Graveyard Train - The Drink, The Devil & The Dance - Hillside Festival, Guelph ON, July 22, 2011
I don't just love Graveyard Train, I am in love with Graveyard Train.
If you're someone who demands perfect pitch, heavenly voices and crisp clean sound, then this is not the band for you. If, however, the thought of a line of (albeit somewhat dirt-covered) grown-men choral-singing chain-gang-style ballads about werewolves, witches, and wagon trains gets your juices flowing... well then we've got something very important in common.
I had the pleasure of seeing Graveyard Train not once, but three times, three days in a row at this year's Hillside Festival in Guelph. As with many Hillside experiences we stumbled upon this band through a workshop session they were playing with another band (in this case Karkwa out of Montreal) and got to be part of a group-discovery that clearly had dozens of people simultaneously hooked.
I have a bit of a thing for odd instruments and in this category GT hits the jackpot. Playing everything from steel and slide guitar, to banjo, stand-up bass and chains (yes chains. played with a hammer) they run the gambit. Not only that but they dress and act the part, with dirty white tank tops, plaid shirts and suspenders their omnipresent uniform they look like they walked out of the Australian wild-west (complete with tipped hats and shoeless feet) and sound like they just emerged from a mine shaft.
Their epic choral singing stirs your soul in a way that makes you believe in ghosts, and drove us to see them not once, but three times over the course of the weekend. The only less-than-perfect thing about the experience was the knowledge that they were Australia-bound mere days later and that it will be a long time before I get to see them again!
If, however, you ever get the chance to see them live, take it. Then call and tell me where you are so I can go too!
No comments:
Post a Comment