Jon Creeden’s Beards Vinyl Release at Robot! House!
What do you get when you host an album release show on a Monday night in a house? You get Jon Creeden belting out songs in front of 30 people in the living room of Robot! House! You get a kitchen with homemade stew and cake. More importantly, you get a bunch of friends gathering to listen to awesome music and support wicked musicians. You get to be a part of something everyone should discover: house shows.
I walked into Robot! House! just too late to catch the two-song mini-set by Robots!Everywhere!!, but I am sure Phil rocked it like always. Up next was Cory Levesque. Mr. Levesque always plays great tunes, but even better, he makes everyone laugh at least once a show. He claims to be bad at jokes, and that might be true, but I have yet to see him live and not bust a gut. At this particular show it was his amazing death-defying harmonica solo during “The Time Will Come.” There must have been something caught inside as the poor guy almost choked to death, yet everyone there could not stop laughing. All kidding aside, the thing I love about house shows is how the crowd (a bunch of friends) just jumps in and sings along all the time. A prime example of this is the beauty, “Where I’d Rather Be,’’ where everyone pipes in to sing “I’d rather be on the road…”
Up next was the wonderful surprise, Ty Trumbull of Scoop Trumbull and The Wrong Notes. I was excited as soon as I saw him at the mic with a banjo in hand instead of a guitar. Every time I see someone play the banjo I am blown away. No offence to all you guitarists out there, but there is something more magical, even foreign about watching a solo artist perform on a banjo. Trumbull is quite the lyricist. I absolutely loved his closing song about Joe Laflamme. Laflamme may be the most interesting Canadian ever, read more about him here. And check out the wicked song below (live in Toronto version, could not find another online). And try to tell me you don’t just love the line ”headed to North Ontario to find my name, to run with wolves while men dressed as sheep against the rain.’’
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOlfk3Gy9FU&w=420&h=315]
It was now time for Jon Creeden to take the floor. He is touring the recently reworked album Beards which was finally released on vinyl (splatter, orange or black…all of which are very sexy). He opened by paying tribute to our host, Phil, playing a Robots!Everywhere!! song “Zombie Smoothie.’’ The big guy was flying through songs off of Beards when he took a break to wipe the sweat from his brow. “I don’t get how I sweat so much and don’t get skinny.” If you have never seen Jon play, you are doing yourself a disservice. He pours all he has into every performance, look how red his face is in the picture above. Jon is punk rock on an acoustic guitar with steady dose of lyrics people can relate to. From heart ache to friendship, Beards is full of great tracks. The crowd of locals helped out their friend and sang along to pretty much every song. He loved it. “Thank you so much! This means a lot and will take a few days to sink in, you think you are just sitting in a living room watching, but this feels pretty good.”
Check out the wicked new version of all your old Creeden favourites , or newly discovered favourites, on the re-release of Beards, streaming below. I love the new backing vocals on “One Coast to Another” and well you just can’t go wrong with adding “The Captain” to the album. Buy it digitally for 8$ or catch him on tour and toss him 15$ for the sexy wax copy.
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