- Stone River
May 9 2014 – The halfway mark of CMW 2014 brought an incredible mix of artists including an incredible 3 of T-Mak World’s Top 10 Indie Bands. Our CMW 2014 recap series takes a look at what May 8 2014 had to offer but first here is a video of some of the bands from the night.
MEGAFAUNA
CMW’s description of Austin’s Megafauna is a mix of QOTSA and Bjork and we’d agree with the Bjork angle. Dani Neff definitely impressed with her unique frantic fretwork.
SPEED CONTROL
Speed Control rocked Cherry Cola’s with an early set at 9pm but the enthusiastic crowd loved this Blink 182 inspired Whitehorse based trio.
STONE RIVER
Stone River delivered a crushing set to the packed Cherry Cola’s and really impressed. The band is too big for such a small stage though and were somewhat restricted spacially. Stone River needs a huge stage so their 3 guitar assault can flow optimally. They delivered some songs from the new album and then for their last song they put the exclamation point on their set. A 14 minute epic jam called Euphoria not only was the performance of the night but very possibly the highlight of CMW 2014. Thank you guys for keeping music real and understanding the power of riff fueled songs.
UNCUT
The Bovine was rocking hard for Uncut whose mix of goth, industrial, punk, grunge type of sound was hot and heavy. Certainly their heavy British influenced sound leans more toward punk than any other genre but without too much of the bile that would alienate listeners. Excellent melodies and thumping beats made Uncut an unplanned pleasure for us and they should be proud on delivering a killer set at the Bovine for CMW 2014.
Open AIR
You know you are doing something right if Toronto hard rock heavyweights Last Bullet and TimeGiant make a point of catching your set. Not only were members of both those bands in attendance, but they were rocking out to the sweet harmonious hard rock of Open AIR. The guys from Calgary came a long way to crush the Bovine but they delivered with their highly energetic and easy to love brand of rock. One of T-Mak World’s Top 10 Indie Bands of 2013 made us reaffirm that Open AIR are exactly what rock radio stations will be playing nationwide. We have an interview with the band coming shortly.
The Blue Stones
The garage blues duo that we can never get enough of. The Blue Stones continue to impress us with their insanely good mastery of drums, guitar and vocals and their sweat dripping heads affirmed that they were giving it their all. Rancho Relaxo was pulsating to the songs which are a love child of Jimi Hendrix and The Black Keys. One dude got into it so much he put on a sombrero and jumped on stage to dance it up with the band during their set. Great fun and great tunes from the two bad boys from Windsor.
Verdict: Clearly the best night of CMW so far. This year festival has really disappointed us with the lack of #RealRock but tonight made up for it. Finally long haired rockers! All three T-Mak World editors out tonight loved what they saw and each one has their own gig of the night winner! Stone River, Open AIR and The Blue Stones all get T-Mak World’s Gig Of The Night mention for May 8 2014.
Additional photos here.
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