July Talk gets deep in Vancouver

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      At the Commodore on Friday November 25, 2016

      Toronto alt-rock band July Talk played the second of two sold-out shows at the Commodore Ballroom on Friday night. Known for its explosive live performances, the band did not disappoint its dedicated fans by delivering a passionate and high-energy show.

      The audience was in good spirits—it was Friday night, after all—and an interesting mix of hipsters and music afficionados created an uplifting mood. The cheers from the crowd were almost deafening, with everyone truly excited to be there. Equally enthusiastic was the band itself, with frontman Peter Dreimanis proclaiming multiple times how incredibly lucky they were to playing at one of the best venues in the world, and to be back on Canadian soil.

      The chemistry between Dreimanis and fellow vocalist Leah Fay was undeniable. As they sang to each other, both cheekily gave their counterpart the finger, creating a dialogue in their music and performance. At one point, Fay pretended her microphone was a cock, inviting Dreimanis to get on his knees and sing into it while Fay held his head, with Dreimanis later pulling Fay’s hair in a scene of physical tension. While impossible to know if their offstage dynamic is different, it felt as if the two performers were very close friends, if not lovers.

      The band’s energy was explosive, adding a punk feel to its supercharged blues-rock set. Sweat dripping from her face, Fay ran around the stage in a frenzy, flinging her hair back and forth and pointing at audience members while looking right into their eyes. Dreimanis jumped into the throng at one point, guitar in hand, but still managed to hit the right notes on his instrument while crowd surfing. Live, Dreimanis’s voice has every bit of the Tom Waits-esque gravely growl, and Fay’s angelic vocals provided an excellent foil. Drummer Danny Miles smacked the skins with violent ferocity, locking in with bassist Josh Warburton’s powerful bass lines, and guitarist Ian Docherty expertly rounded out the sound.

      Opening with newest single “Picturing Love” from its latest album, Touch, the band made sure the venue went off like a box of firecrackers. Skillfully moving through tracks from a number of their earlier EPs, July Talk climaxed its set with a rendition of standout song  “Johnny + Mary” that was full of piss and vinegar, while staple “Guns + Ammunition” created a soulful groove that had everyone bouncing to the beat and singing along to the “ooh oh ohs”. Sultry and sexy, Fay launched into each song with an elegance and punk-rock vibrancy, building her performances through “Push + Pull” until reaching a new intensity during “Blood + Honey”.

      The lighting suited the mood well, with the venue’s stark white beams providing a contrast with the Commodore’s darkness: an aesthetic choice that mirrors the band’s strict black and white code in its visuals. Certain songs like album title track “Touch”, however, washed the stage in a deep red hue, providing relief from the band’s colourless dynamic.

      Dreimanis’s banter with the audience was honest and engaging. At one point, he recalled the time when he saw the Constantines years ago at the Commodore, and how the show changed his life. Moving from the serious to the comedic, the band proclaimed that the crowd “Doesn’t know how fucking lucky they are to live in such a beautiful city such as Vancouver”, and then began to play a few notes of a well-known song, telling the audience it was a Backstreet Boys tune.

      In a world where rock’n’roll is not taken as seriously as it once was, July Talk at no point seemed like it was over-acting or being insincere. As the frenzied show finally came to a close, the curtain call was bittersweet, with the adoring audience unwilling to watch the performers go. 

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