Fri. May 13: Nefidovs release long awaited CD

Music scenes go in constant cycles. There will be a rush of new young and hungry bands that will flood any scene, some doing extremely well out of the gate, playing as many shows as possible, trying to make their mark in the local music community. Over time, the initial class of bands dwindles down, as band members lose the passion or appeal of sludging it out, playing show after show for minimal pay-off, sometimes never progressing past the opening slot on shows.

But as the years carry on, some bands begin to not only rise, but shine. They put in their dues, playing headlining shows one night, to opening first on a five band bill, letting their music dictate their direction and ascent, rather than their ego. They play every venue that will house them, sometimes breaking genre or logic, to expose their music to as many ears as possible, defying the genre borders that often plagues so many bands when trying to break the local stratusphere. You learn more about your craft and your sound playing to unknown ears than you do your friends, and sometimes the truths don’t sit well with some bands.

The Nefidovs are part of the Next Wave of great new bands coming out of Windsor’s music community. Equal parts stoner rock, prog metal, grunge and ska – these guys have combined great songwriting with high octane rock and roll energy, flavoured with a minimal but powerfully effective horn section to create something we here at the Windsor Zene have dubbed “Death Ska” (a reaction to Elliott Brood‘s coining term “Death Country”). These guys are the real deal and have paid more than their share of dues – they’ve equally sold out shows at Phog Lounge as well as opened for other acts, just for the sheer desire to expose their music to as many Windsor music fans as possible.

It has been this tireless pursuit over the past year that has made the release of their debut CD, the brilliantly named Set Faces To Stunned, so highly anticipated. They’ve leaked some demos and early recordings sporadically over the past year, but it was a proper release everyone craved.

Well the time is now. The moment will be tonight. The place will be The FM Lounge (156 Chatham St. West, main level).

Joining The Nefidovs will be some other faces from Windsor’s great Next Wave, including the oustanding blues rock duo The Blue Stones (who recently released their own eagerly anticipated EP), as well as veteran punk outfit Shared Arms. The Rowley Estate, another newer face, will open the show with their great classic punk sound.

Swing by and check out the future of Windsor’s music scene. You won’t be disappointed.

The Nefidovs CD Release Party with special guests The Blue Stones, Shared Arms and The Rowley Estate, The FM Lounge (156 Chatham St. West, main level), 9pm

The Windsor Scene with Lauren Hedges

Lauren Hedges

Playlist for May 11, 2011;

Dylan Punek – Equinox (Dylan Punke – 2009)

Sick of Sarah – Simple Parts (2205 – 2011)

Hunter Valentine – Barbara Jean (Lessons From The Late Night – 2009)

The Cliks – We Are The Wolverines (Dirty King – 2009)

Threat Signal – Revision (Vigilance – 2009)

Goliath – By The Throat (Funweiser EP – 2011)

The Nefidovs – Beg Your Pardon Demo (Set Faced to Stun – 2011)

Shared Arms – Aunt Jemima/Another Sticky Situation (Unreleased Jams – 2009)

The Blue Stones – Vain Vixens (The Blue Stones – 2011)

Gypsy Chief Goliath – Elephant in the Room (The Windsor Zene Sampler – December 2010)

Devilz by Definition – A Gram Short 20 (The Windsor Zene Sampler – February 2011)

The Heat Seeking Moisture Missiles – Hidin’ in the Bushes (The Windsor Zene Sampler – December 2010)

Inoke Errati – Control (The Wink and The Gun – 2006)

Beijing Bike Club – The Past (The Windsor Zene Sampler – January 2011)

Thieves in Remand – Trace of Truth (Single – 2010)

Falling with Glory – Fight with Honour (The Windsor Zene Sampler – January 2011)

What Seas, What Shores – Pave the Oceans (Cordyceps EP – 2010)

Some great shows coming up this week. Like, really great ones. No excuses for being bored over the next few days, as you’ve always got somewhere you could go.

Thursday night at The Blind Dog (671 Ouellette Ave) will be heavy as a really heavy thing (pardon the SYL reference) as Hamilton’s Threat Signal bring to town their monstrous metal, joined by locals Goliath, Blackthorn City, Cyreene, A Dream in the Morning, and what could very well be the final show of Bloodshoteye. Lots of reasons not to miss this one, it starts at 5:30, is all ages, and is only $10 in advance of $12 at the door.

On Friday the 13^th, forget superstitions and come to FM Lounge (156 Chatham St. W.) where The Nefidovs will be celebrating the release of their first full-length. Their crazy ska-ish-ness will be joined by skater punks The Rowley Estate, pop-punkers Shared Arms, and the bluesy rockings of The Blue Stones, who have recently released an EP themselves. This show is without cover, which is all the more incentive to go, and to purchase the album, ‘Set Faces to Stunned’ which will be available for purchase at the low-low price of $5!

Get more bang for your buck (I’m a used car salesman today, apparently) on Saturday where you can catch 14 bands for only $10 (if you buy presale from local acts) at The Blind Dog. This all ages Rock/Pop Fest is being put on by Gateway Productions, and features Inoke Errati, The Blue Stones, Beijing Bike Club, and The Tragedy of Mariam, among others. The show starts at 1 pm and lasts all day. A great deal and sure to be a great time.

Wed. March 9: Five Alarm Funk bring the noise to Phog

Here’s something that may seem obvious considering the venue: “It’s gonna get crowded tonight”.

Not just because the band in question, Vancouver’s Five Alarm Funk, had a standing room only show last time they brought their 10-man ensemble through Windsor, but because, well, there’s ten of them. Ten. But with a sound as eclectic as it is huge, you’ll soon discover that each member is as essential as the next, despite the fact that their guitar neck is poking your poutine or the bass player keeps drinking your pint of Stonehammer. Tonight, Phog Lounge (157 University Ave. West)’s dance floor will be a series of fleshy undulations.

Five Alarm Funk are a hard band to categorize. Their horn section will automatically have people clamoring they’re ska, but I don’t exactly hear a full on ska sound. It’s about as ska as Frank Zappa was funk. Zappa was funky at times, sure, but I don’t think you’d ever find Zappa in the funk section. Five Alarm Funk are an ensemble of music enthusiasts but perhaps also musical nihilists. They take a multitude of genres, dismantle them piece by piece, then reconstruct a new monster using only the parts they deem the tastiest.

Choreographed dance moves with explosive stage energy propel this show, as the band, touring in support of their third and latest album, Anything is Possible, will undoubtedly spill from Phog’s cozy stage to the floor, where it will only be a matter of time before it’s full of the writhing sweaty music fans that Phog has honed and nurtured.

In short, get ready for another of Phog’s crazy dance parties.

Opening up the show are locals The Nefidovs.

Five Alarm Funk with special guests The Nefidovs, Phog Lounge (157 University Ave. West), Wednesday March 9, 9pm, 19+

Thurs. Mar. 3: Punk rawk rolls into Phog for pint and poutine

One of the ways you can tell a scene is on the up is when the venue’s genre lines are blurred. When you see metal guys at pop shows, or folk singers at punk shows, etc., it’s an indicator that people are transcending genre preference for talent preference, which translates that the scene is healthy.

One of the venues that subscribes to this is Phog Lounge, who in the past year have added a lot more acts outside their norm, such as hip-hop, metal and punk rock. This Thursday marks a full on punk show of varying degrees, led by a couple bands from Montreal.

Old School Politics are a Quebec punk-pop band who have been around for about six years and though they may have started rough around the edges, they’ve polished up quite nicely. Their sound is reminiscent of California punk like NOFX, pre-Dookie Green Day or early Blink 182. And while vocally they remain in the safety of the pop-punk melodica, at times their guitars stray to the outer rim where they tread just a little bit into the Bad Religion marshlands (such as on the track “Got It”). Their sound is that of a punk band growing up, when the anger is turning into joy of playing well crafted songs instead of just making a racket, when the revolution is more about positive empowerment than just reckless abandon.

The Hunters are another Quebec punk band whose sound reeks of a found maturity. The punk angst is still there but their musical appreciation is akin to Windsor’s own Orphan Choir, in that it seems to have amalgamated their original punk rawk DIY ethic and absorbed in other found music stylings into their pantheon. Their sound swirls with throw back sounds that are as much The Clash via Combat Rock as they are street punk. These guys have been work horses the past few years, sharing the stage with many of punk rock’s heavy weights, such as Bad Religion, Agnostic Front, Anti-Flag, The Casualties, Mustard Plug, Subhumans and more, including a stint on the Vans Warped tour.

Opening the stage are two local punk bands from different sides of the street. The Nefidovs are one of the scene’s fast rising star (they’re on the February FREE Music Sampler), incorporating a punk rock credos with a ska vibe and one hell of a live show (as witnessed last Friday when they opened for the Benito Band and FourLetterWord at The FM Lounge). Starting things off are The Rowley Estate. Think if Orphan Choir had stayed more traditional head on street punk with a touch of the Oi! gang vocals. These guys are still running on piss and vinegar and sometimes you need to be reminded of what it meant to be punk rock in the first place.

This is a great line-up that shows four very different punk bands at different stages of their development, which will only benefit them all. The veterans will feel the hunger of the young ones nipping at their heels and reminding them of their roots, while the younger bands will see the result of what a good polishing can do to any genre.

Old School Politics and The Hunters with special guests The Nefidovs and The Rowley Estate, Phog Lounge (157 University Ave. West), Doors 8pm, 19+, $5

The Windsor Zene’s FREE February Windsor Music Sampler is now available!

Well it’s that time of month again – although the shortness of February caught us a bit off guard so we’re a couple days off.

Here’s your link to February’s FREE Windsor Music Sampler. Just click on the February release (or if you missed December or January’s, they’re still available for FREE download as well). February’s compilation started off a bit slow, but it turned into our biggest compilation yet, clocking in at 16 tracks!

We’re pleased to announce that some different genres are slowly creeping in, from melodic rock (Acousticfire) to ska (Brass Knuckles and The Nefidovs) as well as our first sampling of Windsor hip-hop arrives with a track from Academy’s Kayyce Closed.

Some of the veterans of the scene (Pat Robitaille, Hammerdown, Explode When They Bloom, The Hung Jury, The Golden Eagles) are also represented, while new blood like Shortcut to Last, Devilz By Definition and The Hypnotics are also on the bill. Some overlooked acts from the past couple years (but who are still performing) are represented as well, with the indie DIY punk ethic of Rose City (featuring Locusts Have No Ki ng, ASK and Years of Ernest member Joey “The Wise Guy” DesRoches) and the electronic blues funk of Gregg Koval‘s track (Koval gained notoriety as part of the ’90s outfit Powdered Toastmen).

Our first sample of cross border unity also appears featuring the Detroit hardcore band The Armed, which features Windsor guitarist Christopher Elkjar (who also performs in Cloverjoy and has accompanied (wh)y.m.e.(??) at some live performances).

We’ve got a great electronic piece from Kero to close the set out for you. This guy is one of Windsor’s most influential musicians of the past decade (Beck and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke are admitted fans) and it’s a real treat to have him on the sampler.

In a band and your submission didn’t make the cut? Fear not. Simply means we ended up with more than we could handle this month. It’ll appear as soon as we can allot it!

Want to submit a track for an upcoming sampler? Send your hi-quality mp3 or .wav file, along with all production credits, to windsorzene@gmail.com

Help promote local Windsor music by SHARING this article on your Facebook page! The best way to let people know about the talent this city and scene produces is my letting them know!