On may 31, Charlottetown veterans Strawberry had a record launch for their new 7" release "Into The Sky"/"The Balloon Song". Overall, it was a fantastic night. A film projecter was playing all night (with the sound off), and in between sets, a tape of Orson Wells reading 1984 was played.
The night started with a one-time side project called The John Boyland Explosion. The band consisted of John Boyland on drums, Daniel Basiletti on trumpet (!) and 3 Strawberry members making up the rest of the band: Deirdre Smith on keyboard, Scott Garrett on guitar, and Brian Arsenault on bass. The sound was like surf/lounge/jazz and very well performed. I think it's a shame that this was a one-time thing.
Next up was Cecil Seaskull (the lead singer/guitarist of Nerdy Girl), doing a solo 'acoustic' set (with an electric guitar). She kinda sounded like a riot grrrl who discovered the music of Victoria Williams. The Nerdy Girl 7" Dime Store Hussy was also available (and it's on the same label as the Strawberry 7", Janken Po Records), complete with a comic based on a video idea for "Perhaps".
Next, I finally got a chance to hear Dyno-Mites play.
I had heard of them and seen their stickers all over, but was
anxious to actually hear them. I was not disappointed.
It was a very fun set, musically, and it was the point in the
evening where the mosh pit began.
update- click here
for a review of the Dyno-Mites demo
The Ewoks (officially called thEwoks to avoid legal problems) also were launching a new release, although it wasn't announced, and they only had 4 copies of it. It was a new 12-track cassette called "...and that's when the robots cried", and the set they played made me ask myself "are these guys getting better, or is everyone else getting worse?" They spewed out their loud, punkish, ecclectic brand of music while the film projector showed an educational film about how air passes around the wind of a plane (or something like that, the sound was off)
Then Strawberry finally took the stage, with Deirdre on vocals (and a bit of keyboard), Scott and Brian still with their axes, and Simon Morris on drums. The set was much heavier than I expected, but Deirdre explained to me afterwards that the crowd was very aggresive, so they played to reflect that (thus the omission of "In Season", one of my favorites and one of their softest). I guess the 'Mites and 'Woks got the people a little too riled!
And the night ended with a LOWD set from veterans Supercar. They played their usual in-your-face, sweatin'-like-a-hog, mosh- or-die flavour, all with the film projector playing a film about a 1926 car race.
It was a great night and i'm glad I went. Check this site soon for reviews of the releases I mentioned.
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