Justin Rutledge, Oh Susanna and Danny Michel
9 p.m. at Lee’s Palace
I got to Lee’s Palace a little early and caught the last half of legendary songwriter Andy Kim’s set. You may remember him as the guy behind “Rock Me Gently” and, I did not know this, was also the guy who wrote “Sugar Sugar” for The Archies back the 1960s.

Justin Rutledge, Oh Susanna and Danny Michel, each took turns showcasing one of their songs in their brief 35-minute set. The highlight for me was a one-chord song that Danny Michel played. And Oh Susanna played a song I remember hearing from her years ago, but I don’t know the name of. It was a perfect way to start the night.

Andy Swan, Camp Radio
10 and 11 p.m. at Clinton’s

This was part of the Kelp Records showcase. I’ve been a fan of songwriter Chris Page for some years now (and wrote a story on him on the old Shred site) and while I missed his solo set earlier in the evening I was determined to catch him with his full band Camp Radio. And I’ve always thought Kelp Records put out quality music so I thought I’d check out Andy Swan as well.

Andy Swan was ok, kind of twangy, but I thought too many songs had the same tempo.

Camp Radio started out a little rough, with the mix being to high on the bass. Having said that, though, that bass player contributes so much to their sound, and he is a helluva player that it was interesting to just hear what he was doing. Their distorted, hooky power-pop were a definite highlight of the night for me.

I would have stuck around for the rest of the night and am disappointed to have missed Andrew Vincent, but I wanted to catch the Diaboleros.

Diaboleros
Midnight at the Comfort Zone

The Diableros were just ok. I left early. The Comfort Zone, where they were playing, has a weird vibe.

Ben Stevenson and the Wondertones
1 a.m. at The Supermarket

Ben Stevenson was a pleasant surprise when I was doing research on the bands who were playing this year’s festival. His blue-eyed soul music had the potential to be really cheesy. Or at least looking like an end-of-year Humber College Jazz Combo recital. But no, he was high energy, the horn section was awesome, and everyone had a good time.

The Soft Pack
2 a.m. at the Silver Dollar

It was either this, a “surprise” performance by San Diego garage-rock band The Soft Pack or heading down to the Bovine to see Walter Schreifels, which was the original plan. I ended up at the Silver Dollar for the simple reason that I didn’t want to walk all the way to Queen and Bathurst and gamble that there would be no line-up. I’m glad I stayed. They reminded me a bit of the Smugglers.

As many people who read this blog know, I moved to Montreal from Toronto this past spring.  As part of this change I noticed that I began going to shows that I would probably never would have in Toronto. Like Rancid, who played down at Metropolis, for example. I used to love Rancid but after And Out Came the Wolves, they became a little too ska for my tastes and I lost interest. I went to the first of two shows they played here probably because I was bored, not knowing very many people here and everything. But I enjoyed myself, and thought it was kinda funny that they played material mostly pulled from Let’s Go, and the aforementioned Wolves.

The first show I went to in Montreal was Les Breastfeeders at Le Divan Orange, which was a freakin blast. It’s a shame they aren’t well known in english Canada. They’d give all the other ’60s influenced rock n roll bands a run for their money.

Two other local shows that stood out for me was Bad Religion at Metropolis, which was, of course, awesome, and the Kelp Records showcase at Les 3 Minots during Pop Montreal. The big reason I went to this one was to see Camp Radio. I’m a fan of singer Chris Page’s solo work and his work with The Stand GT. See my article on Chris Page on the old Shred site here. A pleasant surprise was singer-songwriter Andrew Vincent. Although he had guitar troubles throughout his set, I was impressed by the quality of his songs and made a mental note to check his stuff out further. His voice reminds me of someone and it’s been driving me crazy who.

Just before I moved, I went with a friend to a criminally under-attended show with Seattle’s Cave Singers. “Helen” is one of the best songs I heard all year.

But when it comes down to it, there is nothing like a pure rock n roll show. The Drive By Truckers blew the roof of the Opera House back in March (I made a note of it here) and in September The Supersuckers destroyed the Horseshoe, playing the best set I’ve ever seen them play.