Sept 1 2014 – Virgin Mobile and Indie 88 present Indie Fridays at Yonge-Dundas Square every Friday night in the summer and last Friday it were T-Mak World favs, hard rockers Bella Clava. We’ve covered Bella Clava many times before, but for those unfamiliar with them, Bella Clava is frontwoman Caitlin Dacey on lead vocals, keyboards and guitar, Steve Suttie on guitar and vocals, Scott Hannigan on bass and Jody Brumell on drums.
Playing the busy square is great exposure for up and coming bands. On a tyical Friday night, there are thousands of people passing within earshot of the stage. But at the same time, such a large open venue can be a challenge as we saw at last year’s NXNE when Montreal blues rocker Steve Hill played to a sparse audience that would have, at best, half-filled Cherry Cola’s. There was no such problems for Bella Clava however as several hundred fans filled the area close to the stage. While the sky was overcast, the weather was warm and thankfully dry.
Unlike a typical Queen St. W gig, Bella Clava wasn’t one of four bands on the bill, they had the stage to themselves for the night and as such, the usual 40 minute set wouldn’t be sufficient. We were treated to a nearly two hour show covering each of Bella Clava’s four releases, from their debut EP Cold Spell in 2009, 2010’s EP The Craic: An Ephemeral Record, 2011’s full length breakthrough, Holy Crow, produced by Dacey’s bandmate from her other project Public Animal, Ian Blurton, and finally their new album Medicine For Melancholy recorded last year at Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California. Until this year, the set list from most Bella Clava shows was largely from the many great songs on Holy Crow. And we’ve heard Medicine For Melancholy in its entirety performed several times now, so it was fantastic to hear the mostly unfamiliar songs from their back catalog.
Bella Clava was joined by a surprise guest in drummer Brumell`s bandmate in Zeppelinesque, Frank Nevada, who sang a great cover of Misty Mountain Hop.
Here’s a video of Loose Screw found on Youtube featuring Suttie playing a killer bluesy slide solo on the doubleneck.
Set List
Didn’t Come Here to Love You Conflict & Desire Ding Dong Ditch I’m Sick I Forgot My Mantra Surf’s Down Blu Blockers Fairweather Fiends So Simple Red River Rain Loose Screw The Less Dead Bug War Brides A Face Only A Mother Could Love Amnesty / Amnesia Broken Spirit Jaded, Bitter & Dumb When Christ Was A Cowboy Survive Misty Mountain Hop Middle Class Misfit Waste Not, Want NotAdditional photos below.
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