A Close to the Coast Event

by Stephan MacLEOD

Capping off an unbelievable ©

summer of bar shows and living room jam sessions, Close to the Coast was a four day music festival at Baba’s that

captured the excitement of a burgeon- —

ing music scene. The organizers of the event decided to bring back the magic of the original festival for two more days this winter to shake off the dry spell of live music that often accom- panies the cold weather. The Close to the Coast event was held at Baba’s once again featuring ten performances in two days. A mix of local bands and visitors from throughout the region were invited to play on a freshly con- structed wooden stage in the tiny venue.

Like the first Close to the Coast, this concert was organized in a very short amount of time. Bands were confirmed or removed from the line up within days of the concert starting. When two of the headlining bands unexpectedly could not make the show, Sydney’s Slowcoaster were kind enough to fill in both slots of the festival with two performances.

Slowcoaster kicked off the night of the weekend fest with a laid- back set of their retro country tunes and some slow funk jams. The band’s smooth and tight sounds carried over the audience thanks to the little raised stage. The slight elevation made a big difference in how the sound filled the room. Nathan Wiley’s subdued vibe was also enhanced by stage. All of the instruments were clearly distinguish- able, and the band’s fluid sound was the perfect way to follow up Slowcoaster’s set. Performing his tracks from his CD, Bottom Dollar, Nathan and company brought out the beauty and craft of his songwriting.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, a Nova Scotian pseudo- funk band called Sweet Tooth irritated the hell out of me. Looking like a group of Myron’s rejects after a shop- ping spree at Winners, Sweet Tooth were a sleazy parody of a band. A noisy rack of keyboards and a dance- floor filled with girls touching them-

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selves couldn’t distract me ee

Sweet Tooth were there.

from how annoying this band was. They sound like a skanky cover band doing a bad impression of a jam band butchering funk music. And unfortu- nately their performance ate into Port Citizen’s set, so the local three-piece could only play a few songs before the bar closed.

The next night started off with Under the Hood playing under a dif- ferent line-up since their guitarist left to Australia. While they retained their loose, garage jam style, the absence of the guitarist, and the change in line-up made them sound out of practice. Next up was Greg Boone of Tastes Like Burning and myself performing as Windom Earle. We were also out of practice because we only started jam- ming together the day before the show, and we spent most of the day of the show shopping for costumes at Value Village. We both bought matching black outfits with tiny clip-on chil- dren’s ties. I also got a green rainsuit, knee pads, and a purple motor bike helmet. Together Greg and I played over pre-arranged samples and drum- loops and yelled at the audience every once in a while. It was a good time.

The Sycamores from Halifax rocked things up a couple notches with their rough and scrappy metal pop. They were very Weezeresque, and sonically pummeled the audience with their heavy and happy tunes. Their early nineties indie rock throw- backs led nicely into Eyes For ee sp apap The 7

played best set of the weekend. Loud, fast, and raunchy. Their energy could not be beat by any of the other bands. They were deadly, and it’s a shame nobody recorded it because the only way to capture the magnificence of this band on tape would be through a bootleg of a performance like this. It was probably the best I have ever seen

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them play.

The busiest band of the week- end, Slowcoaster, quickly took what was left of the stage after Eyes For Telescopes exploded and wrapped up the festival with one of their non-stop dance parties. Turning up the tempo from their first performance the night before, Slowcoaster provided the per- fect funky backdrop to accompany the fun and excitement of the packed dance floor. As the band got going, they stretched the songs out in playful extended jams and continued their set well into the night.

It was good luck on behalf of the organizers that Slowcoaster replaced the two bands that cancelled. Having Sydney’s most versatile party band opening and closing the weekend was the perfect way to bookend such a diverse ensemble of artists. Despite the variety of styles and attitudes, most of the sets fit nicely together in this two-day event.

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Appeal

UPEI Barn (wet/dry) Sree Ne March the 9th Starts 8:00pm

Fair Trade Coffee

will be served. Feel free to bring your own cup.

Donation Box will be present. Raffle will be held at the show.

Contact or to make a donation: Stuart Neathy Phone: 964.3173

Sobla Ali E-maik sobia_ali@hotmail.com Phone: 393-6498

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