Miss Q Collective Presents: ROCK THE BARD – was where Paint were on Thursday. The most recent edition of Paint rocked the bard and the new edition of the band in a very humorous and musikladen nacht devoted to raise awareness and funds for the Shakespearing devotees of Love’s Labour’s Lost.

As for tonight: #mittenz say: Don’t Touch That Dial Presents: Crooked Hill, Patti Cake and Mittenz! That’s tonight Sunday at The Garrison at 9 p.m. showtime for #mittenz. Good times tonight!

In the meantime, here below is a reminder of what #mittenz did at C’est What back in December, once again performing with #paint!

There has been a plethora of change within these two favourite bands of this city, although recently #mittenz have been touring all over Ontario during the summer and fall and creating a commotion at the Niagara Falls Hard Rock Cafe.

The departure of Laura has reduced #mittenz to a trio but they are still three bundles of fun. On guitar remain one Mary Deth and one Emily the two wives of #mittenz and Lindsaybird spinning and twirling on drums. The little interactions that used to be a regular stage occurrence still happen in their offbeat way. Music? Hailing the advent of a new CD with a preview two song CD #mittenz is still too good to be kept in the underground. However, C’est What is about as underground as it gets in Toronto as you descend down the stairs into a near posh den of beers and music from a stage that can barely contain a handle of #mittenz jumping around for music joy. Soldiering on through their repertoire with Lady Gaga never far away brought back summery memories of the first time we saw Paint and Mittenz trouncing each other together [even though it was a February of this year].

Click to view slideshow.
 

As we watched Kurt singing his heart out before the plaid and paisley crowd the next phase of the Paint evolvement was already shaping up. Criticizing Johannes for not being able to play guitar left-handed, he countered that he could barely play guitar as it is. Hence, he was shedding the guitar on stage for the next stage of demi-godness – the solo singer. The ensuing brawl ensued as the Liam and Noel brother Gallagher counterfoe argument raised its head versus the unlikeability of Blur who had poured water on our head during the photographing of their show at Ontario Place – where once again the nebulousness of Johannes’s age came to light as he avowed to not having witnessed Blur live but countless Neil Young shows. Including the seminal Paint influence of Pearl Jam and the Neil Young combo at the first of two Pearl Jam shows in Toronto [as opposed to PJ Harvey or the darkness of Portishead].

Hail Gentle Reader out there! That’s you looking at this morass of images and verbs and nouns. A small intro before we sail into the piece being written here. It has been a while since we’ve doodled some words here about Paint and Mittenz and those Derby type ladies in Spitfist and all the rest including Balconies. It beehoves us to lay down some fresh Paint and here is something from the CD release party of September 9, 2011.

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It’s only half the story but we have to take what we got. On a Friday night with just the slightest tinge of summer in the air, and the Labour Day weekend just behind us, it was back down to the corners of Queen and Spadina and a short but heavy packed with all the camera gear hurried walk
to try to catch Paint before they hit their stage at what was supposed to be the pendulum swing of midnight.

Getting past the security who were being arbitrary and then the polite doorlady who waved us in with a brief wave after introducing ourselves as the Paint photographer du jour du soir. However, a quick gander of the setlist being placed on the stage of the floor certainly did not look to be of any songs of Paint type ilk. Lesson learned again: set times are never ascribed in stone.

Instead, Paint type friends Cheap Speakers were still due and they ran through a set that was a different style rock that had their fans in a wailin’ wave bluesy vibe.

In the deep background, maestro Robb was being deep hidden in The Hideout band closet where he was safely locked away. Andre drums and skins were entertaining the ladies and gents in the hallways. Marcus was tuning in the murk beside the rack of strings. Mandy was drinking beer in the dark. The photographer was setting up lighting as a lark and a shot in the park.

As Friday came and went and midnight was in the past and Saturday was really upon us in the local timezone, it was time for Paint to be embraced by the world. It was an astonishing set by the Paint quartet – a night and day difference from the newly minted Paint trio who were seen just previously at The ElMo downstairs. [more of that in the Paint story that should be forthcoming]. With a swagger and a ton of verve that struck the nerve with the crowded throng approaching the front of the stage, yet not quite taking that final step to the stage itself. Paint have learned to accept that, because this show did take a stepping back to absorb the full scale assault of light and sound. The Hideout has one thing going for it and that is a great set of stagelights and a real rock sound to their speakers. But this night was special for it was their night of nights, no more rehearsing and nursing a part, they know every part by heart,  Paint were loose yet focused on delivering the goods to the masses. It was a night of release – of the CD and pent-up anticipation. Launching Where We Are Today into the stratosphere,  this was the night they had been waiting for in Toronto. For months upon months since the winter they had been promising that new CD and testing the songs before all manner of crowds and stages we had been privy to seeing and shooting, from C’est What to NXNE to Bovine Sex Club in Toronto to who knows where outside the city, spouting friendly jokes to all the folks. And always welcoming in the new fans and building the base. All that was was behind them, for this night was theirs and they knew it.

The crew on stage were so focused on performing the contents of Where We Are Today, no room for loosey goosey and Mandy had no mic for the night. But Mandy was the secret weapon of the night and an awesome, swaggering force on guitar. It was all it took for Robb to say it all and stay in step and lock but that was the job of the ever stoic Marcus on unbelievable bass. Andre may have lost the power to his laptop but keeping a fluid and metric beat at the same time is his duty. Any remnants of the old chimey Paint were lost in the new crunch of the guitar chords and an aethereal Mandy on oooh and ahhs coming out of nowhere amidst it all and in the mist of la nuit. It was a cascade of guitar upon guitar, with nuance upon nuance of emotional lyricism laid on top. The pace ebbed and flowed piquing the interest of the crowd. It really must be said that Paint have a penchant for effusive pop, catchy tunes and crafty words that evoke picturesque imagery. The Girl in a Frame was a special moment as the crowd played along running on the spot on the club floor, mimicking the ever running Paint in their video. [Check the paint site for all the tunes and videos.] Yet there is always a dichotomy as there is a nasty, snarly side revealed In Disguise. She Leaves most likely had a real deep underpinning to it as this is where the real brace of guitar and gutwrenching kicked in. End of the Reel towered as always and if this is not the song of the album, no song is. Then again If The Walls Could Talk is always whispering inside my head on a good day, and no doubt after the long drawn out tour to come Home is where they want to be with or without you. [Perhaps when they get home the rest of this story will finally come to light, in the meantime in the shadowplay Paint come to the centre of the city, waiting for you, yes you, dear Reader out there. Maybe even into the heart of a Gastown gone by, somewhere we would not really recommend late at night walking among the vampires by the Town Pump watching the Replacements wasted away on stage, having the time of their lives, or Go Four 3 at Railway Club. It's just another day.]

It’s probably to the credit of their ever sighing to themselves that they tolerate our reminiscences upon those Irish lads from Dublin. But you too would hear it if you had been there live to hear Paint deliver their songs amidst all the celebration. They jettisoned all the Strangers patter and all the singular CFNY references and focused on the matter at hand. Playing and drinking Jameson’s til 4 a.m. It was a good night to celebrate with and for Paint. Paint look to the future or to take entirely out of context: “erase the past / get out of here fast.” Live fast, live to your conscience.

And did we ever have to run out of there fast to catch the last TTC back to the suburbs and live to write the tale.

[photos on

Cheers to you all!

Midnight Matinee on Flickr

Preamble or preramble: It’s been a while since we have written some words on this side of Midnight Matinee. It’s been busy busy busy with Paint and Mittenz and Shanks and the lovely Spitfist and NXNE 2011 and the other side has been Derby Derby Derby. Coming along the way will be another story or two on Paint and Mittenz and oh yes – U2 – we did see U2 – but we are fresh from the salt mines of Skordalia. So on to Shanks from last night.

It was a dark and rainy night… the chill of autumn had dissipated all the heat of summer. This did not stop the young ladies from wearing the short of mini-skirts in the accompaniment of their beau as they tripped lightly over the wet sidewalks. We were dashing off the streetcar – the Spadina car à la Shuffle Demons – with a dare and a hope against hope that as of 10 o’clock in the night the Shanks would still be there. We have come to learn that set times are only a cognitive theory and hiking it up the stairs of Rancho Relaxo for the first time – la voilà! The mammoth Paint setup crammed onto the tiniest of stages [in terms of width that is because there is depth to that stage]. And with the grungiest of chords, The Shanks launched into the first song of Skordalia, the new CD which was being performed once again in all its continuous glory from start to finish. The eleven songs of Skordalia were delivered with searing sentimentality by the Shanks duosome of bassist Pistolwhip van Shankenstein and “the fabulous” Colonel Crankshaft on the drumming. Yep, just the two delivering a monstrous rock with a touch of ballad. Skordalia is a bombastic assault on Hell itself, with plenty of verve and vim yet tuneful melody and melancholia.

We had been introduced to Shanks at the old New Hamburg Arena outside Kitchener performing within the Derby festivities of the Tri-City Thunder taking on Lake Effect Furies. Handed a copy of The Dark Richard Show, a CD that tripped inside a psychotic mental landscape. Skordalia, the Shanks newest release of this year is another dark adventure. The surprising aspect is the melodic singing amidst an angry angst on the record and the stage performance is another translation of this vocal aspect. Skordalia had been launched at its CD Release party at Lee’s Palace not that long ago in a darkened haze and foggy night. Inside the more intimate Rancho Relaxo, Shanks did not let up on the staging or sound. Before a hardy bunch of attendees, the Skordalia live performance is not a note for note replication of the CD – Shanks have a natural flair for showmanship – note the stage attire and the stage decor. Along with the mammoth helmet of Thor. The set conjures the Pantheon of Greece or a distortion of Pink Floyd. Pistolwhip enjoys spreading the music of his imagination to the masses. For the little more than half hour verging on maybe forty minutes, Shanks assailed the crowd with a mighty bass and rock drums and the clean sound system abetted the telling of the tale. Tenderizer is a lead-off single, Summer Thighs should be next. The romance is ignited as I Light Stars soars on its own plane. Kingdom is full of blast and majesty. Ordinary Ways has that plush sound. The night for Shanks ended as they Waltzed into the night and disappeared into the misty night.

Shanks’ American tour of five cities venturing as far as Cincinnati, Ohio commences in October. Video works for tenderizer perhaps on their way.

/… more to come from Rancho Relaxo – and look to the next Shanks fest at Orangeville in October.

DSC_5903, originally uploaded by Midnight Matinee 24.

Mittenz @ Fruit Loopz stage

A long hot and amazing day spent carousing within the circles of Mittenz.

Two sets starting within an hour of each other and much scurrying in between. But on either side of the scurrying were two frenetic sets of fun and furry fury à la Mittenz.

/… more to come

little foot long foot - NXNE - 8 p.m.

Blisters in the ears and all things good on a Friday night at NXNE, edition 2011. A night to be spent down at Comfort Zone, kitty korner down from Silver Dollar Room where we had survived a crush from Mittenz to Crocodiles.

In the murky black and black lighting of comfort zone, little foot long foot rocking it out on keyboards and guitars. From nearby Toronto, this quartet set the tone for the night with muddy howling blues and it was only approaching 9 p.m.

The Young Things with mod twists at 9 p.m.

The Young Things were given the kick onto the stage. If you were expecting the likes of Peter and Bjorn young types, the New York, New York band were neither pretty faces in mode gear nor young things whistling jaunty tunes. Instead, live The Young Things beckoned with their lyrics a la mode de Kinks. Dedicated to pop and all good things rock, it’s so easy for you to laugh with elemental hooks from Get Back vs. Dancing in the Streets vs. Let’s Spend the Night Together. The night is a success so far, and a giveaway of a few CDs of their tunes on myspace.

The Vandelles pounding out a merciless beat

Despite Lulu on bass apologizing for rocking out on her perch from the high seating on stage because she wrecked her back, The Vandelles were the highlight of the night [not that everybody else rocked less or less outstanding, it's just that The Vandelles were the band we had to see]. A wash of melodic feedback with a Velvet touch and loud, piercing wall of guitar that recalled the best of Lush and Jesus and Mary Chain. Must find their vinyl.

My Skin Against Your Skin at 11 p.m.

My Skin Against Your Skin hail from Taiwan. And having absorbed every punk rock nuance into their soul, these are not My Little Airport artisans. The three piece of bass, drums and vocalist with dead drop gorgeous model looks have learned their lessons from Shirley Manson crossed with Avengers. The bass was treated through a floorlength of pedals, the drummer at the back trying not to look out of place. The singer slippery and snakey, slithery and sexyyslinky, Sandii and the Sunsetz in punk style Chinese skin. But polite and impeccably adept in English, so there was no barrier between them and the crowd, literally. The boys in the crowd were more into the music than their beer which was a good sign in a way.

The Hoa Hoa's and the holy grail of sound at midnight

The highlight of midnight and our other highly anticipated band of the night [but once again all the bands of the bands were treats]. The Hoa Hoa’s [pronounced wah-wahs]  from the local part of Toronto have been honing their sound seemingly forever, and their performance on this night at NXNE was an aural bomb of delight to the ear. The band, chiefly dressed in white looking like clones out of Sleeper, [except other guitarist in the coolest Dinosaur Jr. shirt ever] played ’tis like Stereolab on a very very good day with loopy cycles on guitar played note for note manually, and whispery and loud dynamic vocals and bass adding to the droney swirly atmosphere.

Heavy Cream at 1 a.m. churning out the punk

Heavy Cream capped off the night, at least for yours truly as that magic time came upon where late TTC riders turn to the all night bus at their own peril, From that neck of the woods in Nashville, Tennessee and armed with one minute songs in their repertoire, one might have expected The Cramps, instead Heavy Cream were monsters of pure punk monstrousness. [Monstrosities would be the wrong word.] With pure reluctance, we had to flee the comfort of comfort zone into the neon lit night, the ears ringing with the deeelight of music played for music’s sake.

/… more to come