Down with Webster at Sound Academy- February 7, 2014

Photo taken at Much Big Jingle, 2013

Life as a concert reviewer is a fun job, but unfortunately it can sometimes be lonely. While I get to attend a bunch of cool shows I might not go to, I am usually alone. This isn’t so bad as I end up chatting with other people and making friends. This time I was fortunate to go to a show with my girlfriend and her sister as they both wanted to see Down With Webster, which made for a more fun than usual night out.

I missed the first opening act D-Pryde, but made it in time to see SonReal a 28-year-old rapper from Vancouver. What stood out right away about his show was his DJ was playing some really sick beats. The earlier songs sounded like he was influenced by Kayne West’s “Graduation” and “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantsty”, with nice melodic keyboard riffs, soulful samples and interspersed vocoder rapping. SonReal knew how to work the crowd, teaching them how to sing his choruses and handing out swag to the crowd. He noted how his newest album just came out and threw a bunch of CD’s into the crowd and followed that up with tossing touques and tees to people as well. For someone without a lot of radio play and an up and comer he sure got the crowd excited. His DJ mixed some really nice scratching into the songs, which gave an off old school vibe. He played a new song ‘L.A.’ about his love of the ladies and travelling. His rapping style sounded like a Chance The Rapper song with shifting cadences. The live version of ‘Everywhere We Go’ sounds like it could be an outtake from A$AP Ferg’s “Trap Lord” record. While he put on a fun show the one criticism I would make that I also find with other Canadian rappers, is his subject matter didn’t really change from song to song. His choice of beats will probably make him popular no matter what though.

When the lights lowered a video started playing with clips of Down With Webster partying and a British narrator philosophizing about asking people if money were no object what would you do with your life? Invariably the answers are always something creative like poets, writers, musicians, actors, builders and more. This is a theme I can relate to on a very deep level. As the video was finishing up one by one the band came out to start with their intro song ‘Introduction’ each filling in when their part kicks in. At this point only four of the band members were on stage so they kick into ‘One In A Million’ where MC’s Camm and Bucky came out to thunderous cheering. Camm may have edged out the decibel meter from his counterpart. The mostly under aged crowd (Sound Academy divided up the venue between all ages and a small section for 19+) went nuts throwing their ‘Webster W’s’ in the air at any chance they got. They continued playing newer songs off their just released album “Party For Your Life”, with the self titled song where they used their media board to play a loop of classic dance and party scenes from films like “Zoolander”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Greese”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and much more.

Part way through the show the band left the stage for Pat Gillett to do a three-song mini acoustic set including covers of ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’. It was a nice intimate moment to connect with the crowd. The band came back on stage after Pat apologized for lowering the energy but promised to bring it back up when the band kicked into fan favourites ‘Professional’ and ‘Time To Win’ which the crowd song along note for note. Camm then performed a rap song from his solo catalogue with the band backing him up. Newer Down With Webster songs are more electronic rock focused with less emphasis on the rap side. Camm’s song sounded like an early DWW tune with mostly rap and almost no signing vocals. The showcasing of band member’s talents continued with drummer Andrew “Marty” Martino having his ‘Moby Dick’ moment. While Marty was the only one on stage the audio from the “Step Brothers” drum scene played before he kicked into drum remix versions of Skrillex’s ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’ and a hugely enjoyable version of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Between his songs he would take chugs from his 40oz bottle of Jack. As the band came back out encouraging the applause for Marty they came by and took swigs from his bottle as well. I was quite impressed with Marty’s drumming with how much he was drinking; he seemed to be the most proficient musician of the group playing some complex and fun fills.

Camm and Bucky asked guys to lift their woman on their shoulders and told them the next song is for all the girls in the crowd before they jumped into a super hyped version of ‘Your Man’, which proved to be the highlight of the show. Throughout the second half of their set various band members would use a camera and take pictures of other band members and the crowd including the appropriate lyric during ‘Your Man’ “What about a picture?/Why do you think they call me Camm”. The last song of their set ‘Going Nowhere’ had an extended intro with the video board playing clips of the band when they started out playing in high school, through various small venue shows up to large stages with fireworks and pyrotechnics going off behind them. While most bands may have been embarrassed by their early 2000’s choice of hair and wardrobe they owned it and it fit the theme to their song perfectly.

During the encore DWW brought out the two opening acts to perform ‘Woah Is Me’ with them. The show concluded with their newest single ‘Chills’. A large tribal drum was brought on stage and Bucky banged it with the beat, and glitter on the skin went flying with every thundering clap to make a cool visual. The band’s frat-party show was one that had everyone dancing and screaming along the whole night. Unfortunately there seemed to be some sound issues as instruments would disappear mid song. The drums would be loud and clear then jump to being muted. The volume of the guitar would go up and down depending on what part of the song it was, which may have been intentional, but seemed odd if so. These guys are known for having one of the best live shows in Canada and they lived up to their own hype.