Well, if you read The Little Red Umbrella — like, at all — you're probably already more than aware of Stella Ella Ola and Dangerband. They're two of our favourite new bands in the city. Both play retro-'90s power-pop full of hooks and sing-along choruses. Dangerband's is sweaty and drunken rock 'n' roll; Stella's is sunshine-y and summer-y, featuring a couple of members of Hollerado. So we thought we'd pass along the drop-everything-it's-so-exciting news that both bands will be sharing a bill at Sneaky Dee's this Thursday night (that's August the 8th) and that it will be completely FREE. So there's really no excuse: what better chance to check out some of the happiest, hand-clapping-est indie rock Toronto has to offer? Doors at 9; awesomeness at 9:30.
It started, actually, the day before, with a big announcement. The
Toronto indie poppers in Stella Ella Ola have released the release date
for their debut full-length. It's gonna be called I Think We Should Hang Out All The Time and it'll be out on August 5 on Royal Mountain Records. (The same label as Hollerado — who share a couple of members with Stella Ella Ola — and PUP.) The cover is designed by the band's own Anne Douris. And the tracklist is exciting, too including a few tunes that have already been released in EP or single form (like "Summerette", "Hypersleep" and "Donna").
Then, on the Wednesday of NXNE, came the debut of their new music video. "Peter Sellers" is going to be the final track on the new album and the video is a ridiculous, cardboard-themed, time-travel beach party romp complete with monsters and a couple of familiar faces from the band's Royal Mountain label mates.
That very same night, they hit the stage at the Silver Dollar. The room was impressively full for a Wednesday night NXNE showcase. And as the band basted through their usual hook-happy pop rock, the crowd got a chance to know some of the newer songs from I Think We Should Hang Out All The Time. "Try Try Die" is super-catchy power-pop, while "Proud Mother Stomp"— a staple of their live shows — finds drummer Vince Rice on vocals, and earns its place in the proud tradition of off-beat, post-Ringo, percussionist-takes-the-mic tunes.
But the highlight of the night was still to come. From the Dollar, Stella Ella Ola headed to the tiny backroom of The Ossington for the Humblemania party to celebrate the Great Heart Music Festival (which kicked off in Trinity Bellwoods the next day). The room was sweaty, packed and intimate. And the set was even better than the one across town, with a couple of extra tunes thrown in, including an encore cover of The English Beat's "Mirror In The Bathroom."
A great way to end a great day.
LOOK
LISTEN
WATCH
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Photos by Carmen Cheung, the Arts Editor for The Little Red Umbrella.
Tomorrow night, Stella Ella Ola will be playing what promises to be one of the most awesome shows of the entire summer. It'll be on a boat. On the lake. Two other fantastic Toronto bands will be playing: Dwayne Gretzky and July Talk. And the rest of night will be DJed by Andy freaking Rourke. Yeah, the same Andy Rourke who played bass in The Smiths. So, uh, to put it mildly, we're a little bit excited.
Plenty of that has to do with getting to see Stella Ella Ola play live. The band — which shares members with Hollerado — have put together a sound that's part garage rock, part surf rock, part indie, part country and alllll something you'd like to dance along to while drunkenly cruising the high seas. So we figured we'd catch up with the group's Anne Douris and get her to answer some of our silly questions. Which you'll find below.
Tickets for the event are apparently going pretty quickly, but you might still be able to get some at Soundscapes or Rotate This — or online by clicking through the link from the Facebook invite, which has all of the event info here. The whole thing is yet another party put together by the fine folks over at the Young Lions Music Club.
How do you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard you before?
Ever seen that movie, “Degrassi High: School’s Out”? (1992). It’s like “YEAH, summertime party go go” But then shit gets real. Somebody dies. We try to make fun music for your free time, but also tell good stories and talk about the tough stuff.
Alternatively, you could say garage-surf-pop?
If you could play one venue you've never played before, what would it be?
One day I really really really would like to play at the Kee to Bala. Duke Ellington, Glen Miller AND David Wilcox AND Drake have all graced that stage. Not at the same time, obviously.
Your all-time, all-star supergroup?
You mean, if I could put one together? All the members of Can, Liquid Liquid and Herbie Hancock. George Gershwin would do all the writing.
What's the worst album you own?
I have so many embarrassing albums, but I could never hate on any of them. That list might include the soundtrack to “Cats”, which I listened to every single day (not exaggerating) in 1999. Or maybe the album of John Lithgow singing songs for children - “Singing in the Bathtub”, which I purchased as a young adult.
From Mastermind. Which, by the way, is a great place to buy CDs... you just have to know what you’re looking for.
If you could switch places with another musician in some type of "Freaky Friday" type incident, who would you want it to be?
Tough
one, because a lot of my favourite musicians are sort of dead. I would
switch with Trish Keenan of Broadcast. But if they need to be alive...
James Murphy.
If
you absolutely had to get a face tattoo of album art from one record,
which record would you want to have on your face for the rest of your
life?
Orchestral
Manoeuvres in the Dark’s album “Architecture & Morality” is one of
my favourite album covers out there. Plus it wouldn’t look bad on a
face. Otherwise, the pepsi symbol from “Gordon”.
What’s your favorite solo ever on your favourite instrument ever?
The Beatles, “For No One” has an amazing French Horn solo - it always stood out to me. It was one of the reasons I played French Horn in middle school. The other reason was that all the other, easier instruments were taken.
If you were going to be a roadie for one band, who would it be?
Oh oh oh. The Flaming Lips. I want to take that human-sized hamster ball for a joyride so badly.
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Meet The Band is a regular feature where we introduce you to bands we like. You can find all of the rest of them here.
Ooh look at that! There's a nice V-day surprise from one of the best labels in the city: Royal Mountain Records has teamed up with local artists to release a series of seven free valentines for the bands on their label. Which, uh, just so happen to be some of the best bands in the city: PUP, Alvvays, Hollerado, Stella Ella Ola, Pkew Pkew Pkew (gunshots) and The Plateaus — plus one for the label themselves. The artists are pretty rad, too, including Edith Boucher, Brittany Farhat, photographer Yoshi Cooper and Stella Ella Ola's own Anne Douris (who drew that flamingo right there). You can collect all the valentines by tracking them down at some of most awesome spots around T.O., like Sonic Boom, Sneaky Dee's and The Garrison. So you can buy some records, eat some nachos, and get trashed while doing it. Plus, each valentine comes with a download code for a brand new Royal Mountain Records sampler.
Sounds like a pretty good Valentine's Day to us. For the full deets including a list of all the valentines and their locations, head to the Royal Mountain Facebook page here.
SATURDAY — Anyone who's been covering North By Northeast for a few years is bound to have noticed that plenty of the week's best events aren't on the festival's own schedule. Instead, they're spread by word of mouth and Facebook invites, the rooftop concerts and parking lot BBQs and sweaty house parties that make the week about more than just the official events. That's how we ended up spending our Saturday afternoon in the basement of a house on Manning. The party was billed as an anti-NXNE event — thanks to the PWYC admission, the bands were actually going to get paid, something that can't be said for most of the acts playing the festival. And it just happened to feature sets by a couple of the groups we'd been most blown away by over the previous couple of nights. Seeing them play again while drinking beer in a stranger's basement sounded like a pretty damn fine way to spend a day.
Stella Ella Ola kicked off our afternoon, playing their ridiculously catchy power-pop bathed in the glow of the Christmas lights hanging from the low ceiling. Their set was as tight and upbeat as the one they'd played Thursday night at the Silver Dollar, but this time they played it to a couple of dozen people crowded together between the basement's concrete columns. The audience bopped and bounced along to the tunes — including the group's brilliant new single, "Donna", bound to be one of our songs of the summer of 2013 — as body heat drove the temperature up and people downed their beers.
"I feel like I'm just sweating booze," frontwoman Anne Douris joked.
"Because that's exactly what's happening," Jake Boyd, the bassist, shot back, "I'm not going to remember anything I said all weekend."
Next up were Weaves, who had knocked us on our asses the night before at BLK BOX, the first act of the Young Lions Music Club showcase. Their set in the basement was even better, starting off slowly but then gaining steam like a rumbling locomotive. Jasmyn Burke delivered her eclectic vocals over the driving drums and bass while Morgan Waters squealed away on his guitar. By the time they reached the end of the set, they had the people at the front of the small crowd dancing.
"We're all from Toronto," Burke explained as an introduction to their final song, "where everybody fucks each other. So I thought I'd write a song about... having fun." Then she launched into "Motorcycle", their very best song to date, and the perfect end to an afternoon spent underground.
Then it was back upstairs and out into the sun. We made our way to Bellwoods for the Great Heart Festival — and then, finally, to a night spent at real NXNE shows. But two of the best sets we saw all day weren't part of the official festival at all.
This, we suppose, will be remembered as the year Toronto got rid of our crack-smoking mayor, but it was also yet another kickass year for music in our city. So we're ending the calendar by looking back at some of our favourite tracks released by Toronto bands in 2014, including PUP, Greys, Allie X, Stella Ella Ola, DFA1979, Alvvays & more.
TRACKLIST
1. "Trainwreck 1979" by Death From Above 1979
2. "The Noise of Carpet" by Greys (Stereolab cover)
3. "Lionheart" by PUP
4. "I Killed My Baby In Mexico" by The BB Guns
5. "Blood + Honey" by July Talk
6. "Heart" by The Beverleys
7. "Try Not To Laugh" by Unfinished Business
8. "Boys And Girls" by The Balconies
9. "Buzz Off" by Little Junior
10. "Don't Wanna Say Goodbye" by The Meligrove Band
11. "Peter Sellers" by Stella Ella Ola
12. "Buttercup" by Weaves
13. "Archie, Marry Me" by Alvvays
14. "Prime" by Allie X
15. "Meteor" by TOKEN
16. "The Bells" by Lowell
17. "She Just Wants To Drive" by Matt Raudsepp
18. "Cold Dead Hands" by Pkew Pkew Pkew (gunshots)
It's a particularly controversial year for North By Northeast(we shared our thoughts over here). But there are still plenty of amazing bands playing in Toronto over the course of the next few days, so we've put together a podcast of our favourites, including Army Girls, The Wet Secrets, Stella Ella Ola and more.
TRACKLIST
1. "Letterman" by Gay Nineties Thursday, 8pm at Handlebar Thursday, 12am at The Rivoli
2. "Summerette" by Stella Ella Ola Wednesday, 11 pm at The Silver Dollar
3. "Sunshine" by The Wet Secrets Thursday, 11pm at The Rivoli
4. "I Wanna Love You" by Michael Rault Thursday, 12am at Handlebar
Saturday, 4pm at the St. James Gazebo (FREE)
Saturday, 9pm at Smiling Buddha
5. "Frantic" by The Lovely Feathers Thursday, 12am at The Dakota Tavern Saturday, 4:30pm at Trinity Bellwoods (FREE - part of the Great Heart Festival)
6. "The Power" by Army Girls Wednesday, 12:30am at MiO Squirtcar Friday, 9pm at Lee's Palace Sunday, 4pm at Sonic Boom in-store (FREE)
7. "Movie Star" by Swearin' Friday, 12am at The Horseshoe Tavern Saturday, 10pm at Smiling Buddha
8. "Motorcycle" by Weaves Thursday, 8pm at Massey Hall Saturday, 2:10pm at The Great Hall Sunday, 2pm at Sonic Boom in-store (FREE)
9. "Try Not To Laugh" by Unfinished Business Saturday, 6pm at Smiling Buddha Sunday, 8pm at Edward Day Gallery
10. "Suss It Out" by The Yips Thursday, 2am at Smiling Buddha
11. "Toot Your Own Horn" by The Lytics Saturday, 11pm at Adelaide Hall Sunday, 4:30pm at Ryerson
12. "Sanity 7" by Juan Wauters Thursday, 8pm at The Garrison Thursday, 11pm at Smiling Buddha Friday, 11pm at Smiling Buddha Saturday 11pm at Smiling Buddha
13. "Oh Linda!" by Gramercy Riffs Friday, 9pm at The Hideout Saturday, 4pm at Trinity Bellwoods (FREE - part of the Great Heart Festival)
14. "Tentacles" by Rah Rah Friday, 2:30pm at The Horseshoe Tavern
15. "Construction Worker" by The Golden Dogs Saturday 11pm at The Rivoli
16. "Boy Detective" by Patti Cake Friday, 2am at The Silver Dollar
17. "Hunting Season" by Hands & Teeth Wednesday, 10pm at The Mod Club Theatre Friday, 1am at The Bovine Sex Club Saturday, 3:30pm at Trinity Bellwoods (FREE - part of the Great Heart Festival)
18. "Pick Me Up" by Kalle Mattson Thursday, 10pm at Handlebar Friday, 5pm at Berczy Park (FREE) Saturday, 3pm at Trinity Bellwoods (FREE - part of the Great Heart Festival) Saturday, 6pm at the St. James Gazebo (FREE)
19. "Otters" by The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra
Wednesday, 1am at The Dakota Tavern
20. "Passion Is Dead (Long Live Fashion)" by Fevers
Wednesday, 11pm at The Boat Thursday, 8pm at The Rivoli
Thumbnail: Carmen Elle of Army Girls by Melanie Baresic
All songs are included in order to promote the artist. If you are the copyright-holder and would prefer a song not be included, contact us and we'll happy to remove it.
We've been into Toronto rockers Hollerado for oh-so-many years now — since back in the days when we were all music editors with SoundProof and they were capturing attention with their decision to play weekly residencies at venues in Toronto, Ottawa Montreal, Boston, New York, Hamilton, and Lacolle ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Things have gotten even better for them since then. They've put out music on Arts & Crafts. They got nominated for a Juno. They even share two members with Stella Ella Ola — who have quickly become one of our favourite local bands. But we've never liked Hollerado more than we do right now. And that's because we just finished watching the video for "So It Goes".
Frontman Menno Versteeg wrote the song on the day his grandfather died. "It just absolutely poured right out of me," he explains in the video. "It came even before any tears." It's about his grandfather's experiences during the Second World War, fighting for the Dutch Resistance in Rotterdam after Hitler invaded the Netherlands in 1940. He was captured by the Nazis, only to have his life saved by a German officer — a favour he would have the opportunity to return after the war.
The band travelled to Europe to film the video for the song. And Versteeg was able to met the grandson of the German who had saved — and been saved by — his grandfather. It's an incredibly story. And it makes the video for "So It Goes" so much more than just a music video.
It's been a terrible year for Toronto. The crack-smoking Mayor, the summer flood and the Christmas ice storm. But it was also yet another fantastic year for music in T.O. So in our last podcast of 2013 we look back at some of our favourite tracks released by Toronto bands (or Toronto-ish bands) over the last 12 months, including Austra, PUP, DIANA & more.
TRACKLIST
1. "Reservoir" by PUP
2. "Motorcycle" by Weaves
3. "Summer Dress" by HIGHS
4. "Donna" by Stella Ella Ola
5. "Baby, I Hate You" by The BB Guns
6. "Appel" by Moon King
7. "Strange Attraction" by DIANA
8. "Painful Like" by Austra
9. "Take Me With Me You" by Christien Summers
10. "Building Blocks" by Newsmen
11. "Stupid Boyfriend" by Dangerband
12. "Asshole Pandemic" by Pkew Pkew Pkew (gunshots)
13. "Zombie Eyed" by The Dirty Nil
One our of very favourite memories from last September was the Young Lions Music Club boat cruise. Downstairs (what do they call that on a boat? down the hatch? below deck? you know, the part where all the poor people died on the Titanic) there was the live music of Dwayne Gretzky and Stella Ella Ola. It was the first time we'd seen either band, who both quickly found their way into our hearts. Meanwhile, upstairs (above deck? up the hatch? you know, the part where pirates have their sword fights) there was a full-on dance party DJed by The Smiths' Andy Rourke. The whole night ruled.
This year, they're doing it again. The super-group cover band Dwayne Gretzky will be back, playing a setlist that usually includes everything from Queen to the Jackson 5 to Fleetwood Mac. And the Young Lions Music Club's own Summer Fling DJs will be dropping their dance-happy tunes. It promises to be a pretty fun night on the high seas of Lake Ontario.
You can pick up your ticket online for $20 here orin person from Soundscapes or Rotate This, they're sold out online if you're lucky, through a post on the Facebook invite wall here.
Once you've done that, you can start getting excited with the Dwayne Gretzky-themed edition of our Songs You Can Dance Around Your Apartment To podcast right on over here.
A thousand bands take to the stages of Toronto this week for the North By Northeast music festival. We've picked twenty of our favourites for this edition of the Songs You Can Dance Around Your Apartment To podcast. We've got Dan Deacon, Sloan, The Luyas, GROUNDERS, Dangerband, Mozart's Sister and more — all with their set times listed below.
TRACKLIST
1. "The Crystal Cat" by Dan Deacon Thursday, 10pm at The Horseshoe
2. "I Wanna Love You" by Michael Rault Thursday, 10pm at The Great Hall Saturday, 10pm at The Silver Dollar
3. "Donna" by Stella Ella Ola Thursday, 9pm at The Silver Dollar
4. "The Lines You Amend" by Sloan Friday, midnight at The Great Hall
5. "Danse et Danse" by Coeur de Pirate Thursday, 11pm at The Great Hall
6. "Creep" by The BB Guns Saturday, 9pm at Lee's Palace
7. "Asshole Pandemic" by Pkew Pkew Pkew (gunshots) Saturday, 11pm at Rancho Relaxo
8. "Still Down" by Dangerband Saturday, 9pm at Velvet Underground
9. "Do The Splash" by Pow Wows Thursday, 1am at The Silver Dollar
10. "Big Dumb Blue Angel" by Moon King Thursday, 9pm at The Horseshoe Friday, 11pm at Wrongbar Saturday, 5pm at Yonge Dundas Square
11. "Mr. Hollywood" by The Magic Friday, 11pm at BLK BOX
12. "The Rapture" by Fevers Thursday, 11pm at The Hideout
13. "Normal People" by Christian Hansen Thursday, midnight at The Horseshoe
14. "Too Beautiful To Work" by The Luyas Friday, 1am at Sneaky Dee's
15. "Along The Line" by GROUNDERS Wednesday, midnight at The Horseshoe
16. "Single Status" by Mozart's Sister Wendesday, 11pm at The Rivoli
17. "Head Spirit (For Our Mechanical Time)" by Doom Squad Thursday, 1am at Creatures Creating Saturday, 1am at The Garrison
18. "City of Quartz" by Gold & Youth Friday, 1am at BLK BOX
19. "Toot Your Own Horn" by The Lytics Saturday, 9pm at Nocturne
20. "Around The Bend" by The National Friday, 9:10 at Yonge Dundas Square
In 1518, the people of Strasbourg started to dance. And they didn't stop. They kept dancing and dancing, for days on end, until some began to die they'd danced so much. Dance mania they called it. And we know how they feel. How can you stop dancing when you've got moves this good? This week: Iggy Pop, the New Pornos, Patti Smith and more.
TRACKLIST
1. "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" by Los Hombres
2. "Skyway" by The Apples In Stereo
3. "Twin Cinema" by The New Pornographers
4. "Ever Fallen In Love?" by The Buzzcocks
5. "Construction Workers" by The Golden Dogs
6. "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop
7. "Ask the Angels" by Patti Smith
8. "Memories of the Future" by Handsome Furs
9. "Rip Her To Shreds" by Blondie
10. "Seems Fine" by The Concretes
11. "Hypersleep" by Stella Ella Ola
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Compiled by Adam Bunch.
You can find every edition of Songs You Can Dance Around Your Apartment To here. If you are the copyright holder of any song included in this podcast and would like it removed, please contact us.
