50 raised for the charity helps give a child the chance to play sports for a year. To see the latest combined total, and to make a donation visit this page: http://righttoplay.akaraisin.com/Common/Event/Home.aspx?seid=3270&mid=8&Lang=en-CA. I’m still short of my own personal fundraising goal – if you’d like to sponsor my participation, you can do so by searching for me as a sponsor using that previous link, or click here to jump to my page.

The complete squads for the The Rockers and The World can now be viewed on the Facebook event page for the NXNE footie match.

This week I stepped up my preparations for the game by enlisting the help of a friend who I’ve now dubbed Coach Kiwi. As a former semi-pro footballer for 14 years through school, Coach Kiwi put me through my paces on a pitch on Monday night. The training regime was a little unorthodox and in some countries might be considered a form of torture. Imagine someone kicking a football at you at full pelt while shouting “TRAP THIS WITH YOUR FOOT!” – it wouldn’t be so bad, but the ball was coming towards my nether regions at 80 miles per hour. At the risk of damaging my family jewels and any hopes of future fatherhood, I opted to squirm out of the path of the ball. It was a pretty pathetic moment. Naturally, Coach Kiwi then proceeded to grill me and remind me that, “this isn’t dodgeball”. At this point I had a flashback to my twelve year-old self in gym class, as I’m sure a P.E. teacher shouted something similar at me once.

Aside from that ball-dodging/ball-protecting moment, it was an otherwise productive experience and I may have actually learned something. Here’s a few quick pointers from Coach Kiwi:

• When shooting or making a pass, your non-kicking foot should always be next to the ball but not too far in front or behind
• The further you lean over the ball when shooting, the more loft the trajectory of the ball will have
• Help control the ball when trapping by moving your foot or body backwards to cushion the pass – that has something to do with gravity, or something
• Don’t move out of the way of the ball – it’s football, not dodgeball

Off the pitch, I’ve been working out every second day at 99 Sudbury, who kindly helped me out with a temporary  free membership. I still can’t quite get the exercise bikes to rate my fitness as anything better than “above average” but I am definitely noticing a bit of an improvement in my fitness.

The Airborne Toxic Event Release A Song To Help Find Justice For Neda Soltan
The Airborne Toxic Event are a great band. I had the pleasure of meeting them for an interview in 2008, which you can listen to here. They’ve just released a song about Neda Agha-Soltan. Neda was murdered in 2009 during a peaceful protest  about the result of the Iranian election – her murderer has still not been brought to justice.  The music video tells the story:

If you feel inspired by that song, the single is available for purchase on iTunes [get it here: idj.to/AmnestyNeda] and all proceeds go to Amnesty International. Also, this Saturday, 12 June is the anniversary of that controversial election in Iran. To mark that date, there are many protest rallies being held this weekend around the world, including one in Toronto which I’ll be at – and don’t worry, it doesn’t clash with any of the World Cup action.

Final Thought
Every dude needs a badass jacket. In June 2002 I bought an old leather biker jacket for about $25 on eBay. I made a stencil and customized the jacket with a famous emblem that fans of a certain movie and a certain band. This jacket has been with me everywhere. Through thick and thin. Through thin, and thinner. It’s never quite fit my long arms and torso, but it still kept me warm enough when needed. I wore it to many gigs in Scotland and England. I wore it when I saw Iggy Pop play inside the Arctic Circle in north Norway. I wore it when I first came to Canada on a holiday visa and when I returned as a resident.

I wish my jacket a happy eighth birthday. Here’s to lots more rock n’ roll adventures… and maybe one day I’ll be able to afford a motorbike to go with the jacket!

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

NXNE Football – Player details announced… ‘The Rockers’ take on ‘The World’
Details have been announced today of the players competing at the Right To Play charity football match at this year’s North By North East music festival in Toronto.

The musicians team, The Rockers, features coach Eon Sinclair (Bedouin Soundclash) and their line-up includes Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene and Murray Foster of Great Big Sea.

The media team, The World, features Tonight Canada’s Rick Campanelli as well as other including journalists from the Globe and Mail, National Post and 102.1 The Edge. Oh, and yours truly of course. The star is Canadian Olympic medallist Adam van Koeverden, a sprint kayaker … I think the strategy will be to just give Adam the ball at any opportunity! He will undoubtedly be much fitter than anyone else on the pitch, and hey, he has Dutch heritage so maybe he also has some of that Dennis Bergkamp flair … who remembers this wondergoal from World Cup ’98? That sublime defence-splitting pass from Frank de Boer and then, well, just listen to the rather excited Dutch commentator for a clue of how special that goal was from Bergkamp.

I now have my own sponsor page
Each player at the NXNE ‘Put The Boot In’ footie match now has their own sponsor page to raise funds for the charity Right To Play. The money raised will help provide kids with the opportunity to play sports. This is the whole point of the NXNE soccer. If you would like to sponsor my participation in the match, here’s the link: http://righttoplay.akaraisin.com/p/banks.aspx Any donations to the cause will be much appreciated! The fundraising goal for each player is set to $100 but of course it’d be nice to raise over and above that mount. Every $50 raised helps one kid play sports for a year.

‘Impossible Is Nothing’ – My training so far…
So, with three and half weeks to go now until the big match, I have began training for my participation in the NXNE  footie match. On Saturday I bought a football which came in packaging adorned with Adidas’ current advertising slogan “Impossible Is Nothing” – that marketing proverb is one of the few straws I am clutching to in terms of being able to get to a level to be of any use other than just comedic relief in this match.

On Sunday night I had a kick about at a field beside the University of Toronto. It’s pretty much been about 10 years since I last kicked a football and I guess somewhere along the way I forgot just how dire I am at the sport – gangly pasty Scots like me can truly make the Beautiful Game look ugly, but it’s still a lot of fun. At the very least, I can hit the ball pretty hard sometimes – although getting it to go in the direction I want is another story. The highlight of my Sunday night training was being chased around the park by some big dog (it sounded big anyway, and I wasn’t gonna stop to find out) – hey, at least the pooch got me running!

On Monday I woke up keen and did 400 crunches – but any good that did was likely cancelled out by the Cadbury Crunchie I ate for breakfast afterwards. I’ll have to work on my crunches, minus the Crunchies.

I had another kick around on Tuesday evening at another pitch in Toronto, this one surrounded by a running track. A jogger came over and we played around for a bit. I didn’t catch the bloke’s name but I realised at this moment just how out of shape I am. This guy could run and also had some actual ability with a football… though he was later upstaged by a dog-walker and his two collies, one of which looked like Lassie and had better ball control than anyone.

So, in summary, my fitness needs a LOT of work. I’m happy to say that my local independent gym 99 Sudbury have been really generous and cool – they have offered me free use of their facilities to help me prepare for this match. I had a tour of their gym on Tuesday and they have some awesome heavy-duty gym gear, as well as a punchbag for some Rocky-esque training moments. I’ll start making use of the gym today and you’ll hear about how I get on in my next editorial.

Long Weekend Musical Misadventures
Oft times, the bright city lights and crass sounds can lead me astray. This entire weekend (a long one here in Canada) proved to be another such occasion. And so, sometime on Saturday night, I found myself at the Rivoli in Toronto without planning on being there. I had thoughts of being elsewhere on Queen, a little further west. My apologies to A Primitive Evolution. By accident I stumbled across a curious septivalent musical collective named Pure Finesse. Quite a mad little band, they are.

I don’t think I could ever tired of the endless happy accidents I encounter on my music-seeking adventures throughout this city…

Final Thought
It was 32 degrees C in Toronto yesterday and shaping up to be similarly scorching today. Back home (Scotland) we would call this an extreme heatwave… actually, we’d call this an oven! Anyway, it’s nice to see all the smiling happy people walking around in the glow of the sun – cue R.E.M.!

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Welcome
So, this is a new section of Music Vice. Editorial Pissings will be a regular column which will serve as a space for some stuff that can’t really be covered in other areas of MV, and for plenty of  on or off-topic comment and guttural word vomit from yours truly, Brian Banks, editor and founder of this little corner of the internet.

My Own Personal World Cup
In 20 days the eyes of the world will be on South Africa for the World Cup, the greatest and most-watched sporting event in the world. I’ve already got football fever [that's 'soccer' for those who use the American name for the beautiful game] and can’t wait for 11 June to come around, but sadly for me Scotland did not qualify and it’ll be the third World Cup in a row that we have failed to qualify for. Sadder still, my new second home of Canada had an even more pitiful attempt at qualifying, so they won’t be there either. Boohoo.

Oh, interesting story though from my perspective as a Scotland football fan… The last time we were at the World Cup was way back in 1998 when I was still in the early years of high school in north Scotland. I remember it well because one of my classmates got 15 minutes of fame and became a local hero after he had stripped down to his underpants to rescue two old grannies from their sinking car that they’d somehow landed in a river! Amazing or what?! This guy, Ross Dunn, was thrown into the national spotlight and was rewarded for his heroics by scoring free tickets and travel to France to see Scotland play in the World Cup. Ross was naturally the envy of the entire school, and I’m sure the experience was amazing for him, though if I recall correctly he attended the game where Scotland were dumped out of the World Cup by losing 3-0 to Morocco… damn you Salaheddine Bassir! But hey, World Cup ’98 wasn’t all bad… at least we shocked the world for a moment when we held Brazil 1-1 for 73 minutes, before of course characteristically losing after what had been a trademark ‘heroic’ effort.

So, anyway, there is a point to all my nostalgic digression. Scotland may not be playing at the World Cup, but there will be at least one Scotsman playing football at a major stadium this June: I will be lining up as part of the media team for the “media versus press” charity footie match at this year’s NXNE festival in Toronto! I can’t wait! The game is set to take place at Toronto FC’s BMO Field on Sunday 20 June, which is the last day of the festival and also the same day that Brazil will be playing Ivory Coast in the World Cup – Kaka, eat your heart out! I may have slightly exaggerated my abilities on the pitch when applying for the team: I believe I used the phrase a “killer left foot”, but only time will tell whether I’m a secret weapon at free kicks or if I had just happened to stub my toe in the shower that morning.

I have 29 days left to prepare for the match and I will be documenting my efforts in this new column so look out for that. Each member of the football team will  be fund-raising to raise cash for the charity Right To Play and I will include details of that in my next editorial.

I used to own the soundtrack to Rocky IV and I may have to seek out a new copy to have the perfect music for the Rocky montage-style training moments ahead of me…

The Library Is Your Friend – Recommended Reading
Earlier this week we announced details of the free Fucked Up and $100 gig happening at the Toronto Reference Library on 28 May. The show is in conjunction with Toronto Library’s Make Some Noise campaign, which has the aim of promoting music at the library. I am a keen supporter and user of public libraries and they have been especially useful to be as a newcomer to Canada because most of my music collection is stuck in a box near an airport back in the UK. The library is an excellent resource, and a fully legal one, for getting access to some great music that you add to your own collection by copying the CD to your iTunes and MP3 player – I’ve helped fill many gaping voids in my own digital music library by doing just this. Oh, libraries have books too! Who knew?! There is tons of good music related stuff available including biographies and a whole range of books designed to help those with industry aspirations.

We’re please to help support Toronto Public Library’s campaign and in this column I will feature some recommended reading and musical adventures that you can pursue at Toronto library, and other libraries the world over.

Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag by Henry Rollins
Legendary hardcore vocalist Henry Rollins recounts his time on the road with Black Flag, from joining the band in 1981 to their end in 1986. Henry kept a loose journal of his thoughts from 1983 onwards, and before that are a couple of chapters where he recounts his origins with the band. It’s an extremely easy read with plenty of raw and revealing thoughts by Henry, who was often quiet in the band when not on stage and preferred to pour out his opinions and burdens on paper. The book is also full of loads of great photos and show fliers.

An ideal accompaniment to this book is the DVD American Hardcore which documents the history of the hardcore scene through interviews with key members of the pioneering bands, including Henry Rollins. In terms of music, for anyone new to Black Flag I recommend the Damaged album, while Henry himself recommends Black Flag: The First Four Years which is a compilation of songs recorded before Rollins joined the band.

Get In The Van, Damaged and American Hardcore are all available to borrow from Toronto library. And be sure to check out Make Some Noise.

What You Didn’t See On Music Vice This Week…
I go to a lot of shows that never get mentioned on here. The lowlight of this week was when I was unfortunate enough to catch some dire band at the Hideout in Toronto on Wednesday night. They played a whole lot of covers including a complete butchering of a Foo Fighters song; thankfully I forget which song it was but it was horribly out of tune. A friend who had also been in attendance had a hot dream about them later that night, describing it as: “hot and out of key…like a piano being smashed on the hot burning pavement of a summer’s day”. How brilliant is that?

Oh, speaking of Foo Fighters, the band were in the news this week as guitarist Chris Shiflett announced details of his new, Americana-themed side-project, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Nope, didn’t think so.

Final Thought
Don’t get me wrong, the Foo Fighters were awesome in their prime (The Colour and the Shape, One By One) and one of my most memorable gig experiences was witnessing Dave Grohl from one metre away as he sung through the pain of laryngitis in Sunderland, England back in 2005. That was truly epic.

So, what better way to wrap up this first Editorial Pissings by including this video of Dave Grohl bashing the lids in this fantastic performance by Nirvana of the song that inspired me to create this new column… enjoy!

© Brian Banks, Music Vice

Just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you…

North By Northeast (NXNE) 2009, Toronto – Full festival review and photos
Festival review and photos by Music Vice editor Brian Banks – June 30, 2009

Gig/Concert: North By Northeast 2009
Venue: Various venues throughout Toronto, ON, Canada
Date: 19-20 June, 2009
Headliners: Spinnerette, Woodpigeon, Wintersleep, In-Flight Safety,
In one word: Western

NXNE 2009 – Friday, June 19

On arrival at this year’s NXNE on Friday evening, I had one destination in mind, that being the Mod Club, where tonight The Distillers‘ Brody Dalle was in town with her new band Spinnerette. I collected my media pass from the festival headquarters at the Hyatt Hotel, then headed up towards the Little Italy district of Toronto to seek out Spinnerette.

Spinnerette at the Mod Club was easily the hottest ticket in town. I remain a big fan of the Distillers and continue to give their records regular plays, and the huge turn-out for this show was clear evidence that Brody Dalle has kept an eager following. Even by the schedule set start time of 10 p.m. there were still people waiting outside, as there wasn’t enough room in the Mod Club to accommodate everyone and this meant that only those with an actual ticket were let inside, as opposed to those with a NXNE festival pass or wrist band. Long story short, I was denied!….“We’re at capacity…” – were the words uttered from the door, as myself and some other photographers and reporters were sent away sulking. Neeeeeeeowwwww, BOOM! – my whole week of pre-show anticipation for this gig came crashing down like an airliner on the pavement of College Street. Ah well, next time…

While walking back through Little Italy I was stopped in my tracks by the awesome sight and sound of a band who were taking part in the ‘Taste Of Little Italy’ street festival. Dr Draw, an instrumental group, led by an electric-violin playing band leader, who together with a harp player and the rest of the usual suspects you’d find in a typical rock band, put on a great show. I’ve always been a fan of the electric violin, definitely an instrument that I feel should be used more often in rock music, and Dr. Draw demonstrated the shear emotive power of the electric violin in the hands of a passionate player. A big crowd of smiling faces gathered, with every song receiving warm applause – the music, ranging from original compositions to covers, including Danny Boy, finding favour with a mixed-bag demographic of passers-by. It was something a bit different, and far removed from the style of artists performing at NXNE. Afterwards I checked out some songs on Dr. Draw’s MySpace page and they really don’t do the group justice (not helped by some questionable production and shoddy levels); the collective that I saw performing on College Street delivered grandiose music with an impassioned display that became the highlight of my evening.

At some time after ten o’clock I found myself back on the NXNE circuit, as I ventured into Sneaky Dee’s where Aids Wolf were making a right old racket. Aids Wolf is what happens when a bunch of hyperactive toddlers who used to bash on their mother’s kitchen pots and pans grow-up and form a band. It was car crash syndrome as I stood in the middle of Sneaky’ and allowing myself to zone out to the blissfully discordant crashing, banging and walloping noise.

Down on Queen Street, my evening came to an end at the Kathedral where Purrr, an Toronto electronica trio, played to a small crowd. I can see what the band were trying to accomplish visually, as they started their set adorned with white mime-artist masks and bright strobe lights, but behind the attention-seeking visual display was a sound that was lacking in impact. The sights and sounds of Purr got an initial reaction of stand-offish toe-tapping intrigue from the crowd, but apathy and boredom soon took over. There were some good moments – Want being the best; a slam-dunk of a track amidst a set where most the other songs failed to score. A distinct image can help a band create an identity and a following, but in this instance the music was too gutless to inspire the kind of epileptic freak-out that Purrr seem to be looking to create with their pulsing beats and strobes. Or perhaps the band just adorn masks to deal with issues of glossophobia.

NXNE 2009 – Saturday, June 20
“The ‘AMP $100,000 Rock Band Rock Off’ was a slap in the face to all the real artists performing at NXNE. I wasn’t the only one pissed off by what was unfolding…blood was even spilled.“

My Saturday at NXNE ’09 began in the evening at Yonge-Dundas Square, where I had the angering experience of witnessing part of the $100,000 Rock Off sponsored by AMP energy drinks. So get this – four groups of guys battled it out by ‘performing’ a song live from the Rock Band video game. The winner collected a cheque for $100,000…. for playing a friggin’ video game!! I stood in utter disbelief at what I was watching. This event was a slap in the face to all the real artists performing at NXNE, for which that kind of money would be a monumental sum. I wasn’t the only one who was pissed off by what was unfolding, with the ‘bands’ being taunted and booed by the majority of the crowd, and blood was even spilled as fights broke out. This whole event was utterly disgusting and certainly an ill-advised publicity stunt. I didn’t stay to find out which ‘group’ won the $100,000, and I couldn’t restrain myself from ranting at an AMP promo girl on the way out. I hope the NXNE organizers think twice before allowing anything like this happen again at music festival which is supposed to be a celebration and showcase of emerging new Canadian artists.

Fate would have it that half an hour after the atrocity at Yonge-Dundas I’d find my way inside the Horseshoe Tavern where I would see an actual group – with actual instruments and actual talent to boot – pick up the NXNE Galaxie Rising Star award from CBC Radio staff who were broadcasting the gig. Woodpigeon, a band from Calgary, were fantastic and worthy award winners – they picked up a cheque too which I’m sure had a lot less zero’s than the one handed out by AMP.

Woodpigeon were haunting, enchanting, and every metaphoric imagery of crashing waves rolling up upon a beach as you wet your feet and float away like driftwood. Um, yeah… they have the whole melodic bliss thing down pat. If you own a Snow Patrol record then Woodpigeon’s richly atmospheric indie-folk stylings will be right up your street. “Knock Knock” was a fantastic little trip-out, while And As The Ship Went Down was the perfect ending to Woodpigeon’s show and beautifully introduced by the reverberating sound of a violin bow stroked against the resonators tubes of a vibraphone. Totally magic.

Back out into the night and heading west on Queen Street, I found myself staying for way long inside The Hideout where I caught San Fransico glam rock outfit Triple Cobra. There was a really awkward moment when the lead singer Attis Ngoval, (who incidentally seems to have kidnapped Mick Jaggers lips), had an amusing stand-off with a member of the audience after the guy in the crowd objected to the singer’s badgering of the audience to “get the fuck up here, come closer”. The singer demanded that the guy “step up here and say that” – so he did, being not in the least bit intimidated by the prima donna on stage. Aside from that, the only entertaining thing about Triple Cobra were the pair of cabaret-styled Go Go dancers that provided some eye candy and back-up vocals – without those girls I’m pretty sure the predominantly male populous inside The Hideout would’ve just walked out. Musically the band were totally forgettable.

A little further down the road I came across Kilbourne, a three-piece all girl punk/hardcore band from Calgary. I only saw caught the last ten minutes but I liked what I heard – the drums were hit hard, the bass had a good heavy tone, the guitar went crunch and the singer had a nice aggressive snarl. Not half bad.

Across the road at The Reverb I saw The Dudes, from, you guessed it, Calgary. Ever since my trip out west to Calgary in May I seem to become across a string of great bands from the city. So hey, you heard it here first – there’s more to Canadian music than just what happens in Toronto and Montreal. The Dudes got a great reaction from what must’ve been an almost capacity crowd. Good-time upbeat tunes like Pretty Lies were just as accessible as the slower more soulful numbers like Small Mercies, largely down to the lyrics which for the most part were pretty easy to hook on.

After midnight I made my way up to Spadina Avenue at El Mocambo where the good music continued, this time from Halifax, Nova Scotia based In-Flight Safety. I’d actually caught a glimpse of these guys the day before at Yonge-Dundas Square, while on my way to that ill-fated Spinnerette show. They played a more straight-up brand of indie rock compared to the shimmering soundscapes of Woodpigeon, but I found myself liking this music a lot too.

At sometime around 2 a.m. I called it a night back down at The Reverb, which is where the party was at, with Grand Analog serving up a mix of dub, hip-hop and some Bob Marley inspired reggae. They had a white bass player who played laid down plenty of funky grooves, while singer Odario G. Williams had the crowd in the palm of his hand. After Grand Analog’s show I walked out into a humid Toronto night still singing their catchiest chorus line to myself;

“I’ve been thinking about my nieces and nephews,

I’ve been thinking about my sisters in refuge.”

The great bands that I caught on this Saturday evening turned my mood around and allowed me to briefly forget about that stupid AMP energy drink Rockband gimmick, but I still consider what happened there to be an utterly scandalous waste of resources, and a crime against both music and taste. Maybe next years certain sponsors (of the energy drink variety) could put some money towards helping some of the fantastic Canadian talent that gets showcased each year at NXNE, instead of throwing money at guys for playing a video game. Yeah, you bet I’m a bit bitter – some of us just happen to care about music…

© Brian Banks

A video interview with Jesse Malin. Shot backstage at the Reverb in Toronto, June 9, 2007 during NXNE.

A video interview with L.A band Miss Derringer, recorded during NXNE 2007. The interview was shot in a back alley behind The Reverb in Toronto.

I met up with The Neutrinos from Norwich, England during NXNE 2007 in Toronto. The interview was recorded on top of the CN Tower at the band’s invitation, and it my first time atop Toronto’s most famous landmark.