Presidents Of U.S.A. Rule The Stage

I arrived at Lee's in time for the last three songs by Mexico City's Chikita Violenta, and apparently missed their cover of The Byrds' "Eight Miles High." But what I heard from the rhythmic, guitar-driven rock band was better than the couple of songs I'd listened to on their MySpace page.

Broken Social Scene comparisons are easy and inevitable because of the two groups' connections and their somewhat similar sounds. David Newfeld (BSS, Los Campesinos!) produced Chikita Violenta's 2007 album, The Stars And Suns Sessions, at Toronto's Stars And Sons studio. He also played on it along with Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, Justin Peroff and Charles Spearin.

Chikita Violenta are in Toronto recording their new album with Newfeld, so look for them in the local concert listings in case they play a few more gigs.

I enjoyed The Presidents Of The United States Of America's 1995 self-titled debut and 1996's II, and thought they put on a fine show when I saw them back in the day, but I hadn't given them much thought since. The Seattle band broke up and reformed a couple of times and have released four albums this decade, but I don't own any of this newer material.

But I met guitbass (a three-stringed guitar) player Andrew McKeag and drummer Jason Finn in a rooftop hot tub at my hotel in Austin, Texas during the South By Southwest Music Festival two years ago and got along well with them, so I had added incentive to check out this sold-out show.

The club was packed with fervent and mostly younger-than-anticipated fans, and I was shocked many of them were singing along to every song and not just the early hits. It was surprising but satisfying to see a Toronto crowd act that way, especially for a band I thought had been pretty much forgotten.

Bald singer Chris Ballew — whose black shorts and yellow T-shirt made him look a bit like Charlie Brown — played a two-stringed basitar. The range of sound the energetic and engaging Ballew and McKeag wrenched from a total of five strings was pretty amazing, while Finn's impressive drum kit was far from minimal in size and he made maximal use of it all night.

The crowd meowed and sang along with "Kitty," and the animal theme continued a few songs later with what Ballew dubbed the "bug trilogy" of "Ladybug," "Bug City" and "Dune Buggy," which had a few hundred people hopping up and down in unison with Ballew and McKeag.

Finn injected "Tiki God" with a big tribal drum sound and did a Gene Krupa-like solo during "Flame Is Love," which featured some quieter jazzy parts. "Back Porch" included an entertaining derivation of "Duelling Banjos" between Ballew and McKeag, and "Feather Pluckn'" incorporated a bit of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin.'"

Moshing started during "Lump," the group's biggest hit, and a shoe flew on stage when the moshing broke out again during the explosive "Volcano."

"Peaches" sounds a lot like Nirvana in parts. But while Kurt Cobain sang about being stoned, Ballew sings about his enjoyment of fruits with stones. Many of the audience members jumped and waved their arms throughout the song to show their fondness for the first album single.

The 65-minute set ended with a cover of the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" that saw Ballew perched on top of his amplifier and McKeag using a Steam Whistle bottle to get a slide guitar effect on his guitbass.

A cover of The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" that the Presidents contributed to The Wedding Singer soundtrack was the first encore number, and it turned into a full-on crowd singalong. The performance ended with "Body" and "We Are Not Going To Make It" and Ballew and McKeag slapping hands with everyone in the first couple of rows.

I spent an hour backstage after the show talking and drinking with the band, and then McKeag, Finn, the band's guitar tech whose name now unfortunately escapes me, comedian Eugene Mirman (a friend of the group and a big music buff who was in Toronto opening for Flight Of The Conchords at Massey Hall), promoter Craig Laskey and I hopped in a couple of cabs and headed to Ossington Avenue to hear Gord Cumming spinning some great music at the Reposado tequila bar. Our lovely bartender Leslie made sure we were well taken care of until we hit the street and left for our respective beds at 3 a.m.

Good times.

Here's what the Presidents played:

"Lunatic To Love"
"Kitty"
"Rot In The Sun"
"Mobile Home"
"Ladybug"
"Bug City"
"Dune Buggy"
"Tiki God"
"Flame Is Love"
"Back Porch"
"Lump"
"More Bad Times"
"Volcano"
"Mixed Up S.O.B."
"Feather Pluckn'"
"Mach 5"
"Ghosts Are Everywhere"
"Peaches"
"Kick Out The Jams"

Encore:
"Video Killed The Radio Star"
"Body"
"We Are Not Going To Make It"