Northern Reflections – A Night on the Town

I’ve got a daughter who turned three in April. She’s great. My wife just gave birth a month ago to a second daughter. Also a great kid. What they aren’t is conducive to going out. I’m not complaining here – I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything in the world – just pointing out that my leisure time is severely limited these days.

So, when I heard that Stella Ella Ola (the band that I blogged about here a couple of months ago) was playing a bar that’s a 15-minute walk from my house, I asked my wife to call her mother in for babysitting duty, and we were all set for a night on the town. But here’s the thing about kids: they rarely cooperate.

My three-year-old woke up the morning of the show saying she didn’t feel well. Then she wouldn’t eat much breakfast. Then she spewed what little she’d eaten. Fuck. So, my wife called her mother and cancelled. Not that she’s not a capable babysitter, just that we didn’t feel comfortable saddling her with a newborn and a sick kid.

And then it was decision time. Do I go it alone? Do I cancel? Fuck canceling. I went. What made that decision pretty easy for me happened a couple of days before. I’m bouncing all over the place here, but bear with me. I’m in my mid-30s, and, like I mentioned, I’ve got the two kids. Add the job on top of that, and you know what? I’m tired. All the time, I’m tired.

So I decided to send the band a Tweet to find out how late a night we were in for. (The Facebook event page said it was a 9:00 start.) The response? They’re probably going onstage around midnight. Dear lord, I can’t handle that shit. I Tweeted back, sending my regrets, and…you know what? I’ll just quote the actual exchange here:

Me: @_StellaEllaOla_ What time are you guys taking the stage on Saturday? Have you got an opener going on at 9?

SEO: @psychofish77 because of dinner crowd, first band - Dangerband - on around 11. We go on around midnight. Hope to see you there!

ME: @_StellaEllaOla_ Might have to revisit the idea. We're very old, you see. I was hoping you'd be on by 10 or so.

SEO: @psychofish77 shoot! That be a shame. But you young at heart and it weekend - so maybe?

Me: @_StellaEllaOla_ Definitely maybe.

At this point, I was resigning myself to just skipping the show and dealing with the disappointment. Then the next day, out of nowhere, unsolicited, unasked for, unexpected, this happened:

SEO: @psychofish77 got an idea- we're going to do first set around 10. Then Dangerband around 11. Then us again! Works right?!!!

So yeah. The headliners decided to go on two hours early to accommodate one fan bitching about being old. How phenomenally cool is that? (Very.) Of course, that’s the kind of offer you don’t pass up, so I committed, then the kid got sick, then I decided I was going alone. I think that puts the story back on track.

At about 9:00, I head out. Get to the Merchant Ale House at 9:15 or so. Order a beer, find a free WiFi connection, fuck around on the Net for a bit as the band’s milling about at the front of the bar. Then one of the band guys makes his way over, calls me by name, sits down next to me at the bar, orders a beer, and starts shooting the shit. Really nice move. This is Jake. He mentions being in another band from Montreal, and I’m immediately excited, because I know that two members of Hollerado – the Montreal-based band whose debut album I reviewed here – are in Stella Ella Ola. When Jake confirmed that was indeed the case, I was blown away. Hollerado has become one of my favourite bands over the past year, and here I am sitting in a bar down the street from my house with their drummer, just having a casual conversation (wherein I probably came off like a total fanboy).

Jake plays bass in Stella. He introduced me to Stella’s drummer, Vince, and I later met Jake’s brother (and Holleradian), Nick, as well as the band’s lead singer, Anne, when I was buying a t-shirt from them. All really friendly people, and all really happy to talk to a fan about their music.

I also learned that the opening act, Dangerband, were on the same label as Stella* and Hollerado (Royal Mountain Records), as is Topanga – the band that sound guy for this gig (whose name escapes me because I’m a terrible human being) is in. Jake called it nepotistic, but it struck me more as an incredible network of support. It really reminded me of the stories I’ve heard about the Seattle scene in the early 90s, where bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden helped each other out and supported each other instead of going the usual route of tearing each other down. It’s the mentality that everyone can succeed with some help, rather than one band succeeding by stepping on the others. Seeing the network made me respect what these guys are doing even more.

So, at about 10:30, Stella goes on. And you know what? They were every bit as good as I expected. I was beaming the entire time they played, and I was disappointed when they were done. I don’t know what else you can ask of a band.

Not long after Stella finished, Dangerband took the stage. After Stella’s set was over, both Jake and Vince had recommended that I stick around to watch them, and since my kids were in my wife’s more than capable hands, I was happy to oblige.

I’d seen Dangerband come into the bar earlier in the night. They were pretty hard to miss. They were by far the youngest people in the place. To me, they looked like teenagers, but I’m a terrible judge of such things. They’re more likely in their early 20s. In any event, the people in Stella had treated me like gold that night and requested that I stick around, so I did. Out of respect. I figured maybe I’d sneak out halfway through what was sure to be a noisy, sloppy set.

Then HOLY FUCK ARE THESE GUYS GOOD happened. Apart from the high level of talent, which is clearly evident, these guys are consummate professionals. They worked the cramped stage in perfect unison. Every move, every note – just incredible. Obviously, I was impressed. Not to take anything away from Stella, who were awesome, but I expected them to be awesome. They haven’t been playing together for a long time, but they’ve all been musicians for a long time. No reason they shouldn’t be good. But these “kids”? They absolutely blew me away.

Dangerband played a tight set, then Stella came back on and played their set again. And you know what? It was every bit as good the second time around. Oh, and by the way, the cover charge for this performance: $0.00. Name me a place where you can get entertainment this good for free.

And that’s the story of my night on the town. Stella and Hollerado cemented me as a fan for life, and I plan to do everything I can to promote them, Dangerband, Topanga, and the rest of the Royal Mountain Records ensemble. It’s great people making great music. There’s no reason in the world not to support that.

Hollerado has free tracks available here: http://www.hollerado.com/

Stella Ella Ola has free tracks available here: http://stellaellaola.bandcamp.com/

Topanga has free tracks available here: http://musicoftopanga.bandcamp.com

Dangerband has free tracks available here: http://dangerband.bandcamp.com/

Download them. Listen to them. Follow these guys on the Twitters and the Facebook. Keep an eye out for local shows and upcoming album releases. There are a lot of big things coming from this extended group in the near future. Don’t miss out.

*I've been informed that Dangerband is not with Royal Mountain Records. There's a possibility that I made that error because I did no research whatsoever to write this blog. I apologize if anyone was put off by the misinformation.

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As always, I’m still very open to “Blog-on-demand.” If you’ve got something you want me to spout off on, just let me know.

Have fun. Play safe.

Your pal,

~Hodgey