Git down on the dancefloor, brothers and sisters
Feel Shikasta's incendiary soul
PREVIEW
SHIKASTA
Saturday, July 27
The Night Gallery
Wednesday, July 31
Canmore Hotel
This time last year, Russell Fernandes, singer and bassist for thunderous Toronto soul-rock trio, Shikasta, was forever changed after watching Wilson Pickett throw it out onstage at the Ottawa Blues Fest. As a once-in-a-lifetime bonus, Fernandes actually met James Brown at the same festival (Brown's trailer was right beside Shikasta's trailer). It was an unbelievable moment for the starry-eyed Fernandes, who was not daunted by the hair curlers wrapped in the Godfather of Soul's dark tresses. You wanna know as much as I do, admit it – were they hot curlers or the pink foamy kind?
"No one fucks with James Brown. No one. Curlers or no (curlers)," Fernandes says, jokingly reprimanding me. "He is the beat, the beat, the beat. I'm seriously thinking of getting a young James Brown staring down a mic as a tattoo on my back. Wilson Pickett is a small man, in person, but a god when he lets his soul loose. He was pissed that night – he got stripped searched at the border – and that fuelled the best show I have ever seen."
Fernandes, along with Wade Sheedy (drums) and Dave Samuels (guitar), is dead set on producing the same kind of sweaty fever as his idols both onstage and on record. The band's latest album, Gold, is remarkably hotter than last week's heatwave. Full of rapid-fire zingers that should easily make trend-following fans of The Strokes or The Vines wet their pants, Gold was recorded live off the floor, vocals and all.
"And that's how it should be for our rock ’n' roll – honest (and) nothing to hide."
Authenticity and earnestness is paramount to this trio.
"The fact that they cry when they sing is pure gold," says Fernandes, returning to his idols. "Mind you, the MC5 and the Stooges can get to that stage, too, but that was chemical for the latter. Wilson, James, Otis, Al and a plethora of untapped artists are not afraid to bare it all. I have yet to come across a band that at least aspires to reach that bar of soul."
Trust the threesome in Shikasta to help fill the void. They're certainly putting enough time, mileage and mind-blowing tremors into their music to set the world a-shakin'. |
