Roach
Review by Darren Kerr
Photography by Rodney Gitzel
There was a smattering of people in the comfy Railway Club when
I arrived for Hemant Rao's set. Rao was already on stage, leading
his band through some safe, competent bop that was more stiff
shirt than Stiff Records. Exquisite bass lines and galloping drum
fills tried hard to elevate the songs past the filler category,
but ultimately all the tunes were so similar that they ended up
going right by me, leaving no lasting impression (my companion
said they sounded like a Knack for the 90's). This was certainly
through no fault of the musicianship, which was tight. I've said
it time and time again that bands like this have to take risks
with their sound and the songwriting.
Roach was a different bug altogether. Ron Roach is
a little guy with a big talent for melody. He has a captivating
voice, and can pull off a great falsetto and a reggae-fied croon
worthy of Joe Jackson. He also rocked like a happy moppet,
and alternated regularly between acoustic guitar (both distorted and deliciously
phased) and electric. There's something really cool about seeing
someone hit the big bad effects pedal when they're going for
it on acoustic guitar.
I've always like the djembe in a rock 'n roll format
(Zolty Cracker's power folk always comes to mind), as it always
seems to make the music more earthy and real. Roach's rather active
djembe player was also smacking cymbals with his hands,
and he continually knocked over the cymbal stands, making anyone
close by into a drum roadie. Again, the bass player (the same
one for Hemant Rao?) was stellar throughout; whether he was doing
chordal interplay or high extended runs, he never failed to give
the pulse a melody.
The band took us through two sets of clever, hooky pop, and played pretty much everything from their self-titled album of last year. My favourite track, "Nightmare Sessions," was particularly powerful, as was "Long Live Pop." The crowd really enjoyed the band, too, especially one liquored-up sailor-looking guy who toasted the band loudly after almost every song. Catch them at our Christmas charity benefit...
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