NxNE Day 1 Chang A Lang, Give us the Daggers Live @ The Silver Dollar Room
Day one of NxNE started off with a bang. The Silver Dollar Room played host to the nights bands; Chang a lang, Pace The Stairs and Give us the Daggers. Normally this venue caters best to Jazz and rhythm & blues. Regardless of the genre being played, the contemporary influence makes for the perfect set when you add the crowd, the lighting and the stage.
First up was Chang A Lang, a trio from Toronto. Early into their set their songs had a strong power punk rock vibe with rabid drumming and quick direct lyrics. Lead singer Sonny Boy Okamoto never failed to lighten the crowd with his charisma. “It’s eight o’clock and were wasted let’s rock” And rock they did. Okamoto’s vocals sound parallel to a 1980’s Joey Ramone combined with the bands natural garage style. One of the highlights of their set was during the song “Ruth Was a Communist”. If you watched closely you could see the drummer twirl his sticks like a pro. These guys were my pleasant surprise of the evening.
Change A Lang – Ruth Was A Communist
Tradition meets progressive as the local experimental trio “Pace The Stairs” began their slot. If you’re unfamiliar with the live band that’s about to take the stage, their setup will always hint at something. The beat of the snare or the strum of their guitars all sounded normal to me. Mediocre even. That was until I heard the test vocals from “The Technician” (as they describe themselves). The obscenely high pitched scream was just a taste of things to come. I’m a fan of some post hardcore/screamo bands but these guys took it a step further. The rapid synth changes and percussion sharing demonstrated their experimental side during the song “Petalogy”. The band had a separate snare drum in the front that was used by the vocalists for additional beats. It was new to me, it was different. It worked well.
Rounding out my evening was the Toronto rock quartet “Give us the Daggers”. The band had a real Brit Rock/Classic rock sound. They proved that the tried and tested calculated guitar sequences will always get a crowd on their feet. “Bottle of Red” and “Drunk and High” were amongst their strongest during the set. Bassist Davey seemed to be in a trance of music moving to the bands beat with the most energy. Between their final couple songs I SWEAR I could hear a woman in the crowd ask the lead singer to take his pants off. I wish somebody who was there, could read this and confirm. Is it true? Can being a rock star once again get you laid? This might be a good idea for me to look into. I need a good fallback career should IT jobs get cut due to the economic crisis.
Give us the Daggers – Drunk and High
ugh, give us the daggers are TERRIBLE