If you loved the post-grunge alterna-rock of the '90s, then you needed to be at Essies, Nov. 22.
Because Crash Karma brought back the ’90s for Essies’ “first live rock show,” for an appreciative crowd of about 100, most of who gathered in front of the stage to enjoy the music from Crash Karma’s debut CD, as well as some of the highlights from the members’ original popular ’90s rock groups like Our Lady Peace (guitarist Mike Turner), I Mother Earth (singer Edwin), The Tea Party (drummer Jeff Burrows) and bassist Amir Epstein (Zygote).
They opened up their upbeat, modern rock show with “Like a Wave,” from their CD and followed with one of my favourites from the CD “Next Life.”
In addition to the music from their new CD, as promised in their interview with L.A. Beat, they also added a few popular numbers from their former bands, including Our Lady Peace’s “Superman’s Dead,” and an exceptional version of the Tea Party’s “ Temptation” which took you right back to the ’90s, thanks to Edwin’s powerful voice and Turner’s ”90s style guitar.
Epstein had some impressive bass lines throughout as well and Burrows’ drumming was rock solid.
There wasn’t a lot of activity on stage, though it was no less an intense and solid set of, well, detuned post-grunge style music, which sounded exactly like Our Lady Peace, The Tea Party and I Mother Earth, as expected as that’s their roots.
So what you expected was exactly what the audience recieved.
Edwin took a brief moment in between “Tempatation,” and Crash Karma’s “The Fire,” to speak about the band’s experience playing for Canadian troops in Afghanistan. He noted “Don’t thank us, thank them. Don’t forget about them.”
And before we knew it they had finish
ed their set with the latest single “On Your Own, which surprised Edwin, who observed how fast the set went.
They were to play an encore of “Alive,” and the second single “Fight.” but I had to catch another show, so didn’t hang around to see if they played a second set.
The opening band, Desperate Union, played a capable set of modern rock.
I was hypnotized by the drummer, whose sticks were a blur on the dimly lit stage, set along the north wall of the bar, rather than on the dance floor, where it was going to go originally.
