February, 2016 | tape the night

I had never heard of Josh Ritter before, but on September 17th, 2004, at Massey Hall he opened for Sarah Harmer and completely stunned the crowd with a killer acoustic set. I remember where I was sitting. I remember what he sounded like. I remember thinking we had unknowingly come to see a Josh Ritter concert and Sarah Harmer just also happened to be on the bill.

In that performance he showcased his ability to weave narrative and song together so seamlessly that I could not believe I hadn’t heard of him before. I downloaded every song he played that night and those songs have lived on in various playlists over the last 12 years.

Last night I got to see a different side of him. He played The Phoenix for his Toronto stop on his new tour in support of his album, “Sermon On The Rocks”. He was there with the Royal City Band and there was guitar – Man-Muppet Austin Nevins slayed – and there was big sound and there were solos and jam sessions and long, slow, pulsing rock soliloquies. I had not kept up with Ritter over the years – that first introduction was so timeless, so classic, that I never strayed from those first songs.

Therefore much of what I saw last night came as a bit of a surprise and, if I’m being honest, while I’ve never seen anyone perform with such pure joy as what Ritter demonstrated all night on the stage, the best moments were when it was just him and his acoustic guitar. Folksy. Story telling. Singing songs with more words than any song should have and somehow, somewhere, it becomes okay if the rhymes get loose because the imagery behind them is so strong in your mind that the occasional couplets you do lucidly interpret already fit the pictures in your head.

While a number of my favourites (“Harrisburg”, “Beautiful Night”, “You’ve Got The Moon”) did not make the cut last night in favour of the Royal City Experiment, I discovered some new acoustic and lyrical gems in “Change Of Time” and “Snow Is Gone”. I left the show knowing that if Josh Ritter ever came back and played solo, I’d be the first one in line. If The Royal City Band was in tow, well, I’d first check to see if Sarah Harmer was also on the bill.

The band did, however, perform my favourite Josh Ritter song. It was a little loud when given the full band treatment and sometimes driven towards a slightly-too-high range and thus falling a bit flat, but the moment was still amazing for me because the lyrics for this song, “Kathleen”, feel like they were stolen from my own experiences, written by an observer of my life.

The song tells of a party; I picture a classic field party, red solo cups, car high beams and bonfires providing the only sources of light. There are guitars and girls and good times. Our hero in the song is not the big man on campus, he’s not the quarterback or the group leader, but he has a guitar and, more importantly, he has a car and tonight, he is the one who gets to drive Kathleen home at the end of the night. Never has a guy so clearly in the Friend Zone of the most popular girl in school been so cool.

All the other girls here are stars – you are the northern lights
They try to shine in through your curtains – you’re too close and too bright
They try and they try but everything that they do
Is the ghost of a trace of a pale imitation of you
I’ll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen

This party was made with the night air and the chance that a smile
Will wind its way from your face to one of the boys in your line
You act like you’re hip to their tricks and you’re strong
But a virgin Wurlitzer heart never once had a song
I’ll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen

I cannot count the number of times in my life I have been this guy, content to be the friend, hanging back, carrying a torch so long that it either burns out on its own or is snuffed by someone else actually brave enough to make the first move. Always rationalizing and playing down what I have to contribute to the friendship and possible relationship… “I’m going your way anyway…”

And I’ll have you back by break of day
I’m going your way anyway
And if you’d like to come along
I’ll be yours for a song

There is both sadness and joy in unrequited love. In fact, I’m not entirely sure I’m even talking about unrequited love… what do you call love that JUST MIGHT BE RETURNED if only the hero was brave enough to actually speak of it aloud? Unendeavored love?

These next lyrics in the song resonate so strongly for me…

I know you are waiting and I know that it is not for me
But I’m here and I’m ready and I’ve saved you the passenger seat
I won’t be your last dance just your last goodnight
Every heart is a package tangled up in knots someone else tied
I’ll be the one to drive you back home Kathleen

I think the pain here comes with the notion that the hero is so self-aware of his own condition and the very fact that he IS so self-aware even further prevents him from improving his situation.

“I won’t be your last dance just your last goodnight.”

This hints at the joy though… for ANY role he has to play in her evening is a positive one, a moment to be relished, remembered, dissected and put back together a thousand different ways as he lies in bed at night, recounting the night’s events, feeling every little touch and look again and again until he drifts off to sleep.

This post is getting harder and harder to write in the third person.

And then we get the last verse that paints the final picture so perfectly, so beautifully, that you are almost nostalgic for the moment yourself before you realize that this never actually happened to you…

So crawl up your trellis and quietly back into your room
And I’ll coast down the length of your drive by the light of the moon
And the next time I see you – a new kind of hello
Both our hearts have a secret only both of us know
‘Bout the night that I drove you back home Kathleen

As much as I want this to be my memory, I’ve never snuck a girl home after curfew and had her climb a trellis. I’ve never known a girl who even had a trellis. I’ve never coasted darkly down a driveway; every car I’ve ever driven has had daytime running lights for crying out loud. But yet there is something in that moment that I do connect with.

I have walked a girl home through Christie Pits at 4:30 in the morning after the cops raided an after-hours club we were at. I have dropped a girl off at her place after a Blue Jays game that I’m surprised she said yes to and tossed her a ball from my driver’s side window. I have watched as the bar crowd dwindled down until there were only a few of us left, paired off, talking over poutine. I have stumbled home to my University residence from yet another night at the weekly sing-along wondering what that lingering hand hold with the new girl in the group meant during “Wonderful Tonight”.

I have had many Kathleens in my life and many nights with those Kathleens and on that September night in 2004, and in the years that have followed, Josh Ritter has tapped into my feelings about them all with this song.

First up, this is a fantastic live version of the song. Much heavier emphasis on the acoustic through the first half with an understated band presence towards the end. This is the performance I hoped to catch last night. His trademark squinted grin and pure happiness pour out over the audience and they drink it up, telling the story of this song right back to him…

And here is a clip from the show at The Phoenix last night as he heads into the final verse… musically not as great, but he has created such a warm feeling in the crowd up to this point that the moment still sparkles for us all. Also, a great extended car trip home for our hero and Kathleen that ties in the winter cold and snow we’ve been experiencing in Toronto this week…

Further Listening – Two More Josh Ritter Songs

At the risk of taking up subject matter for future posts, if you’re new to Josh Ritter after this post, here are a couple other favourites worth checking out.

Josh Ritter - Stuck To You

Josh Ritter is smart and Stuck To You (The Science Song) is a fun little number that brings his academic efforts in both science and American folk music together quite nicely.

Josh Ritter - Beautiful Night

And there is another post in me about this song for sure, but a great place to leave things for the night. No live footage that I can find, but hear it straight from the album: Beautiful Night.

Further Reading

Here is a quick review for the Phoenix show over at exclaim.ca.

I’ve read a number of interviews with Josh through this past week knowing a post about the concert was brewing, and the best is this great interview with him… gives an excellent perspective of what inspires him and what helped make him the man he became.

Reasons why The Struts are just so goddamn good:

1. Lead Singer Luke Spiller is made of charisma. I love how Jeff Oloizia describes him as being the rock and roll version of “Dress for the job you want” in this interview in the Times from a few weeks ago. Wearing mostly women’s clothes, a lot of makeup and the attitude to pull it all off, Spiller brings to the stage a Glam Rock sense of rock royalty that earns all of the comparisons he is getting to Freddie Mercury or Mick Jagger. I don’t repeat those comparisons lightly here either; I saw it first-hand last November in their first visit to Toronto.

At this show he was sick. Grossly, phlegmy, hacking-cough sick. And he still owned the stage and the entire room. In the clip below Spiller wandered into the crowd, getting half the room to sit down on the bar floor with just a wave of his hand. He then led both halves of the room in a call and response battle that had every person in the room wanting to win, not for themselves, but for him.

2. The name. So rarely does a name just fit the band so perfectly that you cannot believe the band is as young as they are. How could they only have formed in 2010? How could these guys just be in their mid-20’s? Hasn’t there always been a band called The Struts? Haven’t they been, quite literally, strutting on stages for decades? And the font on their album cover… that’s just always been a thing, right?

When you can combine contemporary and timeless into your identity you’re bound for big things. Discovering The Struts’ excellently titled Have You Heard as I did last summer felt like stumbling on an old album in my dad’s basement that no-one I knew had heard before.

3. The music – it’s for real. I have never pretended (nor will ever claim) that this little site of mine is home to opinions that should ever sway the masses. I like what I like and I have a lot of very good, relevant, smart and influential musical pockets to explore as I grow this site. That being said I will just as easily write an essay on the decline, and subsequent resurrection, of the TV Sitcom theme.

So with that being said, reading reviews about The Struts like this one at Sonic Abuse by Andy Sweeny just plain annoys me. His analysis of the music may have merit as he seems very well-educated around the influences and songwriters involved (half the word count is name-dropping and reference-making which puts the emphasis more on the author’s “expertise” than a review of the actual album), but the whole tone just reeks of that elitist, self-proclaimed indie-guru nonsense that drives me bonkers. Not liking something because it has the potential for mass appeal is just so cool these days, isn’t it?

The music is for real and anyone who has seen The Struts live will attest to that. They are unlike any band I have seen and their potential is enormous. I feel lucky to have caught them in a club with 150 people as the next time they come around I feel like they could demand a much larger audience. Or, dare I dream, they fall in love with Toronto and echo The Stones circa 1977?

You’ve no doubt heard the lead single Could Have Been Me… it’s easy to sing along to with fun, clear vocal stylings by Spiller and an anthemic chorus that spreads the simple message of living life with no regrets.

I like a band that has fun in their videos, and that you can tell they are having fun in their videos. Put Your Money On Me is not only just another catchy tune on the album with some awesome harmonies and natural call and response built-in, but it’s also a fantastic one-take video full of all the fun randomness that should inspire themed costume parties for die-hard fans years from now. Add to that the strangely mesmerizing frame rate it was shot in and this actually takes the cake for my favourite Struts video currently.

Now, it would almost make too much sense to put Kiss This as the last focus video in this post… after all, it is currently being played constantly on the radio, but I’ve stuck it down in Further Listening because my true favourite Struts song is Where Did She Go and I want to give it a little love here.

At the show at Adelaide Hall, this was their closing number… Spiller had given his all… sweaty, coughing, fifth wardrobe change of the night… he even called up a fan to help him sing a song earlier in the night which was a bit of magic to watch… this nervous Japanese girl singing shyly until she found her comfort level and then virtually grabbed the microphone out of his hands…

It’s the end of a long show – much longer than the modest number of tracks the band has in their repertoire should dictate – and they strike up Where Did She Go as they introduce the band. It has an amazing call and response vibe to it and they just kept going with it, and we just kept singing it… no-one in that room wanted the show to end. That moment has time stamped this song for me and I will always associate it with being in my happy place, belting out a great tune with a rowdy bunch of concert-goers and everyone in the room just giving in and having fun.

There are lots and lots and lots of concert videos showcasing exactly this… in fact, discovering and watching each of those videos just now (along with a few others) almost takes away from the happyplace moment I felt, that moment that we were there, with them, in a small club in Toronto, and we were a part of something special. Almost. It’s such a rock solid way to end a show that I cannot fault them for repeating the audience instructions, the call and response, the quiet down and the amp back up. It was just perfect and the best shot example of just such a video is below.

The acoustic version of the song is excellent as well and just shows that you don’t need the glam, the lights and the make-up when you have great riffs, easy lyrics, a sense of fun and a willingness to both own the mic and share it.

And that’s the last reason why The Struts are so goddamn good. Make no mistake about it, they are the ones in charge during a show, but they are able to make you feel as though you – and that inner glam-rock superstar you didn’t even know you had – are right up there with them.

Further Reading

Still want to read more? This is a great interview with the band from Atwood Magazine (who also, incidentally, gave “Have You Heard” a perfect 10/10 while showcasing how to name drop a musical influence and reference in an album review without coming off sounding like a total douche).

Further Listening – More Tracks From The Struts

The Struts - Kiss This

Kiss This – the follow-up single to Could Have Been Me and guaranteed to still be in your head in the morning if it’s the last song you listen to before going to sleep at night.

The Struts Rebel Rebel

Rebel Rebel – quite possibly the perfect cover for Spiller to take on and again embracing the crowd, walking amongst them and making everyone feel just as much a part of the show as he is.

“Kathleen” – Josh Ritter

The Struts – Adelaide Hall – 11/27/15