Oct 23, 2013 – Four great days of music culminated with the selection of Sumo Cyco as winners of Indie Week 2013 on Sunday night. Along the way we discovered some great new bands from across Canada and abroad. The event officially got started on Wednesday night but it was really Thursday it began in earnest.
It may be asked, with NXNE and CMW already major events in Toronto, why does the city need another music festival. Well, it probably doesn’t but at the same time, they’re always a lot of fun and a great chance to conveniently scout numerous bands over the course of just a few days that would takes weeks, if they even came to town, at other times of year.
In this article we start with unofficial Day 1, Thursday.
The Lad Classic at Silver Dollar
We have seen these guys before but they were sounding particularly good on Thursday. Their time slot at Silver Dollar was pretty early so not surprisingly it wasn’t at capacity but the folks there were very vocal in their appreciation.
Jojeto at Cage 292
Next up was Jojeto at Cage 292 at 292 College. Jojeto was great, they’re a garage rock band with major riffs and a great sense of humour. The highlight for me was a cover of Bob Marley’s Is This Love which they completely unreggaeified and rocked out.
Next up was Mad Anthony at Cherry Cola’s but stopped in at Bovine along the way.
Sleepless at Bovine
The band was Sleepless. Major hardcore metal, we were there only long enough to take a couple photos for the record and carried on to Cherry Cola’s.
Mad Anthony at Cherry Cola’s
Toronto seems to the the unofficial home away from home for Cincinnati’s Mad Anthony. That’s cool with us as we’re big fans of this unconventional trio of two guitars and drums. Mad Anthony is Ringo Jones on guitar and vocals, Adam Flaig on guitar and Marc Sherlock on drums. If the Foos were to make a punk album, it might sound like Mad Anthony. Mad Anthony delivers a great high energy show with catchy hook laden songs. Killer drumming from Sherlock who reminds of Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins both in resemblance (well, not hair colour) and playing style, which is likely what triggered the Foos comparison. Highly recommended whenever they’re in town, which fortunately will probably be sometime in the not too distant future.
Fuss at Cherry Colas
We liked the sound of these plaid clad grunge garage rockers.
Arcane Saints at Cherry Colas
Next up was Australia’s Arcane Saints. This is a hard rock band that played Cherry Cola’s a year or so ago. Definitely a pro band, they performance set a very high standard and in fact get our Gig of the Night. T-Mak World did an Emerging Artist profile with them so you could read all about them here. Powerful songs and a powerful band that we’d definitely like to see again.
On the way to Hideout, popped in again to Bovine, this time it was Overhate for a quick picture.
Overhate at Bovine
Fallen Heirs at Hideout
Fallen Heirs was up next. A great local band that plays hard rock n roll in the 80’s LA style of Crue or GnR. Have been wanting to see these guys for a long time and they didn’t disappoint with another high energy set. Looking forward to getting a chance to catch a longer set soon.
Call of the Wild at Bovine
Last up for Thursday night was Call of the Wild at Bovine. Again this is a heavy metal band but not quite as hardcore as Sleepless. Definitely still There is more of a crossover appeal to Call of The Wild who feature a more melodic approach and dual smoking guitar solos from Cyndi Zhang and Tom Stanley. Check out Zhang covering Uli Roth below. Wicked.
Well that’s it, nine bands (well, 7 + 2 we really didn’t watch too long) on day 1 and a great night of music and a great kick-off to Indie Week but the best was yet to come.
Our Thursday night Gig of the Night goes to Arcane Saints for their level of professionalism and strong performance.
T-Mak World: Toronto’s Site for Music, Movies and Culture www.tmakworld.com | Twitter | Facebook Get the T-Mak World Toolbar below to get all the info you need
