Date of show: April 5, 2012
Written by: Chiara DiAngelo
We spent an emotionally-charged yet fun-filled night at The Dakota Tavern with a rotating cast of musicians taking the stage to help celebrate last month’s release of Bone Soldiers.
From Peterborough, you might recognize Nick Ferrio as the bassist of the Burning Hell. He also fronts the country-folk outfit Nick Ferrio & His Feelings, who opened up the night. With his Western get-up and their old-time country twang, the band fit the venue well. The repetition of “I want to f*ck you” in the first song was however slightly alarming and unexpected, but Ferrio ensured the crowd that it was the only profanity in their set.
They continued on with “Night Garden,” which really emphasized the twang and passion in Ferrio’s vocals. A worthy frontman, Ferrio’s banter and song explanations were highly entertaining, especially those introducing “Mary Beth Harshbarger,” a sing-along song for the woman who killed her husband because she thought he was a bear, and “Free Man Switzerland,” which was about getting arrested in Switzerland. Their set even inspired some spontaneous country dancing in the crowd on multiple occasions.
While I normally really enjoy the pairing of male-female vocals in a band, the female backup singer fell a bit flat on this occasion. With an extremely quiet voice, and not playing an instrument, she unfortunately often got lost in the midst of the other band members on stage. Nick Ferrio & His Feelings recently recorded an album with Ian Romano in Welland; it’s set to be released in the Fall. and I’ll be interested to see what’s in store for them in the future.
Woolly Leaves is Will Kidman (Constantines) and his acoustic guitar. With a conversational tone to his lyrics and vocals, his songs have a certain Bright Eyes quality to them. And while his songs may at first glance appear simple, the intricacies in his guitar playing were anything but. Drenched in lights from the spinning disco ball in a room filled with musicians, there was magic in the air of the Dakota during his set. Unfortunately his soft voice was often unable to compete with the din of the crowd carrying on conversations around us. However, it just simply encouraged me to take a full step forward, coming as close as I possibly could to the stage, lost in the reverie of him and his hands and his guitar chords and his voice.
While some of the tracks from his set, such as “Song for Mark” were off his 2006 release Quiet Waters, many of them seemed to be newer, including “Bad Drunk,” a song about drinking, and the popular “Crime Dog.” He seemed maybe a bit nervous in some of his between-song banter, mentioning that it was his first time playing at the Dakota. At least two audience members may have stopped breathing when he said “It’s nice to be playing music with old friends again, yeah, it’s nice to be playing music again.” While the mere thought of a reunion of his former band is almost too much for these two hearts to handle, regardless of whether or not it happens, Will Kidman just needs to keep playing music.
His set finished by calling up Simone Schmidt (One Hundred Dollars/Fiver) to sing Larry Sparks’ “John Deere Tractor” with him. The interplay between his softly sweet voice and her raspy twang was nothing short of beautiful. You can purchase his solo efforts on iTunes, but if you have the chance, experience him live. Stand near the front.
Up next was Marine Dreams, the project of Ian Kehoe, backed by former Attack in Black bandmates Spencer Burton (guitar), and Ian Romano (drums), as well as Ross Miller (Hunters & Anglers, Juliana Riolino) on bass, and Tamara Lindeman (The Weather Station) singing backup vocals.
Miller kicked off their set saying, “We’re all family right? Cool. Here’s some songs,” which provided a pretty good idea of the light-hearted, entertaining time we were in for. The band dove right into the rock, making the Dakota come alive with Kehoe’s sunny vocals and complementary harmonies provided by Burton and Lindeman. Not one to fade into the background, Miller was such a dynamic bassist, often taking center-stage and even headbanging his hat right off his head at one point.
There is real classic and almost timeless feel to Marine Dreams’ style of country-folk-rock, featuring fuzzed-out guitars paired with a slight “hoedown” quality. Their set focused on the band’s self-titled 2011 release as well as including some newer material. Highlights included single “Fold the Sky,” “Yet To See The Sun,” and “New Decade.”
With it being only their third time playing in Toronto, there was great interaction between members and their enjoyment of being on stage together was obvious – they are really all family! This infectiousness made it difficult not to be instantly won over by their set.
Baby Eagle & The Proud Mothers
Baby Eagle is Steve Lambke (Constantines). On his new record Bone Soldiers, he is backed by The Proud Mothers: Will Kidman (guitar), Spencer Burton (guitar), Nick Ferrio (bass), and Ian Kehoe (drums). While I’ve often previously had a difficult time getting into Lambke’s solo work, the number of ex-Attack in Black and ex-Constantines members on the Dakota stage at one time had me intrigued and ready to listen.
In comparison to the folky feel of previously released Dog Weather, the harder edge to Bone Soldiers, which combines both pop and rock elements, makes it more accessible, especially when experienced live. Lambke’s vocals maintained their half-spoken, conversational element, yet they seemed to take on new life, which I really enjoyed. Their set started with “Peace On Earth” and what immediately grabbed my attention was the sheer talent of Kidman on the guitar. There are honestly not enough unique descriptors in the English language to adequately describe the proficient dexterity of his hands and the serious wailing that he provided throughout the entirety of the set.
After “Strange Bodies,” came “Rebel Crimes,” which Lambke introduced as a song about drinking at, and getting kicked out from, The Legion – his local bar in Sackville, New Brunswick. Despite being about drunk and disorderly behaviour, the song itself was quiet and calm. Lambke then dedicated the introspective “Old Punks” to local Torontonian Colin Medley, who made a beautiful black and white video for it (watch the video here). The set continued on with another slower song featuring lovely three part vocals shared by Lambke, Kidman and Ferrio before getting loud again with “Good Times/Bad Times” that had Ferrio holding his bass out at arm’s length from himself while playing and belting out the vocals “I was terrified!”
After rocking their way through more material from both records, their set came to an incredible finish with a cover of none other than Constantines’ “Shower of Stones.” The lyric “I’ve never felt this good before” felt highly appropriate. Such is the effect of the Cons. The band didn’t even leave the stage before complying to the audience’s cries for an encore. They came back for one more rocker, although the highlight may have been Lambke’s personalized introductions of each Proud Mother and their solos midway through.
Lambke has put together an incredible group of musicians in The Proud Mothers – the level of talent on that stage was more than slightly mindblowing. And they all work together to bring out the best sound to complement Lambke’s imagery-laden lyrics and breathy vocals. I walked away in complete and utter adoration of the band and with a much better appreciation for Catherine’s previous raving of them.
buying shots for bands 
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