For me, the opening show of Canadian Music Week 2008 was a packed room at the Kool Haus featuring The Hives with support from The Donnas and The Carps

Click the thumbnail to view the full size image. All photos by John Hargraft

The Carps are a hard to place in any one genre duo from Scarborough. A mix of rock and punk with some soul/R&B and a little electro. They are Jahmal Tonge doing the lead vocals plus drums and Neil White playing the bass / computer and also some vocals. It was a short set to try to get the early crowd going but most people really just wanted to see The Hives.



After a short break The Donnas came out to a crowd that had grown and was ready for some Rock & Roll. The Ladies don’t disappoint as rock is what these girls do well.

The band hails from Palo Alto, California. A four piece with Brett Anderson (formally Donna A) as lead vocals. Maya Ford (formally Donna F) on Bass. Allison Robertson (formally Donna R) with the Guitar and Torry Castellano (formally Donna C) on the Drums.



For those who don’t know The Hives are a five man band from Fagersta, Sweden. The Hives came out in their classic matching suits and jumped right into a couple songs from their newest release The Black and White Album. Throwing in a few songs from the previous releases Tyrannosaurus Hives and Veni Vidi Vicious, The Hives rounded out the set list. They played for almost an hour straight with a few minutes break and another fifteen minute encore. The band worked hard on the stage never slowing down for an appreciative crowd.

So all in all The Carps piqued my interest, The Donnas were great but The Hives were fantastic. A pretty good start to what should be an action packed week of musical mayhem at CMW.