Idle Sons
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario
http://idlesons.com
http://www.myspace.com/idlesons
Sin City October 11, 2006
With
Rides Again, and
My Darkest Days
You know how it goes. Lots of times the opening bands really aren't worth the price of admission. That's why I set about scoping out My Darkest Days and Rides Again on Wednesday afternoon..... should I hit the Idle Sons show early enough to catch the openers? A quick listen to the songs offered on their myspace pages helped me make up my mind pretty quick. Hell yeah!
My buddy Stewart (sports photog extraordinaire) and I headed down to Sin City at about 8:30. It was cold, raining and miserable. It's October in Canada, what else is to be expected. We geeked out talking camera gear for a while and I got my new Nikon D80 purring like a kitten.
At around 9:30, Rides Again hit the stage. This trio is Canadian pop metal personafied. I don't mean that in a bad way, I like music with chunky guitars and good melodies. They've got a Ramones-esque thing going on with all of them having the same black mop-top hairdo, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Overall, I enjoyed Rides Again, and can see good things in their future.
Like clockwork, My Darkest Days rolled out at 10:30. This is a band to watch! They were really tight, really agressive, and had great stage presence. Girls'll dig the singer and his golden curls.
But..... I have their 3-song demo and it doesn't light me on fire. A little too Three Days Grace. In talking to some of cute girls in attendance I learned that My Darkest Days originally hail from Norwood (the birthplace of Three Days Grace). There must be something in the water that makes kids want to tune down to 'C' and grind.
This is a band that will benefit from a producer who can harness thier talent, capture their live energy in the studio, and help them find their own sound.
But the reason I was there was to see Idle Sons. My friend Trash, the tattooed/punk rocker/dairy farmer/snake breeder/consumer of all things music and movie, turned me on to Idle Sons and brokered my intro to their manager.
Idle Sons have shown they have staying power after enduring four years between record deals. Not many bands can claim that kind of determination. These guys also have a very original sound which sets them apart from the current crop of drop tuned "pop" metalers.
Those four years have also turned Idle Sons into a fantastic live band. I'd felt that their album
Sixteen Seasons had a very live dynamic, and that was borne out that rainy Wednesday at Sin City.
They had their work cut out for them, though. It became evident that many of those in attendance were local fans of My Darkest Days. I'd like to think that the Sons handlily showed why they were the headliners and why they will shortly be heading out in support of Three Days Grace.
One night, three bands. All of them worth seeing again.
For more photos see:
Idle Sons in the Photo Gallery
Rides Again in the Photo gallery
My Darkest Days in the Photo gallery