Film Review: The Runaways

The Runaways
Director: Floria Sigismondi
March 19, 2010 (select cities)

As you may be able to gather from my first blog post, women who rock are kind of a big deal to me. As a teenager, I never felt like I could connect or identify with a male musician the way I could with a female one, and since there have always been relatively few of them in the harder genres, finding out about groups like the Runaways was always very inspiring to me. Even though they were a bit of a manufactured gimmick, the Runaways nonetheless showed the world that music isn’t gender exclusive, that you don’t need a dick to be totally hardcore or play an instrument well, and hence paved the way for a lot of women playing punk, metal and hard rock today. So I was pretty excited to see a big mainstream film coming out that would tell their story to millions (even if it does star a couple of Twilight tween idols).

Directed by Floria Sigismondi (an innovative artist who has directed some of the coolest music videos ever), The Runaways is a classic music biopic chronicling the all-girl teen punk band’s creation, tumultuous rise to fame, and subsequent implosion. The film places most of the focus on band founder Joan Jett (played by Kristen Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning). Though those casting choices initially threw many people for a loop, both actresses really do a skilful job of emulating the real Runaways members.

Of course, the gifted Fanning’s portrayal of Currie is emotional and captivating – the fifteen-year-old frontwoman may have seemed tough on stage, but was really a young, impressionable girl who fell into a very adult world of drugs, sex and abuse. Fanning displays that conflict well, but winds up making Currie seem a lot more innocent and passive than she actually was. Stewart pretty much nails the mannerisms and laid-back swagger of Jett, but at times is bland, unable to compete with her more charismatic co-stars. Perhaps the best performance is given by Michael Shannon as the Runaways’ deranged, eccentric manager and co-creator, Kim Fowley. There have been many wild stories and rumours told over the years about the guy, but Shannon has no difficulty living up to every expectation about how nuts Fowley was (and still is).

The main downfall of The Runaways is the story’s focus – based largely on Currie’s 1989 book, Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway, the movie spends most of its time looking at the lead singer and her struggle to handle life in a band. It could be argued, however, that Jett’s life story is more compelling, since she dealt more with sexual identity issues and gender stereotyping in the music industry, and had a more interesting, ultimately triumphant music career post-Runaways. Furthermore, the film practically ignores the rest of the band members altogether – even Lita Ford, the super-ballsy and extremely talented lead guitarist who went on to have a pretty decent recording career as well. Currie’s experience is certainly gripping, but it would have been nice to see the movie shine more light on how the hard-rock lifestyle affected each of these very different girls.

Despite its shortcomings, Sigismondi definitely breathes a lot of life and colour into this rock n’ roll bio, using the music, images and style of the late seventies to their fullest potential. If nothing else, The Runaways serves as a reminder of just how far we’ve come; artists like Brody Dalle, Shirley Manson and even Paramore may seem totally normal in the mainstream today, but thirty years ago, they would have been unheard of. The Runaways may have started out as a gimmick, but they wound up changing the music business, and that makes for a pretty darn fascinating tale.

Official movie site
YouTube: The Runaways, “Cherry Bomb” (Live in Japan)

Live Review: Dillinger Escape Plan

I used to think Toronto concert crowds were pretty lame, too full of jaded hipsters who could show no more enthusiasm for a performer than a slight nodding of their head and the occasional “woo!” That was, however, until I went to my first all-ages metal show; man, these kids can go off. Maybe it was because the band they were there to see had a reputation for being one of the most visceral performers on Earth, but the throng of fans at the Opera House on Sunday night pretty much turned me into a hardcore addict for life. Acoustic folk gigs are for suckers!

Playing to a packed venue, the Dillinger Escape Plan closed out Canadian Music Week with one of their trademark explosive shows. The current lineup has a very wide range of experience (the only original member, Ben Weinman, has been at it for 13 years, while their 19-year-old drummer, Billy Rymer, only joined last year), but all five guys fired off equal levels of energy that bordered on insanity. The ferocious set included a few tracks from their upcoming record, Option Paralysis, as well as many fan favourites like “Sunshine the Werewolf,” “Milk Lizard” and “Sugar Coated Sour.” Miraculously, the band even managed to downgrade the madness for a captivating rendition of “Mouth of Ghosts,” an Ire Works slow-jam centred on a lengthy jazz-piano breakdown. Throughout the night, however, the guys never lost momentum and always worked to keep the crowd captivated – even if it meant climbing speakers, swinging guitars in people’s faces, and stage diving mid-song. Now that’s showmanship.

Heartbreakingly, the set blew by too fast and there was no encore, but I guess that’s the mark of a gifted performer; they always leave you wanting more. Dillinger Escape Plan will be back in Toronto for the Warped Tour in July, and if there’s any justice in the world, will play another headlining show here in the near future.

MySpace: Dillinger Escape Plan
YouTube: Great live video where lead singer Greg Puciato uses the audience as a treadmill

Canadian Music Week: Recommendations

Now in it’s 29th year, the Canadian Music Festival is hitting Toronto with a crapload of live music for the next 5 days. Boasting over 700 artists this year, CMW can be a daunting event to navigate; how can you possibly figure out which shows are worth battling the long lines and packed houses to check out? I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I’ve compiled a short guide below for those who know what kind of music they like, but just don’t know where to find it. Enjoy, and make sure you get out there and support your music scene this week!

If you’re into: Electronic dance/pop
Head over to: Roosevelt Room, March 10
The much buzzed-about Parallels (formed in part by ex-Crystal Castles member, Cameron Findlay) will be playing at the Eye Weekly Opening Party, along with other synth pop acts Styrofoam Ones, DVAS and Montreal’s CFCF.

If you’re into: Introspective singer-songwriter stuff
Head over to: Music Gallery, March 12
Those who can appreciate softer, more sobre tunes will enjoy the beautiful work of Julie Fader, Brian Borcherdt and Postdata (a new side project formed by Wintersleep’s Paul Murphy) at the music gallery this Friday.

If you’re into: Metal, and lots of it
Head over to: Bovine Sex Club, March 12 OR The Opera House, March 14
There’s a couple of shows worth seeing this week if you’re into harder music, and luckily, both feature a pretty full bill to give you your money’s worth. Over at the Bovine, Metal Blade Records and Exclaim! magazine are presenting a showcase for some great down n’ dirty Canadian acts, including Assassinate The Following, Starring Janet Leigh, Aeternam, Barn Burner, Bison B.C. and Titan. Over at the Opera House, The Dillinger Escape Plan will likely be throwing down another one of their notoriously insane live shows, and will be joined by another highly-experimental metal group, iwrestledabearonce, as well as Darkest Hour and Animals as Leaders.

If you’re into: Punk and dirty lo-fi stuff
Head over to: El Mocambo, March 10
It’s too bad the Reverb had to close its doors earlier this year, as it was one of the go-to places in the city for a good ol’ fashioned punk show. However, Fucked Up‘s set at the El Mocambo should easily provide hardcore fans a great night – they’ll also be joined by noisy locals Bastard Child Death Cult, as well as slightly more mellow bands Lifestory Monologue, The Black Swan Effect and Tropics.

If you’re into: Southern blues and classic rock
Head over to: Silver Dollar (Comfort Zone – lower level), March 12
The punk-infused Delta swing of CATL will be on display at this showcase, along with many other southern-styled rockers like Huron, Dexateens, Ian Blurton’s Happy Endings and The Lawn.

If you’re into: Great Canadian indie
Head over to: Lee’s Palace, March 10 OR Royal York Hotel, March 13 OR Horseshoe Tavern, any night
CMW is obviously all about the indie rock, but there’s a few to definitely keep in mind. Firstly, Jason Collett is leading a “Bonfire Ball” Revue at Lee’s Palace with fellow musicians Zeus and Bahamas. Secondly, the Constantines (one of the essential Canadian bands you MUST see live before you die) are headlining a set at the Royal York along with a lot of other great acts, including Great Lake Swimmers, Plants and Animals and the Rural Alberta Advantage. Finally, the Horseshoe is almost always a good bet for local indie acts, and this year’s festival is no exception; they’ll be hosting a lot of great bands this week, including the Besnard Lakes, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Wooden Sky, among many others.

Disc Review: Jaguar Love

Jaguar Love
Hologram Jams
2010, Fat Possum

It was a sad day when the Blood Brothers, one of the most distinctive and original hardcore bands ever, called it quits back in late 2007. Luckily, though, two of the best elements of that group – the bionic shrieking vocals of Johnny Whitney and the gloriously volatile guitar riffs of Cody Votolato – went on to form the basis of another band, Jaguar Love. The two originally joined forces with Pretty Girls Make Graves’ Jay Clark and embarked on creating a more overtly pop sound, resulting in a couple of EPs and 2008’s Take Me to the Sea. Since then, however, the duo of ex-Brothers have moved forward as just a two-piece to produce their latest effort, the awesomely-titled Hologram Jams.

The new record expands on the group’s dance music cravings by layering the chaotic vocals and guitars over a glammy, 80s synth-pop backdrop. Now without a live drummer, the pair use programmed beats and melodies to up the electronic factor, and the result is some seriously trippy futuristic pop. It isn’t a total departure from Jaguar Love’s past work; Whitney is still taking the concept of “hypermasuline” to the extreme with his singing, and all the songs (even the ballads) are still high-energy, hook-laden pop tunes, but the atmosphere of Hologram Jams is definitely more synthetic than its predecessor.

One of the biggest WTF moments of the album comes at the end, with a truly unique rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart.” If you recall the Blood Brothers’ cover of the Bowie/Queen classic “Under Pressure,” you’ll know that these guys don’t make any concessions to their unique sound when covering others. It’s a little insane-sounding, kind of like a Mini Kids Pop version on severe amounts of acid, but you have to give the boys credit for having some real guts and never straying from their artistic vision.

Jaguar Love definitely aren’t a band for everybody – like any other act Whitney and Votolato have been a part of, the music is abrasive and confrontational, and strangely, despite falling into a dance-pop-type genre, isn’t all that accessible – but that’s kind of the point. Out of all the numerous projects that have come out of the Blood Brothers’ demise, this one certainly comes the closest to reliving the glory. Despite the few shortcomings, Hologram Jams is a perfect dance record for hyperactive children and the slightly unhinged.

Myspace: Jaguar Love
YouTube: Video for “I Started a Fire”

Live Review: Magneta Lane

This past Friday evening, the majority of you Torontonians were probably snug at home watching the Olympic opening ceremonies, but a select group (myself included) decided to ditch the televised spectacle, venture out into the cold and head down to the ol’ Horseshoe Tavern for the Magneta Lane CD release party.

The night featured many guest openers, including Hamilton trio The Barettas, recent radio hitmakers Elias, and local act Make Your Exit. Each group played their own lighthearted mix of lively indie pop/rock that gradually drew a larger and more enthusiastic audience as the night progressed.

Some time after midnight, Magneta Lane’s trio of ladies took to the stage for a fast and efficient setup, decking out the mics and drum kit with Christmas lights while wearing theatrical Venetian masks. This affinity for being a bit dramatic has always been a theme in the band’s music, but is certainly more amplified in their latest record, Gambling with God. The 10-track album, released through Last Gang Records, retains the group’s simple, biting approach to melodic indie, but with a little more depth and layering of sounds this time around.

Magneta Lane’s lean musical style translates well to their live performance; beginning with “Broken Plates” off of 2006’s Danging with Daggers (check the penchant for alliteration in album titles), the girls blew through a roughly 40 minute set, playing fast and focused and allowing little time for dawdling or stage banter. Emphasis was obviously placed on playing new material, which included the drivingly off-kilter “Bloody French,” pulsing first single “Lady Bones” and the boisterous title track. As a special surprise, former controller.controller lead vocalist Nirmala Basnayake briefly joined the girls on stage and performed backup for a Gambling With God standout, “House of Mirrors.” It’s only too bad she couldn’t stick around, as many songs on the new record feature lovely layers of singing (and the other band members seem pretty averse to using their pipes).

Contrary to the other players of the evening, the Magneta Lane set was permeated with fast rhythms and loud distortion, save for the sweet ballad “September Came,” which marked the first time lead singer Lexi Valentine performed on stage with an acoustic guitar (apparently ever). Though Gambling with God was the main source of material, the girls also played a few favourites from Dancing with Daggers as well, closing out with the fiery battle cry “Daggers Out!”

Sadly, despite the crowd’s protests, there was no encore, but fans will be happy to know that the band will be back again very soon – first at CMW, then a full tour soon after.

Magneta Lane’s Website
Mildly creepy video for “Lady Bones”

Disc Review: Deathrats

Deathrats
S/t 7″
2009, To Live a Lie

Washington DC is known for having one of the best hardcore scenes in the late ‘80s, but it’s still churning out great stuff today. Take the feisty youngins in Deathrats, for example: they’re still pretty new, just releasing their first 7” EP last year, but my oh my, what an EP it is. This six-song assault, clocking in at just under eight minutes total, features some of the most unrelenting, breakneck punk of 2009, with plenty of feedback-laden pauses, sudden stops and lingering screams to leave you bewildered and wanting more. Lead singer Christine adds a unique fuel to the fire, not only with her primal style of vocals but with thoughtful, socially-conscious lyrics. Invoking the spirit of Riot Grrrl, she screams fervently about body image and agency, hiding negative emotions in public, and how lame it is that girls feel compelled to fight rather than support each other. Giving hope to hard-rocking females who may fear the feminist push is over, she shouts fervently on “Girl Style”: “Why do they look backward to Kathleen Hannah, when there are so many of us now?” Hell yeah, sister.

Deathrats blog
Lyrics and download

Disc Review: Fucked Up

Fucked Up
Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009
2010, Matador

Fucked Up have only been on people’s radar for a relatively short period of time, but it already feels like they’re prolific punk legends. Rather than releasing music in your standard LP format every few years, the Toronto band prefers printing up a multitude of separate vinyl singles almost as soon as the song is written. As a result, it’s probably nearly impossible to obtain a full Fucked Up discography – there’s a crapload of material to find out there, much of it in limited supply.

Luckily, the good folks at Matador have helped fans out by compiling many of the band’s 7” and 12”s into Couple Tracks, which chronicles much of their productive career. Featuring 25 songs worth of unrelenting hardcore fury, the two-disc set is divided up into, apparently, “The Hard Stuff” and “The Fun Stuff” (though it’s hard to tell how they draw the line there). Disc one opens up with “No Pasaran,” an impassioned political statement on the Spanish Civil war. The intensity of their brutal, no holds barred style never really lets up from there, resulting in a compilation that’s remarkably energetic and consistent – well, as “consistent” as is possible for a band like Fucked Up.

Couple Tracks contains a few treats for seasoned fans and newcomers alike, including a couple different versions of songs that appeared on their highly-successful LPs, 2006’s Hidden World and 2008’s Polaris Prize-winning The Chemistry of Common Life. Faster, heavier versions of “Triumph of Life” and “No Epiphany” are certainly worthwhile, but nowhere near as entertaining as the charitable holiday tune “David Christmas,” a single featuring the likes of James Murphy, Jay Reatard, and Nelly Furtado.

Fucked Up’s classic, uncompromising methods are on full display in Couple Tracks, and any admirer (new or old) will have much to appreciate with this extensive collection. Few bands today can make mainstream press with a curse word in their name, and even fewer hardcore acts get the opportunity to win major art awards or smash shit up on MTV, but these guys have somehow managed to do it all. If you want to get acquainted with some legendary punk superheroes before they retire, break up or kill each other, Couple Tracks would be a good place to start.

YouTube: “Twice Born” on MTV Live

Rebel girls

I’ve been playing guitar for almost nine years. It all started in Grade 10, when I somehow managed to convince my dad to buy me a cheap Yamaha acoustic for my sweet sixteen birthday gift. He didn’t think the hobby would last 2 weeks, but I proved him wrong. We’ve had our ups and downs, been off-and-on a couple times, but overall, my relationship with the guitar is one of the happiest and healthiest relationships I’ve ever had.

That’s a little weird, isn’t it? Yeah, probably.

Anyway, that one little birthday gift is a big reason why I’m still such a music nut today, and it’s part of the reason I decided to start a music blog. I’m always excited to see other girls out there who love the instrument as much as I do, and since this blog is named after a song by one of my favourite guitarists right now (who also happens to be of the XX chromosome persuasion), I thought it would only make sense to kick this whole thing off with a quick-and-dirty Top Five list of my favourite female axe-slingers today.

Wata (Boris)

Boris is a band that can’t seem to stick to any one genre for long, but one thing never changes: it’s always heavy. The Japanese trio veers from hardcore to drone to stoner with the greatest of ease, and Wata’s guitar playing adds the most ferocious, feedback-laden riffs to the mix. It’s amazing to watch her dynamic with the other guys in the band when playing live; while the other two go into an animated headbanging frenzy, Wata is always perfectly calm and composed, like the eye of the storm. It’s pretty powerful.

Boris on MySpace
YouTube: music video for “Statement”

St. Vincent

Annie Clark is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist, but the guitar is her main thing. She really thinks outside-the-box in terms of how to use the instrument, and isn’t constrained by what a guitar “should” sound like. Whether it’s a light touch for a harmonic flourish or a livid scraping for a violent solo, she always knows the right way to manipulate her axe for maximum dramatic effect.

St. Vincent on MySpace
YouTube: “Your Lips are Red” (live DUMBO session)

Feist

Don’t let her sweet “1234” facade fool you – Leslie Feist can let out some down-and-dirty blues licks when she needs to. Her approach to playing is very tactful and nuanced, always bringing out the right emotion to compliment her soulful voice. If you’ve ever seen her live, you know what a treat it is – she definitely lets loose with the guitar a lot more than on her recordings, and gets a great, full-bodied sounds out of her signature red Guild.

Feist on MySpace
YouTube: “Sea Lion Woman” (Live)

Marnie Stern

A playful and energetic tapper, Marnie Stern has an enthusiasm for the guitar that’s downright infectious. Her fingers move along the fretboard at the speed of light, but her music is definitely not about merely wanking and showing off; she uses her talent to write some truly creative (and oftentimes quirky) licks and riffs. Her songs are usually a cacophony of multiple competing guitar lines, and her playing makes me think of a kid in a candy store; she just wants to try everything, and is having a fantastic time doing it.

Marnie Stern on MySpace
Pitchfork TV: Marnie Stern live in NYC

Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney)

Although Sleater-Kinney called it quits almost four years ago, Carrie Brownstein remains one of the most skilled and innovative guitarists of the past two decades, male or female. From her bare-bones punk style on Call the Doctor to her monstrous Hendrix-y solos on The Woods, her playing has inspired many aspiring female rockers today (including a couple of the other gals on this list). Heck, I probably wouldn’t be half the guitar player I am today if I hadn’t been so enraptured by songs like “Dig Me Out” or “Entertain” that I forced myself to learn them note-for-note. I sure hope a reunion is in the cards for these girls one day.

Sleater-Kinney’s Website
YouTube: “What’s Mine is Yours” (live)