The Joel Plaskett Emergency Are Suffering To Make You Happy

Chris Pennell must be shaking in his boots.The bass player just joined the Joel Plaskett Emergency a scant two years ago, but he's now being asked to take on a seemingly impossible task: learn to play Joel Plaskett's entire back catalogue in only a few weeks.

Plaskett and crew's five-show December stand at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern has been upped to six, meaning Pennell, Plaskett and drummer David Marsh will have to refine songs from 2005's La De Da in addition to In Need Of Medical Attention, Truthfully, Truthfully, Down At The Khyber and Ashtray Rock. Each of the albums will be featured on one of the evenings.

It's a tall order for any band, but Plaskett says he didn't hesitate when the Shoe approached him with their 60th anniversary idea.

"We've got a long-standing relationship with those guys and that club. I think they had previously had The Rheostatics play some of their anniversary stuff — kind of do a residency there. They approached us this year about whether or not we'd want to do multiple nights and yeah, sure. We haven't played the Shoe in quite some time because we've been trying to build it up into other clubs.

"We've got a shit-load of work to do to get it ready."

It was the band's idea to feature a particular record on each of the nights, and Plaskett discloses that they're doing it to finally make good on fan requests, rather than for their own amusement.

"I thought it would be a really good idea to revisit the catalogue. We get a lot of requests at shows, some of which we can accommodate, others which we can't.

"Someone always yells out something from In Need Of Medical Attention when you're playing your encore and everybody's partying and pouring beer over their heads."

Here are your options for December Plaskett-tainment:

Dec. 10 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern (In Need Of Medical Attention)
Dec. 11 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern (Down At The Khyber)
Dec. 12 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern (Truthfully, Truthfully)
Dec. 12 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern (La De Da)
Dec. 14 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern (Ashtray Rock)
Dec. 15 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Dec. 28-29 Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar