Showing posts with label the Peak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the Peak. Show all posts
May 6, 2014
10 AMAZING songs to download right now (#1)
Song 1: Lovers Outta Love by Mardeen
Song 2: Better Off by Fighting for Ithaca
Song 3: Reaction by Acres of Lions
Song 4: Letterman by Gay Nineties
Song 5: Girls by Laurell
Song 6: Sunday by Paul Filek
Song 7: Shake your Money by the Rockies
Song 8: Magic by Two Hours Traffic
Song 9: Queen by Pompadoors
Song 10: Our Last Song by Dominique Fricot
Bonus: Between you and me by Jody Glenham
March 7, 2011
Show Review: Run the Red Light, March 4th, 2011, at the Media Club
I've seen Run the Red Light play live many times.
I'm very familier with their music and show and thought I knew what to expect.
This show was different.
There were a couple of reasons that it different for me last Friday (for me).
1) to me it seemed that the band felt whole again. Mark (their talented bass player) had been away for a year in Holland experiencing Europe and seeing the world. The band had let him go his own way with hopes he would return. They even visited him in Amsterdam and played a show locally in that city.
I hadn't seen Run the Red Light since Mark got back and it was good to see him again and to see him back on the stage. It felt like all the pieces were back in place.
2) Run the Red light has one of the premiere lighting rigs in the city. Their light show is part of the live experience and the headliner last Friday requested that they leave it at home. Typically a national act will ask an opener not to "show them up" so to speak by having better lights, stage dressings etc. Friday they played without. It seemed...more intimate. I'll explain below.
The band seemed ramped to start the set. The club was sold out and as an artist there is nothing better then performing live in a small club to a capacity crowd. When the band kicked in they were heavy and loud. Ben has an intense drumming style. You could tell that he was really into it in the first 2 songs and was hitting hard and slamming the accents hard. All of the sound selection for this band is crisp and clear and the guitars sounded like a wall of sound. RTRL looked like they were just happy to be there with all smiles when the songs were finished. Also, they got into a few extended jams at the end of the heavier numbers and you could tell they were having fun.
Back to the lighting.
I've told Toby this before but their lighting rig has a tendancy to lose the audience's focus on the songs and you can lose the connection with the band. Friday felt more intimate. The entire crowd was glued on the band and was interested in every movement they made. Lighting would've been a distraction this particular night.
If you re-read my previous post here you will probably see that I am a huge fan of this band's music.
I have had a good enough relationship with Toby over the past that we give each other support on what "not-to-do" and what to improve on artistically.
A couple things I felt that would help their set going forward is the following:
- Their cover of New Years Day by U2 was great but their version although spot on felt weaker then their own original songs. My suggestion is to incorporate it into one/two of the original numbers with an interlude. I felt like I lost interest during this cover song and could sense that some of the audience around me was feeling the same way.
- Also another small tweak I would suggest is if the band could strip right down to just one guitar and vocals for 1/2 a song it would help the set dynamics immensely. There was a couple moments in the set where the instrumentation was minimal and as a listener was drawn further in only to be blown away when the band kicked into full gear on the big choruses. I felt that it could strip even further down and that as a listener would be taken on even more of a journey.
- Lastly, for one song, Toby put down his guitar and stepped up to the mic as a jus a singer. This was great and I would've liked to see him do it for more songs.
All in all, Run the Red Light is a brilliant band. They are brilliant live. They are some of the best players in not just Vancouver, but also Canada. You should really go and download all of their music get into them. I hope you get a chance to see them live soon!
They will be back at the Media Club on March 12th with Civil Twilight!
Details here!
Download their EP here
Check out Run the Red Light's website here
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra
I'm very familier with their music and show and thought I knew what to expect.
This show was different.
There were a couple of reasons that it different for me last Friday (for me).
1) to me it seemed that the band felt whole again. Mark (their talented bass player) had been away for a year in Holland experiencing Europe and seeing the world. The band had let him go his own way with hopes he would return. They even visited him in Amsterdam and played a show locally in that city.
I hadn't seen Run the Red Light since Mark got back and it was good to see him again and to see him back on the stage. It felt like all the pieces were back in place.
2) Run the Red light has one of the premiere lighting rigs in the city. Their light show is part of the live experience and the headliner last Friday requested that they leave it at home. Typically a national act will ask an opener not to "show them up" so to speak by having better lights, stage dressings etc. Friday they played without. It seemed...more intimate. I'll explain below.
The band seemed ramped to start the set. The club was sold out and as an artist there is nothing better then performing live in a small club to a capacity crowd. When the band kicked in they were heavy and loud. Ben has an intense drumming style. You could tell that he was really into it in the first 2 songs and was hitting hard and slamming the accents hard. All of the sound selection for this band is crisp and clear and the guitars sounded like a wall of sound. RTRL looked like they were just happy to be there with all smiles when the songs were finished. Also, they got into a few extended jams at the end of the heavier numbers and you could tell they were having fun.
Back to the lighting.
I've told Toby this before but their lighting rig has a tendancy to lose the audience's focus on the songs and you can lose the connection with the band. Friday felt more intimate. The entire crowd was glued on the band and was interested in every movement they made. Lighting would've been a distraction this particular night.
If you re-read my previous post here you will probably see that I am a huge fan of this band's music.
I have had a good enough relationship with Toby over the past that we give each other support on what "not-to-do" and what to improve on artistically.
A couple things I felt that would help their set going forward is the following:
- Their cover of New Years Day by U2 was great but their version although spot on felt weaker then their own original songs. My suggestion is to incorporate it into one/two of the original numbers with an interlude. I felt like I lost interest during this cover song and could sense that some of the audience around me was feeling the same way.
- Also another small tweak I would suggest is if the band could strip right down to just one guitar and vocals for 1/2 a song it would help the set dynamics immensely. There was a couple moments in the set where the instrumentation was minimal and as a listener was drawn further in only to be blown away when the band kicked into full gear on the big choruses. I felt that it could strip even further down and that as a listener would be taken on even more of a journey.
- Lastly, for one song, Toby put down his guitar and stepped up to the mic as a jus a singer. This was great and I would've liked to see him do it for more songs.
All in all, Run the Red Light is a brilliant band. They are brilliant live. They are some of the best players in not just Vancouver, but also Canada. You should really go and download all of their music get into them. I hope you get a chance to see them live soon!
They will be back at the Media Club on March 12th with Civil Twilight!
Details here!
Download their EP here
Check out Run the Red Light's website here
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra
January 28, 2011
SHOW REVIEW: TV Heart Attack, the Manvils, & the Quickness
Remember how the "early" Beatles had their "personas"? George was the "quiet" one, John the "funny" one, Paul the "cute one" and Ringo was, well, just Ring.
I took the Skytrain downtown last night, wanting to make sure I got there early enough to hang out with some of my friends who were going to the TV Heart Attack show at the Forum, and also to make sure I saw all the bands. As I got off the train I was texting Adam (drums from TVHA) asking what time he'd arrive. I look over and he is responding to my text walking beside me heading towards the exit on the street. What a hilarious way to start a night!
My anticipation for the night grew as we got caught up discussing what we each had been up to in the past few weeks.
I have extreme love and respect for these people. They are, in a lot of ways, my family.
As Adam and I are standing outside the club Arthur and Ryan show up and we get to talking. Ryan is recently single and talking about wanting to meet women that night. I point to a couple of girls standing a few feet away and he is like, "Watch this. I know them." in a perfect dead pan. If each of TVHA is a persona, Ryan is the "cute" one. Jay shows up a little after this, and in perfect Jay fashion starts to make jokes. I'm laughing before he's even finished his first sentence. Jay is the "funny" one. Art comes over and as all of us are standing outside chatting and talking it feels alive. Vancouver's not dead. Vancouver is quite alive.
If you can guage the temperature of an artist's future by a show like last night TVHA will be breaking out in 2011. When I walked into the club the place was full of people and as I looked around I realized that I knew many of these people from the local music industry. There were even a couple of "celebrities" from local bands/TV/Radio, and you could feel the buzz in the room.
Although I missed the first 1/2 of the set of the 1st band, the Quickness, I will say a couple of things about them. Number 1, the sounded like Jimmy Eat World. Number 2, I liked their energy and look forward to hearing recordings by them. Also, it was nice to meet them after the show, and it turns out we have many mutual friends. It was also very nice to hear that Jacob (the singer) is a fan of my band. I like compliments from talented people.
Have you seen the Manvils live?
I suggest you see them. Mikey Manvil is the guitar player/singer. He is one of the most genuine people I know. I always run into him in the supermarket or simply walking around downtown somewhere and always gives a at least a few minutes of his time to chat about music, life or anything really.
His onstage persona is wild.
I would compare it to a guitar weilding Jim Morrison. He swaggers. He spits. His guitar is loud and sounds crisp. The band is terrific. The songs are terrific. The energy is terrific.
I will be buying all of this bands music ASAP and I'll do a song review next week.
The closing song was one of the highlights. It was a bluesy uptempo song and as it drew to a finale, I had a feeling it wasn't quite over. Sure enough, Mikey starts into a building tremelo guitar part dualing with bass. They built this jam into an intense frenzy until the song exploded into the "big" rock and roll ending.
There was a guy who obviously was a huge fan, at the front of the audience banging his head with amazing long hair and a jean jacket and a Pilsner in his hand. I told my friends I was with that I was banging my head just like that the entire show, but on the inside.
TV Heart Attack was up next.
Jason looked a little like Morrisey last night. He had a red button up shirt with a skinny tie and he's grown his hair a little and looks extremely fit. He walks up to the mic and pulls out a flask. He takes a haul, cracks a joke and they bust into a new song. I've heard this song before. It was written in August 2009. I was there when it was first played. Forgive me for not knowing the name of the song but I think you'd like it. It's currently stuck in my head with the soaring gang vocal hook. After hearing a number of new songs, I feel that TVHA's new EP will probably build on "Lost in the Sway's" success. The band is using strong danceable rythmns and good spacial energy in all of the new songs. They also have a lot of keyboards which gives the live sound something a bit more unique then the 2 guitar/bass/drums sound.
The crowd of people in the dance floor were very happy when Hypnotic Eyes started. I found myself singing along (as always) and the energy of the band was explosive.
About 6 months ago the TVHA boys were missing a drummer and I suggested Jay audition my friend Adam. I will be honest, this band has never been tighter or had as much energy. If Ringo's persona was just "Ring" then Adam is just "Ad". One of the best friends I have.
In closing, this was one of the best nights of the year yet. Close friends, amazing live music, amazing energy, and a great new venue for original music, the Forum.
If you haven't already, you should buy the Manvils & TV Heart Attacks album online:
Click here for the Manvils
Click here for TV Heart Attack
Thanks for reading,
Marty
@martyzylstra
http://www.martyzylstra.bandcamp.com/
p.s. Arthur is the "talent" ;)
I took the Skytrain downtown last night, wanting to make sure I got there early enough to hang out with some of my friends who were going to the TV Heart Attack show at the Forum, and also to make sure I saw all the bands. As I got off the train I was texting Adam (drums from TVHA) asking what time he'd arrive. I look over and he is responding to my text walking beside me heading towards the exit on the street. What a hilarious way to start a night!
My anticipation for the night grew as we got caught up discussing what we each had been up to in the past few weeks.
I have extreme love and respect for these people. They are, in a lot of ways, my family.
As Adam and I are standing outside the club Arthur and Ryan show up and we get to talking. Ryan is recently single and talking about wanting to meet women that night. I point to a couple of girls standing a few feet away and he is like, "Watch this. I know them." in a perfect dead pan. If each of TVHA is a persona, Ryan is the "cute" one. Jay shows up a little after this, and in perfect Jay fashion starts to make jokes. I'm laughing before he's even finished his first sentence. Jay is the "funny" one. Art comes over and as all of us are standing outside chatting and talking it feels alive. Vancouver's not dead. Vancouver is quite alive.
If you can guage the temperature of an artist's future by a show like last night TVHA will be breaking out in 2011. When I walked into the club the place was full of people and as I looked around I realized that I knew many of these people from the local music industry. There were even a couple of "celebrities" from local bands/TV/Radio, and you could feel the buzz in the room.
Although I missed the first 1/2 of the set of the 1st band, the Quickness, I will say a couple of things about them. Number 1, the sounded like Jimmy Eat World. Number 2, I liked their energy and look forward to hearing recordings by them. Also, it was nice to meet them after the show, and it turns out we have many mutual friends. It was also very nice to hear that Jacob (the singer) is a fan of my band. I like compliments from talented people.
Have you seen the Manvils live?
I suggest you see them. Mikey Manvil is the guitar player/singer. He is one of the most genuine people I know. I always run into him in the supermarket or simply walking around downtown somewhere and always gives a at least a few minutes of his time to chat about music, life or anything really.
His onstage persona is wild.
I would compare it to a guitar weilding Jim Morrison. He swaggers. He spits. His guitar is loud and sounds crisp. The band is terrific. The songs are terrific. The energy is terrific.
I will be buying all of this bands music ASAP and I'll do a song review next week.
The closing song was one of the highlights. It was a bluesy uptempo song and as it drew to a finale, I had a feeling it wasn't quite over. Sure enough, Mikey starts into a building tremelo guitar part dualing with bass. They built this jam into an intense frenzy until the song exploded into the "big" rock and roll ending.
There was a guy who obviously was a huge fan, at the front of the audience banging his head with amazing long hair and a jean jacket and a Pilsner in his hand. I told my friends I was with that I was banging my head just like that the entire show, but on the inside.
TV Heart Attack was up next.
Jason looked a little like Morrisey last night. He had a red button up shirt with a skinny tie and he's grown his hair a little and looks extremely fit. He walks up to the mic and pulls out a flask. He takes a haul, cracks a joke and they bust into a new song. I've heard this song before. It was written in August 2009. I was there when it was first played. Forgive me for not knowing the name of the song but I think you'd like it. It's currently stuck in my head with the soaring gang vocal hook. After hearing a number of new songs, I feel that TVHA's new EP will probably build on "Lost in the Sway's" success. The band is using strong danceable rythmns and good spacial energy in all of the new songs. They also have a lot of keyboards which gives the live sound something a bit more unique then the 2 guitar/bass/drums sound.
The crowd of people in the dance floor were very happy when Hypnotic Eyes started. I found myself singing along (as always) and the energy of the band was explosive.
About 6 months ago the TVHA boys were missing a drummer and I suggested Jay audition my friend Adam. I will be honest, this band has never been tighter or had as much energy. If Ringo's persona was just "Ring" then Adam is just "Ad". One of the best friends I have.
In closing, this was one of the best nights of the year yet. Close friends, amazing live music, amazing energy, and a great new venue for original music, the Forum.
If you haven't already, you should buy the Manvils & TV Heart Attacks album online:
Click here for the Manvils
Click here for TV Heart Attack
Thanks for reading,
Marty
@martyzylstra
http://www.martyzylstra.bandcamp.com/
p.s. Arthur is the "talent" ;)
January 24, 2011
TV Heart Attack
Once upon a time in a land far far away I played in a really fun band called Grace Nocturnal with some friends from the island. We used to come to the mainland often to play shows all over Vancouver, and one such show I met my soon to be long term friend Jason Corbett from a band (at the time) called Speed to Kill.
We loved hanging out with these guys in those days, as they were an amazingly talented group of people but also their music appealed to me.
Fast forward 3-4 years.
A couple years ago I'd heard that Speed to Kill had disbanded and that Jay (affectionette nickname) had started a new reincarnation called TV Heart Attack.
Fast Forward another few years.
In 2009 Sweetheart was a part of the "Peak Performance Project" which is a radio contest supporting BC talent sponsered by Music BC & 100.5 the Peak (a great local radio station here in Vancouver). As part of this contest, all 20 of the artists were to spend 1 week at a "bandcamp" where seminars and networking opportunities were held with local industry people. Initially I was skeptical but when the top 20 artists were announced I was pretty excited when TVHA's name was mentioned. I knew that they would be an ideal group of guys to hang out with for a week in the woods as they are probably the funnest, craziest individuals I know. Jason, Ryan & Art have the constant ability to make me laugh just by looking at them. Maybe it's because I can read what they're thinking before they say it. It's usually about the same kind of thing I would say. Our humour is identical, it's awesome.
I'm really rambling here but my intention was to review a song of theirs.
Here we go. Jay will probably hate me for picking "AO" because it's an "old song" but to be honest, it's a great song.
Some people have the knack of writing a hook that is so strong that it stays in your head for days. TVHA is this band for me. I don't have much to critique in this song, to me it is the perfect mix of style and substance. The chorus has a little songwriting trick in it where the band doesn't repeat the line on the 3rd time instead using guitar to repeat the hook. It's ingenius. Also the "Satellite of Love" throwback in the middle 8 is great. One time I told Jay that I wanted them to repeat it but he told me that it keeps you coming back for another listen. It totally does. I like this song so much that when Sweetheart went out for a tour with TVHA we started throwing AO at the end of one of our songs live. Also, I love this band so much that when I heard they were looking for a new member I suggested one of my heroes/best friends Adam to join. Is this making you sick reading this? Bromance is delightful.
I'm really excited to hear the next record from these guys.
--
To wrap up: TV Heart Attack is a Vancouver band that has become on of my favourites over the years as friends and as colleages. I've also become a huge fan and like to tell everyone about it! They perform this Thursday January 27th, 2011 at the Forum on Granville (1163 Granville Street). You should go. You should tell all your friends.
Check out their website here:
http://www.tvheartattack.com/
Check out AO on Youtube here!
(this video is cool, right?)
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra
We loved hanging out with these guys in those days, as they were an amazingly talented group of people but also their music appealed to me.
Fast forward 3-4 years.
A couple years ago I'd heard that Speed to Kill had disbanded and that Jay (affectionette nickname) had started a new reincarnation called TV Heart Attack.
Fast Forward another few years.
In 2009 Sweetheart was a part of the "Peak Performance Project" which is a radio contest supporting BC talent sponsered by Music BC & 100.5 the Peak (a great local radio station here in Vancouver). As part of this contest, all 20 of the artists were to spend 1 week at a "bandcamp" where seminars and networking opportunities were held with local industry people. Initially I was skeptical but when the top 20 artists were announced I was pretty excited when TVHA's name was mentioned. I knew that they would be an ideal group of guys to hang out with for a week in the woods as they are probably the funnest, craziest individuals I know. Jason, Ryan & Art have the constant ability to make me laugh just by looking at them. Maybe it's because I can read what they're thinking before they say it. It's usually about the same kind of thing I would say. Our humour is identical, it's awesome.
I'm really rambling here but my intention was to review a song of theirs.
Here we go. Jay will probably hate me for picking "AO" because it's an "old song" but to be honest, it's a great song.
Some people have the knack of writing a hook that is so strong that it stays in your head for days. TVHA is this band for me. I don't have much to critique in this song, to me it is the perfect mix of style and substance. The chorus has a little songwriting trick in it where the band doesn't repeat the line on the 3rd time instead using guitar to repeat the hook. It's ingenius. Also the "Satellite of Love" throwback in the middle 8 is great. One time I told Jay that I wanted them to repeat it but he told me that it keeps you coming back for another listen. It totally does. I like this song so much that when Sweetheart went out for a tour with TVHA we started throwing AO at the end of one of our songs live. Also, I love this band so much that when I heard they were looking for a new member I suggested one of my heroes/best friends Adam to join. Is this making you sick reading this? Bromance is delightful.
I'm really excited to hear the next record from these guys.
--
To wrap up: TV Heart Attack is a Vancouver band that has become on of my favourites over the years as friends and as colleages. I've also become a huge fan and like to tell everyone about it! They perform this Thursday January 27th, 2011 at the Forum on Granville (1163 Granville Street). You should go. You should tell all your friends.
Check out their website here:
http://www.tvheartattack.com/
Check out AO on Youtube here!
(this video is cool, right?)
Love,
Marty
@martyzylstra
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