Wednesday, March 11
My CMW experience began at Gladstone’s Melody Bar, not an official event. The place was jammed for the weekly Granny Boots, showcasing a mix of whatever works. Tonight was the first live performance ever for this female-fronted foursome. The shouts of Heavy Filth started before the band hit the stage, and immediately after they finished their last song. These girls were here to rock, and so was the crowd. They went through a short set of songs that showcased the vocals of Maija Martin. The heavy base was owned by Kristyn Dunnion (Miss Kitty Galore), who showed little concern about this inaugural performance. They were followed by headliners Tomboyfriend, who had no easy task to uphold. Ryan Kamstra let the crowd know he was up for the challenge. After a slow start due to awkward technical difficulties, the band got the crowd up dancing half way through. Their signature song “End of Poverty” had most of the bar singing along.

Facebook: Heavy Filth
www.myspace.com/tomboyfriend
Overall Rating: Awesome

I shifted over to the Ballroom, which was one of the official CMW events that typically only began on the Thursday. There were a couple of acts I wanted to catch due to the recent interest in their sounds. Fox Fire is a large group of individuals who play disco infused dance, and grabbed the interest of the disenfranchised crowd. Next up was Lioness, fronted by powerhouse vocalist Vanessa Fischer. The dub-rock sounds emanating from the speakers were most compelling. The group is playing lots of gigs around town so catch them soon. Closer duo Mansion are laptop professionals, making for some great production vibes, but not much of a live performance. They’ve worked remixes for XXX and are ones to watch go international soon.

www.myspace.com/foxfireforest
www.myspace.com/lionesslionesslioness
www.myspace.com/mansiondj
Overall Rating: Nice

Thursday, March 12
I chose the Montreal night at the El Mocambo, not only for the insanity of Duchess Says, but also for newcomers Pas Pas Chic and Radio Radio. Pas Chic Chic took the stage at 8pm opening the Sirius and CBC Radio 3 event. They can best be described as psychedelic ambience mixed with 60s teen band. The organ sounds dominate most of the songs, while Roger Tellier-Craig croons through the catchy set. Kudos go out to Marie-Douce for her strong backing vocals. Duchess Says rose to the challenge of playing a 9pm show, with both the band and the audience not as intoxicated as late night shows. Annie-Claude Deschênes did her best antics, flailing demonically into the audience, throwing herself on the ground and finishing up with a wide smile. Fans got a chance to hear a couple new songs, not yet available anywhere, but soon to be released. After the show they were heading off on a four day road trip across America to reach their next gig in San Francisco. They’ve also got another show here in Toronto on March 30 at the El Mocambo again. Radio Radio took the stage at 10pm, and won the crowd over with their zany outfits and rap-infused Chiac, a mix of Acadian French and English. They originally began playing under the name ‘Jacobus and Maleco,’ so good work on that name change. This Moncton outfit are gaining steam and definitely worth a listen.

www.myspace.com/paschicchic
www.myspace.com/duchesssays
www.myspace.com/laradioradio
Best Overhead Line: Dude says to other dude entering and seeing Duchess Says on stage – “That’s Fucked.”
Overall Rating: Good Vibes

I was off to The Kathedral to catch Left Spine Down and S.N.F.U. I opted out of the loudness of We Are Wolves and the francaphone of Majube to catch the louder noise-fest of old school punk opened by Vancouver’s LSD, featuring Jeremy Inkel of 90s industrialist band Front Line Assembly. The sparse crowd was mildly entertained by this energetic foursome, who has just released their second CD Voltage 2.3, including remixes by “KMFDM,” “Revolting Cocks” and “The Birthday Massacre.” S.N.F.U front man and sole original member Mr. Chi Pig popped up on stage in a golden silk suit and belted through a full set of 30 years of rock and roll lifestyle. A faux moshpit almost materialized, but the energy quickly subsided. Watch for new material to surface in the next year as manager/promoter team Synthetic Entertainment are ready to give it a go.

www.myspace.com/leftspinedown
www.myspace.com/snfu
Best Overhead Line: Aging punk yelling out, “Faster you fucking old man.”
Overall Rating: Tad Dated

Friday, March 13
I caught the much anticipated performance of Anvil at Velvet Underground. Arriving late I was thinking I may have missed the opening couple of songs, but with many live shows they were running a bit late in my favour. Lips and the boys went through a 30-minute set of old time favourites and a couple of new ones from their forthcoming album, Thirteen. I opted out of any more shows this evening, and headed to a house party for some non-amplified chat. Travelling between destinations I realized that Toronto becomes a city of musicians lugging equipment through the streets or unloading vans in back alleys.

www.myspace.com/anvilmetal
Overall Rating: Nostalgic

Saturday, March 14
I saw the line up for the Indie Music Awards and thought it might be worth checking out, for the fact alone of partying at the Royal York. Within minutes I knew this wasn’t working for me. The canned announcements, lengthy changeovers, bright light and overall confusion made for a somewhat disjointed show. I was also confused by the announcement that there were 57 artist nominations up for 71 awards. Anvil was inducted as Lifetime Achievement artists and was only allowed one song, which was their classic “Metal on Metal.” Other bands continued, including canned pop of The Arkells, dub-rock by Montreal trio Beast and Toronto electro troublemakers Crystal Castles. Apparently CC front woman Alice Glass wasn’t too impressed either and walked off the stage before finishing their set.

www.myspace.com/anvilmetal
www.myspace.com/beastsound
www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
Overall Rating: WTF

I needed to clear by head, so started in the direction of the Bovine. Arriving around 11pm Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah was onstage and there was a line up at the door. I knew any line up at the Bovine meant a sweatfest inside, so scooted down the road to the Hideout. I caught the second half of Boston’s Say When gig. These boys have played over 300 shows in 40 states in the last year. Their sound is heavy rock balanced instrumentation. If you missed them, this eternal touring outfit promised to be back in the summer. Next up was Marble Index, who has been around for sometime, but this didn’t seem to matter tonight. Their choppy set started late due to technical issues with unknown causes. Perhaps the two fisting before hitting the stage might have something to do with it. Once going, it took a while to get into it, but their closing new tunes were worthwhile rockers. The full frontal assault of bass and guitars makes it a triple-threat. Stay tuned for new materials soon.

www.myspace.com/saywhenmusic
www.myspace.com/marbleindex
Overall Rating: Bearable

Ending the night, I headed to the Horseshoe to catch a couple of novelty acts, Hexes and Ohs are a duo from Montreal who started off playing bubblegum lullabies on their laptops, and ended up doing a dual rocking guitar tune. Nothing new, but they did get some of the audience on their side by the time they left the stage. Bedroom Voices was released last year and provides that 80’s throwback feel. Vancougar took the stage shortly after 2am, possible due to an extended liquor license, First off these girls aren’t cougars in my opinion, and they don’t play cougar tunes. They are an all girl pop band that know what they are doing, and have a great set of vocals in Eden leading them through.

www.myspace.com/hexesandohs
www.myspace.com/vancougar
Overall Rating: Virgin Pop

Article and Photos by
Bryen Dunn