Super Sneak

On Friday night, I decided to check out a few bands for Canadian Music Week. First, I dropped by Sneaky Dee's around 9:40 pm to catch the last few songs from Christien Summers. I've been living in Toronto for years and yet this was my first time at this locale, one of the Toronto's iconic hang-out. The upstairs room where the stage is located is long and narrow, and a lot smaller than I expected. It was painted completely in black except for the side door and walls of stage right, which was just bare plywood. I shall never sneer at The Piston again.

Christien Summers is a 5 member band fronted by a female singer. They play jangly rock with a bit of a funk feel thanks to the guitar and synth. The singer was a bit flat on a song or two and it was your average dance-pop. A little past 10 pm, Bravestation came on. A 4 member rock band that played some new wave harmonized pop (free EP download). Their songs typically have catchy lyrics and choruses, which were enthusiastically sung along by their contingent of fans.

Allie Hughes came on just after 11 pm. Although she kept on her bridal veil, she wasn't getting married this time around. No. She was expecting, tongue-in-cheek, that after her set, the executives who were no doubt in the audience will line up to sign her to a major label. A slightly abbreviated version of her Wedding set was eventually welcomed by the slightly bewildered crowd. I don't think they knew about her theatrical behaviour compared to audience at the previous shows. Her "boyfriend" Chad also showed up for the duet. I guess she forgave him for jilting her at the altar a few weeks back. Oddly, it was a different Chad. It didn't matter though, because he ditched her again at the end of the song. I guess Allie just never learns. I do miss her bridesmaids, who had added some nice harmonies.

Although I knew that local "it" band, The Meligrove Band, was due on at 1 am, I wanted some fun dancing music. So I headed down the street to Augusta to check out the venue at Supermarket. This tapas restaurant had a small stage in the back but a fairly powerful sound system for its size. The 2nd last band, The Box Tiger, came on around 12:15 am. They remind a bit of The Balconies, and not just because the lead singer is female with a good voice and plays jangly hooks on her guitar. But the male guitarist also added some interesting chords and riffs, and highly pitched harmonies. They had a lot of energy and their songs tend to have numerous structural changes and progressions. I liked them but I wished that for a song or two, they would play it more or less straight. Sometimes when there's too much variety, sameness is actually more interesting.

After 1 am, Maylee Todd bounded up on stage. I saw her a few weeks ago and was blown away by her songs and performance. She might have first confused some inebriated gentlemen, who screamed "Harp solo" on the first song. When the soul/funk songs came out, everybody was dancing. Given that she just released her Bjork-like album just last year, I despair about how long it will take before these songs are recorded. The set ended enthusiastically at 2 am and I went home humming her catchy refrains.