Hurrah, the Green Room is back and seems to be crashing this bash with kick ass line ups night after night! I've missed this place more than you'll ever know, my beloved music box in Mile End.
So, as part of the annual Fringe Festival, the Green Room has been showcasing musical acts. Last night, Toronto's punk upstarts Spiral Beach and Montreal's ye ye reincarnates The Sunday Sinners performed to a mostly depopulated Green Room. Blame Sunday, blame the heat of the day, blame too many options with all the theatrical happenings, blame the fact the Green Room has been out of commission. Under no circumstances blame these two fantastic bands.
Spiral Beach has been on my radar for awhile, since seeing them perform several years ago at the Mile End Cultural Center (the Green Room's neighbor and kissing cousin venue). I was blown away by that first show, as these young upstarts put the kink in my mink with their wild revelry and ability. Since then, I've felt somewhat less enthused to see them play -- finding them a kind of pink punk (and I don't mean "gay" or "flamboyant" -- rather, just kind of not so ballsy). However, last night's show renewed my enthusiasm for this band. The newer songs are dirtier, harder, wilder, crazier, and make the early stuff that I liked so much seem... well.. superficial in comparison. This is a good thing. A band that evolves for the better is one with staying power. So, Spiral Beach is back on my great act list. Even if there was hardly an audience to appreciate it, Spiral Beach puts on a good ride for a performance.
More subdued, but no less intriguing were the Sunday Sinners. Again, this is an act I'd seen several times over and had felt lukewarm about until last night. Bedecked in matching glasses and burnt-toast-dry humor, I felt like I was back in Cambridge (Mass) at Christopher's watching folkies sing about their peeling paint. Only, get rid of the folkies bit and the peeling paint bit. The Sunday Sinners are a ye ye-esque, 60's inspired, guitar driven band. I don't quite remember them this way... so my memory might be playing tricks on me. Not to worry. I like when my memory has a senior moment of this particular kind. The Sunday Sinners were fanastico and I loved the vocals, loved their vibe, loved their spleen. Much like Spiral Beach, a band that had only garnered a kind of mildly enthusiastic response from me now has gained my full support and admiration. I'm already excited to see them play again, whenever that happens to be....
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