My evening began with the Darcys at the Garrison, a venue that I have very few quality memories of. The first being a tremendously slopping New Years, with great friends. So, maybe it wasn't that bad, rather I was a useless sack of shit. But to the point - the Darcys as always pleased me. Great looking guys, tight jeans and clean cut button up shirts, what more could a girl ask for? I was pretty pleased with the people that showed up. I was getting a little nervous at the beginning because no one was around, but by a few songs in the venue was comfortably full. Festivals mean short sets, but it also means there's never a dull moment!
I'm a softball player, I love to play and learn the sport. Something I was taught to do was to watch someone that plays your position for the whole inning to see what they do. I sort of adapted that strategy to live shows. My knowledge of music is pretty slim, as much as I pride myself on coming from some sort of musical trained background. I spent sometime listening and watching the dialogue between the bass and drums. They really compliment each other in this band.
I started giving thought to the role of a bassist when I attended a York University class on rock and popular music with Professor (and Rock 'n Roller) Rob Bowman. He played a song by Cream called "NSU" that has a sweet bass/drum dialogue. I found it so exciting to hear a bass-drum melody (or somewhat), I never gave consideration to the dominance that a bass/drum combo could give. I definitely felt that quite a bit listening to the Darcys last night.
N.S.U. has a few funny connotations to it. First and probably most reasonable is that it is a German car company with lyrics like: "Driving my car/Smoking my cigar/The only time I'm happy's when I play my guitar." The second is the acronym for a venereal disease called "Non-Specific Urethritis." Who knows.
Live version (skip to 6:30 to hear what I mean):
Studio version:
I can't wait for the Darcys to put out something concrete. If given the chance, see this band.
After the Darcys finished, I tried to squeeze my way into the Dakota. There unfortunately was a massive line that stretched all the way to the bank. There was some loud mouth girl that kept yelling the 9:45pm act out loud "HARLAN PEPPER!" I was trying to see Del Barber at 11:00pm, no dice, I quickly moved to catch the second half of Royal Wood's set at the Great Hall.
The Great Hall is a marvelous, underrated venue for the arts of all sorts. I recently saw an odd play called 300 Tapes in the theatre back space, they call it the Theatre Centre. It was a nice flexible space that allowed a 360 set up. Last night, I saw Royal Wood play in the Hall, a large, church like space that is equipped with gorgeous pews around the upper lip of the concert hall.
The Great Hall was established in 1889 as the first west end YMCA. My bet is that the Hall served as the race track or the gorgeous pews I earlier commented on, and the Hall served as the basketball court.
And even more interesting:
In 1912 the property was sold to the Royal Templars of Temperance, who conducted business in the building until 1940's when there was a major shift in the buildings use. It was acquired by the Polish National Union, and soon, presses on the ground floor were rolling out copies of The Polish Voice newspaper. On the top floor, rooms were pressed into service as temporary shelter for Polish refugees fleeing the war in Europe.
Pulled from their wesbite
To say a few words about the show -
I had no prior knowledge of Royal Wood, other than his well established name. There are a lot of 'Royal' named bands, can you blame a girl? (Royal Wood, Royal City, Royal Crowns) I figured he was a well-established artist of the nineties, until his last song where he mentioned that he was featured on Grey's Anatomy. He seemed a little reluctant to admit that that was his biggest claim to fame, but he played it without any regret. His crowd was significantly older, with more middle-aged people than anything else.
I learned today his name is actually Royal Wood. Funny, that it took a Wikipedia page for me to realise t hat. He got his feet off the ground in 2002 in Toronto and has been pushing through ever since.
Great sound, but nothing I'd flee to watch anytime soon. I could see him winning a Juno or two.
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