Command & Conquer

Friday night, I was back at The Horseshoe (but only virtually). As part of NAC (National Arts Centre) live stream showcase on Facebook, a sister act named Command Sisters was doing an acoustic set on stage. That was their actual names since several other Command(s), mostly from their childhood home of Alberta, showed up in the chat to cheer them on. Charlotte and Sarah played a few tunes off upcoming their debut EP: I Can Do What I Want Too, Low Profile, Lonely Lullaby. But they were relatively new so their set had numerous covers such as Hey Ya! (Outkast), Blinded By The Light (The Weeknd), and Free Falling (Tom Petty) or songs written during the pandemic (the Christmas adjacent Steal Your Heart, the Tindr diss Someone Else's Dream). On the latter, Charlotte revealed that Sarah finally found her "berta boy" not on dating apps but Zoom.

They both played guitar but split duties with dark-haired Charlotte on vocals and platinum-blonde Sarah doing harmony and guitar solos and fills. Their sound had a 90s RnB feel updated with the hip-hop style of the last several years. Combined with a good set of pipes, they won over some new fans who were watching because of the NAC sponsorship or had stumbled upon the live feed.

The sisters moved to the Toronto suburbs of Scarborough a few years ago but now lived in the East End. The "Legendary" Horseshoe was one of the venue that they frequented regularly for shows. They had met the singers of the B52s at NAMM who still remembered playing there in the 80s. So it was a special moment for the sisters to finally play here even if there was no physical audience. It was a nice sentiment but I've to numerous no-cover shows there so it isn't that hard to get on that stage.

With their musical chops, fashionable outfits, and photogenic looks, I wasn't surprised to hear that they signed with Republic/Universal about 2 years ago. But I didn't find their mainstream sound as compelling. I checked out their official videos afterwards and the electronic pop meets synthesizer rock sounded a bit generically corporate. Compared to tonight's set, sometimes less is more.