Feature: Stagehands - Broadway Rock, You Say?

*scene: a dark stage. suddenly, a single spotlight flickers to life, illuminating...an empty chair. From somewhere, a familiar voice begins to speak.*

Ju: ...

*sounds of shuffling, and one sharp microphone squeal*

Ju: -this thing on? Hello? Okay, we're good. Sorry everyone. Sheesh...here I was going to be all dramatic...I guess Chad Vangaalen is the only person that can make technical difficulties charming.

*polite cough interrupts*

Ju: Okay, got it...move this thing along. Here's the bit where I apologize for being largely absent from the blogosphere for ages, and give the usual "I'm an illustrator, and a few hours sleep comes before writing anything more involved than a post-it note. BUT! If you want to see what I've been doing...here! A peace offering in the form of illustrations about toilet squids!"

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Ju: Now that I've thoroughly managed to confuse and befuddle the issue, I see fit to actually get to the point, being why I've decided to update the blog. Also, why I decided to try something new out with the theatrical setup (whether or not it failed is irrelevant; I guess I've always been better suited to backstage work).

The point here is Stagehands, a self-styled "Broadway rock" band from Toronto with both aspirations of creating something just a little bit different and bringing back that good ole thing called "narrative" that us illustrators are oh-so-fond of (and which has been missing from music in general, with a few exceptions).

I'm not going to lie; I thought long and hard about how to swing this; how do you go about featuring and describing a band that says it's not exactly a band, but also a production that claims influences from sources as diverse as Nightmare Before Christmas and Green Day? I agonized on this point for a bit, until I realized that frankly, the idea speaks for itself. Admittedly, the idea could fall flat on its face if not executed properly; the tough thing about walking the line between several genres is that you run the risk of losing your point.

Take Visual Kei, for example. A genre I have problems with in general, because I've never been a fan of bands that put fashion above music (grunge school graduate speaking here, of course). I always figured that if a band is good, the music should speak for itself, even if everyone looks like they just got up and threw on whatever was on hand. On the other hand, I've always loved theatre, which the VK bands claim to be influenced by.

Ay, there's the rib.

Or the rub, even.

Point is, looking at what Stagehands does, they succeed where all those VK bands fail, because their music is more about embracing the aspects of theatre and narrative than about using it as a gimmick. It's not about costumes, it's about NARRATIVE. Because theatre (and even music) is storytelling, and stories are always better when visual and auditory and sensory things collide with a decidedly satisfying "clang". What VK bands do is fashion, what stagehands does is theatre (with enough of a rock injection to make it exciting for those who think music + theatre = Gilbert & Sullivan, or worse yet, jazz hands, Mamma Mia! and Stage West for the Calgarian set...*shudder of horror*).

Stagehands's album, "The Silent City", actually has a storyline. A kickaxe one which I would give my eye teeth to illustrate as a graphic novel, actually. It's got the meta-level of being about a songwriter, a fantasy setting, masks, an evil-yet-charming Mayor who controls an entire city, the battle between individuality and fame...this is some serious Tim Burton sh*t right here. In fact, my drawing hand is itching to start on designs for characters as we speak (makes it exceedingly difficult to type, if you must know).

While I know that there's been narrative concept albums before, the difference is, this band actually theatrically inclined enough to perform the thing as a production rather than a concert. (In fact, I'm not-so-patiently checking their touring schedule to see if they might come anywhere close to the lonesome crowded west...>.>)

In this world of endlessly referential acts that "sound like ___" or "are a mix of band x and band y with an injection of genre z", where PR obscures the music with a blizzard of buzzwords and meaningless categorization, it's nice to see someone genuinely try to come up with something a little bit different.

~Ju


Stagehands:
website
on Myspace

[Live] Sled Island: Consonant C, Mother Mother, Chad Vangaalen

How to describe it the atmosphere inside Central United Church, a sandstone building right on the C-train line, where the Consonant C are in the middle of their opening set. The church is smaller, but beautiful, in no way diminished by the sketchier area that the surrounding buildings have become. There is thrumming, a sense of anticipation; coupled with the sound coming from the church itself, it's almost tangible.

We slip into a pew; late, but glad to have made it to the sounds of beautiful harmonies and an intriguing assembly of instruments. The Consonant C only play four more songs before dashing off, but their set is endearing and bright-eyed in the best sense of the words. Their music also makes it clear as to why the venue was chosen: the acoustics are wonderful. We could probably have heard the bands without any amplification at all.

Next is another local band Racoon; containing Dillon Whitfield, of Jane Vain fame (at least locally, anyway ^^;), they are definitely noisier and more rock-oriented than the Consonant C; after a solid set, they call on several friends from the wings (a few of which the savvy Calgarian music fan might recognize from several other excellent local bands) to do an endlessly enjoyable finale that leaves the audience in a state of excitement even after the last hand-claps and percussive beats have faded.

After some delay, the stage is then graced by the wonderful Mother Mother; the band jumps right into things, working up enthusiasm and energy with songs "Dirty Town" and "Touch Up" from their debut album of the same name. Something of a surprise is the number of new songs played; when coupled with their announcement of the forthcoming sophomore album O My Heart, however, the move makes sense. Overall, while some fans might be disappointed at not getting to hear specific favourites played live, the set is energetic, at times funny ("We've never played in a church before," guitarist Ryan Guldemond states matter-of-factly, "we thought it would be more...spiritual somehow. Not that that wasn't criticism...*after the audience chuckle at the sharp comment* Sorry, it was meant positively. Oh well...we're going to hell."), and incredibly enjoyable on the whole.

It was at this point that we faced a terrible decision: Okkervil River were to follow Mother Mother. Yes, the excellent Okkervil River, playing in a small and intimate venue like Central United Church. However, at the same time, Chad Vangaalen, local artist-musician superhero and champion of the home-made drum machine, was slated to play a set at the Telus World of Science, in the big domed theatre on the top floor. For those unfamiliar with the structure of this building, let me describe it as such: the enormous dome is a screen, and Chad would be projecting his animations during his performance.

In the end, two of us opted to see Chad and catch Okkervil at Lollapalooza, while the rest stayed on to watch them. So we hopped on the C-train and made it to the Science Centre in time to catch the tail end of Portico's set, while getting decent seats for Chad's performance.

And what a performance it was. As always, Chad is incredibly funny and charming to watch, infusing his performance with an air of unstudied humanism that is lost to many more staid artists. His offbeat personality is just as much a part of the show as his excellent songs; the instruments and setup are incredibly homemade and precarious, containing a perticular delight that I can only compare with looking at the impossible physics and angles of structures in a Tim Burton film. Chad taks odds and ends- a sound sample taken from under train tracks at a downtown bridge, a strangely uneven beat on his home-constructed, prototype drum machine ("I haven't had time to work on it, so the prototype has sort of become...well, it is what it is, I guess," he apologizes in his easygoing way), a scrap of melody, the pick of a banjo or strum of a mini-guitar - and weaves them into what could almost be described as faery gold. A child-like magic that can't be described or communicated with words or even recording, because it has everything to do with being there, with the moment as it happens.

As to the animations, they seem at first strange and above all, random. Chad even plays it off, saying with some degree of surprise, "I'm really happy that you guys made it out to the show tonight, especially with so many other good bands playing. Instead, you get to watch me and this stoner video..." With a little bit of his usual self-depreciating humour, he even turns minor sound problems into a part of the performance ("Sorry about this...damn, I totally had this all planned out in my basement, and here it's all falling apart. Apparently, I'm half the man I am in my basement onstage.")

When the music's playing, however, the bizarre animations seem to fall into place, fitting into the greater performance as flawlessly as the other odds and ends that find a home under the greater mantle of Chad's musical and artistic genius. The fact that several of the songs that he plays can't be found on either of his recorded albums speaks to his endless and awe-inspiring creativity, without question making him one of Calgary's brightest artistic and musical talents.

~Ju


The Consonant C
On Myspace Music
On New Music Canada

Racoon
On Myspace Music

Mother Mother
On Myspace Music
On the Web

Chad Vangaalen
On Myspace Music
On Flemish Eye Records