Voxtrot, Irving and Spiral Beach Hit Toronto

The Montreal Gazette catches up with Ramesh Srivastava of Voxtrot before their Montreal show. There is a little background information to the story about a girl named 'Jenny' that Ramesh met while spending time in Scotland. OK, it doesn't talk in tells about 'Jenny' but after seeing the show last night at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto and 'Jenny' being present, those in attendance got a little more of the story. :: more ::

Last night we jumped at the opportunity to see Austin's export Voxtrot at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto. With little left of their own equipment to play the set with they were forced to borrow a piece or two from tour mates Irving. We see their time in Canada has been good to them so far. "This is our first time in Canada" singer Ramesh Srivastava tells the crowd. "Maybe Canada is superior to the United States" (crowd cheer) "haha I thought you would like hearing that". With this being the first time Torontoians had the chance to catch the guys we were pretty excited to see and hear the guys. They don't have a lot of music to choose from with only 2 EPs being released from their vault, so there weren't many surprises as to what was going to be played, other they the order they were going to be played. The guys did not disappoint the faithful, playing high energy guitar getting most into a head-bobbing dance. The set wasn't long but as their EPs, its all about the quality in their songs then anything else. The only thing that would have topped off the night would have been if Ramesh's friend 'Jenny', to whom the last song of the night was going out to, would get up on stage for a promising dance... but that is a story in itself. As most bands, Voxtrot has a MySpace page where you can listen to some sample tracks. Just remember that the band doesn't have many released tracks as it is, so you will have to opportunity to hear about 40% of their collection directly from their MySpace page. Opening up the night was a local group from Toronto called Spiral Beach. They are 1 part Sugarcubes, 1 part B-52s, 1 part Devo and a pinch of Mini-pops (oh you remember them). Nevertheless, they were the biggest surprise of the night and thats in a good way. The kids from Spiral Beach have good harmonies, and the singer Maddy Wilde added the spark to the each song. They are no stranges to the city of Toronto, so if you are in the city you can probably catch them somewhere, until they are old enough for mom and dad to let them out on tour. Here are some MP3's for your listening pleasure found from the Spiral Beach website. :: New Clouds :: Voodoo :: Day OK If you like what you hear, you can always contact the band to purchase the CD :: spiralbeach@spiralbeach.com

Between the bands Spiral Beach and Voxtrot, Irving took the stage at Sneaky Dee's to add a heavier sound to the night. The guys out of California brought a lot of energy by kicking off the set with some new songs off their new album Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers. All the songs were new to us since we had not heard anything from Irving in the past, but it all sounded great live. Other then the odd feedback noice they were clear, loud and packed with a lot of bunch. I think they are worth checking out if they are in your hood and since they are in the middle of a current tour they just might be. Check out their MySpace page for sample songs and tour schedule.