Play a song just for me

Last night was supposed to be the night where Taylor and I truly Got Her Going®, oh expectations were high. But then we pretty much couldn't find anyone else, and there really wasn't anything compelling going on except at the Wave which is a hellhole, so he ended up staying home watching movies and I just started going through the new book I just got.

Then, around midnight, I get a message from Willy, saying that the funk/hip hop group at Brennan's, Slaves of Spanky, was pretty fun and that he and KGB were heading back down. I was bored and getting antsy so I figured I'd wander by.

It's lucky I did, too, because if it weren't for Willy and KGB (who were only there because Tracicle who works there called to get some company) the place would have been completely empty. I guess that's what happens in the off-season for a place that no one ever thinks of as somewhere to casually hang out and who only gets people when they book an act people already know.

“OK, boys, I paid my cover, y'all better come in and play another set.”

“:Hey man, look, we increased the size of the crowd by 33%.”

What made it even funnier was the flag with their name on it that they put up behind them. (oohh production values)

Now, the band itself wasn't bad. Dudes on keyboard and drums and the bass player could all play pretty well. Mostly your standard funk-type lines. (Before one song they gave the bass player the notes to play and he played them, “OK, C, C, G, A, B.. got it” At that point I was tempted to say “hey, do you need me to come up and play?” but I figured on a night like that it might actually happen.)

The music itself ended up sounding like Mars Hill but without the yummy. (I'm getting in trouble for this sooner or later.) At least the vocalist was kind of funny, though, in that ‘hey I'm a white dude rappin' about smokin' crack, HILARIOUS’ kind of way.

They did play a complete set, though, which is good on them since we ended up back by the bar chatting with each other. Afterwrds we talked to one of the dudes, Brandon, who ended up having a pretty good sense of humour about the whole thing, seemed a bit more able to take the whole night in stride than the vocalist who went on about playing in front of hundreds of people back in Ontario. (Apparently they took the Brennan's show because they want to get in with the promoter d-rock, possibly for next year's shoreline. I'd say they'd make a good breakfast-time act, similar to Juan Love this year (though JL is funnier)).

Later after the place closed the 4 of us got chinese take-out and sat around the big table at Brennen's chatting to the sound of the fridge (which you could hear pretty clearly between songs as well.) Having the place literally to ourselves was just the next logical step, really.

Brennan's seems unable to get a happy medium situation. It's always either been packed for something like Grand Theft Bus or Wintersleep or embarrassingly empty. You can only put up so many posters, too. It's a good advertisement for the all ages show structure, where you might have 2 away bands that could be good but no one really knows them, but put them on a bill with 4 other local acts and you're probably going to get a good crowd.
Technorati Tags: Music, Concerts, HipHop, Slaves+of+Spanky