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Newsstand: November 27, 2009
Tokyo's Zoobombs played their final show last night at the Silver Dollar after playing five shows in Toronto in the last week. Organized by the infamous Dan Burke, the shows were an effort to attract industry interest in the Japanese band without any help from the industry at all. In a direct offensive against last week's CMW festival, Burke's aim seemed to be to have a successful slew of shows with the same band "without any label-financing or government-funding."
It remains to be seen how much valuable interest was generated through the shows, but the lesson learned here is that with enough hype, you can get anyone excited about anything. The Zoobombs have amazing stage presence and are a high-energy psych-garage rock band, but they lack substance and memorability. They aren't terrible, but it seemed the audience's over-the-top response last night was fueled more by hype than great songs.
If anything, the greatest thing about the shows is that they forced people to see deserving local acts that supported the headliners. The I Spies, The Surplus Sons and The Mark Inside all played solid rock sets to an eager and receptive audience that otherwise wouldn't have attended.
The Zoobombs started strong, and everyone was captivated before a note was played. It seemed a lot of people had already seen the band last weekend and come back for more. But it became apparent that the band had been built up more than they deserved, and the show descended into a pitiful spiral of ridiculousness and self-indulgence about five songs in. Long, wandering, poorly-executed bouts of psychedelic guitar solos were accompanied by meaningless lyrics and silly cock-rock guitar tricks.
Again, the audience went wild, a mosh pit erupted at the foot of the stage, and long-haired dudes in leather jackets held their beers high in the air. Everyone was convinced they were witnessing something important.
Maybe they were, but when the band was joined on stage by a wild-eyed Dan Burke who proclaimed he was "the best dancer in Toronto," and demanded that the supporting band-members grab maracas and join in on a clumsy cover of "Sympathy for the Devil," it was clear that something was amiss. This was a fun karaoke/dance party, not history in the making. The Zoobombs are skilled performers with great showmanship, but remain unremarkable songwriters.
Not convinced? Catch Zoobombs tonight at The Ford Plant in Brantford, or leave a disagreeable comment below.
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I disagree with your claim that they're unremarkable song writers.
Anyway, I was at their live show last weekend, and I must say, their live set did not sound nearly as good as their albums. I don't know if it was the sound at the venue or what.
Great stage presence though. I think it's that and the pure volume that really got the crowd going. I'd say the excitement was genuine. To chalk it up to hype is a little unjustified.
I agree with the previous comment. I was there and felt that the excitement was indeed genuine. I don't see how anyone can claim that it was all about the hype. Can you actually read people's minds and know that they are bopping around because they think it's the popular thing to do? It's a ridiculous statement to speak for everyone that was there.
As a reviewer, you should speak about your own experience, and not about what you presume was going on inside the minds of others in attendance. It comes off completely biased and totally discredits you.
"Can you actually read people's minds and know that they are bopping around because they think it's the popular thing to do?"
How else can you explain the Boat?
My point was not whether or not people will celebrate bands/venues/etc. as a result of hype. I know that they frequently do.
My point was that these people could have ACTUALLY been enjoying this band and it's ridiculous to make a general statement about hype and apply it to everyone in the room. That's just not an objective review.
The writer is free to say "I don't believe the hype", but to claim that everyone else was stupidly blinded by the hype comes off as an amateurish attempt at a critique.
Boat or no boat.
In the span of several sentences, you stated the "night was fueled more by
hype than great songs", to "a lot of people had already seen the band last
weekend and come back for more". Not sure thats considered hype, but more people having a good time the
first time around, and come back wanting more. c'mon now.
the vibe in the place was awesome, with four great acts...and confirming the Silver Dollar is arguably one
of the cities best sounding venues.
While I can agree to disagree on a concert review, a personal critique of the audience's appreciation by a reviewer just isn't right. Finally, a Toronto audience, widely regarded for being boring and spiritless, finally gets lively and rowdy at a show, and gets questioned for it. sad.
I can't believe I spaced out and missed Zoo Bombs... so annoying.
While the reviewer has taken a too-cynical angle, she is mostly dead on. The Zoobombs put on a perfect rock show...the whole place was dancing for the whole set. That just doesn't happen anymore as far as I can tell. However, the songs WERE weak. No one will ever sign that band. There is no way to sell them, because no producer can ever do that live show justice, and the songs will never stand on their own. Period.
Also, hype WAS a really interesting aspect of this whole Zoombomb attack. Deep beneath Dan Burke's drug-addled exterior lies a well of creative genius. There is no question (in my mind at least), that Dan's antics had as much to do with the special-ness of these shows as the Zoobombs did.
Anyways...let's just hope all this Zoobomb energy rubs off on our "scene" a bit. Dance you jerks.
p.s. how did you space out and miss the zoobombs? The played like, 82 times in the past two weeks.
The writer is most definately NOT right on. This was indeed a lazy and overly subjective review of a great rock show that was definatly something important to this city. This was a show that got Torontonians dancing.
First off, that guitar playing was amazing, and those were SO far from "long, wandering, poorly-executed" guitar solos. It takes an incredible amount of skill and control to be able to throw your guitar around yourself while playing. Technically he blew me away while obviously playing with an incredible amount of soul. Clearly you have never played the guitar. There is no question that he was a fantastic player, and those were definately electric solos.
"But it became apparent that the band had been built up more than they deserved, and the show descended into a pitiful spiral of ridiculousness and self-indulgence about five songs in.
And wow, talk about a totally self indulgent sentence. Again you couldn't be more wrong. Never have I seen ANY band in Toronto have so much influence over their audience. And this was at a small bar club, where by the 5th song, ever person (except you) was moving. I have never seen that. And most people there I assume don't even know the songs of this band.
Dan Burke knows how to create buzz and hype. He really does it well. These shows were so well deserving of all the hype though. And to be so critical of a Japanese band playing their 6th show in 1 week in Toronto to a packed house? Amazing.
I saw them at Comfort Zone last week and thought that they were charismatic, cute, tight, and fun as hell. They put on an incredibly high energy show, and know how to fire up the crowd.
terrible review, but to each his own i guess. also, surplus sons and the mark inside were boring as hell, at least i know this now.
maybe we should all wikipedia "objective" and "subjective" before we start a-typing. eh, boys? let's get it together.
The zoobombs were ridiculous. If ridiculous means wicked awesome, mind blowing and totally amazing.
It's so quaint to pawn off a raging mosh pit and encore as being hype. Have you ever seen a Toronto audience respond to a band like that? Especially an unsigned band that already played FIVE shows in one week? It MUST have been because Dan Burke told everyone to like the zoobombs. He's only been heavily promoting them for six years. Either that or everyone agreed that the long-haired leather jacket dudes know where its at.
Righhhhttt...The zoobombs got a mosh pit because they deserved it. The music was great, their control over their instruments was incredible and they rocked. hard.
I'm pretty sure anyone in the audience who's in a band was fully impressed with what they saw. I'd love to hear from them.
I guess that's the thing about being a reviewer, sometimes your opinions just don't count.
the thing is... not everyone reads stillepost, or knew anything about the zoobombs before going to see them. in fact, i happen to know a few who didn't. all my friends who came to see the zoobombs didn't know anything at all about them except that they were from japan (since that's what it said on the flyer). they all had a great time and were raving afterwards about how amazing the show was and how much fun they had. it wasn't the hype. it was simply a great performance.
Man, there aren't many well thought out comments here.
Every single person in that room had been told by someone or other beforehand (whether it was Now, or Stillepost, or Dan himself that told them), that the Zoobombs were the real deal, that they were going to blow people's minds. Everyone anticipated the best show they had ever seen because of this. Everyone was crowding long before they even took the stage...was THIS because the Zoobombs were so awesome? Clearly not, since they had not begun playing yet.....when this happens for a band that noone has ever heard in Toronto, the only reason can be hype.
Was anyone humming Zoobombs on the way home? i wasn't and couldn't do it if I tried now. Their songs sucked, guys. They delivered them with conviction and energy though, so we all went with em. I had a great time, and you had a great time. Lets not spoil the memory by pretending it was the best moment of our lives.
Why is everyone calling this "hype"? Can't we give a truly great band it's due?
It is a fact that the Zoobombs have been playing in Toronto over the last 8 years now. As testament, there is a live album called Bomb It Live that was recorded back in 2000 at the Elmo! Another fact is that the last couple of times in Toronto, the Zoobombs have also played multi-night stands at the Silver Dollar. They have been the best damn shows that I have ever seen in my life!
And about the songs, I don't understand why people are picking on them. Perhaps if they had radio play then it would be easy to remember their songs. If the songs were in english or if you understood japanese then again maybe you would have an easier time to remembering them.
Regardless, it's rock n' roll and it's damn good rock n' roll! They are one of best damn live bands in the land and I challenge anyone name a better one.
Zoobombs are a lovely bunch of people and put on an undeniably intense live show...I would hope that your reviewer would give music fans in this city more credit than to assume their enthusiasm for the show was based on hype. Arcade Fire is hype...Zoobombs are fun, and their appeal has spread through old fashioned word of mouth.
As for PBZ and his/her comments about Surplus Sons and the Mark Inside...let me know when your band is playing and we'll compare and contrast, shall we?
geoff
I apologize if a lot of this has already been covered and that I'm a few days late to the party, but this review is seriously fucking terrible and I'd really like to say a couple of things about it, even if nobody ends up reading it.
Now, I don't just say that it's terrible because the writer didn't like the band. That's fair enough, but what isn't fair is how it sounds like she'd already decided this before the show.
This thing about "hype", which seems to tie into her cynicism, is also pretty severely misguided.
Despite the posturing, it doesn't seem possible to me that this writer is actually familar with Dan or with Stillepost. Maybe I'm way off, but if she is, she hasn't been paying attention.
Dan hypes all of his shows. Hard.
That's no knock on him, because most times he's bang on. But quite often people don't get the message. I've seen lots of incredible shows at the Dollar with a fraction of the audience who showed up last Friday-- despite Dan's best efforts.
And that's why Dan Burke is so invaluable to this city's music community-- because he's a fighter, he keeps on taking chances where other promoters would just play it safe.
It's certainly not because he can create a whirlwind of hype to hypnotize us into believing something that isn't real. And the writer's misplaced belief in the power and the reach of that, and of Now magazine, isn't just laughable, it's insulting.
At least, it would be insulting if she hadn't gone out of her way to be insulting much more directly.
If the writer actually is familar with Stillepost, I suggest she take a look at some of the excruciatingly long threads about "irony" and dance parties. I think she'd find allies in the smug pseudo-intellectuals who have decided what everybody thinks for them-- and who also got immediately, and rightly, jumped on by the people they've wrongly pegged.
To me, these types are the worst kind of cynical hipster douche bags-- which is kind of funny, because it seems like those are exactly the kind of people that they're out to tear down.
I'm sure it feels good for a person to think they're better or smarter than people, and then proclaim it to their little Torontoist audience, but doing that has nothing to do with being a "journalist"-- which I think is what she's attempting to be.
Frankly, I find it more than a little odd that such a "perceptive" writer can miss how there is a wicked contradiction in showing such distaste for what she sees as groupthink, and then turning around and telling everybody how they all should really feel. I mean, fuck off.