Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario
May 27, 2011

Almost 3 years ago to the day, I first saw the Trews and they totally blew me away.  They packed Jackhammer’s Nightclub in Brantford and blew the doors off with their very own brand of all Canadian straight up, kick ass rock n roll. 

Well this night, opening for Kid Rock at the ACC was really no different other than the size of the venue, stage, PA, audience and of course, ticket price. 

They hit the stage with an all-star, greatest hits lineup of no bullshit Trews tunage.  Only the best of the best as their opening slot allowed only a dozen songs to showcase to Mr. Rock’s fans what the Trews are all about. 

But who in the house didn’t already know it?  We’ve been sitting on this beautiful little gem of a band far too long.  I fully expected them to be a HUGE rock n roll force by now taking the world by storm but maybe I get a little biased and aggressive in my enthusiasm for a decent band.

The ACC still hadn’t come close to filling up yet but the Trews cranked at full volume was a good way to bring the Kid Rock fans to their seats. I’m sure the few people who didn’t know who the Trews were, nodded in recognition of EVERY song they played for their meager set for every song, like I said, was the cream of the crop that is the Trews.

Colin MacDonald came out sporting a white suit jacket and his British bulls-eye Telecaster clearly ready for one of Canada's largest and most revered venues. His brother John-Angus wielded his beautiful Les Paul Sunburst with the crunch and finesse he always does while the weird n wonderful Jack Syperek tickled his Fender Precision that looks like if he plays it one more time it’ll disintegrate and crumble through his fingers. 

But oh that old baby has some character!  No wonder he won’t hang it up for good!  Drummer Sean Dalton was tucked so far back I could barely see him let alone get a photo of him.  That’s the problem with a 7ft stage, photographers gotta be 7 fuckin feet tall too!  Anyway, the Trews kicked ass.

If only Kid Rock would take them on tour across the States, he could show our neighbours to the South this beauty of a Canadian gem. Polish it up a bit, throw it in front of one of those reality TV antique dealer arseholes and see what they think it’s worth.  What if he says it’s fuckin worthless and flicks it back across the table as if it’s last weeks Timbits? 

Who really cares what they think it’s worth?  I think the Trews is a great big bar o’ Canadian gold.  But then who the hell cares what I think either?

The Casbah
Hamilton, Ontario
January 27, 2008

I’ve always liked the Trews from the first time I heard them.  This time we were given something a little different, something extra special.  The unplugged version.  It almost looked like an impromptu band on the side of Yonge Street playing for pocket change with the watered down set and no fancy lights or stage show.  The tiny bar in Hamilton they were playing was the Casbah, no bigger than the main floor of my townhouse!  I couldn’t believe such a great band would play that small a venue but I don’t mind one bit.  Seeing a band like The Trews in an intimate little closet like the Casbah is something to really remember.

The hardest working band in Canada, pulled off a long set of Trews classics and even laid some new tunes down to hold us over til they deliver their next full length album.  I’ve said it before that these guys are perched on the edge of HUGE.  If they don’t take that extra step to the place they rightfully belong real soon, I’ll be very surprised.  They just need to tap into the same thinking that Finger Eleven, 3 Days Grace and Theory of a Deadman aspired to and they’re in, if they want it… I just hope they don’t end up on the same path as one of my all-time favourite Canadian bands, Big Sugar, where something went wrong just when they were poised to take over the world.  In a selfish way, I have to admit I don’t mind when that happens cuz from a fan’s perspective it is never hard to get a ticket or a photo pass but for a band to continue down the path of just getting by, almost always leads to the inevitable which is the end of a great rock band.

Jackhammers Nightclub
Brantford, Ontario
May 21, 2008

First time I heard the Trews I thought these guys had a pretty cool sound.  I need crunch and they got that.  I need to know what the fuck the singer is saying sometimes and they got that too.  Their no nonsense approach to rock n roll is easily digestible with absolutely no lumps of cheese to be caught in the gullet.  But what are they like live?  That's always the big question and the answer all in one.  Like Kid Rock telling me he is for real and me, the ever skeptic pessimist, I just had to taste it myself.  Not only taste it but sit down to a full meal cuz really the taste is the radio edited version of the full meal deal, which is the live show.

The Trews took stage to a hugely positive response from the crowd. Jackhammers Nightclub was packed.  The sound was superb, the set was all lit up and the smoke machine peppered us with just enough to create that ambience.  Remember when it used to occur naturally through the dreaded and outlawed second hand smoke signals sent by over half the crowd back in the day?  Now, it has to be artificially pumped in with a machine!  What didn't have to be artificially pumped in was the energy.  This crowd was pumped for the Trews with lots of East Coasterners in attendance cheering on their fellow Maritimers.

So if you're out there wondering what band to check out, look no further than the Trews.  Go see em now before they become a big ticket item cuz at this rate, they will be just that in the very near future!  Remember the Don Cherry of music reviews just predicted it.  HUGE.

The Trews Official Web Site

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