2012, Music

Wolfe Island Music Festival 2012

This is my second year attending the Wolfe Island Music Festival, the 14th edition. Just like last year, I attended even though it is not really full of bands I would normally seek out. I like the vibe – how it is completely different from seeing something in Toronto, for example – and I have always liked Wolfe Island.

And really, I am always interested in seeing new music, even if much of it might not be up my alley. What follows is my assessment of this year’s music. For the festival itself I cannot say enough. I thoroughly enjoy the small town-ness of it, and the fact that it is very much about music and not about some kind of us / them music-celebrity / audience distinction.

Friday August 10th

It takes a large group like ours a while to get going, so we missed The Weather Station and Marine Dreams at 8 at the Island Grill.

I wanted to see Elliott Brood – the first time I actually wanted to see someone, hooray! – who were supposed to play in front of the Town Hall but ended up playing in the baseball diamond because of the rain.

Because of our late start, I missed openers Mike O’Neill and the Pinecones. Most of our party went to see Baby Eagle and the Proud Mothers at the Island Grill.

Elliott Brood

I generally enjoyed the show but I there were a few things I didn’t quite enjoy:

  • I listen to most music in my home and without others and I sometimes don’t notice wordless vocal hooks – which I generally regard as a cop-out – but live they are invitations to sing along: I had no idea how many songs of theirs contained them until Friday night and what can I say? I liked them less because of it.
  • Their music is a little less diverse than I previously liked to imagine which is both a bad thing and a good thing. The bad is that some of their songs sound too similar. The good is that they have a clear sound, which, I must say, the new material seems to stray from a little. Yes, it is ridiculous to criticize a band for sounding too much the same and then for expanding their pallet. What can I say? I am a hypocrite.
  • The primary singer was a little too obsessed with his vocals. In fact, every member of the band complained about the sound at least once. Not impressed.
  • There was a lot of emphasis on having a good time, which is something I wouldn’t have associated with a band that is self-described as “death country.”

So though I generally enjoyed myself I certainly felt no compulsion to see them again (or to buy their latest, for that matter, which I do not yet own). They made a little enough impression on some people we were there with that they went to see The Hooded Fang at the General Wolfe instead.

Yukon Blonde

I had no interest in seeing Yukon Blonde, having listened to their latest, Tiger Talk, and been thoroughly unimpressed.

However, on our way to see Daniel Romano, my girlfriend heard a little too much country coming from the Island Grill, so we went to see them. We did this because we were only vaguely aware that Pelt and Hollerado were playing in another venue and we had no idea where that venue was. (There were only the three last year: Town Hall steps, Island Grill, General Wolfe.)

So we ended up waiting in line outside the General Wolfe for about 10 minutes or so, because they were (sort of) at capacity. We watched an interesting little interaction between the bouncer, a drunk without proper festival credentials, and someone (the drunk’s uncle apparently) who claimed to be “connected.” This is the only incident I have experienced that was remotely like other, more popular festivals which are often about inclusion / exclusion.

  • The Drunk (slurred and less coherent): How can you be at capacity? Let me in! Don’t you know who I am? I have a pass! [etc]
  • The Bouncer: Sorry, we are at capacity. No. I’m sorry, we can’t let you in. That’s not an all-access pass. No. No, you can’t come in. Take off. Go away. Take off. [etc]
  • The Important Guy: This is my nephew! Don’t you know who I am? I’ll tell [somebody]. He practically runs Wolfe Island! Don’t you know who I am?

Because I have no ear for dialogue, this is not what actually was said. It was still more than a little absurd. The bouncer was unfortunately forced to let in the drunk. To make it even funnier, and more pathetic, while I was sitting next to the drunk as he harassed the bartenders who refused to serve him, his uncle asked me who was playing, because he apparently had no idea.

Yukon Blonde failed to move me live in much the same way as they failed to move me on record. Competent, catchy and just so very boring. Their hair fascinated me, though.At one point they broke out a very straight up cover of “Let’s Dance” including a completely copped Stevie Ray Vaughan solo. Now, it takes chops to cop a Stevie Ray Vaughan solo, but why play it note for note? As a band, don’t you want to make music that is your own? I really don’t get the straight up cover thing and this was practically the recording itself, it was so close to the original. Which reminds me:

After the show, we went looking for the others. Having no idea where they were, we decided to go to our cars. As we neared them, we heard music and this is how we discovered the other venue.

Hollerado

We caught the tail end of their show and I instantly regretted not communicating with everyone else about where we were all going. The 10-15 minutes I caught were so much better than the Yukon Blonde show.

It wasn’t the music; I doubt Hollerado play a music style I particularly like. But they were showmen, and they were engaging. And they were fun. I certainly felt like I had missed the bus on the concerts this night, but then the same thing happened to me last year (only I wasn’t made this aware). Based on this one little snippet, I would definitely check them out in the future – at least on stage – if they ever play in my neighbourhood.

Saturday August 11th

As I said before, it takes a long time to get a big group going, so on Saturday we missed Justin Bird, Nightbox, Peter Elkas, and D-Sissive. Can’t say I’m torn up about Nightbox or D-Sissive. But I do sometimes wish it the festival was walkable distance from where I stay, if only so I could check out bands and make a call based on sound, rather than name, reputation and write-ups. The reason is simple.

Little Scream

Little Scream, though a bit raw and rough, were the highlight of the festival for me. I knew nothing about them going in, and I could have easily missed at least part of their gig, had I taken a different car. And so who knows if I missed the band / artist I would have liked the most because of when I showed up? Just like last year, I will never know.

But fortunately, I got to see Little Scream. And actually I am thinking of getting (her) their record. She is a good performer with what sounded like a decent set of songs. The thing that I liked most though was how raw the show was and how unlike most singer-songwriter acts it seemed. Stay tuned for a review on the blog in the coming weeks (one hopes).

Eight and a Half

Whatever opportunity I would have for trying to appreciate Eight a Half was ruined by sound problems and their response to it (the singer is apparently not a very understanding type). The bass rumble generated by what we think was the drum pads was so intense I actually had to move back from the stage for the set. I doubt it was my kind of music anyway, but I can see how I might appreciate it when given a record and my requisite three listens. Live, with their sound problems – and their obvious frustration with their sound problems – they made little impression.

Zeus

I never quite figured out whether Zeus were serious or not, but they are extremely talented musicians and a lot of fun. They play music that (mostly) belongs in other decades (’60s, ’70s), but they play it very well and (at least live) they play it with an edge that comes from much more recent music. They seem to revel in some arena rock cliches, but this came off as endearing and fun, rather than tired. At least one song (it might have been an obscure cover for all I knew) had absolutely atrocious lyrics, which made me think they were a little less serious than their instrumental abilities made them seem: all guitarists played keyboards in addition to their high abilities on their instruments (which included tapping, though the bassist played with a pick, shock! horror!) and the drummer was amazing.

They certainly put on a good show. I doubt I would ever listen to them on record because they are a bit of a nostalgia trip, but they were probably the most enjoyable of the weekend for me.

Rich Aucoin

I have seen Rich Aucoin before and he made even less of an impression on me this time. (But that’s through no fault of his own: his gear was not there courtesy of Air Canada.)

I am contemplating a blog post on the reasons why this type of show is so popular but I can’t quite articulate my theory yet. I just don’t get it. At any level really. For someone like me, who wants to watch musicians playing, it has no appeal. For someone who wants to dance and sing along and lose themselves in being part of a crowd all doing the same things, it clearly has a very strong appeal. But crowd behaviour has always scared me. And as for the music: I need more from music a beat and a melody and some really basic dynamics. So I just can’t relate.

Sam Roberts

I have discovered I was barely aware of Sam Roberts. Sure I knew his name. But when he played his hits, I only definitely recognized one. I thought I had heard others but couldn’t be sure. He never made an impression on me. And he failed to live too (except for surprising me with his chops: he can actually play solos).

This is middle of the road, safe rock and roll of the kind that has existed for a very long time and which entertains many people but barely makes an impression on someone as snobby as I.

In fact, Sam Roberts made me appreciate a show I thought I disliked: Stars at last’s years festival. Yes, the male vocalist drove me crazy and yes, they are not my kind of music, but they put on a better – at least more engaging – show than Sam Roberts.

And that’s something that last year I couldn’t have imagined. But it’s because there’s nothing about Roberts that is offensive or difficult or interesting. He and his band are just very competent and they don’t have a lot of great material to work with so the result is a very big meh.

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