Alex Edkins of METZ takes a power stance at Supercrawl in Hamilton, ON on Sept. 14, 2013. The festival also saw performances from Fucked Up, Thurston Moore’s new band Chelsea Light Moving, Speedy Ortiz, and more. Photo: Tom Beedham
This September the Hamilton community celebrated its fifth year of the annual James St. North Supercrawl, estimated to bring out an attendance of over 100,000 people this year. I brought along a camera and got shots of performances from bands performing the second full day of this year’s festival, including sets from Fucked Up, METZ, Thurston Moore’s post-Sonic Youth band Chelsea Light Moving, Speedy Ortiz, The Pack AD, X Ambassadors, and Doldrums.
Whitehorse’s Melissa McClelland improvises a microphone out of a phone receiver at Fort York for Toronto Urban Roots Fest July 7. Photo: Tom Beedham
Whitehorse is husband and wife Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland’s band. Hamilton-bred, they moved to Toronto a week before TURF and share their band’s name with a city in Yukon. The layers of the group’s genesis are many, but there’s a minimal chance they outweigh those of its sonic output.
Putting on their best mad scientist impressions, Whitehorse spent the first half of their TURF set singing through telephones, banging on anything they could get their hands and drumsticks on, picking through rock star guitar solos, and looping all of it to serve up a heavily layered Dagwood of sound.
Then they flipped the switch to unfiltered an country serenade built on dual acoustic guitars.
While it’s hard to isolate the band under the heading of a general genre, their set at TURF certainly made it acceptable to slap “experimental” in front of any category you might suggest.
Arkells played a special set of Motown covers after their regular set at TURF on July 5. Photo: Tom Beedham
If you’ve never been to Detroit, the Arkells have. And when they played Toronto Urban Roots Fest on July 5, they brought enough of Motor Town for everyone to share.
Closing out the regular portion of their TURF set with the Detroit-referencing “Where U Goin” from their 2011 LP Michigan Left, the Arkells then dove into a special collection of hits curated from Motown’s catalogue.
Known to inject a cover or two into their sets, the Arkells switched into shirt and tie and suit attire for the special presentation, going on to play The Four Tops’ “It’s the Same Old Song,” The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love,” The Miracles’ “The Tracks of My Tears,” The Temptations’ “Aint Too Proud To Beg,” “Get Ready” and “My Girl,” Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher,” and Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.”
The band contracted some help from super cover band Dwayne Gretzky to make it all happen; friends Tyler Kyte, Nick Rose, and Edwin Sheard played the less Arkells-like saxophone and tambourine parts as well as additional guitar and backing vocals.
The regular portion of the set opened with “Whistleblower” and consisted of other singles like their Hamilton hometown banger “Oh, The Boss Is Coming!,” and “John Lennon,” as well as fan favourites like “Deadlines” and “Kiss Cam.”
TOM BEEDHAM 