3am Mixtapes: Episode Forty Two: Peak Performance Project

Each week on the 3am Mixtapes podcast, I will share with you the Top Six Songs of a certain subject. The topics can be as general like like best guitar solos. Some might be a little more... specific. Top six song titles that are questions?

Since this week The Peak and Music BC announced the new batch of bands for their battle of the bands, I thought this week we'd take a look at some of my previous favourites, the Top Six Peak Performance Project Bands!

With tunage from:

"I Got Love" by Bend Sinister
"Reaction" by Acres of Lions
"Little Wars (Causing Your Trouble)" by The Belle Game
"Letterman" by The Gay Nineties
"Stoke it Up" by Willhorse
"Joanne" by Altered By Mom

Any questions or comments or waffles or criticisms or suggestions for future themes are welcome!

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Limblifter @ Venue -- 09/27/12

Despite being a fan of the bands since the late 90s, I never got a chance to see Limblifter live before they disbanded, and for various reasons I always managed to miss Ryan Dahle's solo shows. Even when they announced their reunion and a show at NXNE, the weekend was just too hectic to see them. I thought maybe I was fated to never see the band live, but my luck turned around with the announcement of a Vancouver show. And it's not just a series of reunion dates; Dahle recently hinted that the band might just be releasing some new material.

It was also an added bonus to see Acres of Lions open up the show. The Victoria band isn't breaking down any barriers with their pop-rock sound, but they are ridiculously fun to watch live. The whole band is highly energetic, especially frontman Jeff Kalesnikoff, who got the growing crowd singing and clapping along throughout the set. Starting off with "Set Me On Fire" and "Kids" from their latest album, Collections, the band drawing the slowly-growing crowd towards the stage. They threw in a new song -- which I didn't catch the name of-- and wrapped up with the infinitely catchy "Reaction" and the much softer "Collections", both of which once again got the crowd involved.

Not too long, Limblifter hit the stage, with Ryan Dahle joined by Megan Bradfield and Brent Follett -- both of which were in the last incarnation of Limblifter -- and Sloan's Greg MacDonald. They started off with a bang, opening the show with "Vicious" and going on to play about an hour of material spanning the entire Limblifter catalogue.
While I can't compare them to their first incarnation, they sounded great; the four of them meshed well together and the songs were familiar, but didn't feel dated. Like they never missed a step.
There was lots of songs got 'recognition applause' -- a big bout of cheering one or two notes in -- throughout the night, like the soaring "Wake Up To The Sun" and staccato "Screwed It Up". Other highlights included "Fiercely Co-Dependant" from the last Limblifter album, I/O, and the earworm inducing "Chop Chop" from Dahle's solo Irrational Anthems.
They wrapped up the set with their biggest hit, "Ariel vs Lotus" and after being met with chants of "ten more songs", were back for the obvious encore. Starting with the soft and beautiful "Alarm Bells", they exploded into "Dominant Monkey" and "Tinfoil" to end off the night.

It was great to finally see them, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what comes out of the reunion.

setlist
Vicious, Cordova, Cellophane, Count To 9, Jumbo Jet Headache, Chop Chop, Wake Up To The Sun, Fiercely Co-Dependant, In/Out, Hotel Knife, Screwed It Up, I Wonder If, On The Moon, Perfect Day To Disappear, Ariel v Lotus.
[encore] Alarm Bells, Dominant Monkey, Tinfoil.

Shows of September

Well, I haven't done this in a while, but after a bit of a summer lull, the concert season is back with a vengeance in the next few months, with September packed full of top notch shows. So here are a few I'm looking forward to...

September 15th: Rich Aucoin at the Biltmore
Regular readers (all seventeen of you) will understand why this is my most anticipated show of the month. Rich Aucoin's live shows are unparalleled; incredible energy, great audience participation, and more fun than you can possibly imagine.

September 29th: Bloc Party at the Vogue
After a bit of a hiatus, Bloc Party has finally returned with a new album, and accompanying tour. It's been three and a half years since I last saw them live, so I'm a little anxious -- both to see them, and to see if they live up to how great they were live previously (which, I'm sure they will be)

September 14th: Royal Canoe & Patrick Krief at the Waldorf
Royal Canoe is another favourite live band, and when you add Patrick Krief -- formerly Black Diamond Bay, Dears member and one of Canada's best guitarists -- to the bill, this is one show not to miss.

September 27th: Limblifter with Acres of Lions at Venue
Confession time: I've never seen Limblifter live. Or even Ryan Dahle when he struck of into his own solo career. I am fairly certain this isn't going to be the original lineup, but I'm sure it'll still be a blast of good ol' 90s CanCon Alt Rock. Plus, Acres of Lions is opening, and they're always fun to see live.

Thursdays starting September 13th: Peak Performance Project Showcases at the Red Room
The Peak Performance Project is back this year with an all new (well, mostly) group of bands. The showcases, which run for five Thursdays (skipping the 27th) are not just to introduce the public to this year's crop, but the bands will be judged on their live shows as one of the criteria to determine the winner.

There are a bunch more shows, too (check the sidebar), but these are the five I am most looking forward to. See you there?

Steam Whistle Unsigned w/ Acres of Lions, Rococode & Familia @ Biltmore -- 07/26/12

For a while now, the Toronto microbrewery Steam Whistle has been hosting its Unsigned events in various Canadian cities. Each concert in the series features three Canadian artists -- the first Vancouver show back in January featured Treelines, The Ruffled Feathers, and Sidney York -- with all of the ticket sales going back to the arts community; in this case to Solidarity Rock which supports musicians in Cuba.

The first band up was Familia, who recently changed from a four-piece to a trio. The lead singer, Tamara Umlah, has a strong and soulful voice, but musically they have a pretty straightforward soul-pop sound. Even their cover of Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Out to Dry" sounded similar to the rest of their set. They weren't bad by any means, and a perfectly acceptable opening band.

Next up was Rococode who once again displayed their catchy alt-rock/synth pop sounds with great harmonies. There wasn't much banter through the set, instead just focusing on playing songs off of their debut album, Guns, Sex and Glory -- like "Empire" which always gets stuck in my head after seeing them -- as well as a couple new songs sprinkled in -- "Run Run Run Run Run" has a definite catchy edge. As usual, the band had a great energy, and they're always a pleasure to watch play.

And wrapping up the night was Acres of Lions. Unfortunately I only caught about half their set, since it was a bit of a late start, but they were on top of their game. An incredibly fun band to watch live, the four members were all oozing energy and enthusiasm, and had no problem getting the crowd to sing and/or clap along to songs like the nostalgic "Kids" or "Closer" (and, I can only assume, "Reaction" later in the set).
And, as a side note, the band was on tour at this point for over 150 days, and were by no means showing signs of slowing down.  A harder working band would be rare to find.

Despite the late start on a week night -- which isn't unusual for the Biltmore -- it was another great event, and I am definitely looking forward to another trio of bands for the next Steam Whistle Unsigned.

Toque Sessions: Acres of Lions @ CBC Studio 1 -- 03/09/12

The CBC Toque Sessions is a series of shows at the CBC Vancouver building, which are free to the public, and recorded for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and On Demand (check out the snazzy new CBC Music website).

There are still a few more left this season, but this may be the last one I attend, and if it is, Acres of Lions is a pretty darn good way to wrap up the series.
The show was seated, which gave it a bit of a subdued vibe since Acres are definitely not a "seated" band -- guitarist Tyson Yerex joked that it was like a kids birthday party -- but they still managed to give a good energy and fun set, with front man Jeff Kalesnikoff getting people to sing and clap along, and even get up for a couple songs. Jeff, Tyson, Dan Ball (bass) and Cody Beer (drums) were also joined by Kiana Brasset for some backup vocals, as well as violin on a few songs, both her voice and the strings adding a nice texture to their pop-rock sound.
Highlights of the set included the ridiculously infectious "Reaction", which was one of the songs to get everyone out of their seats; the heartfelt "Like a Drum"; and "This Was Not My Best Day Ever", a song inspired by Firefly, which started with just Jeff on an acoustic guitar, with the rest of the band slowly joining in.
They ended the set with the title track from their newest album, Collections, once again getting people up and a big stomp/clap going on to end off the set. 

setlist
Let's Get Sentimental, December, Forgive & Forget, Reaction, Working, Like a Drum, Closer, This Was Not My Best Day Ever, Kids, Collections.

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald w/ Acres of Lions @ Performance Works -- 02/24/12

This weekend marks the seventh annual Winterruption Festival, a celebration filled with food and performance and arts and dance and music on Granville Island. And do they ever have some amazing music this entire weekend, with free shows during the day and a couple nifty looking double bills in the evenings, like Michael Bernard Fitzgerald with Acres of Lions last night.

Acres of Lions kicked off the night with fill-in-drummer Cody Beer joining Jeff Kalesnikoff on guitar and vocals, Tyson Yerex on guitar & keys, and Dan Ball on bass. They started with "Let's Get Sentimental" from their debut album, and the ridiculously catchy "Reaction" came early on in the set with Jeff  getting everyone to clap and "Ba Baa" along. They slowed down a bit for the Firefly-inspired "Best Day Ever" before rocking the rest of the set, with upbeat and infectious songs like "Kids" and "Closer", before ending with another slower one, the title track off their most recent album, Collections.
While they're not reinventing the pop-rock genre, their live show is just flat out fun; the whole band has a great energy and stage presence, immediately filling the dance floor and getting the crowd to sing and clap along to a few songs.

Not long after, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald hit the stage with a nice sized band including a horn section (whom he introduced as "The Horny Boys"), a pair of drummers, and more. He started off with "Movie Life" and his brand new single, "Follow", playing a good number of songs from his upcoming album and EP, both titled Yes; Side A and Side B respectively. The new stuff sounded much like you would expect, pop-ish with a hint of soul, and the full band gave it a nice, fleshed out sound. It definitely got me interested to pick up the album(s).
MBF also has a great stage presence, genuinely nice and humble, and an effortless charm. He did things like give out his phone number, so everyone could be "text friends" and when there was a bit of a delay, when he had to change and restring his guitar, he kept the flow going with his backup band playing, and then bringing a fan on stage to demonstrate CPR through dance (no, seriously).
Highlights of the set were the aptly named "Firecracker", which was one of my favourites of the night, and the older "Brand New Spaces", with everyone stomping & clapping along, and ending with a medley of top 40 covers including Sysco, Flo Rida, and LMFAO. And those weren't the only covers in the set, he had a few more throughout; Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child" early on, The Boss's "Dancing in the Dark" to end the main set and "Call Your Girlfriend" by Robyn in the encore.

Both bands of the night put on incredibly fun sets, and they were a perfect match for a night of good music. And speaking of another perfect match, I am definitely looking forward for Winterruption to continue tonight with Aidan Knight & The Belle Game at Performance Works.

Peak Performance Project Showcase #2 @ Red Room -- 09/15/11

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands a year and makes them stars. The first year was won by We Are The City, and last year, Kyprios, with a ton of great bands and artists included as well.

Part one of the project was a rock & roll boot camp where they went on a week long retreat where industry pros helped them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at The Red Room, four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set. In the last two years, the bands would all have to learn and play a cover of a classic Canadian song, but this year they will all be playing the songs they wrote about Vancouver for the Vancouver125 celebrations. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed about that, because one of my favourite aspects of the showcase series last year was seeing which song they picked and how they interpreted it. But I am sure their Vancouver songs will be great.

First up for the night was Avairis, whose three members took the stage one by one for a song that built up. They were kind of dirty, bluesy rock group and while they played off each other really well, I didn't really get into them that much. I definitely didn't think it was bad by any means, but it wasn't all that great either; it just... was.
They would, however, win if the prize was based off facial hair, and Duff has a really interesting story -- he was once in a plane crash and messed up his right hand, so he decided to switch and learn to play the guitar with his other hand.

Fields of Green was up next, and they were one of the bands that I had not heard much of before, but was intrigued to see live. With a bit of a prog-infused alt-rock sound and a crazy energy, especially the drummer, who was a maniac behind the kit. Though half way through the set they killed all of their momentum when, after trying to get the Red Room silent (which did not work at all) they decided to do a completely unplugged and unamplified song. I can see something like that being killer in a smaller venue with a quieter crowd, but as it turned out, anyone not in the first five rows couldn't hear a thing, and that really hurt. That being said, they did manage to regain some momentum and ended the set with even more energy than they started with. For the most part, I really enjoyed it, and definitely saw potential in the band; they're a little green right now, but given a few years of hard work, they could be huge.

Third up was Acres of Lions, who are one of the repeats from last year's competition. When I saw them a year ago, I thought they were okay; a decently fun band, though nothing much else. But they really impressed me this year with how much they've improved since then. They played a solid set of fun, upbeat rock songs, and had a really good stage presence, really pulling the crowd into it. The best example was mid-set, with their new single, "Reaction", which got everyone clapping and ba baa-ing along, and was sure to get stuck in peoples heads well into the next day.
Plus, any band that has a song about Firefly ("This Was Not My Best Day Ever") is aces in my books.

And rounding out the night was Current Swell. I had heard some of their stuff before the Project started, and I never really cared for them that much, so I had a bit of a bias going into their set. But they were a lot more rocking that I thought they would be, and they had a fantastic energy.
While there were still more songs I couldn't get into than could, there were a couple I really dug. "Cursed", which has a fantastic guitar riff throughout the song, was great live and their Vancouver 125 song, "Granvilletown", was also pretty fun. I enjoyed them a lot more than I thought I would, but (to be honest) I still wasn't really "won over" by them. I would probably see them live again, but likely won't be scrambling to get an album.

Maybe not quite as good as the first week, but still a damn fun show. And, on a side note, pretty much half of the Vancouver music scene was on hand to see the showcase, which is always great seeing all the love and support.
On tap for next week next week, we'll you'll see The Oh Wells, Ashleigh Eymann, Sex With Strangers and The Boom Booms.

The Peak Performance Project Showcase #1 @ The Red Room -- 09/09/10

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands a year and makes them stars.
Last year it was won by We Are The City, and they have barely slowed down since winning. This year it seems like the competition is a lot tougher; at least half the bands I have either liked before the contest, or have grown to like because of it. I definitely do not envy the judges on who should take it come November.
Part one of the project was a rock & roll boot camp where they went on a week long retreat where industry pros helped them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at The Red Room, four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set, which includes a cover of a classic Canadian song. I always love it when bands play covers live, so that is one aspect I am definitely looking forward to. That, and seeing who everyone picks (I am going to keep a running tally on how many Neil Young and Leonard Cohen songs we get).

Going into the first showcase, there were two artists I was looking forward to seeing. The first of which being Jess Hill, whose voice I had fallen in love with the minute I heard "Orchard" on The Peak. She came out to kick the whole event off with an a capella song, only aided by stomps & claps, that really let her powerful voice shine. The band, which featured an electric upright bass and James Lamb on guitar, then kicked in for "Orchard" and were with her for the rest of the set. Her sound was sort of a folk sound, with a bit of an alt-country twinge, but it wasn't without an edge, or a bit of darkness to some of the songs. The style definitely played to her strengths, and she seemed to have a great sense of storytelling to the songs. Near the end she broke out into another a capella song, her commanding voice taking hold of the crowd (except for the annoying people in the back who talked the whole night) and then the band kicked in for a really incredible song, which I wish I got the name of. She also had a pretty good stage presence, confident in what she was doing, but also very appreciative to the crowd; slightly shy without being awkward at all.
For her cover, she explained that she didn't want to go for the obvious choice of Joni Mitchell, so decided to pick someone who shared her birthday. And then launched into "Cuts Like A Knife" by Bryan Adams. The fun part about covers is seeing an artist making it their own, and she not only did that, but I think I liked her version better than the original.
Going in to her showcase set, I had already liked her from the album, but after the set? Wow, just wow. She had definitely secured her spot in who I think should be the top five.

Next up was Bodhi Jones, who was actually in the project last year, and made it in for the second year. His sound was a little more of a folk-pop sound, and he definitely wasn't bad, but he just seemed to be missing a certain something. A few of his songs sounded a bit too similar and while they were not bland, they just kind of... were there. He did, though, look completely natural up on stage, and that was probably due to his relentless live playing, as he can often be found busking in Vancouver. An effortlessness surrounded him which did add to his performance.
There was one song near the end where he was joined by a cellist (whose name I am blanking on, but I believe she played with Broken Social Scene at Sasquatch) for a really emotional song about an addict friend, which was definitely the best of the set. Before his cover he mentioned that he didn't like playing them too much, and then went into "Old Man" by Neil Young (one), and did a decent version of it, but didn't really make it his own or anything. Much like his whole set, it was good, and he is an admirable player, but he was just missing something.

Vince Vaccaro was the other act I as interested in seeing, having been an idle fan of his for a few years. Meaning I have caught him live once for a free show, and have enjoyed his stuff on the radios, but never quite got around to picking up an album. The first thing that struck me was his energy. The man ran around stage like a squirrel with ADD, going into the crowd, even, barely slowing down for a minute. And the energy translated really well to playing live. For the beginning of his set, he had the electric out, and his sound seemed to be a bit more funk-infused; his Boot Camp Challenge song (which was to write a song around the title "Last Night") had a downright reggae flavour to it, but it was when he brought out the acoustic that I really got into it. Not to sound like "that guy", but I think I like his earlier material better, with songs like Heart & Hands, which he didn't play, having more of an East Coast Rock sound, something that you don't find much here (for obvious reasons). He did touch on that aspect of his sound, though, when he pulled out his cover song, "Uprising Down Under" by Sam Roberts -- which made me wonder how "classic" the song has to be. Don't get me wrong, that's one of my favourite Sam Roberts songs, but it is from four years ago. In any case, the beginning half of the song sounded almost identical, with Vaccaro playing softly on his guitar. But then the rest of the band kicked in to give the end a more rocking vibe, making it their own. It was quite a good set, and while I may not put Vaccaro in my top five, he would easily make the top ten.

Finally, wrapping up the night was Acres of Lions. I had heard a bit of them before the show, and to be blunt, I wasn't really into what I had heard, as it seemed to be a bit more pop-punk. But I had heard second-hand that their live show was fun, so I was open to it. And that it most certainly was. They, too, were full of energy, and effortlessly got the crowd into it and moving. Though they also had a little lack of diversity in their set, with most of their songs sounding like variations of the same. At one point, however, they mentioned something about a cancelled TV show before going into a song, then part way through, I think confirming that it was Firefly. I am not completely sure on that, but if it was... they earn major points from me. They also earn points for their choice of cover, "Never Surrender" by Corey Hart.
I'm not sure it's anything I'd want to listen to on a regular basis, but they did put on one hell of a live show, I'll give them that.

All around good performances, but for me, Jess Hill won the night. Best cover for sure, and as tough as it is to call, probably the best set. Next week is going to be a good one, and will be nigh impossible to judge, as there is Aidan Knight, Yes Nice, Debra Jean and Parlour Steps. Can't wait!