Stop # 1 : Richards for the wrap awards and Best Of The Fest party.
I stand outside with NMW every woman Andie Bardeck and discuss how there’s no one inside and the bands that won the contest. Realizing I have half an hour before anything begins, I skeedaddle briefly.

Stop # 2 : Falafel Town for Lamb Shwarma.
Very tasty. I fear for my breath.

Stop # 3 : Back to Richards, where I will remain for the night.
It’s really empty in here. I don’t think many people are aware of this thing, and even so, with no way to really know what bands actually won and will be playing, I understand that not a ton of people would want to risk their Sunday night for a show they potentially could care less to see. So who made it? Well, bands with big support groups and ones who mentioned that there are ballots to fill out for Best Of The Fest. Hilariously, the only people who were in attendance to actually receive the awards they were given were one of the members of Art of Dying, and Motion Soundtrack (of course, since they were playing, they sort of had to be there). So not only were the fans not out tonight, but the bands were also missing in action.

Band # 1 : Elixir.





















Of the bands playing this night, Elixir is the only one I hadn’t seen during the actual festival. The members of the band are stretching on stage while they set up. I’m frightened. As they start, I wonder if they actually are a god band. It looks like most of the audience is there for them specifically, even though no one’s coming forward and really showing support. Anyhow, the band is really heavy, the singer is suuuuper intense, and I think after all it’s a religious band? I can’t completely hear the lyrics but the tortured faces, uplifted gestures and the big cross around the singer’s neck seem to imply it. Such a nice guy though - very genuinely speaking between songs and thanking the other bands even though he certainly didn’t know who they were. He goes on about how grateful he is that the audience is there. This seems so odd because from where I am, I can barely see that there even is an audience. He leaps to the floor with some sensational jumps and runs around the open space. Following his second bout of this, he says, “Man, this is such a hard stage to get back onto. I was like, whoa, there’s wall of fricking monitors!” as he gestures to the … wall of monitors along the stagefront. His hat keeps flying off as he runs around, he hands out a bunch of Cds from his drummer’s other band to the crowd, and nearly runs me over a number of times. He repeatedly backs into amps, his band members, and yeah, almost into me. I’m apparently slightly inside his ‘on-leash zone’ that’s limited by the length of his mic cord. Hey no one can say these guys aren’t energetic. The drummer doesn’t thrill me but the rest of the band is mobile like mad as well.

Band # 2 : The Turn.













I think The Turn’s drum kit is overkill. It took about 33 trips back and forth across the stage to get all the hardware over there. Anyhow, now that I have a chance to see more than a couple songs, I can see that The Turn is actually pretty boring. How did they get Best of the Fest? A host of friends it seems. Actually, on closer inspection, they are very solid musicians, but they’re still pretty boring.

Band # 3 : Motion Soundtrack.



















Good as always! I still maintain the new song is really neat. The guys aren’t too energetic tonight, but considering there’s only like three people in the room, who can blame them? Chad Horton and Kevin Cooper are pretty hilarious. They have this understated casual comedy routine on the go. The biggest excitement came from Horton kicking over a drink on stage and no one responding to his requests for a towel. Anyone? Please? To clean up the stage? A girl who’d been dancing came up with a wad of napkins for him.

Band # 4 : Whitfield.

































It’s bloody lovely to see Whitfield on a stage like this! Hooray for them winning! It really sucks that it’s this empty - previous wrap parties have been pretty well attended. This is so sadly dismal. It sounds amazing though, thanks to Toby Hulse of Retrograde helming the sound. Someone pointed out that Whitfield’s drummer Sam Bastedo had mentioned at the Editors show a few days earlier that “we’ll be playing here on Sunday… no we won’t.” Well look at that, they made it. Doesn’t he feel like a heel? Oh wait, he’s too busy kicking ass on the drums. He moves around way more than he ever used to - very cool. Near the end they cover “Beautiful Boy,” during which the band’s singer, Jobie Mallett, calls his wife out of the miniature audience to take her hand. Aww. The guys are so fashionable these days. They go ahead with “Circles” during their encore, a fan favourite, but not before Mallett discovered his guitar mysteriously not working. The solution was pointed out by bassist Josh McCulloch - the thing wasn’t plugged in. Mallett giggled and held up the cord. “See? Plug.” On with the show! For a bit. And then it was done and we all went home and back to work…

Day 6 Band Count : 4

See you in 2007, New Music West!

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : May, 2006.