Date of show: July 26, 2012
Shot of choice: whiskey
Written by: Chiara DiAngelo
Toronto’s Grounders were the second band of the night. The five-piece is comprised of Andrew Davis (vocals, guitar), Dan Busheikin (guitar, keys, vocals), Evan Lewis (guitar), Mike Searle (bass) and Rob Canali (drums). They kicked off their set with “Crown Land.” Bright, sprightly melodies are layered with hazy effects to Davis’ vocals, giving their often shoegaze-y sound a much appreciated jangly pop punch on this one.There is also something really catchy about the tempo changes in this track. Their set also included single “Along The Line,” which is always a favourite as it seems to just expand from its initial keyboard-based intro into a merriment of sounds when performed live.
We’ve been following Grounders for quite some time now and they just seem to get tighter each time we see them. Davis took some extra risks during this set, even venturing up onto one of their amps at one point. They also appear to have left the laptop that used to add digital effects behind to focus solely on their instruments, which was a nice surprise.
The band finally released recordings of a couple of their songs last month. Hopefully we’ll be able to hear more from them in the near future, but until then, you can pick these two up for free download!
Headliners of the night were Toronto’s garage-rock darlings Stella Ella Ola. Despite having still only played a handful of shows, this four-piece comprised of Anne Douris (guitar, vocals), Nick Boyd (guitar, vocals), Jake Boyd (bass, vocals) and Vince Rice (drums, vocals) have quickly become a local favourite.
Starting with “Little Black Rope,” they immediately had the crowd moving. Their set also included “Hornet’s Nest” with the incredibly catchy belt-along lyric “I think we should hang out all the time!” as well as their latest summer-in-three-minutes-or-less single “Summerette.” With plenty of friends in the audience, they brought up Douris’ sister Raina on stage to help sing “Mexican Radio” and pals Graham Wright (Tokyo Police Club) and Spencer MacEachern (The Fabulous Yawn) came up for “Proud Mother.” Still a new band, their set was forced to a close after they ran out of songs. Despite Stefan Babcock’s (Topanga) shouts for them to play “Summerette” again, unlike their debut show, there sadly weren’t any repeats.
With a pocketful of new songs, Stella Ella Ola are a band that continues to impress. And their live show is just so much fun! You can download their latest EP – Stella Ella Ola 2 – for free over on their Bandcamp.
Making the trek from Montreal were loud and anthemic pop-rockers Reversing Falls, who warmed the stage for Stella Ella Ola. Without a permanent drummer in their line-up, the three-piece started their energetic set backed by a drum machine. Part way through, Zack “Zeke” Mykula (Topanga) took over. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I swear the band just comes even more alive when they have a drummer behind them.
While their set was explosive with energy from Charlie Neufeld (guitar) and Jesse Ash (bass), the between-song banter provided by frontman Tyler Crawford (vocals, guitar) was equally as enjoyable. For example, new song “Secret Goth” was introduced with the remark “because being goth is mostly on the inside.” There was also a song that Crawford claimed to have written for everyone in the audience – Jake Boyd certainly appeared to appreciate the sentiment as he was seen rocking out in the front row. A definite favourite of their set this time around though was a cover of Lit’s 1999 hit “My Own Worst Enemy” that had the crowd singing along in reminiscence of their youth.
Be sure to check out this trio the next time they’re in town – they never fail to entertain!
buying shots for bands 
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