San Francisco was treated to some Canadian delight recently as Vancouver’s Black Mountain came through bringing along Toronto’s own The Sadies. Both bands are throw backs to the classic era of rock, yet they’re also wholly indebted to the contemporary music scene. Fans of the chugging, groove-oriented Black Mountain, may have been a bit surprised by the bluegrass touch of The Sadies, but both complimented each other perfectly and made for a great night dedicated to fun, hard rocking music.
The Sadies opened the show with a surf rock instrumental as guitarists/vocalists and brothers Dallas and Travis, dressed in the finest suits and both looking like they walked straight out of the ‘50’s, picked the guitars effortlessly. From there the band meandered through songs like “Anna Leigh” that sounded like it came straight from a classic Byrds record and “Leave Me Alone” a cover of a very early The Band song, before they were actually dubbed such by Dylan. The group has actually been around for over a decade, and it showed as their live show was meticulous and well crafted, but the group was still able to cut loose.
I was actually thinking it would be tough to top The Sadies. But I underestimated Black Mountain. They came out with a different agenda. They came out ready to transport the crowd back to the ‘70s and bellow out the simple sounds of rock. Wasting now time with “Tyrant” they blazed through most of In the Future, getting the entire crowd bouncing to their beat.
Guitarist/Vocalist/Band Leader Stephen McBean lead the group with his heavy, fuzzed out guitar sound. Despite Amber Webber adding her Grace Slick-like vocals to the group’s songs, they jam on for minutes through McBean’s blazing guitar solos and minutes of grooving provided by bassist Matthew Camirand, keyboardist Jeremy Shmidt with drummer Joshua Wells holding down the fort. Black Mountain take the jam of Pink Floyd, the riffs of Led Zeppelin and the hard rock of Black Sabbath to create a new sound that builds and builds, constantly waiting for the payoff and when they finally give it, the crowd explodes.
