Show Overview: Flight of Fall Festival - Dan & Tiff @ Gus' Pub & The Company House (Night #1 & #2)

Gus’s Pub - December 3rd 2011

12:45 – 1:45 Soho Ghetto
11:30 – 12:30 Acres & Acres
10:45 – 11:15 This Ship
10:00 – 10:30 Archie Gillis

For our first evening of the Flight of Fall Music Festival, we found ourselves at Gus' Pub, where songsmith/guitarist extraordinaire Archie Gillis was the first to take the stage. Gillis' mastering of the blues guitar style was clear, and arched out into rock and jazz as well. While the guitar playing alone was enough to impress, Gillis' dark and humorous lyrical content was the icing on the cake. Not content to be pigeon holed under a simple singer/songwriter banner, Gillis stands out as one of the most unique and talented artist's I've seen all year.


Video courtesy of the Beserker Lion Youtube page and shot by David Fulde
This Ship brought mega energy to the stage in the form of sing alongs, clap alongs, tamborines, and keytars. The peppy, start and stop indie tunes got the crowd on their feet, and the band delivered everything you could ask for from an entertaining band.




The mood took a bit of a dip with the low key, wide folk rock of Acres and Acres. With soaring slide guitars and muted drums, they didn't have the gusto of This Ship, but they did have plenty of brimming energy that seemed to bubble just below the surface for the whole performance. Major restraint amongst all the musicians let the guitar and vocals be the highlight, with the band adding percussive flavour and deep bass underneath the songs.





Finally, SoHo Ghetto piled on the stage, showcasing a combination of the previous two bands styles, with plenty (maybe too much) emphasis on frontman vocals despite multiple guitars, keyboards, drums, and bass, and even harmonica. They were tight but the songs were a little cold and didn't feature the same stop and start dynamics or soaring melodies as the previous bands.

The Company House - December 4th 2011

12:30 – 1:30 Town Heroes
11:30 – 12:15 Alice Stops Time
10:45 – 11:15 Motherhood
10:00 – 10:30 Noah Tye

The next evening we swapped venues and headed down to the Company House to catch another great lineup, starting with Noah Tye. Again Tye showed off impressive guitar skills, running up and down the neck of his acoustic guitar while crooning vocal melodies over top. Though there was a healthy crowd all ready as Tye played, the front of stage really picked up for Motherhood.




Hailing from Fredericton, Motherhood had some of the best three part vocals I've heard in a while, all backed with tight drums and bass, and great dynamic breakdowns, where the vocals carried the songs before building back to up crashing instrumental crescendos.




Alice Stops Time continued the crowd rocking trend. Having seem them a few times now, I still can't decide if I like these guys. The suits are definitely getting old. Otherwise, though, they generally meet my criteria for great bands – they don't sound like anyone else, and they've very good at what they do. So it's hard to say what this band lacks. It's certainly not risky music, but it's tight and articulate. Actually, they remind of the Jimmy Swift Band – excellent musicians excelling at what they do but lacking the danger of punk or rock n' roll.




Two piecers the Town Heroes closed out the night. After catching these guys at NSMW, I was looking forward to seeing them again. Fortunately, even without the massive PA of the Ballroom, the band was still loud and heavy. Rather than trying to ignore the fact that there's only one melodic instrument (two if you count vocals), the band makes sure to emphasis low power cords, heavy beats, and soaring vocals over crashing drums.





Words/Video - Dan Nightingale
Photos/Video - Tiffany Naugler