IllScarlett, Sebastien Grainger and The Stills: Photos and Thoughts
Friday was a very cold day. Walking around between concerts arguably did not help at all and we ended up getting very exhausted and cold.
We first went to the free concert, part of the Grey Cup festival. First off the stage was badly done with a 6-foot high dog-type fence which was like 5 feet back from the stage. The fence was constantly pushed forward (by the screaming 14-year olds) but who could blame them? It was a shitty fence and this is a thumbs down to the Grey Cup organizers.
The first band we saw was The Reason. An emo type band based on impressions, Kevin and I did not really like what we saw. Must suck to be an opening act to a free show though. IllScarlett was decent, I felt weird standing with 14-year old girls screaming and Kevin… I wasn’t much of a fan of them but I do admit that they have a pretty good bassist and guitarist. I don’t have any pictures due to the fence and I just didn’t bother. A pretty good band, a mainstream act that has some talent but being mainstream can really wreck some bands.
Sebastien Grainger -former singer/drummer of Death From Above 1979 walked in with what I would call it the Freddy Mercury look. I’m not a fan of tight white pants and I could barely recognize him and on a hunch (based on skill) figured he was from Death From Above. Kevin really dug this performance and I’ll have to agree. I was good shit with Grainger’s backing band showing energy with solos and awesome transitions (with the occasional chug of beer). Granger and his backing band were awesome despite the small crowd they drew (I guess people didn’t know who he was). The sound at Lee’s wasn’t too good but I think we should all look out for Grainger. He’ll be rocking some shows eventually. I didn’t specifically recognize any songs that stood out (most if not all songs were good) so here’s a random track I found online:
The Rhythm Method
The Stills had a packed crowd waiting for their arrival. They played a few old tracks while some people sang along and cheered. They really set up for nice photo opportunities. The Stills fresh off signing to Arts & Crafts, planned to play some new songs. They played at least 6 new tracks for us. It was really tough to sit through as they played the majority all in a row. Without anyone really knowing any the songs it was kind of a crowd killer. If you are a Stills fan then you should know that they had Tim Fletcher on vocals the majority of the time, a move I strongly agree with. However the new stuff seemed very experimental and more complex to what they would normally do. It relied less on vocals with louder bass and harder drumming and more complex guitar solos. I think this may be a disadvantage as The Stills relied on the simplicity to capture my brain. I’m not too sure what to think about the new stuff.. I’ll wait to hear it when it’s released in ‘08.
Here’s a track off Without Feathers (which is grower but I have neglected it) with Emily Haines of Metric
Baby Blues by the Stills
Click below to see various pics (you could find the rest on my facebook if you wish to add me):
Sebastian Grainger was the singer/drummer in DFA1979.