100 Bands: Between a rock and a gang of cats
Last week I saw two bands: one was a major Canadian
act performing to a full house at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, the other,
a small struggling group that performed for a handful of people in a small
bar on College Street.
The contrast of the two experiences left me wondering about the nature
of rock and roll and that elusive quest for fame. What makes for a great
band? Or perhaps, rather, what makes for a successful band?
What if, for example, it is all in the name?
I was drawn to one of the shows, the smaller of the two, because of their
outrageous name. Truly, it would be difficult to miss it on a gig listing:
Millions
Of Cats That Turned On Their Masters.
What a mouth-filled heck of a name for a band. How are the kids supposed
to remember it when they call the local request line? And not even a catchy
acronym, MOCTTOTM. Is this not a gross violation of the rules of rock?
MOCTTOTM was, surprisingly,
less cheeky than the name suggests. Given the number of concept bands
I’ve endured, I fully expected a bunch of earnest youngsters yowling
for food and licking themselves. Instead, I heard a pretty straight-ahead
group of guys who embraced a traditional hard-edged rock sound, lacking
pretense – aside from the clever title of their set’s highlight,
“If You See Kay”, an April Wine cover.
The only name attached to my attendance at the The Phoenix to see Three
Days Grace was a guy named Brent, winner of the grand prize for a
local radio station’s reality-television-inspired contest. Included
in Brent’s fabulous showcase was the opportunity to select a band
to play a concert for him and a thousand or so friends at The Phoenix.
Given the limitations of Brent’s selection - that it be a touring
Canadian band off a list provided by the radio station – one would
hardly expect that the young Canadian band, Three Days Grace, is Brent’s
idea of the best group ever. No matter, they were the band that ended
up being the winner’s show.
To be honest, I wasn’t that familiar with Three Days Grace other
than a vague knowledge of their sound and had dumped them in a pool of
new young bands that disinterest me. I was a bit worried about having
to attend a whole concert: what if it was a screaming mass of yelling
and what if everyone there was also a screaming mass of metal heads?
I need not have worried too much. The band is very accessible in a Canadian
kind of way – these are the children of Rush.
The surprising thing about Three Days Grace is the mainstream quality
of the songs. They are tattooed and mohawked and dress the part, but really,
minus the bells and whistles, I would hardly call them a heavy-metal band,
or god help me, punk. They make my junior high school choir sound edgy.
The song lyrics had the angst of a teenage girl’s diary –
not that there is anything wrong with that.
It was certainly a flashy kind of rock show – the band’s success
was evidenced in the quality of the light show and the height of the drum
kit.
So, what does Three Days Grace have that Millions Of Cats That Turned
On Their Masters don’t, aside from the obvious?
Both bands work hard. Both have decent playing skills and stage presence.
Does it all come down to the lucky break?
Three Days Grace started out as a band called “Groundswell”
in Norwood, Ontario – they moved to Toronto and changed their name,
got a producer with some street cred and released a self-titled album
in 2003 with the hit “I Hate Everything About You” –
I’m sure you’ve heard it.
Three Days Grace scored with their hit single, but I wonder if anyone
would have heard it had they not found the right producer with the good
reputation to back it up?
The sad thing is that there is really no point in speculating about it.
Three Days Grace has their limelight and MMOCTTOTM are relegated to playing
in small bars with crappy sound systems.
It will probably be awhile before MMOCTTOTM gets selected as someone’s
dream band. But the cynic in me wonders if Brent’s contest performers
had been selected long before a contest winner was chosen and that the
contest finalists were only those that included Three Days Grace on their
list?
The band lucked out again, giving the public the appearance that they
are the objects of a Canadian musical fantasy.
No matter who was playing, it was a fun thing to experience and whether
or not they were Brent’s first choice, he seemed to have a really
great time at the show. As did his thousands of friends.
I can’t help wondering what it would be like to have the opportunity
to pick any band to play a show for me; the idea of it led me to ask others
who they would want to have play an exclusive show for their own audience.
The answers varied: The Who, Emmy Lou Harris (with guests), U2, Cam'ron,
Ween were some of the answers. Everyone had a different idea who would
be the best band. And that’s cool.
Who would you pick?