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| Wise, Young & King at Rancho Relaxo |
March 30 2012 – We first became aware of Ottawa’s Wise Young and King (WYK) when they opened for Saga at Sound Academy last September and put on a high energy show with great original rock songs. Wise Young and King isn’t a law firm nor the names of the guys in the band. Wise Young and King is Alan Charlton on lead vocals and guitar, Myles Bell on guitar, Colin Wolfson on bass and Alex Scott on drums.
They have also been profiled as one of our original Emerging Artist Spotlights, which you can read here. We love finding exciting new bands and WYK certainly qualifies. A mix of Sabbath meets Alice in Chains, this is a heavy classic rock sound with great melodies, hooks and searing guitar solos.
Friday night at Toronto’s Rancho Relaxo frontman Charlton’s powerful vocals and energetic performance kept the packed audience hopping. Guitarist Bell, barefoot and sporting a much scruffier beard than at last year’s show, exuded a confidence that was shared by the whole band. When his bandana slipped and became a blindfold early in a song, Bell played the remainder of the song blindfolded before removing it. Not to be missed highlights of any Wise Young & King show are Federales and The Black Rider as they were again on Friday. At the end of the set, Bell chucked his Telecaster to the floor in disgust. Not exactly sure what prompted it since the whole set rocked.
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| Wise, Young & King at Rancho Relaxo |
The band is working on the last couple of tracks on their next CD which is still untitled at this point. It’s expected to be released by late summer. We’ve already had the chance to see some of those songs, like Plastic World and Lost Control, which is a regular in their shows. You can see a great video of Plastic World here.
In this age of Justin Bieber, it’s great to see a younger generation that still loves heavy guitar driven rock’n’roll and these guys definitely rock. We’re looking forward to their next visit to Toronto.
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| Wise, Young & King at Rancho Relaxo |
Also on the bill on Friday night were Bootleg Glory, who sound a lot like The White Stripes/Raconteurs/The Dead Weather/solo Jack White. Check out their song Tease here.
Going on last was The BoneDevil a heavy metal rock band who played to a thinning crowd after WYK finished their set.
You can see more pictures from the gig here.
Review by: Steve Mallinson
