Following a shortened session due to the August civic holiday, when a few students from Toronto Rock Camp had the opportunity to perfect their chops in the recording studio, CityArts regrouped for one final summer week. Groups are assembled on Monday based on playing ability, and other factors, followed by the five-day dash to the Friday afternoon live concert finish line. A number of faces called the Our Lady Of Lourdes School their second home for the better part of summer. Some others just recently became aware of what was happening at the otherwise inconspicuous corner of Sherbourne and Wellesley all summer long and wanted to leap into the action. Regardless of their musical background, just about everyone at the Rock Camp felt energized to continue such creative pursuits, whether by staying in touch with the others they met over the summer, or rustling up new bands in the fall.
The final performance of the session was the most celebratory of all, where campers spent as much energy applauding their band leaders as their own parents and siblings relished the performances, and the proverbial roof was raised on the school auditorium. During a summer in the city that will go down in history for its temperamental weather, a civic workers strike that kept the streets strewn with garbage, and plenty of bad news stories, it was reassuring to know that kids working on rock 'n' roll in a few downtown classrooms could generate enough enthusiasm to change the world — or at least change the way you could hear some familiar songs.
A FLAT MINOR (Joanna, Lucas, Karsten, Aidan) was a music-minded group deriving their name from an admittedly awful joke: "If a piano falls down a mine, what do you get?" Their choice of cover material was a bit more cerebral, though, doing two signature songs from acts that are still relatively young:
"Waiting on the World to Change" by
John Mayer and
"Last Night" from
The Strokes.
FUNERAL HOME FUGITIVES (Alexander, Sam, Shay-Lin, Lucy) looked out the school window and notice the other side of the circle of life across the street. But they picked a name that was a bit more sinister to represent their mixing both
Bob Marley's original and
Eric Clapton's cover of
"I Shot the Sheriff," along with their ambitious approach to the danceable rock smash by the Burlington group
Finger Eleven,
"Paralyzer."
HOMOGENIST AND THE HIVE QUEEN (Miffy, Daniel, Kai, Elsie, James) may well have outdone any previous Rock Camp act when it came to an eccentric name, proving that all the science education in high school can be good for inspiration. The material they perfected was rather radio-ready, though:
"Cross My Heart" by Vancouver pop-punk band
Marianas Trench, and the progenitor
Green Day's tear-jerking ballad
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
KINGS OF NEON (Patrick, Garnet, Eason, Eggy, Skyler, Javier) identified themselves with a play on the breakthrough rock act of summer 2009, yet collaborated on some defiantly original material, kicking out the jams with their driving metallic urgency. The evidence was committed to tape in the form of two tunes:
"I'm Gonna Getcha" and
"Watch Me Burn" — maximizing the collective electricity.
SIDE EFFECTS (Nick, Carmen, Samara, John, Adam, Sebastien) brandished the kind of collective attitude for which musical envelopes are easily pushed. So, not only did they tackle the decade-old intensity anthem
"Celebrity Skin" by
Hole, but reached way back to 1940 for the
Woody Guthrie chestnut — albeit one updated years later by
Bruce Springsteen —
"Vigilante Man."
THE STANDBYS (Victoria, Josh, Connor, Rebekkah, Tred) took a more lighthearted approach to their material, challenging themselves to the brighter side of rhythm and blues. Naturally, that meant
"I Got You (I Feel Good)" by
James Brown — taking the Godfather of Soul style way down an improvised instrumental road — but also
"Smooth Criminal," saluting the man whose legacy was a topic of conversation for all generations, all summer long,
Michael Jackson.
More photos of week #6
here.
