THE BLUE STONES AT THE HORSESHOE TAVERN IN TORONTO
Canadian rock duo The Blue Stones aren't strangers to Sound Bites Media, as they opened for grandson last year and we covered them in Kitchener. Since then, their 2018 album Black Holes has gained much more popularity among modern rock fans, with almost 850k monthly listeners on Spotify. Their most listened track to date, "Black Holes (Solid Ground)", has almost 18 million listens. They also grabbed the attention of the Junos (top notch Canadian music awards) with a nomination for "Breakthrough Group of the Year" alongside Palaye Royale, Valley, and Neon Dreams.
The sold out night at The ‘Shoe opened with a fairly new musical group based in Toronto/Newmarket, Ontario called Mute Choir. Made up of six members on stage in retro attire reminiscent of the 70s, their music was psych rock with supporting synths. Lead singer, Sam Arion, used reverb on his mic to make his voice float and weave in the groovy tunes. He had some moments of grit too, weaving with the drums. The drums were also a highlight in their performance, playing the lead role and climbing with ambition. The flow of their music was entrancing.
Before the headliner of the night, the stage was set in the dark with blue lights under Justin Tessier’s drum kit and Tarek Jafar’s microphone. The duo arrived on stage with high anticipation from the crowd as they crowded in closer to the stage. They started off with their 2019 single “Shakin’ Off The Rust”, which set the mood for the night. Going through their album Black Holes, the band displayed their brand with their gritty blues grooves, sickening guitar solos, and drums that built up into explosive energy. Also, Jafar’s classic rock vocals created such flow in their songs.
In their moments to talk, Tessier said that it was amazing to play a sold out gig at the iconic Horseshoe Tavern because one of the first times they ever played there, they opened for someone else and only had maybe thirteen people as audience members. He also said that they love Toronto and the more they go anywhere else, the more they love the city most.
A couple songs later, Jafar wanted to tell a story. Before that, he wanted Tessier to play “a sexy beat” while the audience quietly clapped to the beat. He then talked over the light beat and began his story about them starting out and sending their music to universities all over Ontario hoping to be played on the radio to only get emails back telling them they were “too pop”. It must have lit a fire under their ass, because they definitely aren’t pop music now!
Towards the end of their set, they debuted a new upcoming song called “Oceans”. When their set ended, they played an encore and said, “What the fuck do we play now? We played our whole album, our new songs.” Then decided on “Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones.
The Blue Stones looked overjoyed throughout their entire set with an involved, but attentive, audience and buzzing energy. Their name suits them well; blue for the blues rock influences, and stones for their edgy grit. Success and awesome new tracks are on the way from this band, including one of their newest tracks from 2019, “Grim”. What a banger! They are on tour in northern states of America and Western Canada from Feb 1 - March 26 2020.