Sorry for taking forever to post this video. I shot it weeks ago and uploaded it last week, so I’ve really had no excuse. I’ve been busy shooting tons of videos lately, so their is plenty of stuff coming down the pipeline. Stuff that I’m very excited about. If you look hard enough you’ll be able to find some of it, just not on this blog. As for the above video, PS I Love You are a freakin’ sweet band from Kingston, ON. My roommate’s been raving about them for months and I got pretty into their EP when he brought it home, so I jumped at the chance to see them live, even if it meant taking the train to Hamilton. Heck, Hamilton is full of great people, I should go there more often for shows. Good vibes all ’round.
Here is the video I made with Julie Doiron, one of my favourite musicians in the world. I interviewed her and she played a song just for me (and you). Fred Squire was there too, lurking in the background. They are lovely people and it was a great privilege to make this video.
When I was chatting with Kehoe before the show I said that the first time I saw Attack in Black backing up Jimmie was at an in-store at Criminal Records about a year ago. I didn’t realize it until he told me, but that was their first show together! Since then they’ve become quite the tight little rock unit, surely due to their non-stop touring schedule. They’ve also started a label together and each released fantastic new records, so it was good to have them back in Toronto. The first video here is a song called Province to Province, which is an older tune they re-recorded for Still Jimmie, and performed here flawlessly. The second video is actually of two songs, Leaving Your Death in a Flowerbed and I’m a Rock, both off of AIB’s new album Years (by one thousand fingertips). I’ve also got a video of the opening band Hunters & Anglers up on my YouTube page.
Here’s a video of an impromptu performance of Nei Young’s song “Look Out for My Love” done by Rick White and Julie Doiron at the Horsehoe Tavern back in March. There are some missing lyrics in the chorus sure, but it’s still a damn fine cover. Julie’s voice is really beautiful here…
I recently read Stuart Berman’s book This Book is Broken, which talks about the Toronto music scene from the mid-90s to the present day with a focus on Broken Social Scene and it’s associated bands. I found it to be a very interesting document of a time from just before I started going to shows and immersing in Toronto’s musical community. Now, if I’d read this book before I interviewed Charles Spearin, the interview might have been quite different. What I mean is, I really didn’t know how crucial a player Charles was to the development of not only Broken Social Scene, but really the whole scene that followed them. The questions I asked him all related to his current undertaking The Happiness Project, and I think I got some insightful answers from him, but now there’s so much more I’d pick his brain about. Looking back now though, a few months after this interview was conducted, I really feel honoured to have had the chance to enter the home and talk with one of the Toronto music scene’s true patriarchs.
Dale and I went to the Horseshoe last Saturday since that was where everyone else was going to be. Great Bloomers were having their CD release show and they lined up a couple great bands to open the show. The first band I saw was called The Cutting Edge. I would describe them as a little bit honky tonk with some definite bar band influence. They kept the crowd moving with a set of rowdy originals and a few recognizable covers thrown in. I told James afterwards that they stole the show before I’d even seen the other bands, and I am sticking to that. Next up was Sports: The Band. I’ve never seen them before and I am most definitely not friends with anyone in the band, so I was surprised when I found myself so entranced with their set. They had a good stage presence and their songs were immediately catchy and memorable. I was humming their tunes for the rest of the night. I was feeling a little claustrophobic (as I often do at the ’shoe) so I only stuck around for a few Great Bloomers songs, but they were in fine form and had a large, attentive audience, so I’m sure they were stoked. Check out my YouTube page for some video I took of them right before I split.
This was shot way back during the first week of March, but hopefully it’s still relevant. That’s my goal with this videos – to make something that will still be informative and interesting a year or more after it’s made. It’s not always easy, but it helps when the interview doesn’t just focus on one specific thing (ie. the recording of an individual album, a particular tour, etc.). That’s my priority whenever I’m conducting an interview, which actually wasn’t the case for this video. In spite of that, my brother/co-worker Mark Medley was more than capable of taking up the reins for this one and smashing out a bloody good interview. It helped that Jon-Rae was so candid with his answers. Mark pretty much covered everything major that has happened to Jon-Rae throughout the last three years in a short amount of time. Throw in a gut-wrenching performance by Jon-Rae alone on stage at the Horseshoe and you have yourself a mighty fine video if I do say so myself. One of my personal faves.
