From: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org (headline-girl-digest) To: headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Subject: headline-girl-digest V2 #31 Reply-To: headline-girl@smoe.org Sender: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk headline-girl-digest Saturday, February 13 1999 Volume 02 : Number 031 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Imprint: Emm & Big Wreck [Paul Schreiber Subject: Imprint: Emm & Big Wreck Available for your viewing pleasure at: http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/issues/021299/6Arts/arts03.shtml Paul shad 96c / 3A CS / mac activist / eda / fumbler fan of / jewel / sophie b. / sarah slean / steve poltz / emm gryner / / x-files / buffy / dawson's creek / habs / bills / 49ers / t h i n k d i f f e r e n t. Big Wreck w/ Emm Gryner The Turret February 6, 1999 by Paul Schreiber Imprint staff Emm Gryner is Wilfrid Laurier's sort of human being, too. Except for that one guy in the front row. "You're having your own fuckin' soiree over there," chided Gryner. "I've never seen _that_ at a show before." Dressed in black, Gryner performed an aggressive eight-song set. By the end of "Your Sort of Human Being," her first piece, the floor was jam-packed. After rocking through Human Being on keyboard with Kevin Fox on cello, she brought the rest of her band: drummer Stephen McGrath and bassist Fil Bucchino. Her emotional rendition of "Summerlong" pleased the crowd, and especially Damian, who turned 21 and had a nice song dedication. The mostly purple-and-gold showgoers were enjoying their free pints of Guinness. "We love you Emm," shouted one reveller. "No," she corrected him, "I love you." Working the crowd throughout her entire set, she modestly introduced herself as someone who was "just gonna play a few songs before Big Wreck comes and changes your life forever." Emm went through several tracks from her debut album, Public: she pounded out "89 Days of Alcatraz," was clearly the focus of the Turret's attention during "Phonecall 45" and caressed her keyboard with the catchy-yet-meaningful "Wisdom Bus." She treated fans to a two-week-old song, "Revenge," wrought with emotion: "you let me down / you let me down / there's no easy way to say goodbye." Fox switched from cello to acoustic guitar and harmonized nicely with Gryner on "Summerlong" and "Revenge." Emm Gryner demonstrated her range as musician with a solo cover of Ozzy Osborne's "heavy metal," "80s" hit "Crazy Train" and a full-band rendition of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage." Spotted in the crowd taking in Emm's set were Toronto musicians Dylan White of Cicero and Matt Hayes of Flashlight. After a short break, the crowd got what they came for. At least I think they did. My right ear wasn't functioning quite so well. Did I mention Big Wreck is loud? Really damn loud. The four black-clad hard rockers treated the crowd to some serious vibrations under an array of blue and pink spotlights. The crowd was jumping by the second song of their roughly dozen-or-song set, and started to sing along, joining in with "I love that song." By the third song, the Turret's dance floor had turned into a mosh pit, with body-surfers attempting to hang off of the light rack. Big Wreck's banter was sparse, and consisted of a lot of drunken rambling, but lead singer Ian Thornley was, er, pleased that it was "the last night of the tour for this entire fucking record." He dedicated "Comforting" to his brother, and followed it up with a surprisingly slower song. Announcing that he was "going to try something else out," Thornley interjected "but we're not a cover band. I'm a professional. Professionals get paid." They then covered "Motionless," which featured some nice drum work. By this point, Big Wreck probably could have read the phone book and received thunderous applause. Near the end of the set, the disco ball was spinning for "Under the Lighthouse," which was actually a pretty decent rock song. Disappointed by the crowd's apparent silence, Ian remarked "you guys are getting awful quiet, what's wrong?" With the disco ball going once again and pounding out some funky reverb, they downed a few drinks on stage. After more moshing and a sing-a-long to "row, row, row your boat," the crowd exited to the speaker system blasting Sheryl Crow's "My Favorite Mistake," the best music I'd head since . . . Emm. ------------------------------ End of headline-girl-digest V2 #31 **********************************