Peak Performance Project Showcase #4 @ Fortune -- 10/10/13

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands each a year and makes them stars. Past winners are We Are The City, Kyprios, Current Swell, and Dear Rouge with a ton of great bands and artists included as well.

Part one of the project was a "rock & roll boot camp" where the musicians went on a week long retreat to get lectures and advice from industry pros, to help them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at Fortune Sound Club; four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set. The bands are rated by a panel of judges, which will go toward their final score in the project. They've also been tasked to learn a "Classic Canadian Cover" to play during their set. I always love hearing bands play cover songs, and it's always interesting to see who each act chooses, if it's someone obvious to their style, or something way outside the box.

Starting off the penultimate showcase was Victoria's Dougal Bain McLean. Occasionally a solo performer, Dougal came out with a full band to fill out his pop-rock sound. His songs were catchy, but what drew me in most was his voice; that kind of gruff-yet-smooth voice that sounds like he drank a bottle of whiskey before the show.
After a few tunes, including the jaunty "Camino", he traded his guitar for a violin for a couple songs. The first of which was actually my favourite song of the set; it had a greater intensity than the rest of the set, and made me wish he was on the violin more often. It definitely set him apart from some of the other singer/songwriters in the competition.
Staying on violin, Dougal went for more of a "modern classic" with his cover, a nice version of Patrick Watson's "Adventures in Your Own Back Yard", and he ended the set with the most high energy song of the night.

Coldwater Road took the stage next. The five-piece from Vancouver have kind of a pop-folk group, with split male/female vocals. They also had a cello to round out their sound, and a drummer that would occasionally swap out for guitar.
The band gave off kind of a fun, goofy vibe for a lot of their set, without being too silly or cheesy. Songs like "Seven Letters" were playful and perhaps a little tongue in cheek, though but they had a couple other, slower or more serious songs.
I thought for sure their cover was going to be something by Barenaked Ladies, but I was wrong and they went with a version of "5 Days In May" by Blue Rodeo.
They were a perfectly fun band to see live, but I don't know if I'd be going out of my way to hear more.

Next up was Bodhi Jones, for an unprecedented third time going through the project. He took part in the first and second years, and -- after a brief retirement from making music -- is now back this year. I said before I had a few biases going in to the shows this year, and Jones was one of them. I have never been much of a fan, but I tried to go into his set with an open mind.
He is by no means a bad musician, and he surrounded himself with great local musicians for his backing band, but his songs fall a little flat. None of them really seemed to "pop" to me, and some of the lyrics were a bit cliché. But he's definitely comfortable on stage and has a good presence, and seems to have a loyal fan-base.
Bodhi also chose to go more modern with his cover, "Weighty Ghost" originally by Wintersleep. He had people singing and clapping along at the end, which lead into his last song of the night, giving his set a big, grandiose finish.
Oh, and a couple songs in he had someone, whose name I didn't catch, come out and do a short rap/slam poetry. Which seemed a little out of place.

And finally, Lions In The Street wrapped up the night. They took the stage backlit, and stayed in silhouette for most of their set, with everything cranked up for the loudest of the showcases thus far. The four-piece had loads of energy with a swampy rock sound, though there wasn't much variation to their songs. I wasn't surprised to find they were a previously in Fox Seeds, as well, since they sounded like they would have fit in perfectly to that annual competition.
They kept up the same intensity and loudness throughout their entire set, including their cover as they added to the Neil Young count, going with a deep cut "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"
The band is ten year vets of the business, and that certainly showed on stage, but for whatever reason their set just didn't click with me.

And that almost does it for this year's Peak Performance Project showcases. Next week will be the final one featuring Hannah Epperson, Amble Greene, BESTiE, and Oh No! Yoko.

String Fling w/ Four on the Floor String Quartet @ Rio Theatre -- 12/13/12

Even if you don't know them by name, there's a good chance you've seen some members of the Four on the Floor String Quartet playing live. As a group or individually, they've been a part of the Vancouver music scene for a while, playing with local artists like Adaline, The Belle Game, Kyprios, The Matinee, and many others, as well as having members of the quartet taking place in every Peak Performance Project as a part of various backing bands.
But they've decided to step into the spotlight and put on the first (of what I hope is many) String Fling, which saw members Hannah Epperson, Michelle Faehrmann, Tony Kastelic and Dougal McLean inviting some local acts to the Rio Theatre to play some of their own songs, with string accompaniment. And as someone who has always had a soft spot for strings in music, I was definitely interested to see how they came together with some of Vancouver's finest.

The show was broken into two halves, with each the performers playing a few songs and a steady flow of music with Four on the Floor performing between acts, with songs from their members or spoken word poetry over top of some strings arrangements. They opened the show with a songs before being joined by the first performer of the night, Ali Milner. With her gorgeous voice and jazzy piano, the strings blended really well with upbeat songs like the catchy "Waiting" and the dynamic "Fly".

After a spoken word interlude, they showcased a couple of their own solo projects, first Dougal Bain McLean with a could laid back, singer-songwriter-type songs, followed by the looping violin and lovely voice of Hannah Epperson, joined by Ajay Bhattacharyya on a drum machine for the aptly named "We Will Host A Party".

Ajay stayed on stage, joined by his bandmate Amy Kirkpatrick as Data Romance was up next. There was a bit of technical difficulties before they started, but Hannah covered fairly smoothly and they soon launched into their dark and moody, synth-infused electronic vibes. They played a couple new songs, teasing a new album in February, but I think they meshed with the string quartet least well -- which isn't to say it was bad in the slightest, just a clash of styles. That is, until their last song which was a bit more low key with Amy's ethereal voice soaring with the strings to close out the first half of the show.

After a short break, the second half opened with a spoken word piece from the quartet before Dominique Fricot took the stage. He is definitely no stranger to playing with Four on the Floor -- they helped him land third place in this year's Peak Performance Project -- and so he meshed the best with the quartet of all the performers. The acerbically charming Fricot talked and joked with the crowd, taking advantage of their relaxed atmosphere to play a couple slower, quieter songs from his repertoire, including the title track to his recent EP If Baby Could Walk. 

The next interlude, featured another spoken word piece, this time it segueing into the quartet playing the epic Game of Thrones theme, which was as fantastic as it sounds.

Of all the acts of the night, I was most interested to see how Shaun Verreault's bluesy sound mixed with the strings, and he introduced his first song as one least likely to be backed by a string quartet; Wide Mouth Mason's "Love Not Loving You". Originally a raw, distorted blues-rock song, it was turned into an absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking number that ended up being my favourite of the night. His next couple songs were from his own solo albums, both a little more suited for the strings accompaniment, giving his amazing guitar playing and powerful voice an extra kick.

After one last Four on the Floor interlude, The Gay Nineties hit the stage to close out the night with their energetic and infectious rock. The first song had guest vocals from the powerful Colleen Rennison of No Sinner, and their raw energy was enough to get people up and dancing at the front of the stage. They sounded pretty much exactly like themselves, but with the addition of strings, which wasn't a bad thing at all, and they were definitely a good choice in closing out the night.

The pacing of the show was fantastic, with it never dragging on or seeming long, and for the most part everything ran like clockwork. It was a great night of music with a fantastic premise, and at the end of the show, they hinted at already planning a second one, and I already can't wait to see who Four on the Floor will be collaborating with for another.