Tokyo Police Club And New Pornographers Top Off Indie Awards Show

03/10/08 5:30pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

While the Canadian Independent Music Awards show started off typically, with short performances interspersed with trophy handouts, it turned into a proper concert by the end of the night with full sets by Tokyo Police Club and The New Pornographers.

The evening began with a performance by Montreal's Young Galaxy, followed by former Jeff Healey Band bassist Joe Rockman paying tribute to the group's titular leader who lost his battle with cancer earlier this month.

The award parade then began, as Daniel Victor left both Magneta Lane's Lexi Valentine and Miss Canada backstage to claim Neverending White Lights' prize for favourite rock artist or group. Jenn Grant was on stage for maybe five seconds before fleeing after she received the Galaxie Rising Stars Award Of The CBC, which was accompanied by a $3,000 cheque.

Attack In Black singer/guitarist Daniel Tavis Romano said, "Someone call the police, Plaskett got robbed," in reference to the Joel Plaskett Emergency losing to Neverending White Lights. Whatever frustration Romano might have been feeling, he let it out in the band's fine two-song performance — which included the bassist and drummer switching instruments in the middle of the second one. The guys were apparently tired after being up all night on Friday shooting a new video, but you wouldn't have known it by the way they played.

The Cliks dedicated their second song, the excellent "Oh Yeah," to Healey. The late musician would have been proud of the stirring performance.

Magneta Lane presented the favourite single award to State Of Shock for "Money Honey," while pop tart Elise Estrada and Tenacious D's Kyle Gass (who was in Toronto for the Canadian premiere of D Tour: A Tenacious Documentary) handed the pop artist or group prize to Suzie McNeil.

The Lowest Of The Low were inducted into the Indies Hall Of Fame, and they gave their final performance. Although I think I've lost count of how many "final" LOTL performances I've seen over the years, guitarist Steve Stanley said their demise really is for good this time. While some of the younger fans in the crowd might not have been totally familiar with (or appreciated the legacy of) the band, they hopefully enjoyed hearing "Eternal Fatalist," "The Last Recidivist" and "Rosy And Grey." The Low's 1991 debut, Shakespeare My Butt, was voted the sixth best Canadian album of all time in a Chart poll (it was #1 on my ballot) and has just been certified gold for selling 50,000 copies in Canada.

Two members of The Mark Inside presented the favourite group award to The New Pornographers, and bassist John Collins accepted without uttering a word. Feist's The Reminder won the prestigious ChartAttack.com favourite album title, but she unfortunately wasn't able to pick up the prize in person. Silversun Pickups were named favourite international artist or group. After hearing that, I decided they also deserved the unofficial "How the hell did that happen award?"

The Besnard Lakes delivered an appropriately devastating rendition of "Devastation" during their time on stage before the show's final award, for favourite video, was presented to Alexisonfire's "Rough Hands."

Meanwhile, backstage: musicians were complaining about the expensive cash bar, with some of them trying to get a buzz of another sort by loading up on free promotional cans of a new Jimi Hendrix-inspired energy drink; Fefe Dobson wasn't wearing a bra underneath her green mini-dress and her boyfriend looked like a tall 12 year old; The Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek was pelted by debris thrown by his fellow band members while doing a television interview with Bravo; Major Maker's Lindy Vopnfjord was rivaled for tallest guy in the room by another giant who I frequently see around town but don't know; I gave another unofficial award for best afro to favourite world artist award winner Alex Cuba; two women from favourite children's group winners The Smudge Fundaes were running around demanding attention; and Magneta Lane bassist French was trying to balance a water bottle on her forehead.

While most people were expecting the obligatory two or three songs from Tokyo Police Club, the young group instead gave them 15. The band previewed a lot of new material from their long overdue full-length debut, Elephant Shell, which will be released by Saddle Creek on April 22. There were also some favourites from the outfit's EPs that had segments of the crowd dancing and singing along. The response might have been even more enthusiastic if meager finances didn't force fans to nurse their nine-dollar beers.

The New Pornographers took the stage at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel's Canadian Room at 11:40 p.m. and opened with "All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth." Carl Newman dedicated "Use It" to CBC-TV's The Hour host George Stroumboulopoulos, and the song sounded great despite keyboardist Kathryn Calder's harmonies being drowned out. This was the first time I'd seen the band without Neko Case, so I wanted to hear as much of Calder as possible. Drummer Kurt Dahle admitted that he lost in the Rock Band video game version of "The Electric Version," but he seems to have mastered it on stage. Other highlights included "The Laws Have Changed," "Sing Me Spanish Techno," "Adventures In Solitude," "Twin Cinema" and "The Bleeding Heart Show." They ended their hour-long set with a brilliant cover of the Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Bring Me Down" that remained stuck in my head as I bundled up to brave the nasty elements and head to the Horseshoe Tavern to escape nine-dollar beers and catch the remainder of the ChartAttack showcase.

Stay tuned to this site in future weeks for audio interviews conducted backstage at the Indie Awards.

Here are the remaining Canadian Independent Music Award winners:

Favourite Jazz Artist Or Group: Sophie Milman
Favourite Blues Artist Or Group: Little Miss Higgins
Favourite Urban Artist Or Group: Classified
Favourite Artist Or Band Website: Major Maker
Favourite Metal Artist Or Group: 3 Inches Of Blood
Favourite Punk/Hardcore Artist Or Group: Silverstein
Favourite Electronica Artist Or Group: Holy Fuck
Favourite Classical Artist Or Group: Jasper Wood
Favourite Folk/Roots Artist Or Group: Corb Lund
Favourite Country Artist Or Group: Aaron Lines
Favourite Francophone Artist Or Group: Tricot Machine
Favourite International Album: Radiohead — In Rainbows
Favourite Solo Artist: Feist