HPX 10′: Wednesday Highlights

Bad Vibrations

Location: CKDU Lobby
The tiny lobby of CKDU was pretty full of music fans ready to see some good music. First up was Bad Vibrations, a three piece outfit of the punk variety. While there was nothing particularly special about their set, it was enjoyable straight up punk with heavy guitar, thundering bass, and sparse vocals. It was nice of them to skip out on work to play some tunes.

Cursed Arrows

Location: CKDU Lobby
The duo of Ryan and Jackie Stanley put on a lively and simple set featuring just guitar and drums. What was fascinating watching the band was the way Jackie would be singing while she was drumming. Not just a lyric here and hit of the snare there, but going all out on vocals and her instrument at the same time. While they were both going to play guitars over a drum machine, technical difficulties prevented that. Definitely a band worth checking out in the future if you’re looking for some good and loud music.

Mark Sultan

Location: CKDU Lobby
This man is a legend. His antics, the story behind his bands adventures, breakups, and mishaps are the type of things that get written down and passed down from generations to generations. He seemed very angry and I had class so I can’t comment on anything other than the one song he played going crazy on guitar with a drum apparatus he had set up and was playing at the same time.

Daniel Romano

Location: The Carlton
Somebody needs to give Daniel Romano a big hug. He seemed so sad playing his songs on acoustic guitar alongside his brother Ian who provided some soft percussion with brushes and drum sticks on a lone snare drum. His dry sense of humour was great although somewhat awkward. However he had everybody laughing as he told a story of a man who tried to get into the full show and left a foul fart before exiting the building. His music was definitely enjoyable as he painted clear imagery of stories both fictitious and truthful.

Jason Collett

Location: The Carlton
A few years ago, Jason Collett played a show in Halifax with a full band (who would later go on to be the highly enjoyable rock group Zeus). This time in Halifax it was just him and his acoustic guitar. He played through a marathon of songs (20 to be exact). While his acoustic renditions of songs may not have had anything particularly unique or special about them, it was quite a treat to hear his songs, both old and new, with an acoustic treatment. A song like Hangover Days sounded completely different, the words and basic melody were the same, but that was about it. He also told some entertaining stories including one about when Broken Social Scene were snowed in Halifax and they ended up renting porn muted with Andrew Whiteman providing the soundtrack on guitar while Kevin Drew provided the commentary. Everytime Andrew Whiteman and Apostle of Hustle are in town this story is told, so it must have really stood out for them. Jason also played the song Banks of Margaree about a camping trip he once took with his girlfriend. It was great to see that he cared about the audience and tailored stories and played specific songs that would be relevant to a Nova Scotian crowd. He also played a number of songs that aren’t on any of his recent Arts&Crafts releases which was a treat.

Setlist: