"Posted" from Miramichi Valley, Soundwaves 2008Maybe it’s to be expected that, with a musical line-up featuring, in part, three boys-only highschool rock quartets, there will be, in tow, a gaggle of screaming girls championing the cause of each one.
Soundwaves 2008 winners Vegetarian Haggis
When Maggie shoved her mic, on loan from CBC (did anyone hear her this morning?), into the semi-circle of Haggitarians that formed around her when she jumped on stage, she got a breathless explanation of what the name 'Vegetarian Haggis' meant. Something to do with someone's trip to Scotland and thoughts on 'their future.' O.K., cool.
The other bands that played (there were five, not four like we thought yesterday), included Hilary Ball, a young songstress and pianist also of Fredericton who has had an album produced by Vetch's Cora Woolsey and Matte Robinson, Posted, a male quartet from Miramichi Valley, Fifth Member, also from Fredericton, and In the A.M., from Saint John.
Mastoid Process of Woodstock, sadly, did not make it into the final five.
Hmmm. Impressions, impressions...
Well, not to criticize some very talented and visibly stage-comfortable highschoolers, but we were struck by how normal all the performers looked. Back in our day, 'musicians' grew their hair long and pierced things on their faces. These people were mostly dressed the same, and you could tell it wasn't because they were terribly organized. And the three male rock bands tended to sound quite similar. We guess what we're saying is, it's interesting to get a look at artists before they completely come into their own, creatively.
As judges deliberated, Blues-guy Ross Neilson played a three-song set. That was cool. And, incidentally, Ross will be playing another set at the no-case being held Saturday night at Boom! Nightclub. You know, we like it there, but being the grammar nazis that we are, we have a hard time typing a proper noun that requires an exclamation point in the middle of a sentence. Just saying.
As for the Musiplex, there were many people there who, like us, hadn't heard much about the venue or don't manage to leave the Southside all that often. It's a nice size; it's not a cavernous Aitken Centre arena, which we sometimes have trouble filling enough to justify a big name show in the city, and it's not one of the three bars at the Capital Complex, which can get cramped and sweaty when there's the right amount of interest in an event. The tunnel-like route from the coat-check to the auditorium, however, was kind of disorienting. We felt like tired, impressed, but coatless hamsters by the end of the night.
***
So in the early evening, we're going to see Kyle Cunjak's photography show at City Hall (freewinefreewinefreewine), and later we're likely to check out the BBQ Records/Music New Brunswick N.B. no-case at the Marquee, above Jack's Pizza in the Tannery. We've... never been to that venue, either.
Fredericton's the Slate Pacific, Stereo Airing, Them, The Ragtag, and All Of Green are playing that one, as well as Saint John's Hospital Grade and Born Under Satellites, and Sackville's Shotgun Jimmie, formerly of Shotgun and Jaybird, one of Julie Doiron's bands.
We are, however, MORE than likely to take in the free stuff at the Capital Bar Complex tonight.
At the Capital:
8:00pm - The Fussy Part (Fredericton)
9:00pm - Great Plains (Halifax)
10:00pm - Chillin' Room (Fredericton)
11:00pm - Rebekah Higgs (Halifax)
12:00am - Wheeler (Halifax)
1:00am - The Tom Fun Orchestra (Cape Breton)
At Wilser's Room:
8:00pm - Sleepy Driver (Fredericton)
9:00pm - Jeanne Doucet Currie (Annapolis Valley... we think... help us out?)
10:00pm - Chrissy Crowley (Cape Breton)
11:00pm - Ruth Minnikin (Halifax)
12:00am - Nadira (Halifax)
1:00am - Ryan LeBlanc (St. Andrews)
And, Maggie will be on CBC Radio again tomorrow morning, at 6:50 a.m. in Southern New Brunswick, at 8:15 a.m. in Moncton and Miramichi (hi Maggie's Mom), and in Fredericton.
Again, write us at ecma2008@gmail.com
