The Start Of Something

concert review: Voxtrot, Irving, Spiral Beach @ Sneaky Dee's(Toronto, Ontario), April 13, 2006

Sneaky Dee's played host to a worthy triple bill yesterday night that drew Toronto(and surrounding) indie fans out in full force. It did help that the show was taking place on the cusp of an Easter long holiday weekend and that the temperature oustide was quite mild yesterday. It was a surprisingly packed house for first openers, Toronto's Spiral Beach. The band's young members, looking barely out of high school, featured one female in a polka dot top, skirt and Converse hightops while its curly-haired male members were gussied up in shirt and ticket or jackets. Their music drew on influences that I wouldn't have expected from a band so young; at various times I was reminded of The Slits, The B-52's, and Talking Heads with just a touch of new wave. Maybe they've been listening to their parents' records; if so, they have some cool parents. Quirky vocal harmonys and unconventional melodies dominated their music. The more adventurous side of me says they're a good band, although I'd definitely have preferred a more direct pop approach. For what it's worth, their set did manage to convince at least a few people to buy their new self-titled CD afterwards.

I'd like to mention that I wasn't upfront near the stage for this show as I was feeling pooped and decided to plant myself on a bar stool for most of the show. Second openers, Irving were more along the music I'd enjoy. While the sum of their influences wasn't compelling enough to convince me to buy any of their merch, they did put forth an admirable effort nonetheless. Their strummy guitar pop, filtered through a Strokes-ian casualness, with a modern twist on a sixties' Beat sound, was catchy enough but on a whole, their set was sort of lacking a cohesiveness I was hoping for. I must remind you, this is only a first impression. I hadn't heard the band before this so the anonymity factor is definitely at play. With time, I think I'd dig 'em more. On a funnier note(well to me at least), one of the band's guitarists looked to me like a cross between Jeff Tweedy(in his mid-length hair days) and actor Gary Sinise; I'm sure I'm the only one who thought that.

In all honesty, the only Voxtrot song I'd ever heard previous to the show was their song "The Start of Something". With that song's overt Smith influence I was fully expecting Austin, Texas' Voxtrot to sound like a Smiths tribute band. Part of me was hoping that might be true and I don't think I'd have been disappointed if it were. With lofty expectations even before their set started, I sprung for both their EP's(their first EP "Raised By Wolves" and their just released EP "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives") at the merch table. The EP covers definitely owes a nod to The Smiths' album art. Strangely, and probably for the better, Voxtrot transcended The Smiths' influence to offer us a great set of sunny, strummy guitar-pop filtered through a genuinely American indie-rock sensibility. Even when the band ended the set on consensual fan favourite "The Start of Something", lead vocalist Ramesh Srivastava sung it while exhuberantly pogoing; I wouldn't expect Morrissey to pogo on his next tour. With the great melodies, lead vocalist Ramesh's clear-tone vocals and the band's energetic pop instrumentation, they definitely live up to the hype.

Related links
- Chromewaves' review and photos from the show
- Voxtrot @ MySpace
- lead singer Ramesh has a blog called, unsurprisingly, The Voxtrot Kid[via Spot The Music]
- My Old Kentucky Blog recently posted an mp3 download of the band's recent KEXP live session