illScarlett

Thursday, Jan. 21

Mavericks

Stars: 3.5/5

 

Mississauga natives illScarlett played Mavericks Jan. 21 with its reggae-infused rock as a part of their cross-Canada tour with Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker (USS).

The tour, which started in November to promote their new 1UP! album had finally made its way to Ottawa. Unsigned, Ottawa band To the Rescue, made up of Keith Charlebois and Mark Chippa on guitar as well as Scott Bassarab on bass and Jon Busby on drums, opened the show with its approachable rock music combining loud, head-nodding songs with soft, seductive lyrics. 

For an opener, To the Rescuewas a nice change from formulaic pop-punk with its diverse range of songs “Jennifer,” “Are You Bulletproof?” and “Emergency” from the band’s album Thanks for Nothing. The group, which sounds like an unpolished Jimmy Eat World meets The Eagles, gave a high-energy live performance with spectacular guitar solos and three-part harmonies.

By the end of their set, lead vocalist Chippa had sweat dripping from his brow down to his baby blue guitar and decidedly shook sweat all over the audience.

Soon after, a large crowd of screaming fan girls poured into Mavericks for Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, the guitar-DJ duo Ash Boo-Schultzand Human Kebabfrom Parkdale, Toronto, who make brash unapologetic music.

The Human Kebab got up-close with the crowd, jumping into the sea of fans, not once, but three times during their set. He even performed a handstand on stage then accidently knocked over the table with all his DJ equipment, which narrowly missed his head. 

The real gems of the set were not the sub-par lyrics — “moose meat, neighboureda medley of beans”— or that USS described itself as “white-trash grunge.” Surprisingly, it was the duo’s mashup of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” and Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” which sent the crowd into a dance frenzy.

When it was illScarlett’s turn to rock out, Alex Norman took the helm alongside band members Will Marr, Swav Pior and Jonny Dee who quickly jumped into older songs like “Heaters” and “Here We Go.”

The band had an aura of confidence as they took the stage even taking swigs of Jack Daniels between breaks. While the songs flowed smoothly into one another, the show felt more nostalgic than new as illScarlett opted to play its more popular songs like “Life of a Soldier“ and “Mary Jane.”

Although 1UP! may be the band’s sophomore album, the crowd cheered the illScarlett back on stage for three encore songs.