This was my 'big project' show for my whole trip (for those not in the know, I went off to Montréal and Toronto for a couple weeks in July). This is one that was planned well in advance, and it was a pretty decent one to do so with. After having an in-depth chat with a couple of the members of Leave, I settled in to take a gander at what they and their openers could do for me live.

I walked in during Vinland's set. I don't know entirely what they were up to or how they managed to land on a bill they seemingly had no business being on. They had that sort of awkward light-goth vibe about them that makes it hard to take them seriously. I hope I'm not being too harsh… nah, I'm not. Goth bands are a challenge to evaluate in a somewhat objective manner, because it's so difficult for them to pull it off genuinely. Too often they come across as cheesy or overly dramatic, rather than being intense and theatrical as I assume is the intent. Though judging by their website, the goth thing isn't entirely what they're going for, even though many of their influences sit in the lighter sides of that very vein. So I'm just confused. They need to figure out what they're trying to achieve. In this case, live, the vocals needed help (off tune), the emoting needed help (get your hand out of your pocket!), and the band members need to stop wearing Fila sneakers if they want to live up to their supreme darktitude. And again I ask… who booked them on this bill?

That's not to say the second act, Kris Ward (above), was in the perfectly-same genre as Leave, but the match was far closer, complementing well, and most of the difference in vibe stemmed from the fact that Ward was flying solo here, having left his bandmates at home in Ottawa. He stuck mostly to an acoustic guitar, with some deviations to the piano. His is an easy voice, strong, and you can definitely hear the Stereophonics influence he wears so proudly in the way he uses said voice and with the occasional slight rasp. He carried a warm presence on stage too, regaling us with tales of being stuck in Montréal JazzFest traffic (which honestly did shut half the city down, as many major roads were closed off to make way for the stages and festivities), and covering tunes by Travis and The Doves. My favourite moment of his light and silly banter was his explanation of one of the songs he was about to sing. "I don't know if anyone here's pulled an all-nighter, but it's that time before the sun comes up but there's no stars. Some people call that 'dawn,' but I decided to go for the long, arty name - 'Between Starlight and Sunlight.'" Nice one. Nothing like a guy who can effectively recognize the corniness of art but still remain serious about it.

Somewhere in here, I traveled to the back of the room to check out this Distroboto thing. I'd never seen anything like it before, no doubt because I hadn't been in Montréal before. There's a few bars in the town that have these machines. A clever entrepreneur named Louis Rastelli turned up the idea. It's just an old cigarette vending machine, like the ones you'd find in a 1970's bowling alley. But instead of cigarettes, you pump in two bucks and get a piece of local art out of it. People can put in whatever they want - tapes, comics, whatever. Well, what unexpected fun! I tried it out and ended up with a blind date. A button with my date's picture on it and a little sheet outlining her many redeeming qualities. That whore. And I don't even date chicks.

Anyhow, on to our headliners. Oh my! Good fun! This is a great band to go and watch and get your magical groove on to. Right out of the gate they were interesting, with a unique stage set-up (drums at the front and sideways to the crowd, piano draped in the band's logo balancing it out on the other side of the stage) and a comfortable way about how they interacted with one another up there. The band sings in English to stay true to their Brit-rocky sound, though between songs they get officially-Canadian on us and repeat everything they say in both English and French. I would say the thing that really makes this band awesome is that piano sound though. Big and jangly, taking the forefront without completely taking over, it sets them nicely apart from 'just some rock band' because of its flair. The pianist, Mathew Lacourse, is terribly accomplished at this instrument and plays the thing for all it's worth. If I'm not mistaken, he's having a grand time doing that as well.

Lacourse also sings from time to time, either taking on leads vocals in some songs, or just harmonizing with the center-stage, more-often-lead-singer, Jérémie Marcotte. The two voices are very distinct, and have an interesting blend. Marcotte is more deep and huffing, where Lacourse is more carefree and rock n' roll. Actually, Lacourse is just all-around awesome. I'd possibly like to hear him sing even more often. Bassist Benjamin Smith is a quiet one, staying tucked off in the back with his blond locks falling lightly over his face as he plays. Every now and then, he'll crack a smile in response to something one of the others does. His bass sound is shallow, not too deep and booming. It stays light and chiming along with the rest of the music. All the instruments stay fairly equal. As I mentioned, that piano rings through because it's so jivey, but nothing takes the forefront because it's leveled up too far or anything. Even the drums, played by Patrick Dion, stay in their place and don't mess up or overtake the sound. He goes a bit nuts over there, but even though he's at the side of the stage, he drifts back a bit visually compared to the wackiness going on between Lacourse and Marcotte.

Seriously, those two need a lounge act. For all the times Lacourse would play some twinkly piano bit while cracking some joke with the giggling Marcotte, or for all the times Marcotte would approach Lacourse in the middle of a song and start playing at him and they start making faces at each other… My conversational Québécois French is not exactly up to par for me to be able to accurately translate anything they said to one another (double-drat to those Parisien high school instructors!), but they continually exchanged all sorts of words that broke them into gales of laughter and huge smiles.

They played an average-length set, still ending the night early. The crowd was adequate to fill most of the tables up, even if that left the back of the room empty, and didn't create any dancing feet at the front of the room. Everyone appeared attentive though, and thoughtfully poked at and read the colourful leaflets the band had left lying on each table prior to the gig. The issue with the room was that the place was not very soundproof. The weird array of dance music being pumped into the lounge upstairs leaked through the walls and ceiling and floated across the stage here every time the band would be between songs, or even have a soft moment in the middle of one. That was a shame, but also a bit amusing. Nothing like a little bit of "The Safety Dance" mixing with some shiny new tunes to pep up the crowd. Or something like that.

This show was also being videotaped to create a multimedia feature that will be added to the next pressing of Leave's EP, which had sold out its first run already by the time of this show. It was a good one to film, with lots of fun moments, really competent playing, brilliant songs, and yes, even pretty decent lights. If you live around Montréal, go see this band. If you don't, be patient. They'll make their way through soon, and believe me, it'll be worth the wait.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : July 17, 2004.