Well, I must say that this is a time of year that I sometimes love
and sometimes just the opposite. You see it all depends not only on what
the weather is doing outside but more importantly how old I'm turning that
year. My birthday is on April 10th and by some odd twist of weird fate so
is esteemed colleague Wallygator Norton's. This year was the big 4-0 for
me and I was not sure how I felt about it, but the day passed quietly with me
at work and that was just fine by me. Wally and I had plans on Friday
April 12th to ring in our own birthday celebration "Decibel Geek
style". We struck out in the early afternoon of Friday,
meeting in down town Toronto and perusing shops like HMV (a large CD store), World's Biggest Bookstore
and used record stores searching for deals and treasures of our youth,
basically killing time wandering up and down Yonge Street, Toronto and along
Queen Street to Steve's Music as well. Things that neither of us had done
for a long time. It was an awesome way to spend the afternoon with my
Hoser Heavy Metal Twin. We ended our adventures at The Hard Rock Cafe at
Yonge and Dundas. This was not just a random place that we chose to stop
and enjoy an icy cold adult beverage, there was of course an ulterior motive
and the reason for our birthday celebrations. Good friend and former
KiLLeR DWaRf, Darrell Millar was set to play there that very evening with his
new band Automan.ca. Not only that, but it was the world video première for
their latest effort called Bona Fide from the Backseat Surprise CD
released in 2012. (BONA FIDE VIDEO)
We sat at the bar and ordered a beverage hearing Automan's sound
check in the room upstairs over the din of the restaurant. Guitarist
Carleton Lockhart and drummer Adrian Cavan came in after the sound check
and took seats farther down the bar for dinner as we drained our bottles and headed upstairs the minute the doors opened.
It was only 8pm and the first band was not set to hit the stage until
10pm, so plenty of time for drinking and chatting (Wally and I's conversations
have a habit of branching out in several directions and tangents, which you may
have heard some of if you listened to podcast episode #59 where the
Canadians take over the airwaves). As we occupied a booth in
the back corner front man and former KiLLeR DWaRfS skin basher Darrell Millar
joined us. Our conversation ranged from things like promoting a rock show, to my "in progress" full sleeve tattoo (which incorporates the KiLLeR DWaRfS logo among others), to when the Dwarfs opened for Saxon, to eating healthy and getting old.
Darrell really appreciates his fans and is a genuinely cool guy.
Bassist John Fenton joined us for a short time as well before Darrell had
to head down stairs and grab something to eat before the "window of eating" slammed closed. I quickly browsed the merchandise table, wanting to add new swag to my previously purchased Automan.ca t shirt and Wally was all smiles as he
displayed his newly purchased "spoils of war".
Wildheart was the first band on and they started up promptly at
10pm. The first thing I took notice of was the female bass player.
Women in rock bands are always sexy, but nothing beats a lady playing
bass for me. I don't know why that instrument over others, maybe it has to do with the
fact that I'm beginning to learn to play bass guitar with Wally as my teacher. My Lady of the Bass appeared to be a bit
timid or shy up on stage while the singer was lapping up the attention and
seemed very Black Crowesish to me in looks, at least that’s what came to my mind
anyway. One guitarist resembled Ron Keel
a little bit while the other could have played a role on the sitcom TV series That 70’s Show. One thing was for sure though, while they may
have looked
a bit eclectic through my birthday beer goggles, they certainly
sounded great as they punched through their all original opening set. They treated us to songs such as the lead-off
of Running Hot, Gypsy Soul, I Know You Will, Gone (a new song, we were
informed), Silver Bullet Truth and a couple of others. The Black Crowes looking singer showcased his
wacky dance moves, exhibiting a high energy throughout the set, sometimes
falling to his knees on the stage in a very expressive and entertaining set by
this new to me band that I will look for in the future. (WILDHEART on FACEBOOK)
A little behind schedule, such is a rock & roll show, the
world première of the brand new Automan video for Bona Fide danced across the
large drop down screen in front of the stage at about 11pm. The video was announced by the Hard Rock’s
manager and she was proud to let us all know that portions of the video had
been filmed on this very stage. It must
be a night for me to pick out look-a-likes, I thought as I noticed that Darrell
quite closely resembled Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean during the
video as the crowd studied the giant screen.
The huge applause response as the video première drew to a close was a
tell tale sign that the audience was impressed with the Bona Fide video. (BONA FIDE VIDEO)
With already having several birthday adult beverages in our systems and both having to work early the next day we opted to depart and start the trek home, unfortunately missing the last band of Joe Solo. Although we cut the evening a little short, it was a great birthday and Automan.ca never fails to deliver their brand of 70's infused southern style rock and roll. (AUTOMAN.CA on FACEBOOK)
Cheers,
The Meister
1 comment:
Great review!! I always loved the Dwarfs!! Now that I know this is Darryl's band I will check them out ASAP. Thanks for the great article!!
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