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HAMILTON MUSIC NOTES
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by
Ric Taylor
June 9 – 15, 2005 |
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Since their 2004 release, Ravenna, The Reason has
toured relentlessly across North America. Now, with their
Smallman Records label getting major distribution via
Warner Music, the band steps things up a notch.
“I can’t say the response has changed for the album, but
we’re actually selling more CDs in stores because
they’re a lot cheaper,” says guitarist James “Cubby”
Nelan. “The audiences have been enthusiastic. It’s been
constant touring. We did the most extensive tour we’ve
ever done of Canada, including a harrowing trek to
Newfoundland. It was hard but well worth it because we
got to go somewhere we’d never gone before.”
Exploring new territories and new fans, The Reason are
set to hit the road yet again, touring with Nufan through
Quebec and Ontario, with Brazil through the U.S., and
then hitting large festival dates this summer, including
Toronto’s Edgefest at The Molson Amphitheatre on July
1 and Wakefest on June 25.
“Maybe a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have been as
excited about playing Edgefest. Obviously it would have
been a great opportunity regardless, but this year it
seems like they’ve got a really good line–up. They must
have done some research into what kids are listening to
now,” he laughs.
Edgefest includes Billy Talent and Alexisonfire, while
The Reason will play The Next Big Thing stage with
Social Code, The Junction, Out of Your Mouth and The
Waking Eyes.
Next they participate in a two–day festival with 10,000
wakeboard enthusiasts in Northern Ontario.
“At Wakefest we’re kind of secondary entertainment,”
quips Cubby. “People are there for drinking and
watching wakeboarding, but it could go either way.
People might not care, or you might get people all ready
to party and enjoy you—not necessarily because they
like your style of music but because they’re having a
really good time. If you’re lucky you can catch on to a
vibe they’re already on—we’re the added bonus on the
package.”
Set to write and record this August in a reclusive cottage
locale for their sophomore release, The Reason get to
play the hometown this week with some heroes who
helped inspire them musically.
“There were a whole bunch of Fat Wreck Chord,
Epitaph–style bands that were out during the ’90s that
were a huge influence on us. Obviously No Use For a
Name have been around for a lot longer than that, but
they were a band that inspired me huge during my high
school career—and a band I’ve always really, really
enjoyed—so I’m excited and honoured to be playing
with them, especially in Hamilton.
The Reason opens for No Use For A Name this
Wednesday, June 15, at The Underground.
She started singing at the age of six and brought her
voice to regular gigs around Hamilton in the ’70s and
’80s, but Jayne Bray has had some highs and lows over
the last three decades, as documented on her new CD,
Waltz of Life.
“When I heard Janis Joplin do ‘Summertime’—her soul
booming out of her, via her voice—I decided that was
what I wanted: to express my soul though my voice,”
explains Bray on her beginnings. “A few years later I
discovered sex. I sang with the band at my wedding
reception. That was the last time I sang in public for
years. By 1977, I fell completely in love with the ’30s and
’40s swing/big band sound. It would be all I could hear
for almost a decade.”
Bray branched out into the piano bar circuit at what was
then Caesars in Gore Park, crossing paths with Brian
Griffith, Kelly Jay, Grant Murray, Tom Wilson and Jackie
Washington, but didn’t feel fulfilled.
“I was telling (Kelly Jay) how I felt I didn’t fit in
anywhere,” recalls Bray on an inspiration to follow her
jazz muse. “I was so into the big bands of ’30’s and ’40s,
but who’s going to want to hear it? Kelly told me, ‘Jayne,
If you sing what you really want to sing. People will want
to hear it.’”
Bray began exploring solo and band work in Hamilton
and Toronto, but then real life concerns came to the fore.
“At this time in my personal life I was going though what
I call ‘My years from Hell,’” Bray offers. “People look at
my misfortunes of the last ten years and wonder how I
could get though them so gracefully. Truth is, being hit
by a car and then having cancer was nothing compared
to my personal life in the late ’80’s. So, in 1989 I retired
to a little place on Lake Erie. My soul had been ripped
right out of me. There was no music in there.”
After an early retirement, Bray finally returned to music
in the ’90s, working with Steven Fuller and John Davies,
christening the new trio Jayne ‘n’ the Jazz Dogz for their
debut gig in Hess Village.
While previous Jazz Dogz members have included Jack
McFadden, Tony Johnson, Les Cooper, Steve Sinnicks,
Jamie Shea, Ray Melkom, Bob Latzer and Barry
Smallbone, the current incarnation has settled upon
Shawn Trotter on guitar as well as Owen and Gary
Mahoney on bass and percussion respectively. All of the
musicians have helped to shape Bray’s new recording.
While she considers herself a traditional jazz musician,
strains of pop and swing, as well as European, Harlem
and Brazilian jazz, filter through this personal
documentation of the life and times of Jayne Bray. For
her CD release, The Jazz Dogz are in full swing and set
to be joined by Brian Griffith, Randal Hill, Keith Lindsay
and Rocky Hill.
Above all else, Bray is determined to remain positive.
“Every song I chose for the CD represented something
or someone special in my life. ‘Angel Eyes’ is for my
eldest boy, who I lost in 2004; ‘Waltz for Debbie’ for the
little girl who has brought so much love into my world;
‘From Above’—that’s my dad. Even ‘Little Piggy,’ which
Bruce Mowat wrote for me when I was trying to record
my first CD for the second time (recalls) one of the best
years in my life. I had left a lot of garbage behind me
(and) I was feeling strong and I was happy. We’re doing
the CD straight through as it is laid out—but I’m planning
on leaving the audience on an up note.”
Jayne Bray’s CD release party happens this Saturday,
June 11, at The Casbah (early show) with J.P Riemens
& The Bar Flies opening. Door open at 7pm and tickets
are $10.
What began with a simple zine became a band, then a
label, and is now a movement. Respected for his first
wave punk cred, his journalism and promotional
achievements, his beat poetry and consistent support of
the arts for three decades, Ralph Alfonso celebrates a
lifetime of music when he returns to Hamilton for his
label Bongo Beat’s 10th anniversary tour.
Studying journalism at Oakville’s Sheridan College in
1977, Alfonso interviewed some of the best in the punk
world of the time. He’d go on to manage The Diodes and
their makeshift basement club, The Crash And Burn,
which introduced him to some of Hamilton’s punk
proponents.
“The lasting influence on me from that time was seeing
Teenage Head at the very beginning when Frankie
Venom somehow managed to be the embodiment of
both Gene Vincent and Iggy Pop—he reached up and
grabbed the rock and roll electricity wire, but you can
only hang on so long if you are pushing yourself so
extremely,” remembers Alfonso. “Teenage Head showed
me that it was possible to distill all the primal influences
into a cohesive whole. No one could touch them.”
Writing for a weekly indie upstart magazine, Alfonso’s
refined tastes afforded him interviews with The
Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith, The Damned, The Dead
Boys and a variety of Southern Ontario bands. At an
early Toronto punk show featuring The Dishes, The
Doncasters (Martha Johnson, pre–Muffins) and The
Diodes, his life changed when he decided to manage
the latter.
“I was intrigued by a bunch of guys directly behind me
who were deep in conversation about the Velvets, Iggy,
and punk,” Alfonso explains. I would see them at other
shows and we—through osmosis maybe—gravitated
towards each other.
“They were all from Hamilton and comprised of Imants
Krumins, Paul Kobak, Gord Lewis, maybe Dave Rave,
Rob Sikora, Brian ‘Slash Booze’ Baird and various
others creating the Hamilton punk scene. Because I was
living in Mississauga, I would get the occasional ride
back home. It impressed me then and still impresses me
now as to the depth of music knowledge there is in
Hamilton.”
After some misadventures with The Diodes and a stint
promoting a variety of bands with a variety of labels,
Alfonso followed his heart and a girl to Vancouver in
1991. With the long distance relationship falling apart
without the distance, Alfonso started from ground zero.
“I returned to my zine beginnings and started publishing
RALPH, a kind of beatnik poetry zine which led to an
invitation to be on Peter Gzowski’s Morningside, for
which I enlisted some musicians,” says Alfonso. “We
were a hit. I got 300 letters from the broadcast and
decided to pursue this. It’s been constantly evolving as I
feel more confident as a performer.”
From the success of his own beat poetry and zine,
Alfonso has since published collections of his works and
started a label to showcase his beatnik–jazz– garage–
Ralph–rock combo and over the years all of his other
loves under the Bongo Beat umbrella.
“It was always meant to mix and match genres I liked:
’50s jazz, ’60s garage rock, French and Italian pop and
funky sounds,” explains the label mogul. “The common
link to all the Bongo Beat records is the creator must be
willing to push the boundary of his creation beyond the
ordinary. I expect a certain level of literacy and
intelligence at work, because words mean a lot to me. I
don’t want it to have a narrow musical vision or focus. It’s
my label and it’s all music I personally like, because I am
willing to throw myself over a cliff with a big bag of debt
tied to my foot… Seriously, it’s a crusade. I have always
championed the underdog, the overlooked, and the
unappreciated. It’s a wide palette of sounds and
personalities.”
During the last ten years, Bongo Beat has released
discs by Kimberley Rew, Katrina And The Waves, Paul
Hyde, Johnny Dowd, Joe Mannix, and former Barenaked
Ladies’ Andy Creeggan. Alfonso also reunited with old
friend Dave Rave to release his solo work, as well as his
jazz explorations—Rave and Mark McCarron have a
new jazz album, In The Blue Of My Dreams, set for a
September release.
His recent release of former Diode Richard Citroen’s
new electronic outfit Lola Dutronic brings Alfonso full
circle, and his return to celebrate ten years in his old
stomping grounds is the icing on the anniversary cake.
“It has been almost six years since I’ve performed in
Hamilton, and I hope my friends will come out and say
hello and catch up on old times,” smiles Alfonso. “But I’m
here more like a proud papa showing off his kids.
“We’ve got the first ever full set from Lola Dutronic, who
have gone from studio concept to live; Dave Rave and
Mark McCarron with Lauren Agnelli pushing the jazz
songbook into new directions; The Bedsit Poets are a
boy/girl pop confection like Serge Gainsbourg and
Françoise Hardy working together—in English! Linda
McLean is a feisty alt.country pop chick that reminds me
of early Lucinda Williams, while Kobayashi are a groove
party set on funk… that is a sweet way to end a Friday
night.”
Bongo Beat Records celebrates ten Years this Friday,
June 10 at The Corktown with Ralph Alfonso, Dave
Rave, Mark McCarron, Lauren Agnelli and the Toronto
Symphony Woodwind Quartet, Lola Dutronic, Bedsit
Poets, Linda McLean, and Kobayashi. $10 cover at the
door.
Born in Hamilton, Mary Ancheta cut her musical teeth as
keyboardist and vocalist for The Misunderstood, playing
alongside bands like The Killjoys, The Walk and All
Good Children.
“We were a young band for sure—I think that only one of
us was of age at the time,” laughs Ancheta, who was
only 15 when the band started. “We had some good
ideas, but I think it just ran its course in the end. I
definitely feel that’s where it all started for me.”
By 1995, the group had recorded an EP and even had a
song, “I Wish,” heard on a variety of radio stations and
even City TV’s Fashion Television.
But just as the band seemed to be making headway,
things started coming apart. Ancheta and bassist vocalist
Kevin Spencer ended up relocating to Vancouver and
starting other projects. Spencer has since moved on to
theatre productions like Rent, while Ancheta has
become a sought–after session musician, film scorer
and songwriter in her own right. This weekend, Mary
Ancheta makes her solo debut back in her hometown
after nearly a decade away from the Hamilton stage.
“I’ve always wanted to eventually put something out on
my own and have my own voice, and this seemed like
the right time to do it,” she explains. “In Vancouver, I’m
surrounded by a lot of good players and a lot of good
people. They make it easy for you to feel like you should
put something out.”
During her West Coast tenure, Ancheta started her own
recording studio and electronica project with Mark
Lazeski, both called Transientworld. Their 2004 release,
all things transient, includes two songs that won the
John Lennon songwriting contest in the electronica
category. In the meantime, she also developed a keen
ear for soundtrack work. So, whether it’s scoring the
award–winning indie film Everyone, or licensing tracks
to The L Word, Queer Eye For the Straight Guy and a
Michael Jackson VH1 Biography, Mary Ancheta and her
keyboard explorations are in demand.
Now 29, she felt compelled to realize her own voice
within the music world; hence her solo debut, Live Life.
“Being a side person—which I do out here, playing
keyboards for other people—makes you realize that you
do want something of your own and that you do have
something to say,” offers Ancheta. “I think it took that long
for these songs to come to fruition. In The Misunderstood
I was influenced by British pop music, whereas my new
stuff embraces my love for groove–based soul music,
stemming from anything from Aretha Franklin to early hip
hop stuff.”
Her self–produced Live Life showcases a songwriter
coming of age, melding Brit pop, jazz, funk, lounge and
trip hop with Ancheta’s soulful, breathy vocals in the fore.
Slick and catchy with an ethereal quality, Live Life
doesn’t have an emphasis on a message, although it
might encompass a philosophy Ancheta has always
maintained.
“I’m trying to expand as a musician,” she says. “Where
Transientworld was more loop based—we went
wherever the songs took us—this album is all songs that
I have written or co–written. It’s more of a singer/
songwriter based kind of album, and more traditional
songwriting…
“For this Hamilton show, we are a little bit pared down—
coming as a three–piece with Trevor Grant on drums
and John Bews on bass, but no guitar—which is
probably the exact opposite of a lot of the projects I’m
playing in,” Ancheta smiles. “We’re really looking
forward to it—I think it’ll be nice just to be playing my
hometown. Even with all of the other projects I’ve played
in, it’s been years since I’ve officially played there. I’m
hoping a lot of old friends come out.”
Mary Ancheta plays the Staircase Theatre this Sunday
June 12 at 8pm with Stephen Headley opening.
The Nein formed in Durham, North Carolina, in early
2003, and within a year became the first American band
signed to Sonic Unyon. Their self–titled EP, released in
October of last year, offered a brief introduction, and their
show at the Sonic Unyon Christmas party an intro to their
label’s home. Last month their full–length, Wrath of
Circuits, was released, and they’re presently on an
extensive tour that brings them to a free outdoor concert
in town this weekend.
“The response to the album has been good in the press,
but we’re starting to realize that it might be a little more
off–putting than we thought when we were making it,”
ruminates The Nein’s Finn Cohen (vocals, guitar, piano,
keyboards, sampler). “Or maybe live it seems like a lot
for people to digest. We’ve gotten some odd responses
at the shows, with people just looking at us saying,
‘What?’ The people that do like it seem to really enjoy it.
“Musically, the new album is
denser, there’s so much more going on than the EP,
(which) was recorded pretty much live,” he adds. “It took
us two days, whereas the album took a week’s worth of
recording and forever to mix. We ended up with so many
tracks it became so much more dynamic.”
With Casey Burns (bass, vocals), and Robert Biggers
(drums, keyboard, vocals) Finn and The Nein recruited
Dale Flattum (tapes, samples) just after the EP was
recorded to better realize the band’s musical goals.
“Dale allowed us to go beyond just guitar, bass and
drums,” says Finn. “We have so much more sounds at
our disposal now and the stuff that he does is so
exciting. It’s fairly fleshed out, but also much more
chaotic live.”
The Nein offer up a mix of post rock and new wave
elements, combining beats and sound explorations that
bridge melodic pop and anti–melodic no wave
movements with a philosophical bent.
“Circuit bending is less of a concrete part of our music
as it is influencing some of the aspects of it,” explains
Finn. “Randy Ward, a friend of ours who died recently
from cancer, was a mad genius that had this set up with
his own manipulated instruments—Speak & Spells and
toy guitars. You can reconnect the solder points and
create new sounds… He had this massive console of
instruments, and it was pretty fascinating. Every Sunday
he’d invite people for Bending Bees, and he would show
people how to do this stuff. One of the guys involved with
that put a modification on one of my keyboards. The first
time I tried using it I wrote the song ‘Wrath of Circuits,’
and on the record there’s a segue with a bunch of
bleeps where the keyboard plays itself.
“The interesting thing to me was the fact that humans
are manipulating these things, but we have no idea
what’s going to happen. The machine dictates what it
does once you connect certain things and it just takes on
a life of it’s own.
“From a lyrical aspect, it’s fascinating to think about—
that manipulation of technology, and the fact that we’re
subservient to this technology. People can’t do anything
without cell phones and computers. But the aesthetic
approach has less to do with circuit bending and more
about what happens when you allow the spontaneity to
happen and write a song around a particular sound or
sample. A wellspring of ideas can come from an
‘accident.’ That’s really interesting for me.
“A thing that works against us to some degree is that
you have to listen to the record several times to be able
to really get what’s going on, because there is so much.
There are some songs on the record, we play them live
and when we finish there would be just silence. People
didn’t know if the song was over or if there was a break. I
remember specifically one show saying, ‘okay, it’s over.
You can do your obligatory clapping now.’
Returning to their label home, The Nein are intent on
approaching as much of an audience as possible, even
though the thoughtful and thought– provoking music is
difficult to absorb even for some presumeably open–
minded indie/underground audiences.
“Live it can be so chaotic that if people aren’t into just
being inundated with volume and this massive noise, it
might be really off–putting. But if people just take the
time to listen to the record, there’s enough catchy stuff to
offset the dissonance.
“We’ve never played an outdoor show, especially on top
of a mall so I’m interested to see how that works out
when we come to Hamilton,” laughs Finn.
Catch The Nein with The Inflation Kills Saturday, June
11, at the Jackson Square Rooftop Amphi-theatre. The
free, all–ages show is set to start at 2pm.
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