Last Friday my buddy Buzzard and I went to the Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet concert held at the Freemasons Hall in downtown Edmonton, this show was part of the fourth annual UP+DT (Up+Downtown) Festival featuring over 100 bands in 18 downtown venues. I originally had tickets for The Sadies show on this night, that was until I found out that The Yawpers were playing the same night at a different venue. Next year I'll be buying myself a pass for the whole weekend. So I traded my ticket in for the Shadowy Men and The Yawpers show, as I have seen The Sadies many times before and have never seen any of the bands on this bill.
The first band of the evening was Calgary band Miesha & The Spanks, a two piece garage rock band with Miesha Louie on guitar and Sean Hamilton on drums. The first thing I noticed about the band was how fucking loud they were, almost too loud for the room they were playing. I was really impressed by Sean's drumming. They were loud and gritty. There half hour set was just the right amount of time, for them.
Miesha & The Spanks.
Next up was local rockabilly band Sam Spades. I don't have much to say about Sam Spades, Just didn't care for them.
Sam Spades.
The next band up was The Yawpers from Denver, Colorado. I have been listening to this band for over a year now and was super excited to see that they were playing the UP+DT Festival, so much so that I ditched The Sadies show for this one.
The Yawpers are a three piece band with Nate Cook on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jesse Parmet on acoustic guitar and rounding out the band is Noah Shomberg on drums. They play a raw punk/roots rock style of music and were so fucking good live. They were loud, abrasive and lead singer Nate Cook plays with such flair and energy that he reminded me of Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello. The band just ripped it up for there hour long set. They played lots of songs from their latest album American Man, songs such as the title song, 9 to 5, The Desert, Beale Street and The Desert. Among these songs were a couple of cool cover songs from their self released 2013 EP Good Songs (Shitty Versions) "Suspicious Minds" a song made famous by Elvis, and a wicked version of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades", wow they fucking rocked the hell out of that song. Their hour long set wasn't long enough for me, but man, what a fucking hour of music. My new favorite live band!
I had the chance to talk to the guys before and after the show and found them to be a great bunch. Lead singer Nate and I had a good chat about Ween after he saw my t-shirt I was wearing. After buying the EP, I realized The Yawpers actually cover a Ween song "(Booze Me Up and Get me High)" on it. I really look forward to seeing The Yawpers in concert again, sometime soon I hope.
The Yawpers.
If you care to see a short clip of their show, go to the 1:34 mark in this video.
Headliner of the night was the three piece instrumental surf rockers Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet out of Toronto. While I didn't know a whole lot about the band other then they did the theme song "Having An Average Weekend" for the Kids In The Hall TV show. I remember seeing their name around a lot during the late 80's and early 90's, I never got to see them before.
The band split up in 1996 only to reform in 2012. Original bass player Reid Diamond passed away in 2001 of cancer. So much to my surprise The Sadies guitar player Dallas Good now fills in on bass for Shadowy Men.
Their hour long set was really good, I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the set as I am not always much of an all instrumental show. But these guys kicked ass live. With Don Pyle on drums and Brian Connelly on guitar I was entertained through out the whole concert. I was impressed with how good Dallas Good is on the bass, not that I should have been surprised. Dallas was quite energetic on the bass and held the groove wickedly, very good. From what my brother was telling me, Dallas is using the bass and amp of original member Reid Diamond. Very cool! All and all this was a great night of music. Good times!!!
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
T-shirt.
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