Music Features (Free Press

The numbers are in and we can happily report that last night's Hootenanny was a huge success! Now I'll admit that my expectations were lower at the outset for this Hootenanny because, while the last Hootenanny tended to focus more on indie/punk bands (Pixes, The Clash) and some less often covered bands (Nomenasno*, Jawbox), this Hootenanny tended to swing more toward more common Rock radio fare. I'm not saying the music is bad but that somewhere in the suburbs any night is some hacky cover band doing "Do ya think I'm sexy" and that doesn't exactly make me jump up and down. But here is where my fears we're totally off the mark; whereas a cover/tribute band tries to emulate a band (generally amounting to nothing more than a living Jukebox) the bands at the Hootenanny already had a personal style going in which colored anything they played. So, instead of soulless covers, you had bands playing their hearts out in their own unique way, having fun, and being egged on by an audience that resembled more a house party posse that a concert crowd.

The Kimonos ripped through Blondie even if Gina Miller had a costume malfunction (don't worry Gina I deleted the picture). Marshall Preddy of Custom Drinker took some of the most tired warhorses (Maggie May) and lame songs (Do Ya Think I'm Sexy) in the Rod Stewart catalog, stripped them apart, reworked it with his own unique vocal style, and spit out more life than much of the source martial ever seemed capable of carrying. And no, this wasn't ironic hipster shit, Marshall was kicking it out with as much simple charm as John Sears did when he covered Sam Cooke at the first Hootenanny. That fucker even made that damn disco song work! What a dick! The Welfare Mothers took Johnny Cash and reworked into gritty, driving, and brilliant Garage rock which when you think about it is a perfect marriage. Again, no irony, no wink wink, just straight rock that shit out goodness! Buxton's take on Bjork was just as inspired! By taking Bjork's music and transferring it to the realm of Americana, the band made the music more organic than anything you could have expected and caused many a jaw to drop in amazement. At the last Hootenanny the Yong Mammals were the band that made the floor of the Backroom shake like an earthquake and this time it was the Wild Moccasins. Dressed in bright colors, awesome dresses, and radiating enough energy to solve our energy needs for the next millennium, the band tore through the B52's and made it horribly and painfully fun! Paris Falls' take on Rush may not have had the precision of my favorite Ayn Rand loving Canadians but it was still fun! When the crowd engages in uncontrolled screaming demands for drum solos and YYZ, you know you are on fire! Tody Castillo's take on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers can be summed up with my screaming the Yeah Yeahs at the top of my lungs during their version of "The Waiting"! Fun Fun Fun! But here is where my evening kind of got muddled. I got caught up in conversation and missed my pole position for the American Sharks. At this time, I got a text to meet some friends at the Big Top. Perfect, I think to myself, I'll catch a drink there then come back in 20 minutes and catch Flowers to Hide and Sharks & Sailors. Simple, right? Well, let's just say that drunky drunk time and sober time aren't exactly congruous and before I knew it what I thought was 20 minutes ended up being one hour and I raced back at 1:30 only to find that I just missed Sharks and Sailors as the Police! Weakness! Oh well, my apologies. Next Hootenanny I'm definitely not leaving the premises!

Anyhow, hope you guys made it out and had a blast. I know I sure did. Kudos to The Skyline Network's ADR and Ben Murphy for putting it together and keeping it running like a well-oiled machine as well as Dunnock for a great mix. Well done guys. So when is Hootenanny III?

And now pictures (you can see the full photoset here on my Flickr)

The Kimonos as Blondie suffered a
costume malfunction during their set.