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| Canadian Music Week 2013 Venue – El Mocambo Tavern |
March 20 2013 – After a long one year wait we can finally offer our readers our favorite articles of the year. Canadian Music Week (CMW) nightly recaps! Tuesday March 19 saw CMW 2013 kick off in a subdued fashion as the music portion of the festival featured a reduced number of venues and bands than will be multiply in number for the next few days, but that did not mean that there was not incredible talent on display tonight.
T-Mak World strives to be THE main resource for rock at CMW 2013 and all our articles are centralized on this page. We offer a recommendation guide of over 100 worthy rock bands here as well as 15 bands that we feature in our “Must See Gigs” guide here. Last but not least we have profiled the following artists playing CMW 2013 as part of our Emerging Artist Spotlight:
On a chilly snowy night we wondered off to see where the Tuesday night action was. On our quest to find some kick ass music we ended up seeing a total of 12 bands tonight. We also have a video highlight clip that can be found at the bottom of the article.
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| Three Quarter Stone at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Three Quarter Stone at Cherry Colas 8PM
We kick off our CMW 2013 with a band we have seen before. Three Quarter Stone opened up for platinum selling Great White which we reviewed here. The hard rocking 5 piece band is exactly our kinda music – high energy riff driven rock and roll. They had the unfortunate early slot on opening night so the audience was sparse but they guys rocked hard and smooth. We love this band and want to see them again in the future. If you like classic rock this is a band for you. They are on Twitter and Facebook
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| Justin Dube at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Justin Dube at El Mocambo (Downstairs) 8 PM
While there is no doubt that T-Mak World is a rock focused website, we are open to listening to all genres of music which was the case at our El Mocambo stop. Certainly softer and more poppy than our usual tastes, the fans in attendance were clearly enjoying this set. The vocals were a highlight of this one.
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| Unbuttoned at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
The beauty of the ElMo is you take a flight of stairs and you are in what feels like a different club. We watched Unbuttoned which can be described as a smooth fusion of jazz, funk and soul in the vein of Jamiroquai. Very danceable and groove filled, the audience were certainly moving to this band. Not the typical rock sound we focus on but a very enjoyable band. We were able to catch a few songs and get our dance on.
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| The Rathburns at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
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| Do Mar at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Do Mar at Rancho Relaxo – 9 PM
Another band that fuses various sounds – Do Mar relied on funk and alternative to meld their sound to what was presented on stage. The rather packed Rancho Relaxo was gathered around the stage to check out this band. Excellent guitar riffs (reminiscent of Carlos Santana) were an exclamation point to this set.
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| The In and Outs at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
The In and Outs at Bovine 10 PM
This Montreal based band delivered hard, raw, fast and aggressive rock. Clearly influenced by blues, punk, reggae, and even rockabilly they shook the Bovine to the ground. David Groover has rough and raw rock vocals which are a perfect match to Francois-Michel Beauchamp’s drumming and Alexandre Pepin’s bass. Definitely a highlight of the night, one of our editors has selected this set as his “Gig Of The Night” (more info at bottom of the article). The band is on Twitter and Facebook.
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| Serena Pryne and The Mandevilles at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Serena Pryne and The Mandevilles at The Hideout 11 PM
The CMW guide book unfortunately did not have any listings for our favorite bar in the city – The Hideout but through Twitter we found out that there would indeed be live music at the venue. We could not resist to pop in there for a pitcher and catch the first act. Serena Pryne and The Mandevilles don’t even show up in the CMW artist page so we expect they were a very late minute addition. The powerful vocals of Pryne really impressed from the first note. The music was clearly country influenced but worked in a very nice crisp delivery.
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| 20 Amp Soundchild at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
20 Amp Soundchild at Cherry Colas 11 PM
One of our recommended bands for the night, 20 Amp Soundchild is smooth and visceral hard rock that would be a perfect opening band for the Foo Fighters. Lead vocalist Nick Viera has the charisma and vocals to stand high above the crowd. Probably the most complete front man we have seen tonight, we really enjoyed this band (as did the packed Cherry Colas patrons).
Definitely a highlight of the night, one of our editors has selected this set as his “Gig Of The Night” (more info at bottom of the article). The band is on Twitter and Facebook.
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| Riding Shotgun at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Riding Shotgun at Cherry Colas 12 AM
Riding Shotgun was featured as an Emerging Artist on our spotlight series (read here). Their latest record was produced by Gilby Clarke of Guns N Roses, and the bands sound is clearly influenced by one of the best hard rock bands ever. They describe their music as dirty rock anthems and we can’t disagree with that. They are also the most tattoed band of the night and their energetic set really kicked ass. The band is on Facebook.
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| Mad Anthony at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Mad Anthony at Bovine 12 AM
“Man does this guy sound like Chris Cornell meets Queens of The Stone Age?” I actually overheard that from a guy next to me talking to his buddy. Not an exact science as to who Ringo Jones sounds like but I guess we can just keep that description on here. The Cincinnati band features wicked dueling guitars, and thunderous drums. Their set totally kicked ass and made Cherry Colas shake and bob. Incredible vocals, incredible drumming, incredible guitar(s). Two beers up for this one! Definitely a highlight of the night, one of our editors has selected this set as his “Gig Of The Night” (more info at bottom of the article). The band is on Twitter and Facebook.
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| Bloody Five at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
The Bloody Five at Horseshoe 12 AM
There are only four members in the Bloody Five – no idea where the fifth guy went but if you want to read more about this band have a look at our Emerging Artist Spotlight. A very cool mix of classic and alternative rock the band had excellent timing on their songs whose energy was bottled up in a slow steady pace. Not the fastest band of the night musically they instead present their craft in a slow burn that crescendos at the appropriate time. The band’s members vary greatly in age in an interesting mix of influences from the 70’s to the 90’s. The fans at the Horseshoe that were lucky enough to be there had a great time. Definitely a highlight of the night, one of our editors has selected this set as his “Gig Of The Night” (more info at bottom of the article). The band is on Twitter and Facebook.
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| Parallels at Canadian Music Week 2013 |
Parallels at The Rivoli 12 AM
One last stop before we call it an early night. We pop into The Rivoli without knowing who is playing and we run into a dance/synth trio. Definitely not the rock vibe we were chasing all night, we really enjoyed the change of pace. Lead singer Holly Dodson sounded like early year Madonna, and looked and moved like Stevie Nicks. Electronic dance music is not our area of expertise but we did enjoy the sweet vibe the show offered. We had no problem enjoying this well rehearsed trio.
Verdict: We LOVE LOVE LOVE Canadian Music Week and the experience of seeing 12 different bands all within a 3 minute drive of each other. Each and every artist we saw tonight was in top form and worthy of being featured at the festival. Like we always do we get all our editors out on the night to pick their GIG OF THE NIGHT (CMW TUESDAY MARCH 19TH) so here is what everyone picked as their best of T-Mak World (remember we are a rock focused blog and put preference to the rock bands – just personal taste).
Terry Makedon aka T-Mak (Editor in Chief): I enjoyed many sets tonight but the highlights for me were The Rathburns and The Bloody Five – both unique in their style and both very worthy of being explored more musically.
Steve Mallinson (Photographer and Senior Editor): The T-Mak World team eased into CMW seeing a dozen bands at eight venues. My Gig of the Night goes to The In & Outs from Quebec. Incroyable!
John Dash (Movie Critic): After buying and listening to 20 AMP Soundchild the next day, this concert ready band runs the gamut from blues rock to up tempo boogie. Lead singer Nick Viera’s call out on (She Won’t) Let Me Down is visceral.
Micheal Litt (Videographer and Music Contributor): Mad Anthony delivered an energetic set that really stood out for me, three guys that really filled in the sound as a four piece, they are my gig of the night.
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