There were about one hundred of us crammed into a small upper room of The Spadina Hotel at the corner of King of Spadina in Toronto, Ontario back on that early winter night in November of 1981. On stage the three young men who made up L'etranger were throwing themselves heart and soul into their tightly crafted set of agit-prop songs a la Clash, but with their own distinct flavor. It was one of those great occasions in rock and roll when the audience and the band were in complete sync, and the energy generated made you feel like you could change the world. You could believe in the power of change when it was fueled by music like that.
Twenty-eight years might as well be an eternity when it comes to trends in popular music, and it's difficult to imagine that I'd ever find myself crammed into the top floor of a seedy hotel bar ever again. In fact, as the years passed it became increasingly difficult to imagine that I would ever again find a band that had the potential to galvanize people with their music in as direct and immediate a fashion. After watching the energy of punk be replaced by the likes of The Human League, Duran Duran, and God forbid, Honeymoon Suite, you begin to lose hope that rock and roll would ever regain the rebellious and dangerous edge that made the establishment worry about its corrupting influence on children. When rock and roll acts started to accept corporate sponsorship, I was sure the end was nigh.
So, with very few exceptions, I chose to ignore most popular music for the majority of the 1990's. In fact it wasn't until 2005 when I started writing online and began to have access to a much wider variety of music than the normal consumer through my association with Blogcritics.org that I began to discover some of the hidden gems that were out there. Reviewing a DVD by a band that had dissolved and only reformed temporarily for a benefit concert, Dispatch, led me to State Radio, the first band I've heard in more then twenty years that makes one believe that as an individual you can make a difference.
Chad Stokes, who had played guitar and bass for Dispatch, is one third of State Radio, which is what inspired me to check out their second full length CD, Year Of The Crow. As much as the disc impressed me, I was equally impressed by Stokes when I had the opportunity to interview him shortly after I reviewed the disc. After the venality of the last couple of decades, both the band and Stokes impressed me with their messages of selfless dedication to helping others, inspiring hope in me the way few musicians have been capable of doing in God knows how long.
Article comments
1 - Connor Murray
Best review I have ever read.