Beauty Queen - A Live Review: The Fury

I wasn't planning to see a show this past Wednesday @ McNally's. I was planning to play one of my own, and see a few other bands... but not a "show".

So I walk into McNally's guitar in hand and band mates at side, and see 5 individuals we didn't recognize setting up... not a common occurrence on the Regina music scene. Turns out there was a reason, they were in from Vancouver.

The punk rock purist in me didn't want to like them before they even played a note... their gear was too nice.

They came on stage and introduced themselves as The Fury. (a name I sincerely hope they have copywrited... searching for this band on MySpace is a pain in the ass... it's like there's a The Fury in every country in the free world)

To save you the trouble: Click Furiously here

When they started, they had my attention, but not for the music... frontfem Chase had me riveted to my seat - partly because it would've be awkward to stand up ;-). I'm fond of saying "I miss when people were sexy because they were on stage, not on stage because they're sexy". (that's generally followed by a "so go to hell Miley Cyrus and Pete Wentz and all the other talentless whores...")

By the middle of the first song, it was clear the face (and abs) of this group was a fine combination of both. Vocal chops, incredible voice control, and that certain "It" factor in her stage presence that can't be defined nor should be.

Still, I wasn't 100% sold... honestly, two songs in I was thinking "Meh, it's Paramore".

This should teach me not to make snap judgements, because The Fury's "Misery" was about to get down to "Business" as their set went on.

From the opening tapped harmony guitar intro of their first song leading into a riff and groove that would make Bif Naked proud... or maybe jealous, it was clear the band, comprised of Jon and Royce on shared lead guitar duties, and ultra tight rhythm section of bassist Colin and drummer Jay were more than competent... but as the set went on it became clear they were much more than that.

As a guitar player, I tend to focus more on that side of things, and generally only notice the rhythm section if there's a train wreck or monster groove (there were none of the former, lots of the latter).

The guitars crunched when they had to, were delicate when they needed to be, and the shared solos were traded off expertly, both men shredding, WITHOUT letting the context of the song get lost - a rare trait, and a huge feather in their caps.

The Fury's songwriting chops also became clearer and clearer, and the hooks stronger and stronger as the set went on, and most importantly, carved out their own sound and vibe. ParaNOmore.

You'll forgive me for not knowing titles, but the songs that stood out the most were the ones intro'd with the words "This one's not on the CD". I good sign of things to come.

In the meantime, check out the three tunes on The Fury's MySpace page (again Click Furiously here ).

My personal fave is 'Just This Time', which is not the best representation of what this band is about sonically, but the songwriting and structure of the song is just so, so strong...

Check it out, the only thing better than supporting Canadian rock n' roll, is supporting Canadian rock n' roll that deserves it.

Oh yeah, the other bands, mine included, were alright as well.

Rawk.

Chris F'n Real