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| The Legendary Dirtbikers |
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| The Ultimatemost High |
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| Tres Bien Ensemble |
I last saw The Legendary Dirtbikers two months ago, but jumped at the chance to spend time with some friends and watch the Toronto band again on Friday night within the welcoming confines of The Sister.The set was similar to the last one, but the Dirtbikers didn't need any prompting to showcase their "First Dog in Space" single this time out. And the band's rendition of "Let's Get High and Fool Around" may have been the best that I've heard it do.Guitarist/singer Fred Robinson (who last night was wearing a Hilarious House of Frightenstein T-shirt I was coveting) put it well on a Facebook post I read this morning: "I play in a band with some nice dudes..this makes me happy. We are not about to change the world but we will have a tonne of fun trying."The only thing I knew about The Ultimatemost High was a YouTube video I checked out earlier this week to see if I'd like it. But what I witnessed in person from this Oshawa, Ont. quartet was much better.The Ultimatemost High plays a blend of old school punk and vintage garage rock and at times I heard elements of The Damned, The Stooges, Dead Boys and very early Replacements. The group even threw in a Seeds cover for good measure.Charismatic singer Ben Lee combines the moves and actions of some of rock and roll's great frontmen, but adds his own fresh spin to it. This included lying on his back on the table in front of me and putting the microphone in my face so I had to sing the chorus along with him. Luckily, the lyrics weren't too hard to pick up.Wayne Omaha was one of my favourite local bands through the late '90s and early into this century, but the band dissolved and its bass player moved away. The group has largely been resurrected, however, under a name borrowed from The Beatles' "Michelle" that I much prefer: Tres Bien Ensemble. The quintet has flown under my radar but when I read the concert listing with the bracketed notation "(formerly Wayne Omaha)," I figured I should see what the new incarnation was like.I liked what I heard, but wasn't completely sold early on. But as the set of instrumental and vocal tracks evolved, I started appreciating the versatility, diversity and dynamics of what I was hearing from these very talented musicians more and more. It's art rock meets rawk and roll in places, and it draws you in further the more you hear it. I'm not usually a fan of extended jams, but I even liked when the second last song of the night morphed into one.I've always liked the guys in the band and am pleased that I'll likely see them more often now that I know who Tres Bien Ensemble is. Beauty on.
Toronto's Mitzi's Sister is just calling itself The Sister these days, and the place has changed substantially since my last visit. The restaurant/bar/music venue has been renovated, the bar has been moved to free up more space and Durham County Hop Head cask ale is available. All of the changes are for the better.
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| The Legendary Dirtbikers |
One thing that hasn't changed, however, is the semi-regular appearance of The Legendary Dirtbikers at the Parkdale hangout. And that's a good thing, too.
If the band has a primary singer, I guess it would be bassist Mark Gabriel (Knockout Pill, Holy Microphone). But guitarists Fred Robinson (UIC, The Chickens, Possum, Holy Microphone) and Duncan Blair (The Mummers, The Dickens) also take lead on occasion and all three men contribute harmonies. Drummer Peter Timmins gets to stretch out from his regular gig with Cowboy Junkies and pound the skins harder and faster.
I'm not exactly sure how I'd categorize what these veterans do, or who I'd compare them to, other than to say they do it because they love it and not because they're trying to become the next big thing on either commercial radio or with Pitchfork-obsessed hipsters. It's definitely guitar-driven, pretty loud and touches on a few styles. None of the members are particularly strong singers, but their voices suit their material just fine.
"Another Country Song" was dedicated to me after the fact by Robinson, and I also enjoyed "Last Call," "Watching The Neighbours Watching TV" and "Still Remain."
Gabriel left the small stage after what he thought was the final song. But members of the headlining act, the young British mod punk trio The Targets, called him back with the threat that they wouldn't take the stage until they heard the Dirtbikers single "First Dog In Space." He obliged and I'm glad he did. I love that song.
I saw The Targets on a previous Toronto visit in March and, while I liked them, I elected to move on to The Silver Dollar to see Puerto Rican garage rock band Davila 666.
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| White Mystery |
Chicago's White Mystery was up first, however. The sister/brother duo of guitarist/singer Alex and drummer Francis Scott Key White look like hippies, but certainly don't play like flower children. The lyrics were often hard to decipher, parts of the set were a bit too raw for my tastes and some songs were definitely better than others, but I ended up being mostly won over by the visceral power.
Davila 666 came on just before 1 a.m., and the San Juan sextet was impressive from the get-go. There were none of the props, costumes or dancers I'd heard that performances can include, but the music was enough for me. The group came across like a better behaved Black Lips and, while I'm not familiar with its two albums, I'm happy to report that the buzz about the band that came out of the South by Southwest Music Festival in March was warranted.
The Spanish cover of "Hanging On The Telephone" was a very pleasant surprise that I appreciated almost as much as the woman in front of me wearing a dress dedicated to Blondie -- who compensated for the guy behind me who kept asking if I had any mescaline.
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| Davila 666 |
I swear I could feel the floor move under me at one point, which I don't know says more about the enthusiasm of Davila 666 and its fans or the structural soundness of the club, but no damage was done during the 40-minute set and two-song encore. Being from Puerto Rico may give Davila 666 a bit of a novelty factor, but this performance proved that it doesn't have to rely on it.
