REVIEW
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OCTOBER 14, 2004 Thursday, Doors: 5:00 $10 @ The Trinity Thrift Store Productions
Circle Takes the Square (Savanah, GA, USA)
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A month or so ago I started hearing rumours that this band Circle Takes the Square was supposed to play in Sarnia some time in October. I was extremely fucking stoked because I'd heard them a while ago and actually played one of their songs on this radio show I was a guest on up in Peterborough.
So last night around 7:00 me and Dave walked down to the Trinity to catch this show. I thought doors were supposed to open around 6:30 so we weren't too concerned we'd be late since most shows usually take a few hours to start. We got up there by around 7:30 and Tonight On Rewind (formerly, The Reason Why) were half way through their set. They were filling in for Starring Janet Leigh who didn't play because their drummer injured his finger. It was a bummer that we missed any of it (especially for the $10 cover charge) but since we'd seen them before, it wasn't a huge loss.
In spite of the fact that I'm completely not into the type of music they're doing, I must admit that Tonight On Rewind are not bad at it. They are like a mixture of melodic "new school" punk (the type of stuff some people call "emo" these days) with occasional really fast parts that are really becoming of the band. Bill Riley is an excellent drummer and when I hear him playing I can't help but think about how awesome he is. Yay Bill.
The Dead from London, ON, were the first of the out-of-town bands to play for the evening. I hadn't heard them but was quickly blown away. The guitarists and singer set up on the floor while the drums were set forward on the stage. It really brought everything together because while the audience went off, so too did the band. And did the audience ever go off! The Dead played some badass metal-influenced hardcore with some fast parts with crazy riffage, interspersed throughout crazy breakdowns, usually with weird timing. Everyone rocked out wildly despite the weird timing. I can't wait for them to come back again.
Next, Toronto's Arkata took the stage. They played some interesting hardcore stuff with female lead vocals and male back-ups. I don't really know how to describe this stuff because I fear I'm lacking the familiarity with the genres. A lot of their stuff was slow with strange changes in timing and intense riffing at times. The singer was pretty wild. Her hair hung in her face while she growled and screamed and evilly gesticulated with her hands.
The last band of the evening, and the one I'd been so excited to see, was Circle Takes the Square from Savanah, Georgia, USA. Their first song appeared uncomfortable for them and I think it was because the mics had not been set to the appropriate level yet. After this first song though, they really came into it. This band had insane time changes, times of extreme heaviness, crazy riffage, dual-female/male-vocals (both of which sounded badass as fuck) and on top of all that they had these rad sound clips and atmospheric noise. With all that, it was hard to figure out how to go off. Eventually, the right things happened to make me go nuts. Goddamn it was sweet. They were one of the most intense and sincere bands I've seen. I had to buy the CD, and from buying the CD, I know that the song that was the most intense for me was this View at the Ruins where both singers finish the song singing the same lines simultaneously while only the drums remain. Intense as fuck.
With the end of CTTS, it was time to go. Dave and I hung outside for a bit and then hit the road. On the whole, I was quite surprised by the turnout and I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen at shows before. The scene in Sarnia is definitely as big as it ever was, it's just become more factionalized.
- Stu (October 15, 2004)