Remembering Jay Smith with Matt Mays, Dustin Bentall, Adam Baldwin, and Odds @ Imperial -- 04/01/15


It is hard to preface an event like this, so I am just going to quote was the organiser Dustin Bentall said in the facebook post:

"In March of 2013 I lost a great friend, Jay Smith. He took his life while out on the road. In an effort to celebrate his beautiful songs and spirit we're throwing a party at The Imperial Vancouver. All proceeds from this show will benefit Unison Benevolent Fund. 
Unison Benevolent Fund is a non-profit organization that provides counselling, emergency relief, and benefit programs for the Canadian music community who face personal or professional challenges due to hardship, illness, unemployment or economic difficulties."

I was actually in attendance for the Matt Mays show in Vancouver, only days after it happened, and it was the most emotionally intense shows I have ever seen. So this night, with a great lineup, paying tribute to Jay Smith, was something that was easy to support.


Starting off the night was "Vancouver's official house band", Odds. They played a quick set of a half-dozen songs from old favourites like the the deceptively upbeat "It Falls Apart" to newer tunes, "He Thinks He Owns You", which is either about a jealous boyfriend, or a jealous dog owner.
As usual, the band was full of energy, lead singer Craig Northy effortlessly chatting between their ridiculously catchy songs. They wrapped up by inviting the first (of many) special guests on stage, Barney Bentall to join in on "Someone Who Is Cool", as well as Cary Pratt (aka Prairie Cat) on percussion.


Next up was Adam Baldwin, a long time member of Matt Mays band with Jay Smith, to play his own material. He started off on stage alone (joking that he opted to drink rum instead of teaching the band his songs) with a couple heartfelt songs off his EP, "Bonnie Raitt" and the single "Love You With My Eyes Closed". After that, he was joined by what was essentially the "house band" of the night, which included Odds' drummer Pat Stewart (who actually played with every single band that night), Rick James Baker, and Brad Ferguson, and later on both Dustin Bentall and Kendel Carson. The full band setup was quite a bit more rockin', and included a cover of "Tush" by ZZ Top, with vocals from Christine Campbell.

At the end of the set, Baldwin invited up a Vancouver band to play one of his favourite songs with him. Which was The Matinée as they played the eternal 'song of the summer' "Young & Lazy" with Adam.


Not long after, the man who organised the whole night (with a fair amount of help as he was quick to point out) Dustin Bentall, with a bit of a dark roots-rock sound. He played a few songs, mostly songs from his recent album You Are An Island, with highlights being the title track and "Shine", both featuring the incredible fiddle of Kendal Carson -- I mean, how many times have you seen someone absolutely shred on the fiddle in a rock show?

After his own set, he quickly brought out a few more musicians, including Shaun Verreault and Jay's sister Chelle Fraser to for a set of some of Jay Smith's songs. It was a rockin' set with songs like "Romantic Fool" and "Hurts Like Hell", as well as a gorgeous song with just Chelle and Kendal on stage called "LA Postcard"


And finally, after a round of raffle draws, prizes donated by some of the night's sponsors, it was time for Matt Mays. He came out with Adam Baldwin for a song that they decided to play just two minutes before hitting the stage, a cover of "May the Wind Take Your Troubles Away".
They were quickly joined by the rest of the band, including, once again, Pat on the drums, and Kendal Carson on the fiddle, as they launched in to a couple songs off his latest, Coyote, both "Indio" and "Take It On Faith" which had the crowd singing along unprovoked.

Carson's fiddle really added a nice depth to the songs, especially on the softer and heartfelt "Loveless", and one of my favourite songs "On The Hood", which got the whole place jumping during the chorus, and once again singing along to lyrics that just seemed perfect for the moment. It was clearly a night that meant a lot to Mays, to see a packed crowd singing along, and that was channelled into the music and his passion while playing.

But the single most emotional moment of the night came as the band took a break, for Matt Mays & Chelle Fraser to share a microphone for an acoustic version of "Chase the Light". It is a song that was written before Smith passed, but has since turned into a perfect tribute to Mays friend. It was an incredible, tearjerking performance, and I doubt there was a single person in the audience without a tear in their eye.

And that wasn't even the end of it; Mays invited everyone back on stage, every person that had played that night, for Adam Baldwin to take over vocals on a cover of The Boss' "Glory Days", the whole venue joining in for one last song.


I have long been a fan of Matt Mays, but without hyperbole or exaggeration, this was the best show I have seen so far this year. It was an incredible night, full of so many talented individuals on stage, remembering their friend and celebrating a good cause.

And if you want to donate to the Unison Benevolent Fund, you can do that right here.


setlist
May the Wind Take Your Troubles Away, Indio, Take It On Faith, Loveless, Tall Trees, On The Hood, Cocaine Cowgirl, Chase the Light, Glory Days [Bruce Springsteen cover].

Toque Sessions: Odds @ CBC Vancouver -- 02/21/13

Now in their fourth year, the CBC Toque Sessions is a series of free shows at the CBC Vancouver building, featuring some great local talent, and recorded for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and CBC Music.

Celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, Vancouver's own Odds took to the stage in Studio 1 on the eve of the release of their new EP.

The set had a bit of a false start -- after they kicked off with "It Falls Apart" they had to pause for a moment to figure out some power issues -- but they were right back into it with "Make You Mad" and a couple other older songs before debuting the new EP, The Most Beautiful Place On Earth. 
The first of three planned releases this year, the new songs proved they haven't lost a step; amazingly catchy power-pop-rock with clever lyrics and a little bit of darkness hidden behind sweet melodies. The title track, poking fun at BC's licence plate motto a little, and the slightly cynical but rocking "Took A Long Time (To Get To I Don't Care)" were a highlights from the five new songs. 

Craig Northey, Doug Elliott, Pat Steward, and Murray Atkinson all had a great stage presence, the four members chiming in with jokes and stories between songs, and a fun energy while playing. Aside from the solid harmonies on songs like "Satisfied", on a couple songs Craig handed off lead vocals, with Murray singing "Eat My Brain" and Doug taking over on "The Truth Untold".

They ended the set with the infinitely catchy favourite "Someone Who Is Cool", but didn't even have a chance to leave the stage before the encore. After some more joking around, they replayed "It Falls Apart", due to it not being recorded earlier and finished off with a couple older tunes, capping off the evening with "Fingerprints" from their second album Bedbugs.

They are a really fun band and put on a great live show, as you might expect from a veteran band, but it was made even more impressive when they admitted Craig was just getting over laryngitis -- though it was hardly noticeable, mostly just when he was chatting between songs. They did tease more new material this year and I, for one, am definitely looking forward to it, and hope they do some more touring as well.

setlist
It Falls Apart, Make You Mad, Satisfied, Write It In Lightning, Anything You Want, Most Beautiful Place On Earth, High, Took A Long Time (To Get To I Don't Care), Cardboard Box of Dust, Nothing Beautiful, Not A Lot Going OnMercy To Go, Eat My Brains, Someone Who Is Cool.
(encore) It Falls Apart, The Truth Untold, Fingerprints.

Wide Mouth Mason & Odds @ Venue -- 10/01/09

By this point, I think I have probably seen Wide Mouth Mason in the double digits. Odds, however, I had almost never seen. When they were big the first time around, I wasn't really going to many shows, so I never had a chance to see them "back in the day". I did see them play a short set before the fireworks one day, but that was more like half a show... it doesn't count. For these reasons, I think was more excited to have them on the bill than Mason. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good WMM show, but I had already seem them once (and a half, as they did a fireworks gig too) this year already, and countless times before.

Starting off the night was Jordan Carrier, and he... sounded pretty much like you'd expect a modern day Fox Seeds finalist to sound like. The first song sounded downright schizophrenic and the rest of his set, he didn't really seem to have a style of his own, just a patchwork of other bands. He, and his band mates, were not bad, musically, but not captivating at all and I pretty much forgot about the entire set as soon as Odds came on.

Odds hit the stage not too long after Carrier was off and played through the first song, which I thought was kind of muffled. Though when they hit the stage, none of the mics were on, so I thought it was just the levels... then I thought something was odd when I noticed the flashing lights were not strobe lights, but above both emergency doors. And that the high pitch whining wasn't feedback, but an alarm. Turns out the fire alarm was going off, and due to this, the PA system shut off. So, consummate professionals as they are, Odds joked and riffed on stage, about how this was now a photo shoot and such, before realizing they'd have to take a short break for things to get sorted out. Luckily, it wasn't too long of a break and they were back out soon after. They played a good mix of their older hits and the brand new material, and they still knew how to work a show, especially lead singer Craig Northey. I am so glad that I got the chance to see them in the end. It may not be the original lineup, but they're still as good as they ever were. And it was just another reminder why Pat Steward is one of my favourite drummers.

Finally, Wide Mouth Mason was up, and they were as sharp as ever. Even having seen them so many times, they never cease to amaze me with the sheer energy of their live shows. As is usual for their shows, they focused a lot on their hits and faster songs, but there were a few older ones in there, as well as two brand new songs from the upcoming (eventually) new album. One they had only played a few times before, and one they hadn't played at a show yet. The latter had the great title: Stop Yelling and Kiss Me. There were some nice jam moments as well, like during This Mourning (I think) they broke it down, and at one point during Shaun's solo-ing, he noticed someone near the front taking a video and went to play right in front of them. I've seen him do similar things before, and it's just cool to see the band interacting with the fans, not just up there to play, get paid and go home. I've met all three members before, and they are all incredibly nice, so that's no surprise there.
For the encore, they came back out with Change, which saw Pat Steward and Craig Northey take the stage to help out. Change segued into a live WMM staple, a cover of Stevie Wonder's Superstition which had Steward take over for Saf drumming and Northey on vocals. THAT then segued into a really good cover of Billie Jean, before going back to Superstition for one hell of an ending to one hell of a show.

Aside from the mediocre opening act, the disrupting fire alarm, and one other incident* it was quite the excellent night of rock and/or roll.

*of all the shows I've been to this year... hell, of all the shows I've been to ever... the one show I almost get into a fight at is a Wide Mouth Mason show??? Bizarre.