My little observation.
I wanted to start this piece off with an interesting observation that I had last night. I purposely wore my Gussapolooza T-Shirt last night to pay tribute to both Kasador and Bleeker who were playing the Rivoli last night, they both played Gussapolooza last year. That’s when I ran into another soul wearing a Gussapolooza T-shirt and we began to talk, when someone walked by and said they went to that festival as well. I was amazed that there were quite a number of fans that saw these bands first at this festival that is held in Cookstown every August. The kicker was that the opening act Avalon Stone also got her start playing the festival about 5 years ago.
That’s makes 3 kick ass bands that got a big boost from a community-based festival that works hard at giving voice to young talented bands from all around Ontario.
Avalon Stone
With the room filling up, it seemed everyone walked to the front of the stage. I find most shows people hang out near the middle of the room and leave a big gap between audience and performer. This crowd wanted a close look at a rising star that is doing everything to make her name known.
Her name is Avalon Stone, and she came out to show us what she is made of. She is a confident young performer who not only wants to rock her way but has fun doing it.
Her band are a bunch of driven young men who create a solid backdrop of sound while Avalon goes out to spill some of her guts out on the stage. Each song is a modern rocker that keeps the show steady. They took a slightly different turn on one song when they added their own version with a psychedelic twist. It wasn’t out of your mind crazy, but it definitely showed that they wanted to reach new levels of musicianship.
Avalon slowed things down with a ballad about those days when we don’t even want to get out of our bed. The good news is that this band rips off the sheets and tells you to get up and rock your world with the rest of the set.
Fashion sense is becoming a statement for Avalon. She wore all black with what I can only describe as a part of leather pants/skirt. She picked up a beat up a blue guitar, and the rocker look is complete. I bet that guitar has some great road stories as to how it now looks this way.
One of her main purposes to this show is to sing her brand-new single called- “Loud”. This song is a hit and the crowd agreed as they sang the chorus with her. This is a Stone-Cold Cool Band!
This is Avalon Stone-
Kasador
Kasador is a band from Kingston Ontario. I guess they have something to prove and that is there are a lot of talented bands that come from this city. There is more than one.
They came out with a straightforward rock style that leaned into the classic early punk style. Their vibe has a movable groove that comes at you with a solid wall that you cannot ignore. When it hits you want to start going into that face melting furrow.
Young bands today are looking for ways of creating their own special way in this world of overgrown music. Kasador created something kind of cool. They go to a thrift store and buy a shirt and personalize it. Then they bring it to their merch table and sell it. Instead of just buying another concert shirt, you can be the owner of a one of a king item from this band. How creative is that. This is just a note for any young band that are reading this right now. Creativity is always the key to great artists.
Once they hit their groove, they presented more melodic sounds and explore different side to the not hard, in your face music. They had an interesting instrumental that I was lucky to film, just to show a different side of this band. This is my instagram video- https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeCDIc4M_Ff/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I loved that fact that I got put into the corner like baby. The Rivoli was sold out and jammed pack. I found my little bit of real estate and was stuck there rocking out with some of the most dedicated fans of this band.
This is Kasador-
Bleeker
When I saw Bleeker at Gussapolooza last year, I mentioned that they were a fan favourite. Being in the Rivoli, that sentiment is stronger now. The solid crowd was elated when they walked on stage and hit their channel immediately. Halfway through the first song Taylor hit that banshee scream, and the crowd locked right into this set of music.
After Taylor pulled off some more stellar rock moves, he announced that this was a CD release party and that they will be doing a lot of new songs. It didn’t really matter to this crowd what songs they were going to do this night, as long as it got the crowd moving and bouncing around. I did notice some feet leaving the ground for a couple of songs.
The finest part of the evening was when he wanted us to have a sing along with the simple phrase YaYaYaYa. Taylor singled out one guy in the back to just do it by himself, and once that moment happened, the entire crowd laughed and joined in joyfully. What a perfect way to solidify this audience. Check out this video- https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeHaS4fMNsH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
The party didn’t stop there. He wanted the audience to clap to the drummers beat. But it was a difficult rhythm, so Taylor taught us how to do it properly. If we say out loud, I smoke weed a lot, it should help with our rhythm. For me I couldn’t stop thinking about pizza.
Then came the heavy rocker, and I do mean heavy. They wrote a song about an Elephant. This song not only stomped its way around the stage with a very crunchy guitar sound, but the other guitar was emulating the sound of an elephant’s trunk. Now that is a cool rock song.
Bleeker are truly coming into themselves with great high energy rockers that have some reckless moments. For example, at the end of their set, I noticed the drummer actually breaking his drumsticks in half over his head.
The band finished off with their last song anthem called, “Fuck you, I’m leaving”. This is the final chance for the room to get rid of whatever angst they have and to leave it at the foot of the stage.
Bleeker is a band that is serious about stage craft and creating a whole Rock and Roll experience. You can tell they are not here just to play their songs, but to leave you with a memory that you can cherish for a long time.
This is Bleeker-
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Finally, a final Thank you to Gussapolooza for creating a festival so these bands have a stage they can say they were proud to play upon, as they forged ahead on their musical journey.
Please follow these bands at
www.instagram.com/avalonstonemusic/
www.instagram.com/kasadorband/
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