Dance, Mother Fucker!

For the last two years, I've been urging all of my friends to see Sweet Thing whenever they had a show around Toronto. I'd tell them about how great of a concert they put on and how much fun was guaranteed with the purchase of a ticket to see them. I would make sure to describe in detail the band's musicianship and the intricacies of their vocal harmonies. Most importantly, I'd tell them that their lead singer always wears the best of vests, and that he'll get you clapping along until your hands are aching and then some. He's got such a great stage presence, you'll be absolutely giddy when he raises the mic stand dramatically or hits those high vocal wails. Yeah, smash that tambourine, boy! Fist pump that air! Damn it, I think I love this band! Collectively, Sweet Thing are without doubt one of the best live acts around Toronto. And of course, after my long glorifying speeches prasing this band, few of my friends would believe me. A band can't possibly be that great. On occasion, one of my smarter friends would follow me to a show and every time that happened, I got the opportunity to grin at their stupefied faces, and say "I told you so".

After what seems like years of having only a five-track EP to appease fans and being signed to EMI, then opening shows for everyone from LIGHTS, to Dragonette, to the Arkells, Sweet Thing is finally preparing to release their debut full-length. There's no set title or release date yet, but they've put the first single up for download on their official site.

Sweet Thing - Dance Mother (explicit version) (mp3)

Maybe you don't want to dance. But Sweet Thing gives you no choice. Laden with their signature high energy guitar hooks and group harmonies in all the right places, Dance Mother will not only have you dancing, but it'll also have you telling all of the other mo' fo's around you to do the same. Try not to offend anyone by doing that. You can also get a clean version of the single, (without all the f-bombs in the chorus) over at the official site, if you feel so inclined.

As much as I love the single, epic over-the-top lyrics and all, Sweet Thing is definitely a band you have to see in concert to really appreciate. Seriously, catch them around southern Ontario and Montreal for their quick tour before they bring it back home to Toronto for Canadian Music Week.

March 9th @ Call the Office, London
March 10th @ Starlight Room, Waterloo
March 11th @ La Sala Rossa, Montreal
March 12th @ Maverick's Bar, Ottawa
March 13th @ Lee's Palace, Toronto ** CMW

YorkFest 2008

It was EPIC.

I have a friend that attends York University, and she invited me to be her guest at their concert this year. I'm so glad I'm her friend. Much love to you, Vee!

I'm still so psyched about this show that I'm gonna spread the love and pepper this post with mp3s, and videos and photos that I TOOK MYSELF. Ha! It's a fuckin' smorgeshboard of awesome!

Ruby Coast.


They take to the stage with the air of a very modest indie band. They've got that highly infectious geek-pop-rock feeling to them.



The adorable keyboard notes get increasingly enjoyable through each verse. It makes the crowd very happy. This makes them very happy in return. The lead singer quips a quick "you're fucking awesome" to us before they begin their next song.

Ruby Coast - Brittle Bones


Ruby Coast - Brittle Bones (mp3)
(not yet available for purchase; check mySpace for updates)

Sweet Thing.


Now I'll be completely honest. I love the headliners for YorkFest '08, more popularly known as the Stars. But Sweet Thing was the reason I came. You may remember me posting about this band a few months ago. I'm very excited for them. I knew there was going to be rhythmic clapping. I knew there was gonna be "da-da-da"-ing. Knowing didn't take any satisfaction away from doing either as they performed. Hell, I'm still da-da-da-ing. Twelve hours after the show. For me, they were the highlight of the night.

Solid tunes, and solid showmanship. Remember that post I did about Brandon Flower's mustache, and how much I hated it? Well, Owen of Sweet Thing, I completely forgive your mustache. You're an awesome performer, and that more than makes up for it.

Sweet Thing - Down to the Ground


Sweet Thing - Lie Low (?) and Everyone


Smash that tambourine, boy!

Sweet Thing - Kite Fight



I have a few more videos to upload from their set. But it takes forever to upload things on YouTube. When they're up, I'll put them either in an edit of this post, or a separate "updates" post. Or you can just subscribe to impressionableyouth on YouTube. I plan to record more videos of shows that I see in the future, and things of that sort.

Sweet Thing - Down to the Ground (mp3)(buy)
Sweet Thing - Everyone (mp3)(buy)
Sweet Thing - Kite Fight (mp3) (buy)

Last, but not least, who everyone's been waiting for:

Stars.


Before their shows, they set up bouquets of roses that they'll toss into the audience during their songs. Petals go flying. Last night was no different (the lucky guy beside me caught one). They were amazing. I had never been to a Stars show before, and was naive to think it would only be swaying. I was an idiot. They really rocked out. They rocked out hard.



I was only able to stay for less than half the set unfortunately. I'll have to see them again when the come back to Toronto in December.

Stars - Ageless Beauty


Stars - Elevator Love Letter


Stars - Soft Revolution


Stars - Ageless Beauty (mp3) (buy)
Stars - Elevator Love Letter (mp3)(buy)
Stars - Soft Revolution (mp3)(buy)

In short though, it was an effin' awesome night.

You shoulda been there.

Sweet Thing

So recently, as in within the last month, I've been noticing that something pretty sweet has been getting a good amount of press coverage from local Toronto newspapers and magazines. So I go to look them up on Elbo.ws and Hype Machine, but I don't find much. Luckily, the boys are pretty generous on their mySpace page.

This is Sweet Thing:


More Toronto indie! More, I say!

Perhaps the thing I like most about some of their songs below are the vocal overlaps. I can't describe them better than their self-biography on their mySpace page, so I'll just post it here:

"Seriously. With a name like that, they’ll never be cool. But while you were adjusting your berets, Sweet Thing were in the other room partying with people who have no problem singing ’da da da’ at the top of their lungs for an hour. If Miles Davis were the birth of cool, Sweet Thing would be the pneumonia that killed him. Meet Sweet Thing, a five-piece Toronto band that play infectious pop tunes. Sometimes they get pretty rocking, in that dramatic way that feels best when you clench your fist and raise it to the sky. Charged with dueling guitars, Beach Boys harmonies, and energy up the wazoo, Sweet Thing are the musical equivalent of drinking a milkshake at a 50s diner where the waiter keeps jumping on the table (and you like it). Let’s call it ’music to dance like a dork to’. Question: do you like your hands? If yes, then you better get your mammy to knit you some mitts you baby, because lead singer Owen Carrier will make you clap, hard. In fact, you’ll do pretty much whatever he wants you to do when you get a load of that showmanship. Some say he sounds like Freddie Mercury, but Owen is so homophobic that he denies it. He’s a real asshole. Owen formed the band three years ago with high school buddy Alex Last. Alex was born with no skin on his face but fortunately, he has a nice beard. He also plays guitar, and likes Michael Jackson. Alex is the sexy mysterious one, for some reason. Maybe it’s because of his unique surf-meets-punk guitar playing. Or the skinless face. That’s for you to figure out. Then there’s the yin to Alex’s skinless yang, Nick Rose. You’ve probably seen him in that commercial for that thing. Yeah, that’s him. He’s really into alt-country and Paul Simon. He plays guitar like an angel, and sings like an angel. He might be an angel. Weighing in at 153 pounds, he’s the fattest member of Sweet Thing. That leaves us with the babes in the back. Tyler Kyte hits things, while Morgan Waters fingers things. Whoa horsey! We’re talking the bass. And when Morgan lays down a groove and starts jumping around like a damn fool, you can’t help but do the same. Tyler, on the other hand, plays the drums like he sexes the ladies - hard and fast. His brother has down syndrome, and when Tyler starts bashing away, you can barely tell them apart. So far, they’ve released a self-titled EP in 2006. People came to their shows and said ’yes, we like this’. EMI had no choice but to sign them. Now you have no choice but to listen to them, to worship them. They are currently working on their first full length album, and once that’s a success, they’ll get asymmetrical haircuts and Japanese girlfriends and change their name to something more cool and ironically cheeky, like ’Hitlerburger’. But in the meantime, they’ll be up there ’da da da-ing’ and making you dance like a dork."

Sweet Thing - Kite Flight (mp3)
Sweet Thing - Change of Seasons (mp3)
Sweet Thing - Down to the Ground (mp3)