Social Distortion and Mikal Cronin dominate night two of NXNE

Invasions

The North by Northeast Music Festival returned again last week, which meant a lot of running around Toronto trying to catch as many bands as possible.

Here's what I caught on night two:

A streetcar delay made me arrive late at Yonge Dundas Square for Social Distortion's 9 p.m. set, but luckily I got there just in time to hear "Story of My Life," which has always been one of my favourites from the band. I was pleasantly surprised by the large size of the crowd, considering it was cool and raining, and the performance didn't seem to be dampened -- even though Social D isn't what it was when I first saw the band about 20 years ago. Lead singer/guitarist Mike Ness was dressed all in black except for red suspenders and I realized, with a Citytv video screen behind the stage offering the cue to get me thinking, that Ness is starting to resemble Moses Znaimer -- if the television pioneer was covered in tattoos.

Social Distortion continued to mine its rich catalogue of roots-influenced punk rock with songs including "Cold Feelings," "Crown of Thorns" and the always great "Ball and Chain" before ending the set with "Misery Loves Company" from Ness' 1999 solo debut, Cheating At Solitaire.

The group emerged back on stage after a short break with Ness wearing a fedora as he launched into "Reach For The Sky," "It Coulda Been Me" and "Winners and Losers" before concluding -- as Social Distortion has every time I've seen it -- with a scorching cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire."

Mikal Cronin

I walked west on Dundas Street West and scored a bargain by snagging four pizza slices for a buck each, which I ate en route to The Silver Dollar Room, where I arrived for the second half of Invasions' 11 p.m. set. I saw this Toronto surf-garage rock band during Canadian Music Festival in March and, while I wasn't completely sold, I said I'd give it another chance. There seemed to be more energy, from both the band and the audience, this time. The trumpet also stood out more, which was a plus. But the group's cover of The Kinks' "Dead End Street" left me lukewarm once again. My friend Matzoh Ball described Invasions as "Glee doing a tribute to Calexico," which I laughed at but can't verify since I've never watched Glee.


Mikal Cronin was the main reason I was at The Silver Dollar, however, as he launched a three-night residency at the club. The place was packed and the front of the stage was full of moshing and crowd-surfing by those excited to witness the San Francisco-based singer/guitarist's brand of lo-fi rock and roll. "Apathy" and "Change" were my personal highlights of the short but explosive set. I'd meant to see Cronin at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas in March, and friends who saw him there or elsewhere have raved about his performances. Perhaps that set my expectations too high because, as much as I enjoyed Cronin and his three bandmates, I didn't find it mind-blowing.

Toronto's Pow Wows had their work cut out for them to try and elicit the same response from the now much smaller Silver Dollar audience, and the trio's unexceptional garage-psych rock wasn't up to the task and sent me on my way home before it finished.

Rivals, Savages, Invasions, Eyeballs, Brews and more on Canadian Music Festival’s Friday

Kendel Carson and Dustin Bentall

Dustin Bentall is one of those artists who comes through Toronto once or twice a year and I mean to see but never do. That changed last Friday when he performed with his band at the Horseshoe Tavern as part of the Canadian Music Festival.

The roots-rocking, alt.country artist is the son of ‘80s and ‘90s Canadian music star Barney Bentall, but I’ll take junior over pops. He sings and plays electric guitar in front of his band The Smokes (bassist Del Cowsill, drummer Rich Knox and female fiddler Kendel Carson — who I found to be quite smoking), and they play country songs that sound authentic and rock numbers that are full of passion. I’d definitely like to hear a longer set when Bentall and company tour in support of their forthcoming full-length album.

Young Rival has been a favourite Canadian band since the days when it was called The Ride Theory early this century, but its performance at the Horseshoe was the first time I’d seen it since guitarist Kyle Kuchmey left and the group became a trio in late 2009. A short and sweet ‘60s sounding instrumental was tossed amidst hooky rock numbers with vocals like “Two Reasons” and “Authentic” that also harkened back to that era, and a cover of The Deadly Snakes’ “I Can’t Sleep At Night” fit in with the repertoire perfectly.

Young Rival

If you like vintage-sounding, guitar-driven rock-and-roll and power pop, Young Rival should be on your radar. There’s not a lot of dynamism on stage, but musically the group reminds me somewhat of Black Lips without the accompanying mayhem. Young Rival should be much more popular than it is.

Savages, an all-female band from England, caused a buzz the previous week in Austin, Texas at the South by Southwest Music Festival, and that followed the quartet to Toronto for its first Canadian show. The members were all clad in black, and most of their post-punk music was equally dark. Singer Jehnny Beth is very animated, even if she often turned her back to the audience during a set that included “Shut Up” and “I Am Here.” Savages needs more songs, but the four girls are still young and have potential. For now, the group comes across as a blend of Siouxsie and The Banshees and Killing Joke.

Savages' Jehnny Beth

It was time to move on to The Silver Dollar Room and, on the corner of Spadina and College on my way there, I saw club booker Dan Burke get into a car. I thought that was ominous.

Invasions was already on stage when I walked in at 11:15 p.m. I ordered a pint of Molson Stock Ale for $5.75 and the bartender, who I’d never seen before, swiped my $4.25 in change off the bar while I was reaching into my wallet to give her a more sensible smaller tip. I told her to bring my money back and tipped her a buck. I probably shouldn’t have. A lot of the Silver Dollar employees were wearing retro ‘70s blue Adidas tracksuit jackets. I couldn’t help but think that they must have been the result of a Burke “negotiation.” The Silver Dollar can be a sketchy place.

Invasions is a Toronto surf-garage rock band that stands out a bit from the pack because one of its members plays trumpet when he’s not pounding on the keyboards. A not so well done cover of The Kinks’ great “Dead End Street” was inferior to some of the group’s original tunes. Invasions has all the elements of bands I like, but it just didn’t present them consistently enough. Still, I’d see it again.

Invasions

In between bands, Burke ranted about the greatness of Michel Pagliaro and took over a pool table while proclaiming himself king. Then, as quickly as he appeared, he vanished.

Brooklyn, N.Y. band X-Ray Eyeballs was booked in for a three-night residency at the club, but the crowd thinned out a bit after Invasions. The quartet used dry ice and more of a light show than you usually see at The Silver Dollar, but I’d hoped for more musically. The two-male, two-female group lived up to its “new wave garage pop” billing in its 30-minute set, just not as adeptly as I had hoped for. It has a look and sound of something I’d usually be totally in to, but it lacked quality songs.

X-Ray Eyeballs

I hadn’t been to Sneaky Dee’s in about a year, and was disappointed that the beer prices had risen and the windows of the second-storey club had been covered when I arrived for Brews Willis’ 2 a.m. set. The Toronto trio is just what you want to hear at this hour after you’ve had a beer or seven. It’s fun, energetically melodic and slightly sloppy. It opened with “Sweaty Hands” and continued on with “Can’t Fight The Water,” “Hell No Fuck You” and a few others before ending with “Sun Burn Boner Boy,” which the band members continued to play as a friend came on stage and poured shots down their throats. It was an appropriate way to conclude the night.

Brews Willis