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| Steve Suttie of Bella Clava |
August 21, 2012 – One of our favourite local bands was back in action on Saturday night when Bella Clava rocked the Bovine Sex Club along with Happy Endings and USA out of Vietnam. You can read about our previous Bella Clava coverage here, here and here.
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| Ian Blurton |
First though I need to talk a bit about Happy Endings who put on a brilliant show. This was the first time I’d seen this band and its famous leader, Ian Blurton along with members of the band Huron. Blurton is a local icon, formerly of the band Change of Heart and C’Mon but it’s his work as producer that first brought him to my attention. Blurton has worked with Lowest of the Low, Rheostatics, Skydiggers and many others. In particular, Blurton produced Bella Clava’s “Holy Crow” and Little Foot Long Foot’s “Oh, Hell” both extraordinary albums. A producer’s job is to help a band maximize the potential of a song. The LFLF album for example is filled with great songs but no detail in any song is left unoptimized. Blurton sonically took it to heights unachievable, one has to believe, by the young band on its own. Similarly, Bella Clava’s “Holy Crow” is every bit as good but one gets the impression that Blurton’s influence didn’t need to be as strong. Blurton and Bella Clava guitarist Steve Suttie are hard rocking birds of a feather who I expect were on the same page most of the time.
Looking like a member of ZZ Top, Blurton plays like a mix of Tony Iommi and Neil Young (when he’s in rocking mode). This is a serious Pro musician with a pro’s sensibilities and chops honed over decades of live performances. But it wasn’t just Blurton on his own, it was the whole Happy Endings band together that laid waste to the Bovine. If you like hard classic rock, you have to put Happy Endings on your radar and check them out when they play live again. The problem though may be finding out about their schedule. Happy Endings doesn’t have a website, myspace, doesn’t have a facebook page, doesn’t tweet (although Blurton himself does). We truly hope the band gets out of stealth mode when they release their next album which drummer Pete Hall told me should be in October.
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| Caitlin Dacey and Scott Hannigan of Bella Clava |
Now if you were thinking then that anyone following Happy Endings would be anti-climactic, you would be wrong. Suttie, Dacey and Company went out did some Bovine thrashing of their own. As I said, Blurton and Suttie are cut from the same cloth. Suttie is himself a ridiculously talented player and played some scorching slide guitar using a 7/8″ socket (or at least that’s what it looked like…). One can hear Joe Perry influences in his playing.
Keyboardist Caitlin Dacey, as always, leads the charge with Bella Clava. Soaring is an overused term when describing vocals but with Dacey it applies. Under the soaring vocals she weaves a complex medodic counterpoint on keyboards to Suttie’s driving guitar that binds the songs together.
Jody Brumell (The Shanks, Flash Lightnin’, Zeppelinesque) filled in on drums and did a masterful job. Bella Clava has embarked on a mini-tour of the US with stops in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky that begins August 22nd in Cincinnati. We’re looking forward to seeing them again when they get back home.
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| Steve Suttie |
Dacey modestly thanked Happy Endings during their set, suggesting “We’re not worthy” and on that score Dacey could not have been more wrong. The Bella Clavians have earned their spot as one of the city’s top hard rock bands, but one could see her point, it certainly was cool to be in the presence of the legendary Jedi Master on Saturday night.
Review and photos/video by Steve Mallinson
