As Montreal prepares to hit hibernation mode, the weather was mild enough to get a full house into the Corona, one of my favorite places to see a band. The Corona has a great intimacy where you can see up and coming bands that will probably play the Metropolis as their audience grows.
There was a good size crowd when Those Darlins, hailing from Nashville Tennesse hit the stage with their unique sound. If Joan Jett and the Runaways and Johnny Cash had a love child, it would be Those Darlins.
When they started their set with “Red Light Love”, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Jessi “Darlin” Zazu has this infectious voice that is at times quirky and charming. This Bourbon loving country girl has talents other then music as seen by her Etsy shop. Being that apart from Cash and a select few rebels of Country, I hate country music with a passion, so I resisted the first few songs like “Wild One” till they did a country infused song “Sleep On it”, a new song. They came alive from that point on, diving into their roots, and despite my best efforts to dismiss them; they started to break down the wall I had put up.
“Mystic Mind” was next and the groove was starting to hold sway of me. Nikki Kvarnes whose look would fit The Runaways would take the lead on a few songs, such as “Female Trouble”. By the end of the set, “That Man” made me realize that I was tricked into liking this country infused rock and roll. I don’t know how they did it, but I’ve been craving me some Those Darlins…can’t get enough.
Setlist:
Red Light Love
Wild One
Sleep On It
Mystic Mind
Female Trouble
Guitar World
In The Wilderness
Love At Ransom
Stay On Track
Pig Pharma
Optimist
That Man
By now, the Corona is packed, 2 to 1 with the female gender anxious to see Shakey Graves strut his stuff. With his signature suitcase of sound ready, Missy Elliot is pumped through the PA, “Get Ur Freak On” introduces us to Shakey Graves.
Greeting us with a few French words, Shakey starts us off with a few gems like “Roll the Bones” for the debut album of the same name and “If Not For You” from And The War Came. The thing about Shakey is that you can tell by the constant smile on his face that he is exactly where he loves to be, on stage playing to a full house that seems to devour each and every note played. Even the group of young women behind me would sometimes take a break from taking selfies of each other to listen to the music and become transported by it, interrupted by their occasional screams. I normally pay a little more attention to the setlist, but to be quite honest, I was just enjoying the show too much to care. Although Shakey Graves is known for playing solo, he was joined occasionally by Chris “Boo” Booshahda on drums.
I was impressed that after giving a shout out to the beer guy, which scored him a free beer, he let the fans decide the next songs to play. “Hard Wired” was chosen which promised to “brace for good times”. Explaining that this song was about those whom you need at a party, but don’t need ever in any other circumstance. The people you can’t escape from that probably will get you into trouble with…
Shakey was almost stumped by the next request of “Parliament” which he said was the oldest song in his repertoire. Having ingested some “special” fungi, sitting in front of a computer, he barfed out (his words, not mine) 8 of the craziest songs, which he still doesn’t fully understand the lyrics to this day. This was the birth of Shakey Graves and these semi-formed sounds ended up evolving into the songs we now know.
“Daisy Chains” was next chosen by the crowd, and Shakey admitted that he was somehow drawn to nautical death songs for some reason.
“Family Tree” was also chosen for this intimate set of crowd requests.
After a full set, Shakey retreated to the back stage while the crowd chanted his name. He returned for his encore to play the wordplay filled song “Word of Mouth” which at one point mentions:
“If you value them doors you better lock ‘em son
If you don’t want to lock em you better buy a gun”
Shakey stops…smiles and admits that this is “terrible advice.” It was one of those moments when you get to see the playful and quite funny side of Alejandro Rose-Garcia. Full of charm and charisma, this one, sometimes two man show owned that stage and filled the Corona with a twinkle in every girl’s eye. You can’t help but get carried away with his infectious playfulness and incredible talent. I don’t know about you, but I can hardly play guitar alone, yet Shakey will play guitar, sing and use one foot on the bass drum while the other is on the tambourine!
We are treated to one last song, “Late July” which described the crowd very well: “Eager, young and starry eyed.”
Soon thereafter, the PA pumped up some more big bass song to wake us from our Shakey Graves experience and let us know that it was time to go home. As we slowly made our way to the door, I couldn’t help but reflect that in one night, I might have fell in love with Country because of Them Darlins…which is a terrible thought….but I can’t stop listening to them…and that I’ve been enthralled by one man that can fill up a room with such charisma and charm that I’m tempted to find my own campfire Indian name. I might have to give up my Star Wars name: Ran Solo, so tweet me suggestions at @netwark and let’s keep this campfire party going.
Review and photos – Randal Wark
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