Wailin’ Away | Mark Sasso of Elliott Brood screams his guts out in the basement of Megatunes on Whyte last week before heading to Sled Island
Eamon mcGrath/ 40 Thieves
Wunderbar • June 29
The German beer was flowing, sweat was simmering impatiently beneath skins, and the impending chaos was palpable. Following a week of celebratory local press, the CD release show for Eamon McGrath’s stunning new record Wild Dogs packed Wunderbar up proper. There was going to be a Sunday night melee, and no one could help it.
40 Thieves started things off, tearing out a short but sweet set of uprock punk numbers. The Thieves showed off their dexterity, switching mics and bringing in a guest vocalist at the end for some well timed, rap-inspired fusion.
Now, although the recent solo and duo performances that McGrath has given in the local noise scene had taken a departure from his traditional punk ethos, however this show returned to the source of punk-rock inspiration. A crowd encircled McGrath’s skin-and-bones frame as he paced about in front of his full band on the bar-room floor, summoning a tidal wave of chords against a frontline of eager moshers. Song for song, there was no fixed set-up: tables, amps, the floor, and the crowd all supported his weight as McGrath poured his soul and spit through a distorted microphone that was eventually shared with nearly every member of the happily ruined audience.
A note to those departing Edmonton: with a scene like this happening in your backyard, why would you want to live anywhere else in Canada?
JUSTIN LANGILLE
Chris Tarry Group
Yardbird suite • June 25
I can imagine that festival scheduling has its highs and lows. Low: It would be hard for say, an up and coming jazz group to be pitted, same time, different venue against... Wynton Marsalis. High: Having a packed house and Wynton Marsalis show up to watch you play. I should have known when I arrived to a group of uncharacteristically giddy jazz players that the Chris Tarry Group was going to be a good show—local trio leader Nathan Ouellette could barely stay in his seat.
“It doesn’t matter what type of jazz you like, if you’re going to see any show at Jazzfest, see Chris Tarry,” he says. Playing a mix of “fusion contemporary jazz” according to the Jazzfest book, and what everyone else just describes as “what’s happening in New York right now” their low key demeanor and incredible talent won over the crowd who are, to be honest, a little intimidating with their jazz chops. Tarry, the bass player of the group, dispelled any pretenses immediately with friendly chitchat and laughter, even encouraging heckling though warning that the band gives as good as it gets. It lent the entire night the feeling of being in your friend’s living room watching them do what they love, and what everyone loves to watch them do: make really, really good jazz. That, musician or audience, has to be the biggest high of them all.
ANDREA MCQUADE
