I recently traveled to Montreal, Quebec in Canada to see The Sounds. If you still don’t know who they are, they are a rock and roll band from Sweden led by the fierce frontwoman Maja Ivarsson. Their music is a sonic blend of Blondie and the Cars with a bit of a punk bite for good measure. They had just released their third album “Crossing the Rubicon” to much critical and commerical success and had recently finished a run of shows with No Doubt in Europe. The drive was relatively painless, a lot of straight shots that just go on and on forever. I was suprised along the way on a stop to get some gas, where I couldn’t figure out how to initiate the gas pump, but a polite Quebecian woman on a motorcycle helped me out. Take that anyone who thinks that Quebecians aren’t polite!
Once we were in the heart of Montreal, it was relatively easy to navigate, there was parking right in front of the Metropolis (where The Sounds would be playing) as well as giant murals of musicians and stylized comic book faces on buildings adjacent to the venue.
Inside, it was spacious and foggy, already prepped for extravagant lights shows. Waiters with little platters scurried about getting alchoholic beverages for the French Canadian fans. It wasn’t too long before the lights dimmed and a band called Foxy Shazam took the stage. They looked like some kind of mismatch of styles from the 70′s and 90′s crossed with muppets. The lead singer, Eric Nally, wore a moustache and a hairdo that wouldn’t look out of place in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He also never stopped moving around the stage, beginning with a prat fall on his face, and continued on throuought the show with movements that could have been mistaken for the most bizzare yoga moves ever. At one point he even dry humped his guitarists head while riding on his shoulders. All Foxy Shazam’s blatant disregard for the taboo and energetic stage pressence certainly embeddeded them into my memory.
Up next was the band “Creature”, who are all Montreal Natives and dance funk fashionistas. They wasted no time launching their post punk disco spell over the crowd. While they didn’t irreverently hump everything on the stage they did bring their own unique energy to the Metropolis. Singer, keyboardist and auxillary percussionist, stage-named Cowbella, ran frenzied around the stage with drumsticks in her hands and hit on toms, wood blocks, and yes, even her namesake instrument. She and guitarist and singer Kim Ho stunned the crowd with their on point and lightening quick raps and vocal talent. Kim Ho further showed his stage bravado by playing his guitar like a violin as the group smashed through their hits “Who’s Hot, Who’s Not” and “Pop Culture”. The highlight of their set was when the glamourous girls in the group donned aviator sungless and military hats as the band sucked the crowd into their hypnotic rhythms on the track “Kandahar”. As Creature’s funky sounds faded and they exited the stage, anticipation was as high as ever for the sounds to take the stage.
As the clock inched toward ten o’ clock cheering and stomping shook the Metropolis until, under the red smokey lights, The Sounds emerged from backstage without lead Singer Maja Ivarrson as they began the title track off of their new album “Crossing the Rubicon”. As the boys finished up the somber intro and launched into the next track, Maja Ivarsson emerged to thundrous applause, clad in an adidas striped hoodie, some serious bling, three inch heels and the shortest shorts in the world. Armed with an arsenal of kicks and suggestive poses the singer wailed through “Queen of Apology” before pausing and reflecting about the creation of their new album, and how it was made for the fans and that she was so thankful for them. She then stated “This song is for you!” as the group began the epic riff from their latest single “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake”.
The Sounds jammed through a collection of hits from their new album and their equally amazing sophomore album “Dying to say this to you”. After rifling through “Tony the Beat” and “Beat Box” the band slowed down for the piano ballad “Night After Night”. Maja Ivarsson took a swig of her Heinekin lit a cigarette and implored the crowd to sing along. Which they did obediently. Another highlight of the show was when The Sounds played “Don’t Want to Hurt You”, a song that has been getting attention from being featured in a Geico ad that featured motorcycle riding cave men. During the song the crowd got noticably wilder, pushing up against the stage and jumping erratically. Afterwhich, Maja stated “You liked that one, huh?” with a wry smirk. The Sounds finished out their set with “Painted By Numbers”, the lead single from their sophomore album “Dying to say this to you” complete with a rythmic hexagon synth pad duet between guitarist Felix Rodriguez and keyboardist Jesper Anderberg.
After a roaring request for an encore, The Sounds once again took the stage to play “Song with a Mission”, “Hit Me” and “Living in America”. Maja thanked the crowd, handed out some beers and left the stage to a recording of their lullaby-like track “Goodnight Freedy”. A more appropriate ending to such a great night, I couldn’t think of.
