Mounties
It seems that people have tired of Hot Hot Heat, or maybe HHH got tired of their own sound, either way Steve Bays seems to have found a new outlet for that unique voice of his. Much is made of this being a Canadian supergroup, so there was Hawksley Workman with his raised kit right up front of the stage, plus Ryan Dahle (Limblifter). But there was also a guy manning the tickle trunk, a literal chest stood on its side marked with Mounties on it and full of shakers 'n things, plus a rover who sometimes shook something or strummed something too. As a relatively recent formation they have only the one release to draw from and opened with album opener, Pretty Respectable. Steve bounded around the stage under his carrot-top-like mop, doing a full lap or two and showily juggling his mic (and once embarrassingly dropping it). When he did have keys to play they were usually rocked one way or the other. Hawksley wanted some time in the spotlight too though and held lead vocals while drumming on a few tunes. As an early afternoon set their time was limited, and by the time they all chimed in on the banter (you can see where the playful creativity comes in with this crew), they were rushed to fit it all in. Of course they hit on this summer's release Tokyo Summer, and the very HHH chorus of If This Dance Catches On. We all got hooked on the teaser release Headphones though so that was the natural closer. And close it did fully - then after Workman had already packed up and walked off the rest of the crew started back into it to the point where Hawksley jumped back onto the drums despite the repeated cut sign from the stage crew and they jammed out for another minute or two.
Rubblebucket
The Brooklyn septet had driven up for the show and were in party mode, as per usual. Led by their close-cropped lead female singer it is the bombastic brass duo who push the sound, not to mention their ostentatious choreographed dance moves. Being on the up and up most of the crowd probably wasn't overly familiar with their music, especially the album that was just dropped, but that didn't stop them from amping it up. Came out of a Lady was a hit at Hillside and same goes with Riot Fest. The mini parachute that they carried through the crowd while playing and singing certainly helps draw attention. Once back onstage the pink (vagina?) flower mascot could have been more playful but was certainly a sight in itself. To close out they did pay for love.
New Found Glory
NFG? Yeah, "no fucking good" - or so the old joke goes. In reality though these guys were a-ok. They have made a living on pure pop punk and show no signs of slowing as the three members up front stalked the entire stage in front of their drummer. This meant the music perhaps wasn't the tightest as they ran around but the energy was certainly there. They did Better Off Dead and then on Hit or Miss the singer stuck the mic into a bunch of fans faces to prove that his voice actually isn't that annoying, relatively speaking. In closing they hit on another old favourite, My Friends Over You which again saw only about half the lyrics sang but this many years into the game I'd be sick of singing the same tune too.
Bad Suns were four young people with a slightly grungy garage edge to their lighter indie rock. Despite not providing much banter the lead singer appeared vibrant while singing over their playing and the backing drum track.
Glassjaw had a very clear, loud sound that wasn't as aggressive as I thought/remembered, for the short time that I watched them The appearance of their skinny, bald, brown bass player stood out for this festival and genre but he sure knew how to play.
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