Wednesday night ex Guns N Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke rocked the sh*t out of the Ale House. The supporting acts for the night were Storm Large and Channel One. 

I didn’t really know too much about Channel One or Storm Large. All I knew about Channel One was what I read on their myspace page a couple hours before the show. Now for "Susan" Storm Large I didn’t really watch Rockstar Supernova that much because I didn’t really have time to sit down and watch the show. 

Channel One really shined out in their performance. They are a band from Ottawa who are now touring with Gilby Clarke. It didn’t look like too many people who knew who they were either. I think more people might of checked them out before the show if they were advertised being on the bill, but anyways people knew who they were at the end of their set. 

They also probably lucked out a bit because at the end of Storm’s set she set up right beside them and that was where half the bar went when she was done. Now for Channel One’s music there was one song that really caught my ear and that was “Walk Away From Me”. The music is a softer side of the band, the vocals are a lot softer than most of their songs. This song will probably be one of the songs that the band finds success with. “Forevermore” was another song that I liked, The opening riff is nice and heavy, the vocals to me are a little high to match with the instruments on the recorded material but when they play it live it just kicks ass. 

There is always the problem being the first and somewhat unknown band that is that when you try to get the crowd involved most of the time people don’t follow along. The Band tried their best to get the crowd involved but it didn’t really happen, even the fast hand clap didn’t work. But luckily the band didn’t really seem bothered by it and they kept playing on. The band was playing music from their newly released album called Living Through Battles. Channel One played eight songs in their set which were...

1. Perfect Crime 
2. Sea Of Red 
3. Walk Away From Me 
4. Love Sick Eyes 
5. Lowest Point 
6. Always 
7. Forevermore 
8. Lost Inside You 

Now Storm Large was amazing. I would say half of the audience was there just to see her. After halfway through her set I could see why people came just to see her.

When I started to look out in the crowd near the start of her set some people were standing out to me and after a song or two I clued into why they like Storm so much. Her music style is really all over the place in a sense, there is her recorded music then there is the live performance where she adds in parts. The music is partially serious with comedy written through out it. Sometimes she has a full band backing her but tonight it was her and a keyboardist, and it wasn’t like too many people were interested in the Keyboards. 

She definately knows what to wear and how to act on stage to keep the fans interested. 

One of the best parts of her set was when a guy kept yelling things out and she embarrassed the living hell out of the guy to the point where the entire Ale House was laughing at him, and that kept him quiet for the rest of the night. There was also a part about a fifty dollar fisting involved in the night. 

“I want You To Die” was her first song of the night was the part serious and part comedy. The serious part was what the song is written about, but the way she sings and acts makes up the comedy part of it. The song is about someone breaking your heart. This song is a have to see live song. “Ladylike” was the song of the night though, people seemed to be there for and interested in this song the most. 

Everybody was there singing along to every word of the song. She played a couple covers in her set, “I want you to want me” and “Total Eclipse Of the Heart” For “Total Eclipse of the heart” she had a bet going for saying that wherever they go people will know this song. The song turned into a full out sing a long with the crowd. When she finished off her set she headed to the back for autographs and pics and at least half the bar headed to the back. I thought about going to the back but I wasn’t going to lose my front row spot for Gilby Clarke. 

It still amazes me at the concerts that come through Kingston, Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would ever see Gilby Clarke especially since he is involved with Rockstar Supernova now. But here he was right in front of me on stage; he just blew my mind and ears away with his guitar. Heading into this show I figured I would get to hear a couple Guns N Roses songs and a few of his own, not only did he play those bands but he slipped in a couple Rolling Stones tunes and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. I was not expecting The Stones at all but he f’n rocked the shit out of them. 

The backing band for Gilby was a bassist and a drummer. These guys know their shit and know what they are doing on stage. The Bassist has a major punk influence and he was a show all by himself. I haven’t seen a bassist move around like he has in a long time, he didn’t stay in the same spot for more than ten seconds. The drummer was also interesting to watch, his best trick was he would bounce his right drunk stick off the drums it would hit the lights and still managed to catch it. Every song is worth talking about in this show, but here is a couple. His own song “Cure Me or Kill Me” was a standout as his own, right away the guitars grab your throat and don’t let go until the end, this song doesn’t even need any lyrics just the guitar, bass and drums, the main riff to the song reminds me of “Looks That Kill”. 

Now my favourite song of the night was his last “Tijuana Jail”, this is a song that you have to see played live. The drummer got a five minute drum solo that just blew my mind especially at the end where he used his bare hands and drumsticks and he didn’t lighten up at all he hit the drums with his hands as hard as the did with the drum sticks. When the drummer was doing is solo the bassist and Gilby left the stage and when they came out Gilby and rocked his new guitar. 

Throughout the night Gilby was throwing out guitar picks to people and at the end of the night I some how found one on the floor I couldn’t really believe it when I found it, but the best part about it is when I got it home I noticed that he signed the guitar pick and when you look at the other side it says Supernova on it. Well for people who didn’t come out on Wednesday night you missed out large, this is probably the only time that he will be touring through Kingston. 

www.gilbyclarke.com
www.myspace.com/gilbyclarke
www.stormlarge.com
www.myspace.com/stormandtheballs
www.myspace.com/channeloneband
 
 

photos by Matt Hartwick

Matt Hartwick
m.hartwick@partyinkingston.com