Date: May 2, 2008
Venue: St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church
I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t around in time to become a fan of The Inbreds before they called it quits (by “wasn’t around” I mean the band formed when I was 10 years old). That said, I’ve since grown very fond of their output–especially 1998’s Winning Hearts—so getting the chance to see the duos principle songwriter, Mike O’Neill, play live last week was an opportunity I jumped on.
In town as part of the largely unadvertised Over The Top Festival, the revered Halifax tunesmith was joined by Charles Austin on guitar—an indie stalwart in his own right—and drummer Hampton Kelly. Together they make up The Beginners, and this was their first Toronto appearance. Of course, they weren’t alone, as fellow East-coaster Laura Peek came along to start things off.
It’s obvious that Laura Peek’s also a big Inbreds fan, as her backing band is named The Winning Hearts (good choice, if you ask me…). Unfortunately however, she was alone at the keys last Friday, which was explained by joking that she could only afford one plane ticket from Halifax to Toronto. It was this sort of self-deprecating charm that won listeners over between melodic tunes on the keyboard.
Afterwards things went immediately from charming and low-key to spirited and bombastic, as Will Currie and the Country French took to the stage church. Gleefully blistering through one pop-tastic track after another, to rampant cheers from unseen faces in the balcony, these Toronto/Waterloo kids made an excellent case for their debut album, A Great Stage.
By the time The Beginners got going St. Stephens had filled up quite a bit. Playing mostly tunes off O’Neill’s two stellar solo albums, the trio displayed amicable chemistry—a trait that was hammered home when O’Neill proclaimed that Austin and Kelly were also his closest friends. All told, the entire affair was positive, upbeat and friendly from start to finish, with audience members yelling out terms of endearment and an obviously invigorated O’Neill seeming to enjoy every minute.
I suppose it was this jovial sense of familiarity that saved the encore, as it became clear that O’Neill was out of material. He floundered, plunking around on a guitar for about 10 minutes, repeating “I don’t know any more songs,” until Hayden (who wandered in at some point) suggested the band simply play the best one over again, which is exactly what they did. Any other musician at any other show would likely have been lambasted for such a display, but somehow O’Neill’s awkwardness was charming, and only served to endear him further to those in attendance.
Overall, the most refreshing thing about last Friday night was that there was nothing pretentious or exclusive about the show at all. Whether that was a testament to the bands involved, the unorthodox venue itself, or those in attendance is unclear, but I’m not going to analyze it to death—I’ll just hope for more like it instead!
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Here are some photos I took at the dimly light show as well as a couple of tracks from Mike O’Neill’s excellent solo album, The Owl:
Mike O’Neill - She Believes in Me
You can grab the whole album, along with the entire Inbreds discography, at Zunior.com. As for the Beginners, check out there Myspace page for more info and look forward to an album later this year on the Zunior Label.
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