Rocking for Fort McMurray: The Superlative and Metronome Jones
It was a great scene at Zaphod’s as The Superlative and Metronome Jones played a show to raise money for Fort McMurray.
It is important to remind ourselves of the power that music possesses. From lyrical content to sweet riffs to the raw energy of a live show, music can be such a great tool for bring people together to better a situation. In this case music was used to help with the more than 88,000 residents displaced by the wild fires in Alberta, some of whom have lost everything. They raised $2200 via ticket sales, a portion of band merch and bar sales, ad revenue from live streaming the show on Blast The Radio, as well as a raffle with a ton of great prizes that were donated to the cause.
I was unfortunately running a little late, so I missed Missioner. This meant that my night started with Metronome Jones. It The three piece rock ensemble from Ottawa were great and I really like the singer Matthew Yorke’s voice. They certainly have elements of blues and some tinges of grunge to go with their rock sounds. Their most infectious song is without a doubt “Manic Enough.” From the intro featuring Yorke’s vocals over nothing but claps to the catchy upstroke riffs as the song progresses towards a very dancy chorus. Great track that had people swaying their hips. The band also happened to cover “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor” by the Arctic Monkeys which was quite the treat.
Headlining and organizing the festivities was The Superlative. Trying to label this band as alternative rock or pop-punk does them such a disservice. The boys in The Superlative push the boundaries of genres flowing from reggae and ska tracks, to more traditional alt rock to songs with elements of screamo or post-hardcore.
They opened the set with “The Truth Hurts” off their third record In Love & Debt and I don’t think lead singer Charles Lapointe stopped jumping or stepping up on the monitors from that point. The band certainly feeds off his energy and you can’t blame, the man never looked tired and was all smiles the whole time. I am a sucker for their more ska style tracks so I loved performances of tracks such as “Breaking the Bond” and “JAMaca,” that really make you want to dance. The Superlative are so tight when they are channeling their ska/reggae influences they could probably be an awesome ska band if they focused on just that, but I am glad they keep it wide open and offer such a range of tracks.  It was also great to hear them play “Keep it Here” live, because it transported me back to a few years ago when they jammed the track for me when I went to interview them (video here). The band through in a cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Your Body” for good measure and eventually closed out the night “Something to Die For,” before returning for an encore.
I may not have won anything from the raffle, but it wasn’t about that. I had one hell of a night watching a community get together to help out their fellow citizens and if that doesn’t warm your heart and give you hope I don’t know what will.