They say that Mussolini made the trains run on time, and while I’m not sure the Juno organizers will appreciate the comparison, I have to say I appreciate what they’ve done to live music in St. John’s — for this weekend, anyway.
In the normal course of events, opening bands rarely start playing till 11 — and I’ve waited till after 1:30 to see a headlining act. I think that’s ridiculous, and apparently, the organizers did too.
Last night shows started when they were supposed to — and all of the shows were wrapped up by 1:20 AM — an eminently reasonable time to head home in the rain.
But I was disappointed by how the organizers handled schedule changes in light of weather delays. A lot of bands (I heard around half) didn’t make it in yesterday — but there were no public updates about who was, or wasn’t coming. This left people waiting out in the rain in a lineup for the Handsome Furs, who were not even in town. I was planning to see Down With Webster, and they were stuck in Halifax. You can’t change the weather, but you can keep people informed.
I also heard that the lineup to see Metric and the the Arkells was brutal. Lauren Rae, a graduate student at Memorial University, got to the show around 8 PM, an hour after the doors were supposed to be open. By 9:30, the Arkells had started their set, but the throng was so intense that people still weren’t able to get in. Rae sold her ticket to a hopeful lad, and went to George St. where things were actually much calmer.
For myself, I spent the evening in The Well, a small sports bar above George St. I saw two local acts, The Mountains & The Trees, and Mark Bragg and the Butchers, and one Juno nominated duo 1977, up for Adult Alternative Album of the year.
The crowd was pretty small throughout the evening, and was largely made up of St. John’s locals with the exception of one couple, Jeff and Alison from Ottawa. They stayed the whole evening on the suggestion of someone they met downtown. “I seriously love everything Newfie,” Jeff told me. “I’m in construction so I know a lot of them, and we’ve wanted to come for a really long time. I’m from Halifax, so it’s close to my heritage too.”
The Mountains & The Trees
I talked to Jon James, the man behind The Mountains & The Trees about playing for the Junos, but in front of such a small, local, crowd. “I always say, it’s better to be playing than not playing,” he said. “If even one person comes up and says ‘hey, good set’ that’s good.” James has been singing as The Mountains & The Trees for about three years, and after playing the Junos, NXNE, and the Toronto Film Festival, he’s ready to quit his day job and make a go of it. “It’s all about putting yourself out there, making contacts and then the follow up.” He’s spending the Junos walking around with a shoulder bag of cards and CD’s, and he’s hoping to follow up on this weekend’s connections some time in the future. “If you go up to someone in a bar — well there’s probably a reason he’s there, so you don’t want to bother them. But I always try to get a card back — and then follow up a couple weeks down the road,” he said.
Mark Bragg & The Butchers
Mark Bragg had a very different approach. “Every gig is really important, really fun,” he said. “But I’m not out here trying to make it in that sense. I enjoy festivals but I don’t want to be clawing for recognition. “ Bragg owns a convenience store in town, and he’s been singing with the Butchers for 14 years. The singing is fun, “really fun,” but he’s got a solid business. “Festivals do a really good job of getting people excited about music, and I’m really glad to be part of it,” he said. “But I’m not trying to meet anyone in particular or anything like that.”
