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The Hoof & The Heel – Casa Del Popolo – Sunday, January 17th

January 18, 2010 in Show Reviews

Last night, Casa Del Popolo’s brand new concert hall played host to some of Montreal’s most exciting up-and-coming bands. Cinéma L’amour would lead things off, followed by The F in Fresh, followed by the night’s headliners, The Hoof & The Heel.

After walking through the now stageless cafe/bar/resto area of Casa and squeezing through the little hallway that leads to the brand new (and quite nice mind you) concert hall next door, the stage was set for Montreal nerd rock duo, Cinéma L’amour to get things started. If you listened to these guys with your eyes closed you’d think you had at least a 3 to 4 piece band playing for you. But in fact this band is actually a duo comprised of Chris Kavanagh on drums and Dorian Scheidt on guitar and vocals. These guys may look a little nerdy but they can rock the shit out of their instruments. Kavanagh bangs ferociously at his drums with obvious skill, and Scheidt peeks over a sea of guitar pedals, looping his erratic vocals and distorted guitar to create veritable walls of sound.

Next up was electro-pop band The F in Fresh. These guys are just a lot of fun. Their 80s inspired electro-pop is created solely through the use of two keyboards, drums and front-woman Chesley Walsh’s quavery vocals. Their set started off with some sound issues as the band made their way through the synth-laden “Top Predator of Love”. By the second song these issues were resolved and things quickly picked up with the spunky “If You Wanna” and a sweet Sinatra cover. Their set ended with the upbeat “New Jersey” to thunderous applause from the now pretty packed Casa Del Popolo crowd.

Finally, Harris Shper, Christine Hale and Farid Rener, a trio better known as The Hoof & The Heel, took the stage. These guys play music that is just as whimsical as their band name. They started off their set with what is probably their most emotional song, “Save us From”, setting the mood perfectly. Next the trio played the catchy and bouncy “All the Tigers” with singers Shper and Hale harmonizing beautifully. The set seemed to only get more intense as it went on as the band played fan favourites along with some brand new songs. The band invited one of their friends on stage with them to play bass for a few songs and while they claimed he had only learned how to play bass that day, it was pretty obvious that he knew what he was doing and his bass lines added to the overall sond quite nicely. A nice moment came when the band slowed things down a bit for the incredibly lovely “The King Finds Out”. In the end, these guys really warmed things up on an especially cold night in Montreal, and I think everyone present really enjoyed themselves.