The
Fruit
Scott Deneau with Huellas The Commerciul kern, Maryhill May 21, 1993
by Anne special
Lumley to Imprint
Huellas and the Scott Deneau Sand, two distinct local bands, charmed the crowd at the Commercial Tavern in Maryhill, Friday May 21. I’ve seen both these bands play since their emergence into the local scene and they continue to evolve, developing their original material, becoming tighter musically, and gaining a wider appreciative audience. Huellas (Footsteps in Spanish) has been performing in the area for a year and a half. Luis Abanto from Peru, Balmore Velasquez from El Salvador, andjeremy Moyer and Brian Suderman, both Canadians, make up Huellas. They play mostly instrumental arrangements of both traditional and original Latin American songs. Their mastery of the various Latin0 instruments give the band its energy. The infectious enthusiasm of these four smiling men and the indulgent rhythm of their music always
of his
Looms
inspires me to dance. Watching Luis’ spirited performance on the panflutes is particularly appealing. Huellas will be playing at Pop the Gator’s Latin American night with Cana Brava, another dynamic local band, on June 17, and again at the Grad House on June la. I first saw Scott Deneau play at the Grad House three years ago, sitting on a stool, jeans faded at the knees, letting his rich voice and lyrics speak for chemselves. Well, he’s not as shy as he was then, and his music has grown in its power and scope. The line from one of his newer songs, “Tad Too Shy” -- “got my hair slicked back, my black boots on/ And my Fruit of the Looms are singing your song“ -- would seem to have us forget he ever once was that timorous young man. Lisa Unrau and Ben Martin complete the trio which has been playing together since February. While for the most part Lisa performs beautiful vocal harmonies and Ben plays his rollicking country cello, the trio plays a musical chairs of sorts, passing around a harmonica, tambourine, the guitar, and the lead on vocals. Ben even does a
are
singing
little groovy scat singing on “I Write the Bible.” The band is definitely folk in its sound and lyrical content. Scott has chronicled people’s life experiences in his music, with insight and some social critique. One powerful piece, “Fists of Rage” takes a good look at domestic violence, “She is bound by fists of rage, dragging her down day to day/ Someday she will get away but she’s bound by fear.” Both Huellas and The Scott Deneau Band will be performing in the line-up of two dozen hot Canadian acts at the Maryhill Music Festival to be held at the Commercial Tavern, June I I -I 3. Tickets are available for the entire weekend or for individual days at the Provident Bookstore and the Commercial Tavern. Check the posters --they’re everywhe;e.
your
Scott
Deneau
at recent
song
Bomber
gig.
.Mosr [suppo@ng Eric’s Trip) Phils Grandson’s Place; Water100 May 19, I993 .’ by hue
pwu?r
Imprint
stc#
,’ ,
,T
%
One of the great beauties of rock is that anybody:qan play it. Witness Mass, a shy all-female power-pop trio from Guelph whote only been together since February. Their first-ever aut-oftown performance, and only their fifth lifetime, came as a fast-minute support act on the announced-x-
the-last-minute Eric’s Trip bill at phiI’s Grandson’s Place. With virtually astonishing stylistic maturity for a band SOyoung, Moss’s perFormat)w was by any
If I ShouldFallfrom Gracewith Derek
measure an unsuspecting triumph for even the most jaded ctincet-tgoer. Although-their irtcperience was at moments glaritigiy obvious,
The
June 2, 1993
(genetiNy itil the awkward tntervals between songs), Moss possessed such unabashed ivete that their defied belief.
passioti
music
by Derek Weiler Imprint staff
and naiust .about I
“The Mahones: Acoustic Irish Punk.” “Mahone” would seem to allude to “pogue mahone,” the same Gaelic expression for “kiss me arse” from which the Pogues took their name. So the very posters for this gig gave me a flashback to the early %Os, when cover bands regulariy hit Kitchener’s Coronet with monikers like “The Lizard Kings: Tribute to the Doors” and “The White: Tribute to Led Zeppelin.” Now this phenomenon has hit one of my alltime fave bands, the Pogues. More sad co-opting of alternative culture. As a Pogues cover band, the Mahones were OK. There were some atrocities, like the barely-recognizable take on “If I Should Fall from Grace with God,” but, their version of “Streams of Whiskey” was more typical,. in its bouncy faithfulness, to the original. They had all the cool instruments (fiddle, accordion, tin whistle, mandolin) and even had the accents
For a start, they’re only -l,7And forget about any feminist pretense or subtext also, (I can% say for sure whether there was any because 1 was mu distracted to pay that any attention), year-olds,
these were sisters’whb require,no prompting
Mahones wl War Wagon Phil? Grandson’s Place
seemed to to ,do it, far
themselves, With .appetites running any where from Billy Braggto Sqbadoh, Moss played nothing, but originals .(abc>ut ten songs in all), So original, in fact, they were rumtiured tipping their guitars po5~show at the slur of local underground legends Tanktop. Now that’s coooooool. And refreshing. Here’s hoping Moss keeps plugging away with the Same kind of energy and enthusil
asm they exhibited at Phil’s in the not-too-distant future. As for Eric’s Trip,. they were their usual mind-buzzing, body slammtng, amazing s&es. But then one expecti nothing fess. Tentativelysland to return to these pwts sometime around latejuly wirh labelmates Pond, be SURE to check them out then if you haven’t already done so,
down
“We’re
War Wagon,
and we want
to be a Mahones
cover
band”.
pat
(t’m
those
still
undecided
as
to
were genuine or contrived). They also did a couple Waterboys tunes, if these tired ears don’t deceive me, and the guitar player does a pretty convincing Mike Scott. What was puzzling, though, was the number of originals strewn throughout whether
rhe set As a Pogues cover band, the Mahones were fairly entertaining. but as an original act, they were..... a Pogues cover band. Their original songs were competent but hopelessly derivative. and seemed like a great deal of wasted effort. Why take the trouble to write a batch of songs that still sound exactly like the Pogues? Why b&her to construct such a flimsy pretence of originality? There were times when the Mahones hinted that they might one day become something more, most notably in the long songs that closed off each set. But at no point did they really sound like anything more than a bunch ofguys who wish they were the Pogues. Worse, the show was further damaged by serious pacing problems: the Mahones did two short sets, with a very long break between them, thereby losing most of the momentum they had built up in the first set All in all, a disappointment. As for War Wagon, my favourite local band (and I’m not just saying that ‘cause I know them), their set was a little disappointing as well. Primarily because it was too short: the Mahones decreed that they could only play for a half-hour. But the Wagoneers didn’t seem as passionate onstage as they have in the past. On the plus side, though, they premiered some strong, interesting new material, so we can look forward to seeing them when they have more than 30 minutes to play with.