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Modern Miniatures
While they’ve left their former bands behind, when the members of one of Hamilton’s newest bands came together earlier this year, they knew they’d found something special. Featuring Jay Windecker (vocals), Marco Bressette (guitar/vocals), Donnie Levasseur (guitar), Sacha MacGregor (bass) and Josh Stanford (drums), Modern Miniatures is a super group of sorts, excited to offer their debut hometown performance this weekend.
“Fans of any of our previous bands might call it a super group but it’s more like a bunch of broke–ass musicians who found each other,” smiles Bressette. “Seriously though, it’s exciting playing with the line–up in this band. The super group title gives us reason to push the band harder, and try to live up to those expectations. “We’re all proud of our previous bands. In fact it’s helped with getting our new band attention,” he adds. “For the most part, what we’re doing now and before falls under the same musical umbrella. We would only need to hide our past if we were doing a complete opposite style of music now.”
With a pedigree that includes Straight Reads The Line, Threat Signal, Kitchens and Bathrooms, Hypodust, It Lies In Ruins, Solipsism and more, Modern Miniatures are obviously going to rock and rock hard
because of what they learned in the past and what they want for their collective future. Could they be Hamilton’s heaviest band?
“I’m not sure if we’re the heaviest but I’ll bet dollars to donuts that were the loudest,” laughs Bressette. “It only took five minutes the first day in our new jam space for the cops to show up. They didn’t appreciate our custom–made full backline as much as we do.
“We were all fans of each other’s previous bands, so there was no question that this would be fun,” says Bressette. “Everyone listened to similar music, everyone had enough experience in other bands, and everyone knows how to fill their role in a band. We can all count on each other’s musical input to be suited to this band. There’s tonnes of bands that have one person who just doesn’t fit the bill. Screamo front–man playing alt–country, shred guitar in a pop–rock group — that might be a little extreme but stuff like that exists. Within this band, we all know what we want to hear and everybody delivers the goods.
“Everybody has experience playing writing and recording,” he adds. “Some people are great players, and have been for a long time. But they may not have the amount of experience that others do. Donnie and I probably have the most touring kilometres under our belts, and have dealt with bookings, labels, and all that junk. It helps to have a couple of guys who have taken their other bands to the next level, when starting a fresh project. This band is just as serious if not more. Even though this band hasn’t toured, or released an official record yet, we still work hard at the band every day. Rehearsing, recording, promoting, everything. We’re taking it serious, but of course, it’s fun! We know what we have to do to accomplish what we did with our old bands. Weather we have a label or a record yet; we’re just working as if we already do.”
While their official live debut was at this summer’s SCENE Fest in St. Catharines, Modern Miniatures are anxious and excited about the hometown debut that encourages fans to help the band raise funds so they can bring the music to the masses.
“SCENE festival was a pretty awesome show,” notes Bressette. “We promoted the hell out of it and attracted a respectable sized crowd. There was even some mosh pit action on the sidewalk outside the venue while we played. But this is the first Hamilton gig.
“Instead of just having a show at a club with some other bands, we’ve made this an event and we’re trying to raise some money to buy a touring van,” he adds. “We want our first show here to be insane, and we want all of our friends and fans to come help us out. I’m sick of touring in broken down old vans, this time were going to buy something that runs. I don’t need to mention the first Kitchens And Bathrooms van, bought from a guy at a liquor store parking lot for $400. We have been rehearsing every day since January for this one. Hamilton is the city that is going to attract most people that knew us from our previous musical endeavours – calling all SRTL, Hypodust, It Lies In Ruins, and Solipsism fans!”
Modern Miniatures play this Friday September 3 at the Casbah with Farewell To Freeway, Set Anchors, and Love Unheard-of. Doors open at 6pm and $10 gets you in. Click on myspace.com/modernminiatures
Everybody's Gotta Live featuring Geistreich
Dave Dunham, Adam Knickle, and Casbah promoter Brodie Schwendiman began a monthly local DJ night that was a little off the beaten path.
“We were looking for an excuse to pretend we’re proper deejays, to play the songs I want to hear when I’m in a club, to hang out, make some money, be around girls – all the clichés,” explains Dave Dunham who deejays as DAVIDS. ‘Everybody’s Gotta Live’ is a song by Arthur Lee, I’m in love with it and it sounded like the perfect name for a party.”
With the Marble Index reportedly scheduled to be playing one of their last shows this October, this edition of Everybody’s Gotta Live will feature TMI drummer Adam Knickle’s last stint before going away to police college.
The music feature this week offers a music that you’d figure should be more popular in the steel city but Ian Nolan is helping to build audiences for industrial music.
Ian Nolan’s family relocated from Newfoundland back in 1998 when he
was 13 but little did he know that he’d end up influenced by his newfound city to start making music.
“I started going to local shows when I was 14 or 15, shortly after I moved here,” recalls Nolan. “It was the heyday of the Korn movement and ‘90s stuff like shoegaze was on the decline. It was around that time that I was going to shows with bands like Millhouse, Snoozer, and Empathize. A few years after that, I gravitated toward metal and Goth music.
“I started playing music seriously about five years ago,” recalls Nolan. “I just felt the need to pick something up. I had just gone through a bit of a rough transitional time and learning music sort of helped reaffirm my life.”
Nolan would befriend a local musician looking to bring his own music to life and would join Luke Meneok’s 13 Bags of Dick.
“It wasn’t until Luke was looking to do a live incarnation of 13 Bags that I really wanted to take the opportunity to play live,” notes Nolan. Luke had kind of a robust vision for live playing and had good songwriting ideas, so I was very happy to help out. It was, actually, a symbiotic project; I would help him live, and he would help me cut my teeth on what it was like to play live and to meet some good people in the scene.
While still collaborating in the avant–garde of 13 Bags, Nolan was bolstered to bring his own original projected that focused on his solo keyboard work.
“I’ve found out firsthand that it takes years to develop a technique with electronic music,” muses Nolan. “For years, I’ve heard boorish, derisive indictments of electronic music by people who obviously don’t know what it entails. It’s more than pre–programmed loops and samples. You have to know at least something about music in order to make it all come together. So, if you think about it, for electronic musicians, the work, in the writing at least, is doubled.
“As far as electronic music goes, I’d have to say that industrial offers the most artistic freedom because it doesn’t have too many set boundaries,” he adds. “You can be all electronic, or partially organic. You can use noise to your advantage, or odd time signatures, or weird effect combinations. The trade off is that such music isn’t always the most accessible, so anyone who wants to make music for arts’ sake is going to have to deal with the fact that they’re never going to be a millionaire through art.”
Taking equal influence from Skinny Puppy and Velvet Acid Christ as he does from perhaps Stephen King or William Blake, Nolan took on the
moniker of Geistreich, a name that aligns him with some of the more Teutonic influence in the industrial music he now creates. Hamilton’s industry might be shrinking but Hamilton’s industrial scene might be growing with Geistreich – and with some guest vocalists in tow, Nolan hopes to offer a taste with a live show this weekend.
“I haven’t seen a major industrial or Goth event here since Toronto’s Holocaust 427 were here about two years ago and even up until then, the events were very scattered and sporadic,” remarks Nolan on the state of industrial music in the Hammer. “I’m aware that the brand of electronic music I play will probably not be appreciated by mass audiences, especially in Hamilton. However, there is a small core scene here that seems to appreciate this kind of material, and for that, I’m grateful.
“I feel that there’s a large market for anything out there, but certain scenes may not be concentrated in once place,” he adds. “I do feel that there is a certain market niche for those who don’t let critics or peers decide what is best for their musical taste – those are the types of good people who keep alternative scenes alive. They buy the albums, learn about the musicians, and, even if they do not make music themselves, they have a deeper appreciation for life–affirming music than rabid downloaders generally do.
“For the live show, I’m of the mindset that it’s the music that’s really important. My setup is simple – A Macbook Pro, an M–Audio interface, and two keyboard controllers. Everything is done digitally. Because of the stuff I have to do live, it really limits me to restricted movement and occasional obscene gestures. I would like to have a projection screen a la Nine Inch Nails sometime in the future to augment the show, but that’s a long way off.”
Geistreich play as part of Everybody’s Gotta Live this Friday September 3 with deejays Simon Toye, DAVIDS and Mahoney. Doors open at 9pm and there is no cover charge. Click on myspace.com/geistreichmusic
Jack deKeyzer
With the Labour Day long weekend upon us, most of the club going crowd ends up taking advantage of the last few days of summer in the great outdoors – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot of local fare to check out.
The Mustard Festival happens this weekend at Ferguson Station (King and Ferguson) all weekend. Even if you’re not a mustard fan, you can check out headliners like Steve Negus’ Powerhouse on Friday September 3 or the Jude Johnston Quartet Saturday at 8pm – or even check out the Garburators Kids Show – kid’s songs done by a smatter of local punks that seems to please the punk parents and their toddlers (Saturday and Sunday at 2pm).
Or if ribs are more your thing, a much more music intensive weekend happens based around Spencer Smith Park in Burlington. With a focus primarily on the ribs, the festival does offer a lot of cover band material but headliners like Dundas resident John (Some Kind of Wonderful) Ellison (Friday, September 3 at 7pm) or Downchild (Sunday, September 5 at 9:30pm) will attract larger crowds for their original tunes. Saturday night sees a man with a long–standing history with Hamilton underscore his local relationship with a clutch of performances this week.
Former Hamiltonian Jack DeKeyzer (whose history tracks back three decades to his days playing with Richard ‘King Biscuit Boy’ Newell) headlines Ribfest Saturday September 4 at 9:30pm but it’ll be DeKeyzer’s second area performance in a week but only the second of four local gigs coming up.
Perhaps the Hamilton in DeKeyzer is taking a little more prominence these days since his recently released CD (recorded live at The Corktown Pub in Hamilton with engineers Al Cannon and Lou ‘Lou’s Music’ Ferlinetto) won the 2010 Juno for Blues Album of the Year.
The Corktown Sessions (featuring Alan Duffy, David McMorrow, Danny Lockwood, and Rick Donaldson) offers up prime DeKeyzer – showing why he’s a blues guitarist, singer and songwriter to be reckoned with. And with his second Juno win and seven Maple Blues awards – DeKeyzer has never been more in demand as a performer.
While DeKeyzer is in the midst of writing songs for an all new original CD slated for release later this year, fans can check out some of those Corktown Sessions at Ribfest or as part of the Ivor
Wynne Stadium Tail Gate party (Noon to 1:30pm) just prior to the Tiger–Cats Labour Day Classic against the Toronto Argonauts.
Or you can check out what’s being dubbed Hot Jazz, Cool Blues at the Royal Botanical Gardens (680 Plains Road West, Burlington) on Wednesday, September 8 at 6pm. V
Learn more about Hamilton's Mustard Festival at mustardfest.ca or Burlington's RibFest at canadaslargestribfest.com or about DeKeyzer at jackdekeyzer.com
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