RBC Bluesfest Rocks with Alexisonfire

Bluesfest organized a rock-heavy set for the main stage on July 13th, featuring Millencolin, Sum41, Alexisonfire, and the occasional mosh pit.

Millencolin started the night with their brand of high-tempo pop-punk. Their energetic tunes felt fresh off of a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack. One noticeable asset they have over their peers is in the way they sing together. Their harmonies make one feel like there’s a crowd of people shouting along to the song at a bar. This effect comes from their chorus’s forceful delivery, an impressive rawness from the band’s backup singers. They made it feel like it would be fun to join in and shout along, so it was easy to see how they got as far as they have together.

On the Sirius XM stage, Vicki Brittle brought her soulful vocals backed by a live band, with a bit of a country twang on the guitars. Best known for her song “It’s Only Love”, she sang about a missing lover on “Come Home”, where her voice authentically breaks with emotion, elevating her Joplin-esque rasp. On new song “Twentysomething”, she sings about her struggles and growing up and maturing in her twenties. A talented singer able to emote deeply, with songwriting that emphasizes her expression, Brittle is a singer-songwriter with potential.

After Millencolin came Sum 41, leading figures in Canada’s pop-punk scene. Taking the stage to “Motivation” in the tight-fitting black clothes typical to the genre, lead singer Deryck Whibley quickly endeared himself to the crowd, energetically bounding across the stage, placing one leg on a speaker as he sang and pointed at the crowd. The band took every opportunity to hype the crowd up–“how are you feeling out there?” would be followed by “I can’t hear you!”, followed by pointing at different sections of the crowd to see who could cheer the loudest. Apparently the band has spent some of the last two decades mastering the art of conducting its audience.

Minus the occasional overdub, Whibley sounds about the same live as he does on record. His distinctive voice, backed by the talented singing of others in the band, is at once clear, sharp and raw, qualities that have surely helped the band stand out from their peers. It felt weird to hear that voice coming out of a person and not just a speaker, since I knew over half a dozen of their hits front-to-back from the radio, MuchMusic and party mixtapes, like many boys who came of age during the band’s peak. Others like myself were clearly in attendance, singing along with their favorites at the top of their lungs.

Thankfully, the band played all of them and more. “The Hell Song” opens with perhaps their most famous guitar riff, and lyrics about dealing with others’ problems, or rather, not doing that: “Part of me, won’t agree / Cause I don’t know if it’s for sure”. “Underclass Hero” brought the kind of sugar-rush chorus they became famous for. “We’re All to Blame”‘s dark tone and sludgy guitar riffs felt like an unusual stylistic shift at the time, though it makes more sense as they’ve explored metal in their more recent albums. The contemplative “Pieces” feels more like an indie rock song, something I’d expect more from a band like Snow Patrol, but it remains their best singalong song–partly because others are better for shouting along to. Towards the end of their set, they treated the crowd to a pop-punkified cover of “We Will Rock You”, with all the faster-tempo-playing and down-strumming-guitar-picking you’d expect. It was blasphemy, but fun blasphemy, and a welcome take on the played-to-death classic.

Closing out the evening, post-hardcore band Alexisonfire took to the stage. Dressed strikingly in overalls with a blue-collar feel, George Petit began screaming at the appreciative crowd, after the opening chugs from new track “Committed to the Con”. “Which side are you on?!” he said in the chorus, as Dallas Green (of City and Colour fame) repeated the lines in his clearer singing tone. As many songs in the set would also demonstrate, Green and Pettit’s vocal interplay magnified the intensity of the instruments and lyrics–the former sounding mournful at times, the latter furious.

The tense “This Could be Anywhere in the World”, with its frequent pauses to emphasize its punchy guitar lines, is put over the top in its later choruses, as Lead guitarist Wade MacNeil adds to this mix. His vocals are rougher than Green’s but cleaner than Pettit’s, adding yet another welcome dynamic.

And with music this loud and forceful, making an impact is all about such contrasts. The band’s chord progressions tend to be simpler and blunt in their verses, but some of their choruses feature guitar and drum lines that seem shaped around the lead singer’s tone and word choices, in a style seen more commonly in technical metal bands. Tracks like “Sans Soleil” demonstrated the band’s range, with gentler acoustic guitar-driven melodies. Pettit even sang well at times, which felt impressive, since not all screamers can sing.

The band’s stage presence is as wild as their music, with Pettit jumping onto the amps in a chaotic-looking fashion. Bassist Chris Steele somehow moved even more chaotically, occasionally flopping back onto the floor during a moment of passion, only to be heaved up to standing level by Pettit with a hand on Steele’s back. Green, MacNeil and drummer Jordan Hastings mostly stayed put at their instruments and mic stands to the sides and back of the stage respectively. This felt like an amusing recognition that their two other members would use the space in the middle to jump around as they did, much like the occasionally-moshing fans in the crowd below.

I’m not sure how a band with a professional screamer like Pettit became a regular presence on MuchMusic or on mainstream rock radio stations up here (is Cancon magic?), but I’ve always appreciated that they did. As they played here, touring in support of their first new album since 2009, their return felt welcome.

The festival continues tonight, featuring acts like Luke Bryan, Crash Test Dummies and The Tea Party. To find out more, visit www.ottawabluesfest.ca.

Written by Aaron Nava

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