I guess it's a little weird to review your own band, but since I took a leave of absence from the Hamilton Trading Company while I travelled around the world for eight months I think it's okay to describe how much I enjoyed the show.
The 18 piece choir band fronted by Keith Hamilton has certainly kept busy in the eight months. During this time they:
....was featured as New Music Track of the Day on CBC Radio 3...
....played at Bruce McDonalds' wedding (yes, the Bruce McDonald, Canadian director extraordinaire)
...made a music video directed by Bruce McDonald in an old church in the country...
....had an article in Exclaim...
....was interviewed and played on Amanda Putz's CBC Radio One show Bandwidth...
....and probably other stuff I haven't found out about. They've clearly been working on new songs, which sound heartwarming and haunting at the same time - which is kind of their style. Their performance at the Smiling Buddha last night was the first show I got to see as an audience member since I first moved to Toronto. It was a good show; lots of people coming out and sticking around, even though the band didn't come on till well after midnight. The band managed to captivate the entire bar's attention; despite being packed, there was total silence during the quiet songs and some dancing during the faster ones. It was probably the right crowd for the sort of experimental choir work the band does; there were so many young people barefoot in dreadlocks and long flowy skirts and drawings on their faces that I could have sworn I was on a Vancouver beach, not in Toronto's Little Italy in the dead of winter. this meant that the cover of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" went well, as did the use of speakerphone feedback as an instrument. That's the cool thing about hippie types. They're pretty open minded.
HTC still had a lot of exciting events planned, including a cross-Canada tour and a CD release party for their EP produces by Lowell Sostomi of the Great Bloomers. Members Keith and Duffield will also have their hands full as their other band, the Diableros, head for Austin, Texas for the epic music event SXSW. Most important in HTC news, however: long lost member Gloria will finally rejoin the group, hereby upping the band's nerd factor (rumoue has it she brings textbooks to gigs)...
