In the days of my aspiring youth talk of an out of town college gig brought visions of well run shows with kids crowding the stage, professional sounds crews, and detailed riders where even the most obscure requests would be fulfilled. With time and experience these visions were replaced with memories of poorly run shows in large venues occupied by a handful of drunk kids eager to heckle, under skilled over confident stage crews, cafeteria food, and cheap beer. If we were really lucky maybe a night on some kids hardwood dorm room floor while he kept us up talking about his band and how “we should play some shows together”. While I will say both depictions are a bit unfair, I still have to admit that my general experience resembled that of the later rather than the former.

And so, it was with reluctance that I loaded a rented SUV to play a show at Harverford University last week. I packed myself in with my partners in blue album crime, an hour or so late due to a botched car rental experience. It only took another hour for my reservations to be further justified when we got a call from the promoters telling us that the show was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with the sound crew and the consequent lack of a PA. Holding back a vindictive, “I told you so”, I listened quietly as we resolved to continue the trip to pick up the already cut check. A borrowed PA, drum kit, bass rig, and another few hours later we were rocking out on a campus sidewalk with a wall of kids crowding around us, everyone singing and bouncing along. And just like that all was well. Its frightening how seductive a good show can be. I think Michael Corleone said it best, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”

http://www.vimeo.com/978231

Wolf Parade is an indie rock band from Victoria, now based in Montreal. Wolf Parade was formed when Spencer Krug (Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes and Swan Lake) was offered a gig supporting Arcade Fire. He called Dan Boeckner (Atlas Strategic, Handsome Furs) and they wrote songs with a drum machine before calling Arlen Thompson to play drums. Hadji Bakara joined in 2004. Dante DeCaro (Hot Hot Heat, Johnny and the Moon) joined in Summer 2005 as second guitarist and percussionist. These tracks are from their upcoming album, At Mount Zoomer, scheduled for release on June 17th 2008 on Sub Pop.

Call It A Ritual

buy it here: insound.com

-mark

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 7:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.