Transit of Venus, you've got to be kidding me

Three Days Grace are my favourite childhood band, but lesbihonest: it's too fucking hard to love them to the same degree as my ten-year-old self did. This latest endeavour of theirs, titled Transit of Venus, started out promising. (Despite the cheesy "never again in your life time" slogan.) They stated that it'd be edgier, more aggressive, experimental. But the artwork looks like a Photoshop mishap, a dupe of Cage the Elephant's Thank You Happy Birthday gone awry. While a fun, indie rock group can get away with it, the above just isn't a convincing sell; it's the wrong sort of album art for a post-grunge, hard-ish rock album.



The first single, "Chalk Outline" is okay. Clever lyrics have never been one of the band's strengths, but at least it's catchy. On first listen, the chorus melody sounded like something I--an amateur wannabe--had improvised in the past. (I'm not kidding, it was so familiar to myself.) But because I insisted upon loving them still, I returned to the song a few days later and replayed it a couple times. Initial thoughts aside, the riffs are raunchier, and the stops in the bridge are great and unexpected. Props to Neil for the rhythmic variety, the only thing about this track keeping my attention.


The release is set for October 2nd, and until then, I'll probably forget about it. But when it is out, I'll probably give Three Days Grace another shot.

EastScene: Three Days Grace announce 2011 US tour

... with sibling band, My Darkest Days. Ticket sales start at the end of the month; four days of fan club presale from January 25th to January 29th, before general sales. They kick off in Seattle, Washington on March 23rd.

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So much for revealing such information yesterday, boys. This tour had better have some more inter-band action than November 6th; I was really looking forward to it then. While we're on the subject, tickets for the Pixies's cross-Canada Doolittle tour went on presale less than 3 days ago. They've sold out all 22 shows, as of yesterday night.

It's What We Do, page 74

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.] A brief, sloppy piano cover of "No More" by Three Days Grace. Albeit recording it in mid-October, I never got around to uploading. In my defense, I did it by ear.

I haven't discovered a whole lot of new music in the last two weeks, so I figured I'd give you readers a longer excerpt of the novel I've been working on in the aforementioned time frame. (I've posted shorter excerpts on Tumblr.)

She met Casey outside the theatre as his text had read. It’d taken a few days after their initial date, but they’d finally remembered and exchanged numbers.
“New tennis ball?” she inquired as she neared. It was extraordinarily white, reminding her of the canvas. Crushed leaves and dirt stuck to it with each bounce.
“Yup. I have some people I want you to meet,” he announced. She looked around dumbly. There was a sophomore by the baseball diamond shooting crack. No, couldn’t be him.
“Oh?” He gave her an incredulous look that quickly transformed into amusement.
“… but we’re going to have to take your car.”
“Oh,” she repeated, this time as a statement. He bounced the white tennis ball one last time, eliminating the last clean spot. “Did you want to drive?” she asked, taking the ball from him.

“What are you doing?” They were stalled at a traffic light when he turned to look at her. A large woman pushing a shopping cart walked irritatingly slowly to the opposite curb. The light still didn’t change. Rhiannon crumpled the dirt-stained Kleenex in her hand and looked directly into his smile.
“I’m cleaning your ball.” Okay, that didn’t sound right. She tried again. “I like when things are their true colours, that’s all. It’s like OCD, or something.”
The light changed green and the car shot forward into the intersection, stopping again to wait for the opportunity to left turn. “Yeah,” Casey decided. “That’s a little strange.”
“Did you know that white is the presence of all colours?” she asked in a tight voice.
“Whoa, scientist. I’m an art student.” But you know what I mean. “Grade 10 science. Optics.”
“You’re not taking me to your parents, are you?” Rhiannon wasn’t sure she was ready for that. She wasn’t even sure where they stood in relation to each other. There’d been nothing beyond a couple of confused static moments, which she was not bothered by. I guess my book differs from most girls.
“No,” he said, sounding a little uncertain.
“Oh no, I don’t need to meet your parents or anything, I just don’t know where you’re taking me.” The left turn was made during this explanation. “Actually, I never know where you’re taking me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not a creeper.” He laughed. “And I’m too young to go pedophiliac on you.”

A pastel green house with white panels on the windows. Rhiannon experienced an immediate feeling of ‘want’. She shook her head, marvelling at the sharp artistic contrast. Just because she was a science enthusiast didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a good paint job. The house was on the smaller side, especially so next to a towering hedge. It was big enough for two people maximum; it wasn’t his house, but a familiar blue car was parked in the driveway.

“Quaint,” she observed. “This isn’t your house, is it?”
“Nah, my gnome friends live here.“

As if on cue, the white front door swung inward and a cute hippie with a white apron appeared. She was wearing a loose beige shirt (she and Casey later corrected Rhiannon, calling it “ecru”) and a wide floral headband. She seemed excited to see them. “Casey! Come on in! I‘m just making pizza.” They followed her into the house, standing politely in the foyer. A mirror image of Casey approached them from down the hall. “This must be the biologist-musician?” His voice was a sweet tenor, several pitches higher than Casey’s. Rhiannon stood there, looking between the two of them.

“Rhiannon, Sam. Sam, Rhiannon.” When she didn’t react, he laughed, adding that Sam was his brother.
“I love your house,” she said when she finally got over her complete situational mind fuck.

NaNoWriMo word count: 42878 of 50000.

Adam Gontier vs. Buffalo Sabres

(more videos)

Returning Home (Daylight Savings Time)

The mighty little World War I implementation has caused us all to wake up in normal routine to realize that it's actually 8AM, not 9. (Or in my case, my clocks did an automatic adjustment and I woke up at 10AM). I'm usually an early riser, but something obviously went wrong this morning. Nonetheless, I proceeded to focus my intentions on uploading all 200-something of the photos taken last night in Toronto.

Dan Steike of Bleeker Ridge.

To my serious dismay, traffic and road closures destined our arrival to Exhibition Place just as the doors were opening to be met with this long ass lineup. We didn't get in until 8:30PM, as the beer line backed up forever until we got close enough to be told that we could skip the ID check. Art of Dying had long finished their performance and Dan had just walked up and down the centre aisle to distribute picks and high-fives.

Reid Henry and Sal Coz Costa of My Darkest Days.

Pushing a little further forward in the motionless crowd, Doug Oliver had arrived onstage, bringing looks of confusion to neighbouring onlookers' faces. I now recall two groups of people passing by the line, the first group hollering and yelling "who's here for MDD?" and the second group who'd more politely asked what the line was for. When told it was a Three Days Grace concert, one of them said "hey, I think I've heard of them". That brought on a couple facepalms.

Matt Walst and Brendan McMillan.

It took me a little while to adjust my camera settings, being that far back in the room. The lighting is never terrific during opening performances, so that didn't help either. The only thing I found lacking was stage presence. Save for Reid Henry, their touring keyboardist, he was jumping up and down all over the place. Maybe his bleach blond hair had something to do with it, but I found myself watching that bobbing mass of fluff throughout their performance.

Art by Adrian Knopik and Christopher Conte.

At first, I was not particularly moved by the album art. The more I looked at it, the more I grew to appreciate it. The two liner illustrations are my favourite, though- the snake and the bird. There are about 20 photos in my files coinciding with the time Adam Gontier's mic was rolled out and the kit was unveiled. (Knopik's official gallery is currently under construction; the above link is to his page on Behance.net.)

Adam Gontier and Barry Stock at stage right.

They started with "Bitter Taste" to my surprise, but their presence was immediately noticed. The weird thing was that it was Sanderson who outshone the others, the stationary drummer (keyword here is 'stationary'). A guy behind me commented on how he'd come a long way since playing in local Peterborough bars, how they'd all come a long way. Amusingly, Stock was whipping picks into the crowd at an alarming rate; his stand had to be replaced every few songs.

Smoke from the pyrotechnics covered the scent of weed.

I always thought that Three Days Grace played too many singles and not enough album tracks, but I was ecstatic through the performances of "I Hate Everything About You", prior to which Adam delivered a rant about 'hating the fucking Sabres', "Home" and "Just Like You". The band delivered these debut singles flawlessly, as if they'd been released just yesterday. In terms of quality, their set was the best I've seen- Gontier's voice held no sign of that alleged smoke damage and the blend of his, Sanderson, and Walst was euphoric- but you won't believe me until you've see them live.

Neil Sanderson playing the "Life Starts Now" intro on the keyboard.

I've been inspired by many keyboard talents lately, especially those who play another instrument and double on keys during live shows. His drum solo was slightly harsh and obnoxious, but crowd-amping otherwise. I couldn't tell what it was exactly; there was some sort of steel drum to his left that made the interlude for me.

The crowd was a little dull, however, even through cheers for "Riot" when asked for requests. I desperately wanted to scream something like "Born Like This" or "Eddie", but couldn't decide on which self-titled song and felt that the latter would be disrespectful. Groundswell was an entirely different band and the crowd won out for "Riot", anyways. The encore consisted of the Phil Collins cover, "In The Air", and the missing single, "Animal I Have Become" (besides "Wake Up").

All photos are my own and can be found, along with others here.

Wave of Popular Feeling

150 copies of this record were made; try eBay?

Release date: unknown, 1995
Genre: rock, punk, alternative
Now known as: Three Days Grace

These are the days before Barry Stock, when the mysterious Phil Crowe and Joe Grant were around. This record was also released prior to Trevor McNevan's association with the band. A few years ago, the album was nowhere to be found, but these tracks have since made their way onto YouTube.

"Stare": Allegedly the third single of the album, the song that comes to mind is Green Day's "When I Come Around". This isn't a bad thing, as the two are completely different and great compositions in their own right. This song happens to be the toned-down mellow song that can be found in every band's repertoire.

"In The Sand": Three Days Grace is one of those bands that would not suffer from recording their actual backing vocalists. If I'm not mistaken, Neil Sanderson does provide parts in the studio, but they're no longer as obvious as what can be heard on this track. Brad always sounds fantastic in live performance's of "Pain" as well.

"Weatherman": A powerful, driven song. There is a repetitive snap cycle of dynamics throughout the verses, while the chorus sounds uncharacteristically joyful.

"Chronic": Another very classic rock-sounding song. Their characteristic minimalized song structure is a noticeable change from these grungier days. They've taken on the "neo-grunge" as defined by fellow musicians, Nickelback.

"Eddie": The most radio-friendly song on the album, I can understand it being the lead single. I wonder who this Eddie is? Not his son, of course. It must've made for a fantastic acoustic performance back in the day.

"Snatch": I really love the opening. The first line kills the track, though- "All I see is legs"? Really? If they were going for that strip club imagery, I don't think they succeeded. If they were going for that amused look on my face, they got it. Funny guys, they are.

"Wave of Popular Feeling": The title track has an immediate punk feel to it; the Nirvana influence is obvious. (Adam will like to know that theEdge recently played commercials with "The Good Life" clipped between "Closer" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit".)

"S.O.B.": Lyrics on this song seem ad-libbed; they're so unlike TDG that they make me suspect other lyricists contributed.

"Posion Ivy": I trust you- I trust you and your potential. The climbing bridge is the highlight of this song. It's quite contagious, you could crash a party to it.

"On This Flight": This is the part of the album where the songs sound very similar to one another. As a filler, it's catchy but doesn't stand out like anything special. I like the distant guitar sound.

"Greedy Room": The one thing that hasn't particularly impressed me is the songwriting. Did William Golding's Lord of the Flies play into this? A good progression from those dead end lyrics, though; one thing the band is praised for is being straightforward and relatable.

The production is (expected to be) a step down; the echo is heavy on the vocals and the mixing could've been smoother. Some pretty sick riffs are employed in the album, recorded by the two previously mentioned guitarists that are no longer with the band. Favourite track? "Wave of Popular Feeling".

What the fudgesicles are the CASBYS?

The Trews performing at the 2010 CASBY awards.

Molson Canadian Favourite New Artist: Hollerado
Favourite New Single: "The Northern" by Alexisonfire
Favourtie New Album: Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace
NXNE New Indie Release: Champ by Tokyo Police Club
Favourite EDGE session: Silversun Pickups

I would not have guessed that "CASBY" was an acronym for "Canadian Artists Chosen By You", but I could've predicted the results. They were all very well-deserved and it's great to see Three Days Grace come full-circle from their "Favourite New Artist" win in 2002. (Well, as a fan, it's great to see them recognized). The awards are put on by 102.1 theEdge, in Toronto- my favourite part? It's all Canadian and it's all rock.

On a second note, Adam Gontier has begun to vlog while on the road. He's covering fan-requested songs at least once a week. The following is his latest video, featuring a Foy Vance song:


The band will be returning to Toronto to play a show on November 6th at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair with sibling band, My Darkest Days, and Bleeker Ridge. The latter of the two is a fantastic group from Orillia, Ontario. (If there were such a genre as "indie hard rock", they'd be it. Visit their Myspace page.) Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10AM.