Shakespeare once asked “What's in a name?” The answer, of course, is everything, and I could tell what I was in for at a concert by Medallions, The Commandeers, and Give Us The Daggers before I heard a single chord. How many times have we seen bands with names like this at Toronto concerts? You have every cliché here already: prosaic ambiguity (Medallions), garage-rock simplicity (The Commandeers), and implied violence (Give Us The Daggers).
Medallions oozed generic indie rock. Playing songs with long-winded titles like “Take The Beam Out of Your Own Eye” and “I Have Thoughts of Friends,” the band had their usual groaning, off-kilter vocals from drummer Mick Jackson as well ascending, repetitive, minimalist chords. I love post-punk as much as the next music fan, but do we really need another minimalist, ambiguous rock band? These two songs in particular make the band feel derivative, messy, and pretentious. When vocalist/guitarist Scott Kaija told the audience “I'm far too sober to be playing right now,” he reviewed the state of the band's music that evening: tame, non-threatening, and safe. The whole thing was about as fluffy and predictable as Wonderbread. On their Myspace page they say they sound like “a hot machine.” A hot mess would have probably been more accurate.
Garage rockers The Commandeers brought more flair and had a much more electrifying performance than Medallions, perhaps because vocalist Nathan Jesionka brought the right amount of snarl and over-the-top personality required for the kind of songs they were playing. Bassist Scott Hannigan, guitarist Ezra Jesionka, and drummer Cale Elliot-Smith proved to be a tight unit. Their style would evokes the Stooges, Count Five, and other garage bands of yesteryear, and any of their songs would fit easily on a Rhino Records' Nuggets compilation.
Songs like “Girl You're My Mother” and “I'm a Man,” while having simple lyrics that would normally fall apart on close scrutiny, were played with conviction and purpose. While Medallions were purposefully detached, the Commandeers were constantly engaging. This made their performance the most memorable of the night—their playing had a great deal of muscle and heft and was certainly the most fun. Despite my sarcastic summation earlier of the bands' names, I can say this group really delivered.
After this high, an all time low: Give Us The Daggers was just awful. At this point in the evening, they must have assumed that everyone was too drunk or tired to care because they mostly sleep-walked through their performance. A band that believes that “you only need a few chords and the truth” really needs to sound like it. However, the vocals were tinny and whiny, and the playing didn't have the level of flair and fun brought by the Commandeers. For a band that apparently had an incredible performance at Canadian Music Week last year, this week's was quite a disappointment. I especially tuned out after female members of the audience were encouraged to expose their breasts. This level of objectification isn't cool, but just pathetic. They did find some redemption by doing a great cover of Joy Division's “They Walked In Line” at the end, but it just wasn't enough.
For five dollars, I got what I paid for. But one out of three memorable bands just isn't enough for personal satisfaction.
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