Wildlife, Bravestation - Lee's (Nov 9/13)

Perhaps one of Toronto's most underrated bands (still!) Wildlife played yet another excellent set, this time to a decent-sized Lee's Palace weekend crowd. Once again with all members donning the band uniform, this time all black with a yellow band, they put on quite the performance. Not as coordinated and cohesive as some of their previous shows that seemed to be rehearsed down to the second this gig was a great opportunity for them to play their ..On the Heart material for the hometown crowd after a long delay since it's release early this year. The evolution of the music is exciting as it takes what Strike Hard, Young Diamond did and furthers it. Born to Ruin for example has that killer kick drum that thuds throughout both on record and in a live setting. They didn't forget the previous album however, going back to standout Stand in the Water before closing up with the excellent Killing for Fun which included an unintroduced extra member playing and singing along. With the appetite for it they returned for an encore to satiate us after their welcome return.

Bravestation, another hometown band, mentioned that it had been a dream to play on the Lee's Palace stage which is understandable as it is a beloved Toronto institution (despite the bathrooms). They did a stand up job of it too, in part because their drummer forewent kick drums or even a seat to pound his kit while standing in his toque and headphones, while also working some electronic drums and a laptop. Besides him there was a bass and an electric guitar that filled out the rock band who didn't make a bad showing of it all told.

Bravestation, Craig Stickland - Supermarket Jan. 19

It came to my attention that Bravestation were playing the Supermarket and I'd never heard of them. I had heard positive reviews though and swiftly downloaded their EP, liked what I heard and rushed off to the PWYC event. Overall it was an enjoyable set, punctuated by the little extras coming in way of synth and percussion. Adding a standalone drum to songs like Their Calling, and an electric set at other times kept things catchy and fresh (unlike the fashion sense.. faux tie dye?... jean vest?...) With the fifth song of the set, Colour of Youth they seemed to hit their stride and rode it into their final tune, EP opener, White Wolves. A short, short set was long enough to get a reaction that demanded an encore and despite having scrapped the song from the set-list earlier stating they were sick of playing it, they were cornered into doing it last anyway. Young band, small catalog. It wasn't exactly the most powerful way to go out but it did feature the tambourine and was fairly catchy. Glad to have seen this band at this point so once they fill out to an LP's worth of music (and a full set) I can see how far they've come along.

It's been a month since the show and with apologies to Craig Stickland and his backing band not a whole lot is retained from the end of the set that I caught. My phone-notes don't elaborate much either - "standard mellow indie rock" reads one line. The next is "broke out acoustic and had a break down" which if I recall is near the end of the set when Craig swapped from electric to acoustic guitar and they played a song with a strong instrumental breakdown that stood out from the rest of the show.