Montreal’s Casa Del Popolo is a great little place to see bands. Full of character and with a distinctly welcoming vibe, it’s a place I’d be happy to just visit for a beer or three but tonight it’s much more than that… it’s the venue for something quite special.
On a dreary Montreal evening, the back room at Casa Del Popolo is reasonably full even with only 40 or so people in attendance. The atmosphere is relaxed and chatty but once local instrumental rockers Appalaches take to the stage, they have the total attention of everyone in the room. Easing us in with the gentle tones which introduce Spotari, the Montreal five piece begin to add layer upon layer to their sound, which draws comparisons to the likes of Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai or even Sigur Ros. A very loud Sigur Ros!
There’s little chit-chat. The band members keep heads down throughout as the music ebbs and flows like the soundtrack to some particularly sinister movie. There’s plenty of light and shade here though. The gentle passages making the more intense moments seem all the more dynamic. Nola’s sweet strumming soon grows to become a tidal wave of solid chords and the epic Soleicare ends a set which Trade Wind’s Tom Williams later declares made them consider “packing up and going home”! They only play three tracks but still manage to fill 30 minutes. Keep an eye out for them playing in Montreal again later in the year.
Following Appalaches was never going to be an easy task but New Yorkers Cryptodira do their best to take things up a notch with their furiously experimental progressive death metal. Their sound is never in the slightest bit predictable, swiftly jumping from Dillinger Escape Plan-like assaults to almost jazz-like segues and full-on death metal brutality. This clash of styles somehow suits them perfectly though with each band member shining in their own right. The often spectacular musicianship sometimes threatens to overshadow the actual songs, and at times they make for very uneasy listening, but it’s never anything less than thrilling.
Long, twisted tracks mean they also get time for only 3 songs. Opener Medusa Misgendered is a new song which instantly shows off the band’s technicality while Speaking The Ocean and the in-your-face closer Either Fly Or Fall Faster rounds their set off in fine style.
When long-time friends Stick To Your Guns frontman Jesse Barnett and Stray From The Path guitarist Thomas Williams announced they were forming a band together there was an instant interest to see how their styles might combine to create something different from their day job bands. And the result was Trade Wind, a somewhat slower and darker project which they’d be the first to admit drew heavily from bands like Deftones.
Tonight’s Montreal show sees Trade Wind playing only their third ever concert, following shows in New York and Toronto. Barnett & Williams have added a bassist and drummer to their live band and tonight’s crowd is certainly curious to see how they translate the songs from their five-song Suffer Just To Believe EP in a live environment. They waste no time in reassuring us with the superb, brooding Fixed Blade which shows a new side to Jesse’s impressive vocal talent and a more restrained approach to guitar playing from Williams. It’s a song which suggests this group may have touched upon something more than the sum of its parts and could take Trade Wind beyond the levels of either STYG or SFTP. If they decide they want to of course.
“You could be home right now watching Netflix” says Barnett, “so thanks for being here”. Pulling Strings sees the Deftones influence raise its head once more but there’s more to this than a tribute band, and Trade Wind add a definite sense of their own personality to the music. The vocals sound absolutely immense and the solid rhythm section lets the songs really breathe.
“This is a new song we wrote four days ago,” declares Barnett “because we thought it was weird to headline a show with only 5 songs!”. The new song may sound a little rough around the edges still compared with those other five songs but it shows plenty of promise for the forthcoming full album. Pain Is A Gift sees Jesse pull up a chair and an acoustic guitar for a beautifully haunting ballad before ending back on a high of solid riffs and soaring, emotional vocals that have become their trademark.
The frontman tells the crowd that, although he grew up in the sunny state of California, he recently moved to Montreal so considers this a hometown show. And he promises 2015 is the year he improves his french!
A short set for sure, but one that suggests we’re only just seeing the beginnings of something truly special. Where this all fits in with their other projects remains to be seen but I for one am really excited to see where Trade Wind’s path takes them.
Review & photos – Steve Gerrard
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