Stealing The Beat: Part III

This three-part series takes a deep look into one of my most treasured belongings: my drumstick collection.

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Here we are friends – the last installment. Looking back I wish I had organized it so this final post would be all “Whoa, cool! What a great band! Amazing!” Not to say that it isn’t this way. I guess it just depends if you like multiple Queen’s Players band drumsticks or not?

1. Dharma Love 1/27/04

Ah, Dharma Love. Dharma Love was a band that formed in Uxbridge by four hotties. When I was in highschool, I loved them. BFF and I would write LiveJournal posts ending with ourselves calling them Mrs. LastNameOfOurFaveMembers. It was very cool. And the entire school didn’t find out and make fun of us either, just in case you were wondering. They had this one song, More Than Doing What You Feel Is Right Is Coming To Conclusions As To Why You Think What You Feel Is Right, a totally normal and easy to say name of a song. Here’s a vid for An Honest Prayer – if you look close, you can totally see a Grade 11 me at around 1:57 in. The drummer, Phil, was my real infatuation. At one show, he handed me a whisp of wheat that was decorating the theatre (I know, what the dude?) and I have it to this day. Phil, if you’re out there… I always thought your nose ring was the coolest.

2. OKGO

While this is one of the more impressive sticks, it also really bothers me. It’s the only one the band has signed the name of their band and one of two that’s autographed (Hello Kelly is the other one). Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that I like order and them all to be the same. OKGO is also written in the opposite direction from all the other sticks, which is a bit of a bitch. It was a great show though – in Kingston at The Grad Club around… I want to say fall of 2006 or something? And yes, they did amazing dancing in synch, and it was the best I’ve ever seen.

3. Trevor And The N-Bombs, Queen’s Fall Players, Derek Zwiep

Man, I really wish I had been better at dating these Players drumsticks. It would be a pain to go back and match them up with the shows, especially because the band names were really unofficial and never printed in the program. This one was funny not because of the N-Bombs joke, but because they had a trumpet player in the band that only played a couple of songs – he was totally part of the core group – and everyone thought his name was Trevor.

His name was Tyler.

4. Boardumb – Darren Ellery

Boardumb! I totally forgot I had this drumstick. This one might have actually been the real first drumstick… this was my neighbours garage band, and they were… good… super… good… If you gave them a teeshirt, they would take it home and Sharpie the name of the band on it. Very professional. I gave them their first real slogan – “Boardumb – We Don’t Suck.” My royalties will be huge.

5. Queen’s Players Band – Fall 07

Okay, now this has come back to bite me for sure. Yes, the date is helpful. The name of the band would have been too though. Therefore – I got nothin’.

6. Queen’s Players – The Killer Whales 09

The Killer Whales. This was actually from the first show where they started the Orca trophy for Best Whale by the band. They had this way of taking the guitar and making it sound like a whale… wailing… whaling… and hence, the Orca was born. It was much needed in response to the Gouda trophy that the cast could receive – now the band could receive their due. For more info on the history of the trophys, check out this link.

7. xDestroying Decemberx – 1/27/04

Yeah, you like those straight edge x’s by the name? Brings you back, am I right? I used to be straight edge too, until I tired alcohol, and then I wasn’t. This was from the same show Dharma Love played. About this show: it was organized to raise money for me to be Miss Teen Lindsay. Yeah, I know. It was crazy; a few of us signed up for this competition and I was selected as Miss Teen Lindsay. I had to raise money to go to the finals so I decided to do something cool. I got the Senior’s Centre in Fenelon Falls for free (it was where all the local shows were) and with the help of my Boardumb neighbour Kent, I had a bunch of bands play. I even got our local Sobeys where half the high school worked to donate bottled water. I can’t remember how much money I made, but I can tell you that I did not go on to the next level and copped out. I was still in the paper though!

Stealing The Beat: Part II

This three-part series takes a deep look into one of my most treasured belongings: my drumstick collection.

We’re back here for Part II of this three-part series, taking a look at the remnants of some of the concerts that formed me as a person, made my soul the way it is today, and were an aid to me in times of both happiness and unease – drumsticks from wicked awesome shows!

1. Moneen – 21/10/04

Moneen is and was a great band. I think they were underrated actually. One of the things I really liked about them was that when I went online to buy a tee-shirt from them, they actually mailed the package themselves, and included free pins and stickers too. It was really cool, especially for the band-infatuated 18 year old I was. Wow – it just hit me that I was 18 when I went to their show. I feel like I was 16 or something… it’s blowing my mind. Anyway – here’s their best song in my head: Are We Really Happy With Who We Are. Also – they’re Canadian.

2. The Cowboys – 08/01/07

Man, the Cowboys were awesome. They were a three-piece jokey-band from Queen’s University and they’d play every Monday night at Clark Hall Pub. They had a pretty strong following of about eleven of us die-hard regulars who would go every Monday night and sit on the floor in a semi-circle while they played Eleventeen, a super emo song. Other hits included Chop Chop Chop, FaceBook, and my personal favorite, Satan Is My Best Friend. They were briefly reunited at the recent surprise engagement party we attended – their drummer/guitar player was the one proposing. Our ride home was the tuba player, and the other third, the Dr., as he is called, was their amazing toy guitar player. If I could make one wish in the world, in whole, wide world… it would be for The Cowboys to get back together. This hilarious video I found online is a great example of just how loved the Cowboys were. I even have an embarrassing appearance at around 4:20 in. Note – the vid starts for real at about 1:15 in. There’s even a reference to the song Airing Your Grievances, now a Queen’s Players staple, that is actually copyrighted by The Cowboys. If you don’t know, now you know, Playa.

3. Finnish On The Chest – Queen’s Players – 16/06/07

I know I should be writing about Finnish on the Chest, but I’m still really hopped on The Cowboys right now, sorry. Finnish on the Chest is another Queen’s Player band. They had white tee-shirts with the Finnish blue cross on them. They never cease to amaze with their puns, amazing band skills, and hilarious names.

4. Mother Mother 04/09/11

In case you missed the review from the show in Peterborough, Coworker, Him and I saw the band a couple of weeks ago now, or last week, or something like that. They were fantastic and I suggest you check out His entry here to get a feel for their music and listen to all three of their albums for free.

5. Cory Roberts and The Mixed Goods – 12/31/08

Yup, you read it right. New Years Eve baby. This was the first winter that He and I were officially-officially dating and I went to visit him in New Brunswick so we could ring in the new year together. We went to a local pub where his friend was playing in this band and spent the night drinking and dancing – it was a great time. I think this is definitely the way to go as far as New Years goes – a pub, a band, and limited cover. In New Brunswick.

6. Hello Kelly – 04/16/05

Hello Kelly is the band of the brother of a friend of mine. We really enjoyed their stuff in high school, though they were a Christian band, so I bet you weren’t expecting that! They do have a really cute Christmas song though, that is more about hot chocolate than the birth of JC. Check out this video and enjoy a healthy taste of pop-punk from the early 2000’s.

7. Hot Hot Heat – 04/19/05

From that same show blogged in the previous edition of Stealing the Beat, Hot Hot Heat played in Peterborough back in 2005. They were so much smaller then too. The stage at the Trasheteria is at one end with all the rooms for the stars at the other, so they have to walk directly through the crowd to get to the stage. BFF talked for a long time about how Steve Bays had to tap her on the shoulder to get her to move out of the way. We were front row, and he sweated and spat into our faces all night. It was awesome.

Stealing The Beat: Part I

This three-part series takes a deep look into one of my most treasured belongings: my drumstick collection.

 

When I was in highschool I was super into music. Like, concerts all the time, all the shitty local bands – this was my bag. After a few shows I started telling bands I had a drumstick collection so I could take home some memorabilia. It wasn’t exactly a lie – it was entirely a lie. However, after the first couple suckers actually fell for this, I did have a collection. And it was awesome.

1. Red Rocket – 2003

This might have been the first bad boy to enter my “collection.” Red Rocket was a band from Uxbridge or one of those places. They were hot. My friend Krystal introduced me to them and I immediately dug them. I just Googled them and unless they relocated to West London, I’m pretty sure they don’t exist anymore.

2. Protest the Hero – 03/15/04

Protest the Hero came to play the Peterborough Trasheteria back in 2004. I find it funny that they still exist and I totally forget that I once saw them play. My neighbour, Kent, who was super into music and I tried to avoid walking to school with because it was awkward, introduced me to them. I remember they were like 15 but in this band. I think we might have even hung out with them at Tim Horton’s (the only place 15 year olds can go after hours) after their show. PS – Just Googled them and they were actually 14.

3.  Stinky Pinkies – Players, 2006

Before I delve into the Pinkies, I’d like to point out that I know none of these dating systems on the sticks are similar – one of my only true regrets in life. Carrying on. the Stinky Pinkies were the Queen’s Players band of the first show I ever did. They always have a different name – you’ll see many of them here – and it’s always ridiculous. Some members of the Pinkies are still doing music now – you can check out Tim O’Reilly’s band Free Whiskey anytime they come to Toronto and remind him of when he once was a Stinky Pinky and played the trumpet while having the worst poison ivy I’ve ever seen.

4. Whale Tooth – 04/09/11

Whale Tooth is my second newest stick. I got it Saturday night at the Mother Mother show at the Red Dog Tavern. The guy was really decent about it and I appreciated it. I’m sure it will be worth a lot of money someday.

5. Guess Who Guessed What

This is the second Players drumstick in this installment, but I have no idea where it is in the order of shows, because I didn’t mark the date on it. Good one.

6. The Weakerthans – 03/30/09

I gotta say, Weakerthans might be one of my faves. I saw them in Kingston at the Ale House and they put on a hell of a show. I really liked that when you went to see them live, the main singers voice, which is very distinctive, was exactly the same as it sounds on their CD’s.

7. The Premiums – 11/28/03

I had to actually stop here for a second and think of The Premiums even still existed. I Googled them and got this, so I’m going to go with a hearty No. It’s too bad – they were actually really good. They opened for Hot Hot Heat with The Unicorns, again, at the Trasheteria. They’re a super fun band so I suggest you find a way to listen to their only CD they ever made, back in 2003, eight years ago.