Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk

My first chance to see this indie/folk/pop band from Calgary was this past winter at the The Spill in Peterborough, ON. The band had embarked on a huge 65-day tour that spanned Canada, from Nanaimo, BC to St. John’s, NL. This summer they continued their musical odyssey with yet another cross-country tour, the "Summer Of Colour” tour. This summers tour has included dates at the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois and the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Lauren Mann leads the band on keyboards, ukulele, and with her beautiful vocals. Her husband, Zoltan Szoges, handles a wide variety of percussion instruments and melodica. The "Fairly Odd Folk" part of the group can be any number of musician friends who accompany the band during concerts. Gorgeous melodies and captivatingly heartfelt lyrics make Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk a "must listen to" act.

The band has a full length CD "Stories From Home" which is a compilation of songs from her two previous EPs, "Lauren Mann" and "Lost and Found", plus three new tracks. The CD showcases Lauren's talents from her early years. Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk spent two months in Florida this year recording their upcoming CD.

Lauren was kind to take time from her busy tour schdule to do an online interview with Christian Rock Files.

Lauren Mann

Christian Rock Files: Lauren, how did you first get involved in music?

Lauren Mann: Way back in the day, I didn't really play at all outside from home, but in Jr. High, I started playing piano on the youth worship team, and kept doing that into high school, and that really gave me confidence and helped me get comfortable playing in front of people. I've always liked coming up with my own melodies and lyrics, and in late high school I started getting a bit of a repertoire together. My first show outside of church was in August 2008 at a house show. It was pretty nerve-wracking, but so much fun. From there I got connected with people in the Calgary music scene and began playing shows in cafes and venues around town.

CRF: Which musicians have influenced you?

Lauren: I grew up listening to a lot of classical music, I think because I was in ballet and piano lessons, so that has greatly influenced my music. Some of my all-time favorite bands are Coldplay, Switchfoot, U2, and Copeland, and they've influenced me quite a bit over the years. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Brooke Fraser, an indie rock band from Texas called Eisley, Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons, and I have recently fallen in love with the music of The Head and The Heart, from Seattle.

CRF: Where do you hope your music career will lead you?

Lauren: To the ends of the earth! Haha. I've always wanted to travel the world, and music is a really good way to do that, so I'd like to continue touring in Canada, but then also travel all over. I've never really had a desire to be "famous," I just want to play my music for anyone who will listen, and hopefully in turn inspire and speak hope and life into people.

CRF: Zoltan, how did you and Lauren meet?

Lauren: (This is Lauren...Zoltan has a lot of emails to get through, so I'll answer for him.)
Zoltan was managing a band from Calgary called Kiros, and I met them in Kelowna, BC in July 2007 while leading worship at a youth camp at a church there. On the last night of camp, we had a worship service and then Kiros played a show right after, so I met the guys, but not Zoltan; he was sleeping since they had a night drive ahead of them. I went to one of their shows in Calgary the next weekend, and over the next few months got to be really good friends with them. I had heard of Zoltan, but didn't actually meet him until early 2008. We got to be friends through Kiros and kept in touch over the years. When he moved to Alberta in early 2010, we started hanging out a lot, and started dating shortly after that, and then in May of that year we got married!

CRF: You are currently on your second cross country tour of 2011. How has it been spending so much time from home? Any negative days, positive days? Recollections?

Lauren: Living on the road is definitely a unique lifestyle. It looks really exciting adventurous usually, but it can get difficult for sure. I find that I get disconnected from the community back in Calgary because when you're gone for so long, even with facebook and emails and such, it's hard to really stay connected to people's lives when you're not there. On the other hand, we get to see lots of family and friends that live all across the country much more than we would if we were living in one place. And it's really awesome getting to see all the different parts of Canada. It's made me realize that there are so many little communities and beautiful places that can be discovered. My favorite moments on tour are when we have some time to kill and we can go explore whatever town we're in. I love exploring!

CRF: Describe your experience recording with Aaron Marsh (ex of the band Copeland).

Lauren: Recording seems like a dream! We looked forward to it for so long, and then it happened, and now it's done. But it was absolutely amazing. It was an incredible opportunity; I've looked up to Aaron Marsh as a vocalist and musician for many years, and to work with him and have him as a producer for this new album was such a treat! I really hope we can work with him again in the future.

CRF: When can we expect a new album? Do you have a title for it?

Lauren: Haha...we have a few name ideas floating around, but nothing finalized or announced but I'll give you a few hints. It will be centred around the theme of travelling and journeys. And it will be out in the early new year...since we're not on a record label we don't have any time constraints on us, but hopefully it will be out sooner than later!

For fans of: Florence & The Machine, Amanda Palmer

Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk facebook
Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk website

Come and see Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk for a FREE show (donations gladly acccepted) Monday August 29th at 7 pm. 24 Frederick St., Millbrook, ON. Opening band, Handsome and Gretyl, an indie/folk/pop duo from Nashville. Bring a lawn chair as this is an outdoor event. For more information contact: david.hawkins@nexicom.net, 705-932-3329.

Hello Kelly (EASYFORYOUTOSAY) review

I've seen Hello Kelly perform a dozen times since their inception in 2004. The band has produced a profusion of EP's over those years. (EASYFORYOUTOSAY) is a welcome addition to any pop/rock aficionado's collection.

Francois (Francy) Goudreault handles lead vocals and guitar for Hello Kelly. An unusual position for someone who has a strong stutter.  While singing, there is no notice of this condition. Francy provides clear and perfectly enunciated vocals. The listener never has to strain to capture the lyrics of a Hello Kelly song. The balance of HK members are all new, Travis Wilbourn on guitar, bassist George Wong, and  drummer Ben Mahaffey.  originally from Orangeville, ON the band now calls Nashville home.

(EASYFORYOUTOSAY), Hello Kelly's sophmore studio release, carries on in the musical tradition fans (Kelly's) have come to expect.  Pop/rock with heavier rock influenced into's.  Lyrics deal primarily with relationships.  Examples include:

• "Pressure & Poison" - boyfriends advantage of their girlfriend to unwanted, intimate levels.
• "Our Happy Ending" - the songwriter describing his insecurities in love.
• "Ladder" - telling a girlfriend that you fail to measure up.
• "Closer" - a person struggling with moving forward (to the Lord?).

Track nine was a previous hit for HK, "The Communication Breakdown". This is a re-recording from their Green Things Grow EP of 2007. "Your Name in Vain" contains the only clear Christian message. Praying that each word from the songwriter's will reveal Christ's Word.

Francois gave a synopsis of what has occured with HK since their last CD Hello Kelly in 2008:

"At the end of Summer 2009, all the guys that were in Hello Kelly decided to go off to school. I was so happy for them to be taking on new adventures but it put me in an interesting position. I didn’t feel ready to say goodbye to the band and you guys, so I moved to Nashville, TN! Why? Because I’d made a bunch of musical friends in Nashville over the years and it seemed like the best place to take a crazy risk! 

I recorded a new record and called it “Easy for You to Say”. I felt like it was finally time to say some things, through song, that I’ve never been able to say to anybody face to face. I’m more proud of it than anything I’ve ever done. 

I put together a new group of guys in Nashville: Ben, George and Travis – and we’ve all become like brothers. I can’t wait for you to meet them on the road and in YouTube videos and stuff like that. Each of our personalities is a perfect match to a different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It’s pretty awesome. (I’m Leonardo, apparently!) 

So our plan was to start playing shows, release the new record for you guys to hear, hang out and maybe even find a way to pay the bills along the way. 

But something happened. 

See, Nashville’s a great city but it’s also weird because there’s so much music business going on here every day. A couple people told us that we’re really good, and CHA-CHING! We got big dollar signs in our eyes and we got kinda distracted. 

Instead of just releasing the record for you guys, we started trying to figure out how it could make us the most money. How we could be as huge as we possibly could. Like, sure, a big part of being in a band is trying to find opportunities and success but … 

Eventually it reached a breaking point. I got so confused about everything that I didn’t even know why I was in the band anymore. But my fellow Ninja Turtles helped me to remember that the band’s not about us. It’s about you guys! So … 

On June 14th, 2011, we’re (finally) going to release (EASYFORYOUTOSAY) on 7 Spin Music, the indie label that signed us back in 2006. We’re so excited about this record and we really hope that you’re still excited too!" 

This band is/was huge in Ontario. Hello Kelly is first and foremost a live band, unfortunately the studio releases, while excellent, have failed to capture the rawness. power and attitude that is seen in both their stage performances and independent EP’s. What (EASYFORYOUTOSAY) does achieve is to capture Hello Kelly's bright hooks and catchy lyrics. Hopefully both the new band members and new CD will gather new fans into the fold and bring Hello Kelly the acclaim they richly deserve.

Hello Kelly website

The return of MUTEMATH

One of the most innovative rock band in the last decade, MUTEMATH, has just posted a video of their new single "Odd Soul" to YouTube.  The video anticipates the release of the band's new album, Odd Soul.  The album is to be available Oct 4/11.

This will be the third, full length CD from MUTEMATH.  2006 saw the release of the self-titled CD which included the hits "Typical" and "Control".  The band's sophomore CD, Armistice followed in 2009.

The soul flavoured influence on this new song adds yet another dimension to MUTEMATH.

Skillet at Wonder Jam

Since 1996, Skillet has been entertaining audience with amazing live shows.  Their concert at Wonder jam was no exception.

This was the second time I had seen the Skillet play live, the first time being 2007 at Soulfest in New Hampshire.  Much has changed in the interim. Ben Kasica former lead guitarist has left and been replaced by Seth Morrison.  Lori Peters was replaced by 21 year old drummer/vocalist, Jen Ledger.  In additon, a new album, Awake, was released in 2009.

Rarely do bands, either Christian or secular, stay at the forefront of their field for this length of time. Skillet has that ability. With the exception of John Cooper's bass guitar skills and raw vocals, the band is not known for it's abilities, nor are they know for writing profound lyrics.

"Better Than Drugs"

Feel your every heartbeat
Feel you on these empty nights
Calm the ache, stop the shakes
You clear my mind

You're my escape
From this messed up place
'Cause you let me forget
You numb my pain

How can I tell you just all that you are
What you do to me

You're better than drugs
Your love is like wine
Feel you comin' on so fast
Feel you comin' to get me highYou're better than drugs

Addicted for life
Feel you comin' on so fast
Feel you comin' on to get me high

What Skillet can do is combine their abilites with catchy tunes and dynamic lead vocals by John Cooper.

The June 25th concert started with a stage blackened by a giant Skillet banner. Twin spotlights come on highlighting touring musicians, Jonathan Chu and Tate Olsen on violin and cello respectively.  Both performers are wearing white ties and tails with Venetian masks.  The sound of the string instruments flow out over the crowd.  As the music builds, the backdrop banner falls away revealing a huge, multi-level stage with the rest of the band in place.  John Cooper on bass and lead vocals, Korey Cooper (John's wife) handling keyboards
and syntesizer plus some vocals, Seth Morrison on lead guitar, and Jen Ledger taking charge of drums and backing vocals.

The string players lead the band into the first verses of "Whispers In The Dark", followed by "Hero".  Korey offers a short segment of "Monster" performed on a vocoder. "Comatose" and "Awake" follows. Platforms elevate individual band members up to eight feet above the surface of the stage.  On "Awake" Jen Ledger makes use of an elevating and revolving drum platform that comes a close second to the newsboys' similiar apparatus.

The pace slows down at John and Jen share vocals on "Yours To Hold".  The song deals with a person alone and hurting without Christ, even He is right beside them.  The duo continue with "Last Night".

Probably the only poor part of the concert is the solo's. Seth Morrison makes use of the cat-walk to offer a guitar solo, Jen Ledger follows up with a solo of her own on her drum kit. Both are solid musicians, but not of the calibre to do solo's.

During the entire concert pyrotechnics abound, crreating an output to equal that of the fireworks display in Ottawa on Canada Day.  The pyrotechnics and fog take over the stage, synched to the individual band members and songs. This is a highlight of Skillets concerts, well planned and totally co-ordinated to accent the whole concert experience.

On "Savior" the fog abounds. The mock up for "Monster" comes across as being a bit cheezy as John Coopers sings from the head of the monster.

The crowd's roar brings out Jonathan Chu and Tate Olsen to each take a deserved solos.  I can't go on enough about how much the  two string players adds to Skillet's live performance.

Skillet closes with the final encore.  The fans (referred to as "panheads) sings along with the band members on "Rebirthing" (as they had sung along with every song).

Superlatives are lacking when describing Skillet's live show. Simply put, a Skillet concert is a spectacle in the best sense of the word. An experience that shouldn't be missed.  

Skillet link

Thousand Foot Krutch at Wonder Jam

Trevor McNevan - vocals

Trevor McNevan bounds onto the stage at the Kingswod Theatre at Canada's Wonderland singing the opening lines of "Welcome to the Masquerade".  Problems flare up when McNevan's microphone cuts out halfway through the song. Trevor continues to sing and toughs out the trouble until the mike comes back on just prior to the end of the song.

TFK has been a staple of both Ontario and world-wide audiences over the past decade and a half. Their first album That's What People Do, in 1997, became a hit in their hometown of Peterborough, ON.  "Rhyme Animal" was added to the rotaion of local radio station The Wolf 101.5 and became on of the most requested songs of the year. The Set It Off CD in 2000, continued to reflect the rap hip/hop metal mix of the band.  TFK's musical style changed in 2003 with the Tooth & Nail label release of Phenomenon.  The band seem to reach new fans and old alike with their new true heavy rock sound.

McNevan is a tremendously prolific as both a performer, producer and song writer.  In addition to Thousand Foot Krutch, McNevan is also lead singer of the pop/punk band FM Static. He has also provided his talents either lyrically or vocally to:

Steve Augustine

Manafest
Worth Dying For
Hawk Nelson
tobyMac
Remedy Drive
Wavorly
Decyfer Down
Demon Hunter

Joel Bruyere - bass, guitar

KJ-52
The Letter Black

Crowd favourite "Rawkfist" from their Phenomenon CD has the crowd jumping with fists in the air. All songs have fans singing at the top of their lungs along with Trevor.  Great lyrics and the band members musical skills drive these songs.

Playlist:
"Welcome to The Masquerade"
"Bring Me To Life"
"Move"
"Rawkfist"
"Scream"
"Falls Apart"
"Fire it Up"

Too bad that Wonder Jam was not one of TFK's better performances.  This is a very polished band on stage with the experience of thousands of live concerts.  What was a technical glitch can often throw off a band's performance.  Make sure to see TFK if you have never had the opportunity, they do not disappoint.

Family Force 5 at Wonder Jam

When the power blows as the band comes on stage, it's gives you some expectation of what's about to transpire.

Family Force 5 have proven themselves to be one of the greatest Christian bands to appear on stage. Their live concerts are not to be missed. FF5 do not record "serious" songs, nor do they take themselves too seriously. As an indication of the "seriousness" of the band the members go by the stage names: Soul Glow Activatur, Chap Stique, Crouton, Fatty, and Nadaddy. They arrive on stage prepared to have a good time and they want the crowd to have as much fun as they do.

Soul Glow Activatur

Fatty

Chap Stique

Nadaddy

Crouton

The band's former attire of leather has been dropped in favour of animal themed tank tops, shin length shorts, and combat boots. Freeing the members to keep up with their athletic moves.  Family Force 5 is a tight, synced, machine on stage.  The moves and vocals is put to the test during a new song, "Dang Girl".  Soul Glow Acivatur and Fatty trade off vocals and toss the guitar to each other as each takes charge of separate verses.

Not to be forgotten are two additional band "members', Xanadu, FF5's key stage-hand and the enormous Family Force 5000 drum machine.

Family Force 5000

Being a fun band has placed FF5 under some criticism by not being "Christian" enough lyrically. Soul Glow Activatur answers,

"We're not only for Christian kids to listen to, to be ministered to. We're also giving this to kids in the secular market so that they have a positive message and a positive fun thing." 

Family Force 5 ran through a full selection of songs from Business Up Front/Party In The Back, Dance Or Die CDs and two of their EP's Keep The Party Alive and the new EP, III.

Family Force 5 play list:

"Love Addict"
"Kountry Gentleman"
"Wobble" - catchy, funky, dance tune off their new EP
"You Got It"
"Fever"
"Put Ur Hands Up"
"Radiation"
"Dang Girl"- 2nd song off the new EP
"Get Your Back Off The Wall"
Sample from Skrillex's "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites"
"Earthquake"
Encore: "Ghostride The Whip"

A must-see band. Check them out, you won't be disappointed.

Family Force 5 website
myspace

Thanks to my son, Abram, for help with the great photos!

Drummers

Why do drummers exhibit such distorted expressions on their faces as they perform???

Group 1 Crew at Wonder Jam

Blanca Reyes, Pablo Villatoro, and Manwell Reyes make up the hip-hop band from LA and Orlando, Group 1 Crew.

While I'm not partial to urban music, G1C had brought a bit of mainstream flavour to their latest offering, Outta Space Love. By adjusting the feel of their music, the band has made their form of urban grooves more accessible to general music fans.  Overall, the band can range from pop to hip-hop to dance genres.  They have been compared to Black Eyed Peas, but with more substance (and no profanity).

Blanca Reyes

"Please Don't Let Me Go" and "IContact", from the band's second CD, Ordinary Dreamers, started off G1C's set.  "Let It Roll", "Live It Up", "Breakdown", "Keys to the Kingdom", and the finale, "Manipulation".

Manwell Reyes

Robotic dance moves made up a large part of the performance. A gifted band with a dynamic live performance.

Find Group 1 Crew here
Group 1 Crew at myspace

Anthem Lights at Wonder Jam

The late '80's - early '90's have returned!  Boy bands. Do you remember changing the radio station whenever Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block, or Boyz II Men songs came on?  I do.  Well, those days have returned again with Anthem Lights.

Chad Graham, Caleb Grimm, Kyle Kupecky, and Alan Powell make up the vocal talents of Anthem Lights. The four male vocalists and a lone drummer take the stage. Coordinated dance moves and on-stage gymnastic leaps bring the female audience members to their feet.

My son, Abram, pointed out the striking similiarity in appearance of Kyle Kupecky to the Winklevii of The Social Network fame.  What do you think?

Anthem Lights began the set with their current radio single "Can't Shut Up" and followed with "Can't Get Over You" and "Outta My Mind" plus an acoustic number.

Please don't think that I am being too hard on Anthem Lights.  They do produce catchy tunes with heartfelt lyrics, especially "Can't Shut Up".

I had a heartbeat, I was breathing
And I kept going and going without a reason
I was living, just to be living
Until He really gave me life
This much I know, I am not alone
And I know I’m not the only one who found a way home
It’s not a secret, don’t have to keep it deep inside

Let's just wait and see how Anthem Lights continue to progress.

Catch Anthem Lights here

Manic Drive at Wonder Jam

My apologies for not having this concert review out earlier, but holidays do take precedence.  Keep tuned for reviews on all of the bands from 2011’s Wonder Jam.

I had long anticipated seeing Manic Drive perform live. I love both their current CD, Blue, and their previous release Reason For Motion. Twice the band had bowed out of shows I was attending.  I didn't realize how difficult it might be to see this band from Mississauga. Standing in line to enter the Kingswood Theatre at Wonderland, I asked some fans if Manic Drive was going to show. They assured me that it was going to happen.



The show was 40 minutes late starting.  An announcement comes over the speakers that Manic Drive will not be able to make Wonder Jam. W-H-A-T?!?!  Turns out it was a gag (sort of).

The sound of a helicopter is heard as the band runs onto the stage wearing parachutes.  Manic Drive jumps into 'Music" the first track on Blue, then followed with the radio hit,"Walls".  Third song was an untitled track from their new CD, Epic, due to be released this September. .....and that was it.  No rendition of "Blue", no older tracks such as "Nebulous", off the stage and time for the next band.  The curse of being an opening band is if there is a scheduling or time problem, the opening band takes the hit by having their set cut short.  Too bad, but a fact of being in the music biz.

Find Manic Drive at manicdrive.com