July 27, 2006
Sneaky Dee’s
The New Grunge Series Day One
Lidia Vila

The New Grunge Series is a collaboration of, what else? Grunge bands. Greg Jason was slated to open the night, but was forced to drop out so Fire Hydrant’s Douglas Adams stepped up to entertain the crowd with his own solo work.

Adams had a pleasant guitar style, developed, we’re sure, by spending nothing short of hours picking away. On this night he created a soothing vibe for those in attendance. Minus the underlying nasally aspect of Adams’ voice, the music was well composed. It was a nice bit of fluffy dreamy Neo-Hayden to start the night off right.

Set list: “Far,” “In My Mind,” “The Run,” “Tip Toe,” “Universal Memory,” “Brother of Lee,” “Opium/Brain Damage.”

Douglas Adams
http://www.myspace.com/douglasmusic

From solo to group, Adams later joined Fire Hydrant on stage, kicking their set off with the popular “Robots for Dinner.” How hilarious is this song? I totally enjoyed this ditty and highly suggest everyone memorize the words and join in the next show.

One song I would suggest they add to their lineup is “Cassie,” an addictive song that has a seedling of Ned’s Atomic Dustbin buried deep. For the time being Fire Hydrant is an underrated band in Toronto, but I won’t be surprised when they make it to stardom and are selling out the Drake or Rogers Centre. They certainly have come a long way since I first saw them at O’Grady’s on a very cold winter night. From Jon Sohn’s afro to the change in band members, Fire Hydrant is nothing to piss on.

Set list: “Robots for Dinner,” “Fractured Mind,” “Fireball,” “You’re Dead (And I’m Alive),” “Time & Space,” “Down for the Count,” “Riding Bears.”

Fire Hydrant
http://firehydrant.ca

With a new drummer in tow, Cold Dead Hands sounded better than ever. It’s amazing how just one replacement can infuse a band with a fresh sound. CDH introduced a few new songs into their lineup and the moshing during “Wrong” was both fan-freakin-tastic and well deserved. Vocalist and guitarist Ian Strung played hard and furious and belted with all he had. The crowd ate it up and I totally got caught up in the overwhelming sense of action. If you were ever looking for a theme song to destroy things to, like smashing television or windshields “Wrong” is that song.

Expending that much energy did seem to leave Strung winded and his voice noticeably weakened, which is to be expected from a band that gives 110% during their live show. A simple remedy would be to slow down, but that would take away from the fast pace CDH delivers – quite the toss up. Before shows CDH should warn the crowd they may experience bouts of extreme movement, adrenalin rushes and aural pleasure. We hope Lakeshore Management will get the band in the studio soon to work on a follow-up album now that they’ve found a new drummer who meets the intensity level CDH band is known for. This is definitely a band to keep tabs on.

Set list: “Read Between the Lines,” “Goat Horns,” “Story of My Life,” “Wrong,” “Novelization,” “Golden Goose.”

Cold Dead Hands
http://www.colddeadhands.net

It’s evident that Remainameless has a lot of heart and that it has earned respect from the people involved in the New Grunge Series. The band graciously thanked the organizers on stage between catcalls from the crowd. This band is sure to turn any event into a party – they came, they played, they gained fans. And just as their MySpace (www.myspace.com/remainameless) headline says, “Guaranteed to rock and/or roll,” they did indeed.

Set list: “Bite,” “The Way We Flow,” “Mistake,” “Sweetly Insatiable,” “Go Away (lie),” “Real Lies,” “Go Out.”

Remainameless
http://www.remainameless.ca

Lead by Nikkole Stone, the final band of the night, First Person Shooter, took to the stage with their guns blazing. Firing songs of personal identity and socialism one after another in rapid succession, FPS were a force to be reckoned with. Immediately I was drawn to their passion and fast pace. FPS set a high standard and maintained it throughout the set.

There’s a reason “Goodbye City” has been listened to over 3000 times on MySpace (www.myspace.com/1stpersonshooter). It’s a catchy song that inspires ass moving, as evidenced by the number of revellers in the crowd who surged toward the stage to soak in the shining rock star rays.

First Person Shooter
http://www.firstpersonshooter.ca

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 at 1:34 am.