Rawkin: Pop rock and unclassifiable night in the Shack

The Out Back Shack had another free night of awesome diverse music that the students of Fanshawe enjoyed on Friday, November 27. Tympanic graced us with humour, and, for the most part, forgotten elements of what music can be. Moondog Uproar gave their super-fans the pop rock they wanted and used the fans votes to decide many of the songs they played in their set.

Tympanic on stage at the Out Back Shack.

Who They Are:
Tympanic was the first band to perform and the foursome consists of Charity Corbett — alto sax/vox; Murray Matheson — bass; Carlos “The Brazillian” Constantino — drums/vox; Dylan Shields — lead guitar/vox, and Troy Lajambe — acoustic guitar/lead vox. The band was very friendly and made me feel instantly welcome! They were just telling stories and “harassing Murray.” The band was poking fun at Matheson about his new lucrative butterfly business — no joke, he really is selling butterflies! They have been playing together for a total of four years and ever since they have been running wild.

How They Did:
I found their performance very refreshing. Their music is almost unclassifiable as it has so many elements put together and also brings back a quality of music sometimes lost in the mass of pop, rock and rap these days. Tympanic brought something new and exciting to the table this week for me personally. Just the fact that they have the alto sax in their arsenal made the performance memorable. Their music has a flavour that I have not heard in a very long time.

I really only had one criticism for them and that was that sometimes the alto sax and the lead guitar are in the same register and it's a little hard to distinguish one from the other because they have the same timbre (meaning the same sound quality). It might be a bit confusing to the general listener's ear. Also, Shields may be using too many unnecessary pedals. But I would love to see them perform here at Fanshawe again!

Who They Are:
Moondog Uproar. There is no denying that this trio is popular among the students at Fanshawe! They have their own super-fans and the crowd as a whole participated in their set. Now pop rock or Brit pop is not really my style of music but I can look at the music objectively. The guys in the band are Mike Lavereau — guitar/lead vox, Aaron Ambrose — bass, and Matt Varey — drums. They all seemed very quiet but they still had a message that they are about fun and good music. Their influences include The Beatles, Oasis, Weezer, Casabian, Arctic Monkey's, the 70s, 80s, 90s, Bush, Bush X, and a lot of other Brit pop rock. They just released their new album, Sunrise, and are currently touring and promoting this album. They all still have day jobs and juggling everything can be quite exhausting for them.

Three songs to give a sense of who they are and what they are all about are Weekend Robbers, Know Your Name and Free. They like to be diverse in the music structure; they try to vary it. They do cover songs more for personal enjoyment but also so they have a lot of material for live shows.

How They Did:
They started out their set from the green room as the wireless guitar allowed Lavereau to start playing their intro and then the trio ran onto the stage to a great crowd surrounding the stage. These guys really do cater to their fans by including them in choosing which songs they were going to play. I think they were a great fan-pleasing band. They were interesting on stage and all three guys equally put out energy that their fans fed upon and gave back to them.

I did have a few issues with the performance, however. I felt that the lead singer was trying to hard to have a British pop accent but it does work for their music. It was a bit irritating when they wanted to get the crowd to make noise, he would say “Make some noise!” in the exact same way every time. I think that they could have done this differently. Also, once they got the crowd making noise, they would end the song. It felt kind of empty in that way. On the positive side they were crowd-friendly. One super-fan constantly got up on the stage and was boosting morale and the band made it work to their advantage.

I wanted to address some comments and feedback from people regarding this weekly article of mine. Basically some people feel I'm not qualified to judge bands and what they are doing right or wrong on the stage or to be able to review albums. I have a lot of experience in music and writing and to combine them both is amazing. I feel I'm qualified to give my opinions. My opinions are neither right nor wrong but just my opinions. I also take this work very seriously and I strive to be honest and truthful in the articles, and any quotes I use to be accurate and portrayed in the right context. Even if the music is not something I favour because it is not my taste I will still evaluate the music and the performances in a positive, open and professional manner. I am not writing my articles to cut artists up or make enemies. I merely am evaluating the artists, the music, and the performances. I still welcome any suggestions, comments or questions that you may have for any upcoming band or me, so please feel free to email me directly.

Check out these bands online or pick up a copy of their albums and give them a listen. Tympanic: http://www.myspace.com/tympanicgrooves; Moondog Uproar: http://www.myspace.com/moondoguproar. Until next week keep on RAWKIN!