Off the Floor Festival presents a night of indie talent

“Putting on shows like these and tons of free shows too, that’s great especially for students in a University town as this.” – Peter Van Helvoort

Van Gogh’s Ear was set alive Jan. 26 as the fourth annual Off The Floor festival busted out another amazing year of Canadian indie music. The local festival, presented by Eleven, brings an impressive line-up of regional up-and-coming indie rock and pop bands to Guelph for a night of amazing bands and great people.

“It’s great everything [event organizer] Brian Gillis is doing for the Guelph music scene. Putting on shows like these and tons of free shows too. That’s great especially for students in a university town as this,” said Peter Van Helvoort, lead singer of festival headliners Teenage Kicks .

The evening began with the intimate, indie style of Toronto’s Hinindar, a three piece band that gave emphasis to an ambient melody with folk driven under tones. Guelph’s own The Folk were there to bring an experimental indie style to the stage, making a fuzzy guitared splash in their hometown. Amps were turned up to 10 when the resident punk rockers of the evening took over, and The Dirty Nil of Hamilton offered screaming vocals and on stage acrobatics that seemed to come straight out of the ’90s. Next was the hardcore punk outfit hailing from Toronto: Greys. These guys turned things up even higher as they hammered their guitars and brought back a trend of plaid-shirted punk rock in suit with Nirvana and At The Drive-In.

As the evening drew closer to its apex the crowd was given a chance to throw on their dancing shoes when Toronto’s The Sweet Mack busted out an original blend of ’70s influenced power-pop songs. An amazing cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Heard It Through the Grapevine” solidified their performance as one of the most memorable of the night. The toe-tapping trends continued immediately after as Whale Tooth got the crowd jumping to a style of rocking indie pop that hinted at a charismatic new-wave demeanour.

Evening headliners Teenage Kicks have been making waves lately in the Canadian indie rock scene, an impressive feat from a band that has only released 7 songs total to date. The band, however, feels that there is an added attraction to releasing singles as opposed to full albums, and with this motive begins a “singles club” on their webpage where members receive free music each month.

“There is so much music from so many good bands these days,” said Van Helvoort. “When a person knows a single played live at a show, they get that much more of a connection with the band.”

And what a connection was made that night! Teenage Kicks tore down the stage (almost literally) with a heavy rocking show that combined the soulful vocals of the Van Helvoort brothers with some of the catchiest guitar hooks imaginable. Memorable tunes such as “Lose Your Head” and “Shook Our Bones” had the crowd belting along and bobbing to the vintage guitar rhythms. Closing the show with a crowd pleasing encore of their song “Hearts Of Darkness,” the 2012 Off The Floor fest came to a soulful and most decorated end.

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