Young Fresh Fellows SHOW REPORT!

Sometimes I peek at things and accidentally get information I regret having. Which character dies in Season Three, that kind of thing, when I was only trying to find out what new cast members were added, say. Then I have to watch the rest of the season while keeping my mouth shut so as not to spoil it for Erika, you know? She always gets annoyed when she finds out that I know what was coming: "You peeked!"

Tonight, I really only wanted to see if the Tranzmitors were going to do "Weight of the Watching World" so I could shoot a clip of it, and instead learned that the show closer was going to be "Stay With Me," with Andrew Molloy and Grant Lawrence trading off lead vocals and Beez, liberated from bass duties but very much present, cheerleading and providing background vocals, while the Tranzmitors covered the instruments, And suddenly I spent the rest of their set, up to that song, expecting a cover of the Faces' song of that title, which I was having a hard time imagining (but it coulda worked). 

I had a startling revelation about my slow progress as a Tranzmitors fan. Years ago, when I first saw them at a Scratch Records anniversary event (when they were still a five piece), I only loved one song they did, "Look What You're Doing to Me", which remained my favourite Tranzmitors song for years, until I heard "I See the Writing on the Wall". But since then--this is what I realized tonight--was that I like so many Tranzmitors songs now that when they got round to "Look What You're Doing to Me", it was no... longer... my favourite... song... on the set!

Grant Lawrence very likeably brought his sons band onto the stage, briefly. He also sang his heart out ("To Serve, Protect and Entertain" was particularly delightful). I didn't know Andrew Molloy's stuff so well, but he also was very fun. 

I even chatted a little with Rob Frith about Rod Stewart (he's met him, of course!). He gave me his unwanted french fries (he doesn't do fries) and a glass of white wine, which were both most welcome. I kinda wanted to find out if he had a "cutoff date" for liking Rod Stewart (for me, his "Downtown Train" is a wincefest; I admit he sings it well, but he also makes shmaltz of it. I'm with him up to, I dunno, "Gi' me Wings" and "Passion" and even "Young Turks," though none of that touches the Faces; that first Faces album he's on... which I know as the last Small Faces record... is particularly marvelous). 

And then it turned out to be a cover of the Dictators-- a song I didn't even know. I had to ask Eric Lowe, sitting beside me. I begged him to forgive me for not knowing the Dictators so well, and he did: "You don't have to know everything! It's impossible!"

Eric also observed that "half of Victoria is here", including (that I saw) Kev Lee, Tim Chan, and Pete Campbell, who actually HAD NOT KNOWN THE SHOW WAS HAPPENING.

So I gave him an extra ticket I had. I am very glad I thought to email him! I would have felt like a real idiot afterwards to learn that he had not known about the gig. 

While waiting for the Fellows to go on, we enjoyed a very varied DJ set from Billy Bones, at first, and later members of the Tranzmitors.

Anyhow, not only did I not know the Dictators' song, I heard the lyrics wrong. "My heart is calling,won't you stay with me" became "My articles are all in, won't you stay with me," which I think must have been my subconscious dropping a reference to the three articles I wrote about tonight's show: Scott McCaughey, Kurt Bloch, and Nick Thomas. 

 Both the Tranzmitors and the -- BUM Smugglers? Tranz-BUMSmugglers? Smugglebumsistors? -- were delightful. So were Like, Whatever, the openers who did a fabulous original about not wanting someone to interfere with your sleeping in, which reminded me of Erika, and a wholly unexpected cover, given their other songs, of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper." Which Riley, the guitarist, blessed me to put online. 

I liked the sax player's crazy ponytail. Gord McCaw got some great shots of her. Erik Iversen had come, too, but sans camera; I gave him my other extra ticket, which he gave to John Clark (the two of them may or may not feel they owe something to Bob Hanham!). 

I felt so excited to see the Young Fresh Fellows. Their set was marvelous. They did "I'm a Prison" and "Never Had It Bad", my two favourite recent songs of theirs; a few I don't know; some cuts they probably could not not do ("Get Out of My Cave," "Where is Groovy Town," "Rock'n Roll Pest Control",and most surprisingly, the sweetest, saddest of deep cuts, "Backroom of the Bar." 

Afterwards, I had to check in with Scott about his having (at least) three different versions of "I'm a Prison" and he really kinda affirmed what he said in the Straight piece, that he liked audmenting and adding to the song. Which, if you think about it, is kind of a mean thing for a guy who has some stroke-born language issues to contend with: having three very different sets of lyrics to choose from makes things much worse for him. I thought maybe it would liberate him from having to remember particularly exact verses--he could just make stuff up, which, in fact, he did do for parts of tonight's performance of the song; but he doesn't WANT to be doing that. It wasn't something he'd strategized for.

The Fellows also got unexpectedly and directly political with a song of Christmas wishes, but it's probably best to leave those undocumented. They involved the future health of a certain American personage, put it that way. 

Mostly I danced. I did not take notes. I did shoot a couple of clips, and lots of photos. Mostly the photos will speak for me. 

Afterwards, I gifted Kurt Bloch a 7" of the Spores' "Narcs in my Pants" because I thought he'd dig Sandy Beach's guitarwork. I also gave him a Polly CD which I hope he will listen to! (It was hard to convey over the DJ set that was going on that the song I had mentioned to him in the interview was on that disc, "Put a Little English On It." 

People hung out pleasantly late. Many things got signed, including some things of mine. And Scott gifted me a Loft T-shirt. 

Marvelous night, all-round. I've been hoping to see the Young Fresh Fellows since the 1980s, so this was a very fulfilling night.

 

Oh, and Nick and his bandmates really appreciated the Straight piece. Well past time!

...and now to bed. Thanks, guys, for coming up here, and thanks to Nick and Grant for having put the show on.