Megadan's Top 10 Shows of 2012!

And here we are with our final Top Shows of 2012 list. 
This time around we have 10 shows, in no particular order, from Megadan himself!

Force Fields @ Multiple Venues

I saw these guys many times over the year, as I would be pretty hard pressed to pass up any chance to see them. Simply put, the best band in the Maritimes. Probably in Canada. Hearing these guys play live is like having an itch scratched deep inside the musical parts of my brain.

Jerry Granelli @ Halifax Pop Explosion

The opposite in many ways to almost every other artist on this list. Jerry's live show combines humour, decades of experience, and quirky genius to take playing a drum set from a simple back beat to stealing the whole show. Master of percussion and crazy stories, he wrings more amazing music out of a simple drumset than an entire orchestra of guitarists, who are probably wailing away at Ozzy solos in the amp room at L&M for the hundredth time.

Oneida @ Sappyfest

No idea how to pronounce their name, but some weird guys from Brooklyn show up in a tiny town in New Brunswick and play in a tent, on a road, in the middle of a one block “downtown” with no skyscrapers in sight. They start playing and they just don't stop, and they run the gamut from post rock to math rock to weirdo outsider folk jazz and back again, and the drummer still hasn't missed a beat. They leave town, confused and elated music fans wide-eyed in their wake, never to be seen again. 

Monomyth @ Halifax Pop Explosion

Casually get up on stage, at the Pop Explosion, opening for the Black Lips; casually play some rock and roll songs, strum a few guitars, hit a floor tom. Casually break into some 3 part harmonies out of no where, nail them, then play some more guitar. Inside jokes. Better songs than the radio has ever brought you. Monomyth - beast, man, or legend?

Dan Deacon @ Evolve Festival

Was there bleeping, and blooping, and chirping chipmunk vocals, and pulsing square wave bass,and blinking skull lights and a man with a beard buried somewhere underneath a pile of christmas lights and tiny synths? Sure, but I didn't notice any of that, since I was too busy running through a giant tunnel made of people after that 50's musical style dance off and costume competition. Oh, Evolve.

Kuato @ Multiple Venues

When you need a fix of epic, instrumental rock music to sooth your brain after a long week of top 40 radio at work and obnoxious Christmas songs, just thank your lucky stars you live in Halifax. Because you can go out to a regular bar and pay $5 and see a band as good as Kuato. Now a triple guitar threat for maximum guitarmony. See them while you can because these guys are gonna be huge in Japan.

The Shooting Guns @ Halifax Pop Explosion

Heavy, loud, heavy, crushing bass, heavy, and did I say loud? The subwoofers at Reflections were working overtime for these guys. Some would call this cave man rock for the slow, repetitive grooves, played wordlessly while swirling synths and screeching oscillators tickle ear drums and deep bass rumbles the guts. I call it a damn good time.

Yellow Teeth @ Multiple Venues

I saw these guys twice this year and they knocked me over both times. Sweaty, dirty, close your eyes and shake your head; noisy spaced out indie garage rock, whatever you want to call these guys, they'll rock your world and shake your hand afterwords.

Freak Heat Waves  @ Halifax Pop Explosion

More raw power hailing from New York, making a maybe once in a life time trip to play a tiny theater in the middle of North End Halifax. Seeing these guys on a big stage at a big festival would suck. Up close it was all strobe light all the time, with the unmistakable NYC post-punk/new wave sound of growling bass and pulsing drums washing over the enraptured crowd for 25 minutes of intense music and seizure inducing lights.

Quote unquote on hiatus. @ Aberdeen Center, Mocton, NB

These guys may be “on hiatus” as members of MCA and Something Delicious, but they haven't lost any of their amazing musical chops, which culminate in a 20 minute, genre spanning epic of instrumental rock greatness. As with all great instrumental bands they build and improve as the music continues; until the pressure is so high, all the instruments drop, and 3 men just sing in harmony and complete your musical journey, all in the middle of a tiny community hall with no fancy lights or special effects, just notes and beats.

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Much thanks goes out to the organizers/promoters from all these shows, and every other show, that had us out to see all this amazing music in 2012!

Special thanks goes out to the Evolve Festival, Messtival, Sappyfest, Halifax Pop Explosion, Nova Scotia Music Week &  Sonic Concerts.

We hope to see you all again next year!