SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto (February 17, 2001).
It’s hard to believe these shows were 18 years ago!
This was night 4 of 4 of the Horseshoe Tavern’s 53rd Birthday bash. It was the final night and one of the longest shows I can recall at almost 3h in length. The Chickens opened the show.
It was hard to find information about The Chickens. What I learned was that they were originally a band called U.I.C. which was first an acronym for Unemployment Insurance Commission but was later changed to Up in Canada. They broke up and then years later reformed but as a different band. From Now Toronto:
Not only do the Chickens boast the propulsive rhythm section of former U.I.C. drummer Murray Heywood and bassist Dan Preszcator along with the devastating firepower of U.I.C. guitarist Fred Robinson, but they also have the megacity’s most exciting microphone mauler, U.I.C.’s Dave Robinson, fronting the band. That’s right, Exeter’s answer to the Stooges have clawed their way back from obscurity to kick ass with a vengeance. So why the name change? Well, despite the fashion-world dictate, the 80s are over and the Chickens aren’t a nostalgia act. The songwriting savvy of former El Speedo guitarist Ken Mikalauskas has added a sharper pop edge to the compositions, as can be heard on the Chickens’ cranking new Prepare To Plug In (Egg-cellent) album. “We went through about a million names and even contemplated going back to U.I.C., but it didn’t click. Ken has contributed so much to our sound that this really feels like a new group. Besides, none of us really liked the name U.I.C. anyway.”
So that’s the opening act.
For the main act, the band plays for nearly three hours. They played almost all of Night of the Shooting Stars (songs are in bold–excluding “Remain Calm” or “Satan”). There was a nice intro by Jeff Cohen (which states that The Horsehoe was originally a country club, which makes sense.)
And then they jumped n with six new songs.
“The Fire” which Martin says is “a new song Dave and i are working on.” There’s some great harmonizing between the two of them at the end–they don’t duet enough. It’s followed by some short, poppy song: “It’s Easy To Be With You” and “Superdifficult.” Martin speaks the title through his robotic voice in low and high register and Tim says that thing was in my dreams last night. It’s such a great but far too short song.
“The Reward” has such a great slinky guitar riff. It’s another satisfying new song. As is “Mumbletypeg” although they can’t seem to synch up on the intro to this song. Dave yells “all together now” and they get going. The new stuff ends with “Song Of The Garden” which Tim dedicates to Sarah Harmer’s new album.
Then it’s back to older songs. There’s a soaring “Self Serve Gas Station” which segues into a screaming “RDA.” They throw in some tags to The Clash’s “I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.” with DB shouting: “I’m so bored with the U.S.A. I’m so angry at the U.S.A. I don’t give a fuck about the U.S.A.” When the song is over, Dave says, “We almost sounded like The Chickens there.”
There’s a discussion of music and hockey and The Chickens should be called The Gas Station Island Five since the starting line is the entire chickens band–they’re amazing on the ice. One of them says “We’re gonna kick The Morningstars ass (Bidini’s team) at the Exclaim Cup. DB notes: “Different division. They can’t put us in the same division because there’s always a big terrible beautiful brawl when we play each other. The Exclaim Cup. April 13-15–it’s free. It surprises you that it’s free to watch these guys play hockey?
Tim says they’re going “way back for” “Torque, Torque” which was fun to hear. Especially since the follow-up the new song “In It Now” has a similar guitar sound. I love the guitar riff and melody of this song.
They tale a small break to talk about the celebrities they’ve spotted on the last couple of nights, including Dave Reid, from Centennial High, where they performed Harmleodia.
Someone shouts “I’m looking for some fun” (the opening of Fish Tailin’) DB: “Hey Martin that guy wants to talk to you.” Martin says they’re playing something else. When the guy shouts again, DB says, “Perhaps you would like to try another club if you’re still looking Because we’re cooking.”
They play a great “Junction Foil Ball” during which a fire alarm goes off. After the song Tim checks, “that wasn’t a real fire, right? It was just Dave’s riff was too hot.”
They play a long “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds” with a wild drum solo in the middle and loud and roaring ending. Then they play “Me and Stupid” and Dave forgets the words in the first verse (perhaps the first time I’ve heard him forget a lyric) but he is undaunted and they do fine until the end. Mid song, Don quotes a poem “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. “and done a hundred things/You have not dreamed of –Wheeled and soared and swung.” Then Dave quotes Wilderness Gothic by Steven J. Gibson “something is about to happen / two shores away a man hammering in the sky.” [Both poems are printed in their entirety at the end of the post].
Martin’s been nominated for a Juno award for original art work–they’re never nominated for a musical category–the art has always been better anyway. The Story of Harmelodia is being produced by the One Yellow Rabbit theater company in Calgary. So up next is “The Sky Dreamed” on which Don Kerr takes lead vocals.
Don says he’d like to thank Maureen for “giving me an official Canadian tartan jacket, which means I am now an official Rheostatic. Martin says Canadian tartan used to be our uniform. Tim: and our bedding.
“Baby I Love You” a goof track from Nightlines Session is requested many times. Tim says they considered it for Valentine’s Day, but it’s too complicated and doesn’t work without a Fender Rhodes.
For “Loving Arms” they are joined by Carmen from a fine band called Check (I guess). She sings backing vocals which sounds very pretty. I never noticed that the ending melody sound like the guitar for “Here Comes the Sun.” It’s followed by one more new song–a great version of “P.I.N.“
Dave says they played Sydney, Cape Breton where they don’t get a lot of bands and they go crazy. Somebody sent up shots of tequila and we stopped a song and played “Tequila.” We kept shouting tequila but nobody was sending up any more shots. And then all of a sudden there were 48 of them. We’ve never been the same.
Then the bust out a surprise: “The Ballad Of Wendel Clark Part 1 and 2.” During the song, Dave B talks to Dave of the chickens about what it would be like playing against Wendell.
Then it’s time for two Stompin’ Tom songs. “Horseshoe Hotel” which they learned just for this occasion. Tom wrote it in 1971 about this hotel where people drank a lot. Tim follows with “The Ketchup Song.” people requests “Bud the Spud”, but they have a two song Tom quota. Plus, no more than one song about potatoes you don’t wanna get to filled up on potato songs.
Then comes an amazing trip of a set ender. A simply beautiful version of “Stolen Car” followed by an intense “Horses.” The version includes Dave chanting the Talking Heads’ lines from “Crosseyed and Painless” and Martin reciting the Tragically Hip’s “Blow at High Dough” through his computer voice. The noisy outro of Horses segues into a lovely quiet intro of “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” and the crowd goes nuts.
It’s an amazing set ender that should satisfy anyone, but the Rheos are not done. After a fairly long break they’re going to play for about 40 more minutes. Someone shouts “Saskatchewan” and Dave says, yes, we were gonna do that but we ran out of time.
So instead, it’s “Legal Age Life At Variety Store” which features Tim Mech on guitar. As they start the chords, Dave says, “you’re writing something in your notebook but how do you know which song were doing? We could be doing “Rockin My Life Away” by Jerry Lee Lewis or “The Swimming Song” by Loudon Wainwright III. But of course it’s “Legal Age Life” and everyone gets solos: Freddy and Davey from The Chickens and Timmy (Mech) who does a weird solo. Tim Dave and Fred–the triple threat!
Somebody shots “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere,” but Dave says they can’t do it without The Bourbons and the guy shouts “I take it back!”
Two more new songs include a rockin “CCYPA” and “We Went West” which seems a weird song for an encore (it’s pretty slow), but it sounds good. It’s followed by another surprise, their version of Jane Siberry’s “One More Colour.” Dave says that they have a song on the (incredibly diverse) compilation box set Oh What a Feeling 2. Proceeds go to charity. They are on it after Jane Siberry.
Then they leave, but they’re not done. JC comes out and announces that it’s 2:30 in the morning (!). Do you want to hear any more? No rules tonight.
The guys play “Northern Wish” in the crowd acoustic and unmic’d. The recording is pretty good and the crowd really sings along–great fun there.
Everyone assumes they are done, but they’ve got room for one more, a rocking, late night version of “Introducing Happiness,” which sounds like it’s 2:45 in the morning but is pretty awesome, nonetheless.
What a show.
They played 63 different songs over the four nights. There were 30 songs that were played more than once.
[READ: February 14, 2019] Mythical Irish Beasts This book is a fun illustrated collection of the historical origins of Irish beasts. Joyce does a lot of research (there’s footnotes!) and mentions many original documents to explain where these myths came from, but it is still a very simple introduction to these stories–a way to pique your interest. He also illustrates every beast in his striking but unusual artistic style. I really like the look of his beasts, but they are certainly unconventional. They’re very modern looking, which is interesting for these ancient creatures. There does not appear to be a reason for the order, but I’m going to list all of the creatures just because it’s fun to have some many weird words in print. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: LILY & MADELEINE-Free at Noon, World Cafe Live (February 22, 2019).
I was pretty happy to be at my desk for this Free at Noon show today. After seeing Lily & Madeleine Wednesday night, I was keen to hear them live again.
