The Wednesday of CMW is a tough one, for all the right reasons. At this point, you’re already battling sleep deprivation and – assuming you’re a 9-5 working stiff – you’re still well aware that the week isn’t over and that heading out to yet another show is probably ill advised. But you do it anyway. So, while you may stumble from venue to venue looking every bit like a zombie, hopefully you’re discovering great bands along the way.
My sixth day at CMW started rather inauspiciously at the Hideout. It’s a Toronto stage I’ve managed to avoid for my entire life, never finding much reason to venture into it. Thanks to scheduling, distance to the next venue I was due at, and the fact that I wanted to see at least one band from Australia, I settled on a brief stop inside for Oliver’s Army. The Melbourne-based act was making its debut performance in Toronto. Their upbeat rock with a folk ear wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t groundbreaking. It wasn’t even Australia-specific because I’m pretty sure any band that plays the Hideout has that sound down. It was safe and it was forgettable. That’s all good and well, but it wasn’t helping my general exhaustion.
From there it was over to the Horseshoe, which was nearing capacity by the time I ventured inside about midway through Sianspheric’s set. A wall of people was fitting for the Canadian band’s wall of sound.
It was all a lead up to the main course of the evening – the crowd truly there to see another shoegaze act: Swervedriver. The long-awaited Toronto show spoke to the Oxford-formed band’s cult-like status and, despite the absence of their bass player Steve George (the band explaining he was unable to make it over and offering up Supergrass’ Mick Quinn as a replacement,) they settled in nicely to the Horseshoe stage.
For me, however, their set was upstaged by the next act I saw: Los Angeles’ Fever The Ghost. The young band boast press photos instantly conveying their quirk and they brought sounds to match, filling The Silver Dollar with their sunny, spacey psychedelia.
Marrying the sounds of Animal Collective and Flaming Lips to the cadences of a band like Born Ruffians, Fever The Ghost even managed to transform a Temples song (a group they’ll be heading out on tour with shortly) into a Panda Bear-like creation thanks to vocal modifications and strange samples. With psych rock increasingly championed across the radio airwaves, expect to hear more from the four-piece. Seriously, Toronto. You missed out on this one. Hopefully whatever you found yourself at was worth it.
