| Lessonfest |
| May 18th, 2002 - King Kirkland Lake, Ont. |
| Ah what a show it was - probably the best I've ever been to in kirkland (which doesn't say much for my show experience in this town). The lineup was quite stacked and I was real excited for this one, not just for the debut of my new band but mostly for a couple other bands I'd really been looking forward to seeing. First of all before I go through the bands in order I just wanna commenton how lively and energetic the crowd was. I was totally blown away at how intense that crowd got at a couple key points in the show. I'd never seen or expected crowd surfin and a fast paced mosh pit at a KL show and I was definately pleased with what I got. So without further adu here it is - one by one, the bands of chad newton and jake naylors brain child - lessonfest; The night started out smoothly, quick set up, quick sound check - everything was flowing nicely. A quick supper at Smitty's and we were off. The guinea pigs of sound for the night (opering act) were KL's very own Hard Earned Failure. There's not too much I can say about these boys because it wasn't really my type of music at all but they played fairly well especially considering the relative newness of their band. They played about three of four songs and the sound was almost perfected by the end of their set. The only problem I had with the set was Turners bass kickin out for the last song but other then that it wasn't half bad. Next up was another local band, my very first punk band easYwaYouT. I was kind of nervous myself as these boys walked up onto the stage. I didn't know if they were ready or not and I was obviously quite ignorant to underestimate their abilites like that. Beer did an excellent job on vocals and they kicked my old lyrics right in the ass. The first two songs - one was a new original and one was a cover of "you need a hug " by the ataris - were reasonable. There was nothing wrong with them, they just seemed to require a little bit more practice on them, and then came the last two. They played Competition and All I Knew and I was blown away. Tight as hell and nothing but an aggressive, precise execution of their songs. They proved to me in 10 minutes that they had what it takes to get somewhere outta this town. They, musically, had grown alot. As far as I know, they played such a good show they were asked personally by Jake Naylor to join the ShockNova Records family - good score boys Key moment of the night #2 - Vallum's appearance - I'd been patiently awaiting their return to the big apple (KL) and was starting to get abit over-anxious. We even lent out our equipment to them (my bass amp, and mackenzies cab) just to make sure things ran smoothly for their set. I'm not gonna take too long to describe how well they played cause I'll just end up repeating myself but here's the just of it - They played good, real good.. nice and tight.. just the way I like it. I couldn't help but hop into the most pit and get rough as their brand of punkish metal reigned throughout the building. I thank the boys of Vallum for gettin me right pumped to go up after them... Fourth band of the night (apparently the band order was based on how good the bands were? not how I would've done it but meh.. I liked playing fourth... just as the sun went down) was good ol' Last Regret - there's nothin I can really say here considering it was my own band playing but I was pretty pleased with the final product. It was the craziest reaction I've personally ever recieved from a crowd and the first time I'd seen anyone crowd surfing during our set. Shail and Mackenzie were in top form and it just totally reminded me of how good those boys are at being musicians. I believe Twitch Factor (bunch of real cool guys) and KDM followed us.. but the equipment trip home and the beer had other plans for me (i'm sorry jake naylor for chincin him out on a review here). I ended up spending most of the hour in shails van drinkin beer with a full house - some ladies, the boy and my bro haha. I made it back into the buidling half way through Euthanasia's set and they were lookin pretty intense. With sweat flying everywhere I was intrigued enough to take aplace near the stage and watch their performance. They were pretty good to tell yah the truth, real tight and nice soundin equipment. The songs were quite good too and I liked the vocals. My only problem with the band would've been my feeling that a couple of their songs were abit too similar for my liking but it's kind of like that with alot of bands the first time around. Last but not least...there the ywere - the living legend (or so they've been made to be). The best band I've seen come out of northern ontario to date - "The Awesome Team". They of course were in top form and it was actually my first time seeing joey and danny bust out since wankerama 2000 (way back in grade nine) and I was quite excited to see them again (having always looked up to them). I was not dissapointed at all. The crowd reaction was intense for them and I don't know if it was the beer talking or what, but I had one hell of a time. We were jumpin, and yellin, the ladies were screaming out "JOEEEY" and I couldn't help but yell out the lyrics to scared of height and what makes angelica (too 4 flynchen was the shit). Hope to see them again and definately looking forward to playing with them at a later date. |