Concert Review: Crocodiles, Jaill, Pow Wows @ The Garrison

By: Maria Sokulsky-Dolnycky (@marisodo) – 

Crocodiles.

As Sunday evening’s grey storm clouds overtook the sky, concertgoers found themselves heading for The Garrison to catch Crocodiles, a San Diego-native lo-fi noise pop outfit which formed back in 2008.

The evening began with Toronto’s own three-piece garage rock outfit Pow Wows, whose sound evokes images of whiskey, leather jackets, and slicked back hair, and is reminiscent of the kind of music one would hear at Black Market Vintage. Starting off close to empty, the room filled up slowly as the set progressed, and the crowd became more and more animated. The set proved to be 30 minutes of solid tunes laced with fuzzy guitars and pounding bass lines, and people were up and dancing by the end of it; there was clearly some local-band love being shown.

The room became progressively more crowded as the Milwaukee-based band Jaill sauntered onstage and jumped right into its brand of jangly pop-rock. The band played several songs from their latest LP, 2012’s Traps, such as the metrically-irregular “Waste a Lot of Things”, but one of the highlights of the set was the fast-paced, insanely catchy “Everyone’s Hip”, from 2010’s That’s How We Burn. The song showcased how tight the band was, and how energetic and insane the band’s drummer was. The audience was fairly stone-faced throughout the set, and the band’s jokes between songs mostly fell flat, but the music itself was catchy and charming.

Once Crocodiles’ set came around, the room was more densely packed; even a severe thunderstorm warning could not keep a crowd from gathering. Already bubbling with anticipation, the crowd’s enthusiasm grew once the band stepped on stage. As soon as frontman Brandon Welchez stepped up to the mic, he commanded the room; he has the kind of effortlessly cool presence that demands attention. That’s not to say that he overshadowed guitarist Charles Rowell; he charmed the crowd with his onstage antics, such as engaging in Pete Townshend-esquewindmills and playing his guitar behind his head.

The set began with the classic “Mirrors”, which was an instant crowd pleaser. The band worked its way through its catalogue, playing songs from their latest LP Crimes of Passion, such as “Cockroach”, “Gimme Some Annihilation” and “Marquis de Sade”, as well as touching upon oldies like “Neon Jesus”, which was the band’s first single back in 2008. Welchez’s vocals were on point, and the band was tight overall. The crowd was jumping and dancing along, clearly enjoying the music. The band also debuted a loud and raucous new song, which featured its characteristic wall-of-sound reverb- and feedback-drenched guitars and high-pitched yelps. After some chanting from the crowd, the band gave an encore, during which Rowell briefly showered the audience with beer, and closed the set with the catchy “I Wanna Kill” from 2009’s Summer of Hate.

All in all, Crocodiles easily proved to be the highlight of the night; the band’s live show never disappoints and is definitely worth checking out.