SoundBites
Matthew Harrison and Jennifer Tattersall
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Angie Karp: a not-so-vane songwriter
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A HOOT OF A FOLK FEST AUDITION (MATTHEW HARRISON)
"It's an interesting situation. You have all of these musicians squeezed into Rasputin's folk café for three full days of auditions," said Angie Karp, lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist for folk-pop act The Vanity Press. She was talking about the 2004 Ottawa Folk Festival auditions back in April.The Vanity Press, along with Joe Grass, Ana Miura and Ryan Schneider, were selected from 54 hopefuls to compete in the final round of auditions for the New Performer category, which you can watch at the NAC's Fourth Stage on Sunday, May 30.
"We love the festival, we love performing, and we've already had the privilege of meeting some of the people in the finals," Karp said.
One of those people is Ana Miura, solo folk musician and new mother, who recently "was too huge to get a guitar in front of me." She said she returned to music after giving birth and "unexpectedly" landed one of four spots in the finals.
"I played and did the best I could, I wasn't too sure how I did. I told my friends, 'Aw, I don't think I made it,' and they were like, 'Are you sure?' Usually I'm fine, but that day I was so nervous," she said.
As part of the Festival this year, the CBC's Galaxie Rising Stars Program is awarding cash prizes of $1,000. "For starving musicians who can't afford strings, that's pretty cool. You can buy a lot of strings for $1,000," Karp said, laughing.
The Vanity Press - Karp, Andrea Harden (temporarily
replaced by Matt Ouimet) and Joff Ward - have been together for two years and released their first full-length, Things To Do, in 2003. "We all met in Ottawa," Karp recalled. "I was already friends with Andrea and I met Joff at a women's festival. He was the only one there and he was wearing a Hooter's T-shirt."
Ottawa Folk Festival finalists at the NAC's Fourth Stage Sunday, May 30 at 8 p.m. (doors @ 7 p.m.). Tix $8, available at the NAC box office or through Ticketmaster. The Ottawa Folk Festival happens August 26-29 in Britannia Park. For the line-up, visit www.ottawafolk.org.
xxxCUT IT UP (JENNIFER TATTERSALL)
Listening to Uncut's debut full-length, Those Who Were Hung Hang Here, it's hard to believe that it sprang out of a year-old gloomy techno-rock project by Toronto duo Ian Worang and Jake Fairley.
But despite a deal with Paper Bag Records, unexpected hurdles sent Fairley's techno career to Germany, while Worang stayed put in T.O.
"He used to go around Europe touring every summer," said Worang of Fairley. "The last time he went, he decided to not come back."
Worang soldiered on, keeping the name but morphing the band into a full-fledged rock 'n' roll outfit including three new members: singer-guitarist Sam Goldberg, bassist Derek Tokar and Jon Drew on drums. Luckily, they had all been approached to play on the forthcoming record prior to Fairley's departure, "so the transition was smooth and swift," Worang recalled.
A certain dour sound remains but the techno aspect has been flushed out to accommodate the new instrumentation. The result is heavy new-wave rock, that screams of Joy Division in their more punk, less pop, moments. Worang insists his influences haven't changed. He's just brought the new wave a bit more to the forefront.
"It was just a little more reorganizing than a drastic change," he said. "With some new things, such as turning up the guitar volume, that part sort of came through."
Uncut w/ Tangiers Wednesday, June 2 at 8 p.m., $10, Zaphod Beeblebrox.
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PAINT IT BLUE (JENNIFER TATTERSALL)
Toronto songwriter Dave Schoonderbeek is a confident guy. When New York indie label, Stinky Records, came knocking on his door, the Another Blue Door singer-guitarist was pleased but hardly surprised. "I don't want to sound like I've got a swelled head or anything like that, but it was a pretty good demo," says Schoonderbeek sheepishly by phone from a New York City hotel room.
"It was a demo that we had sitting around for over a year. We didn't really do anything with it or send it out. We got asked for it once and they liked it and signed us."
He's entitled to such self-assurance. Schoonderbeek did the solo thing for a number of years and then formed Another Blue Door in 2000 with drummer T. Craig Toutant, bassist Steve Krecklo, and guitarists Nathan Rekker and Pete Carmichael. But three-fifths of his crew (Toutant, Kerecklo and Rekker) were sharing time with retro-rockers The Carnations, so Schoonderbeek had time to hone his moody song-writing.
The band's debut album, Haulers, reveals hints of Replacements, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr., mixing strong indie-rock sentimentality with the odd killer guitar solo that would send any classic rocker reeling.
"For the most part, the record was a backlog of songs," he said. "Some of the songs go back to when I was playing by myself."
Another Blue Door w/ Matthew Barber Friday, May 28 at 8 p.m., $8, Zaphod Beeblebrox.
