Grainger duck walks his way to rock 'n' roll

By Eric scharf

scha0120@algonquincollege.com

Fridays’ may not draw the best crowds at The Observatory but it certainly can attract some great rock and roll.

Toronto’s Sebastien Grainger, former drummer/vocalist of Death from Above 1979, and the Mountains hit the Observatory stage louder than a 747 jet, Sept. 12.

He looked to be having an absolute blast of a time on stage during some of his more danceable numbers, going as far as doing the infamous Chuck Barry duck walk with a huge grin on his face.

“We had a lot of fun, I’m not going to lie,” said Grainger exiting the stage at the end of the concert.

“I love these weird shows,” said Grainger in a post performance interview.  “The ones with a weird feeling going into them, you know you have to turn them around to have as much if not more fun than playing a more populated show.”

Very early into the show Grainger was unimpressed by the amount of people still sitting down, about 90 per-cent of the crowd, and told them that they should be embarrassed.

“Get up and join us at the front here, you should be embarrassed.  You stand at a rock and roll show.”

It worked causing a total turn around.  Only about five people remained seated after pep-talk.

“The main reason we play college shows is because, chances are the people you play for may have never seen a concert before and it is fun to be part of someone’s life in that way,” said Grainger.  “I remember my first concert; it was New Kids on the Block.  It was pretty hardcore.”

Grainger and the Mountains played a lot of material of their upcoming debut full-length album, (I am like a) River, which is set to be release Oct. 21.

All of the 20 or so people who showed up early enough were rewarded with a stellar opening act, Toronto based, The Midway State.  This very tight young band did not disappoint, no wonder big time record label Interscope signed them.

“They sounded pretty good and have an awesome style, it’s cozy” said Monika Horvath a second year culinary management student.  

The Midway State loves playing college shows.  “College shows are rad because you are playing for your peers,” said vocalist and pianist Nathan Ferraro,22, in a pre-show interview. 

And they will have plenty of opportunity to thrill their peers as The Midway State are touring as part of M.T.V.’s cross Canada Leak Live Campus Tour which began Sept. 22.