Mark your calendar: Go North Music Festival, July 14

St. Joseph Island, Ontario is a long way from Detroit and Windsor. But when we heard about the Go North Music Festival and saw this year's lineup, we knew N2DS2W had to go north on Sat., July 14 to support it. Stay tuned as we highlight Go North's sophomore appearance on the summer music festival scene in the coming weeks.

Show Alert: Writing It All Down For You

Fri., Jan. 16
Elliott BROOD
The Ark, Ann Arbor

The Sadies w/Duende
The Loving Touch, Ferndale

It's not often, especially lately, we get two can't-miss Canadian indie shows on the same night. Happy New Year.

We've seen both these bands multiple times in a variety of venues and can say you're guaranteed a great show. We consider Elliott BROOD's Mountain Meadows (2008) one of the best Canadian indie albums ever made. It's perfect from start to finish. They've come a long way since we first saw them at the Majestic Cafe in 2009; so has their once literally brooding, edgy "death" country sound. They're all Work and Love (2014) now-- and Juno award-winning (Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, 2013). Listen: "Jigsaw Heart," from Work and Love.

Whether sharing the stage with Gord Downie-- and making our list of top shows last year-- or with family (Home County, 2013), The Sadies are Good. That would be Dallas and Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. They should be: they celebrated 20 years in 2014 of superb Canadian indie. Listen: "What's Left Behind" from New Seasons (2007)

The Sadies. Yes, they're as bad-ass as they look.
(Photo credit: Don Pyle)

Show Alert: Elliott BROOD returns to the Capitol Theatre

 Sat., Mar. 30
Capitol Theatre, Windsor
With The Locusts Have No King and 24 Sussex

Tickets available at the door, Phog Lounge, Jam Space and Dr. Disc in Windsor

Elliott BROOD  |  The Locusts Have No King  |  24 Sussex

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Show Alerts: March goes out with a shout

When March comes in like a lamb and rains, it goes out like a lion and pours. And roars when it comes to Canadian indie shows in Windsor and Detroit this month. Two left and counting

Tues., Mar. 26
Shout Out Out Out Out
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Heloise & The Savoir Faire

THE show we've most looked forward to in March. We'd love this Edmonton band for the titles of their songs alone: "Chicken Soup For The F*^k You," "Now That I've Given Up Hope I Feel Much Better," "Your Shitty Record Won't Mix Itself." But accompanying the words filtered through a vocoder is some of the best dance/house/electronic music we know. These are real songs with a beginning, middle and end, not just stretches of repetitive mindless beats for the feets.

Listen: "Never The Same Way Twice" from their 2012 release, Spanish Moss and Total Loss

Sat., Mar. 30: Elliott BROOD, The Locusts Have No King and 24 Sussex, Capitol Theatre, Windsor. We never miss a BROOD show if we can help it, and with all of them parents now, who knows how long they'll keep touring? Locusts are a Windsor favourite, too.

Show Alert: Elliott BROOD

Thurs., Feb. 23
Magic Stick Lounge, Detroit
With Patrick Davy and the Ghosts

Bringing a little Northern Air to the winter that wasn't in Michigan, death country trio Elliott BROOD (Hamilton/Toronto) return to Detroit for the first time since 2009. We saw them three times last year (New Year's Eve at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Windsor's Capitol Theatre and Phog Phest III), and already braved one of the season's only snowstorms last month to catch them in Sarnia; they never bring anything but their all to a show. Celebrating 10 years as a band in 2012, their latest album, Days Into Years, chips away at the gritty death country label with a mellower vibe, but you can be sure of a foot-stomping, pan-clanging close to the show.

Fest or Famine

There is no famine for lovers of Canadian indie music this weekend (unless you're talking about Windsor's Harvesting the FAM Festival 2011-- you'll just have to go hungry until Sep. 30 - Oct. 8 for that) unless you don't make it to one of these festivals:

Oh! Fest (priced at "pay what you can") kicked off tonight (Fri., Sep. 16) in London, but there's still plenty of music on Saturday (including an after hours show at Call the Office) and Sunday. Scheduled performers include DD/MM/YYYY, Meligrove Band, METZ, Boxer the Horse, Paper Lions, The Danks, The Weather Station, Bruce Peninsula, The Deep Dark Woods, Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, By Divine Right and more.



Phog Phest 3 ($15), in the parking lot of Windsor's Phog Lounge. Music begins at 4 p.m. with ASK, and concludes with Grand Analog and Elliott BROOD, with great bands in between.



Before heading over to Phog Phest, we'll be catching Hey Rosetta! at the DIY Street Fair (free admission) in Ferndale for their 7:20 p.m. set. Hey, we couldn't say no.

BROOD, Grand Analog and more: Phog Phest 3

Phog Phest 2: Young Rival

Tickets are still available for Phog Phest 3, happening this Sat., Sep. 17 in the parking lot of Canada's Best Live Music Venue, Windsor's Phog Lounge. The $15 ticket price is small for a big lineup, plus if you buy in advance at the Phog, Dr. Disc, Jam Space, or the St. Clair College SRC, you'll be entered to win giveaways from CBC Radio 3, Wellington Brewery and more. See you there!

Your Phog Phest hosts: Tom Lucier (l) and Frank Incitti

Phog Phest 3 Facebook Event Page

Phog Phest 3 Band Lineup:

Elliott BROOD
Grand Analog (Toronto/Winnipeg)
The High Strung (Detroit)
What Seas, What Shores (Windsor)
The Swillingtones (Windsor)
Fiftywatthead (Windsor) - AC/DC set
Explode When They Bloom (Windsor)
ASK (Toronto/Windsor)

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Phog Phest 3

Sat., Sept. 17, noon to 12 a.m.

Get ready to have a tin pan alley (or parking lot as the case may be) clanging good time with headliners Elliott BROOD at Phog Phest 3, hosted by Windsor's Phog Lounge. Co-owner Tom Lucier is keeping us in suspense about the rest of the lineup, but promises a slow reveal over the coming weeks. Whatever he has under his pork pie hat, you can be sure it will be well worth $15. Click here for their Facebook event page.

There's Something In (On) The (Northern) Air

Windsor's favourite second sons, Elliott BROOD, announced today that "Northern Air," the first single from their forthcoming album will debut this coming Friday, April 29 on Grant Lawrence's weekly podcast.

According to the band's website, "Northern Air" will be available as a free download from May 1st until the long weekend. The song will also be available on a limited edition 7" vinyl in mid-May. The 7" record titled "Northern Companion" will be available from the site and at live performances this summer.  

Can you pick out the new songs?

As a side note, Grant Lawrence's debut book, Adventures in Solitude, a memoir of his time spent at his family cabin in a remote area of the West Coast, has won the BC Book Prize for the Bill Duthie Book of the Year, as chosen by the booksellers of British Columbia. Our most sincere congratulations are in order, Grant.

Thanks: Killbeat Music  Six Shooter Records

You Can Go Home Again

We've never been more reminded of the power of music than at the Elliott BROOD show at Windsor's Capitol Theatre on Sat., Jan. 29. It was the most emotional show we've ever attended in many ways. Preceded by Surdaster and James O-L and the Villains, this was a homecoming for the BROOD. Band members Mark Sasso and Casey LaForet are Windsor natives, and so the evening seemed more like a family/friend reunion. "Casey is so nervous," confided his mom Barb Murphy, aka as Babs46 on the Radio 3 blog (so glad we finally got to meet you, Babs).

Although natural, he didn't need to be. If their New Year's Eve show at Lee's Palace in Toronto was a boisterous, boozy (on the part of the audience) sing-along, this was a heartfelt love letter, from "Without Again" to "Miss You Now." In between Sasso, LaForet and drummer Stephen Pitkin delivered all their old showstoppers-- the pots-and-pans party to "Valley Town" and "Write It All Down For You" is a tradition now-- a great cover of Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece" (a perfect addition to their setlist) and a few songs off of their forthcoming album. Based on what we've heard, they're sticking with what they do best; the most promising are the ones that get you out of your seat.

By far the most poignant moment of the show came when they performed a song LaForet wrote for a friend who passed away ten years ago. Watching the mother of that friend listen to this gift was a testament to the capacity of music to touch us in ways other art does not.

Which should be a reason to save Windsor's Capitol Theatre. Poised to be delivered into the hands of the city just two days after show, we were impressed with the condition of this beautiful old landmark-- on the surface. But it needs $1 million in infrastructure repairs, and no investor has stepped forward. While the evening wasn't exactly the Last Picture Show-- plays and other events will continue for now-- there were plenty of reminders that the theater's future is uncertain.






Elliott BROOD's, however, is not.



















Photos: Russ Gordon

A Vote for Us...

Is a vote for clean air, fresh water, lower emissions and higher mpg.

Well, that would be nice, but not really. Your votes did help us survive the first cut for the CBC Radio 3 Searchlight for the Best Canadian Music Website. And that's a vote for all the Canadian indie bands we know and love and support through what we do. For both, we thank you.

One of the other great things about Searchlight is that it does just that: shines a light on something that might not otherwise get noticed. Like a lot of other blogs and websites promoting Canadian indie music. The second round of voting (which will cut the list down to 30) continues until next week; be sure to check out some of the other folks putting passion over profit.

We'll be getting back to business shortly. Our show schedule has been quiet (March, however, is getting more awesome by the day); we're looking forward to a great lineup at Windsor's Phog Lounge on Sat., Feb. 19: Raised by Swans, Pink Moth and Two for the Cascade.  Until then, watch for a review of the Elliott BROOD show at the Capitol Theatre last month.


Photo: Russ Gordon