Photos by Charles Gunn

Last night, I had the chance to have a quick chat with the guys from Attack in Black before they took to the stage at Broken City, warming up the crowd for Julie Doiron and Fred Squire a guy who looked sort of like Fred Squire (more on this later). This band has always struck me as one with tons of potential but not a lot to show for it. Sure, I can listen to their shows and make it through their records, but it always seemed like too much of a mixed bag of middle-of-the-road folk and rock for me to get into.

Then again, the continue to crop up on my radar and every time I feel like I must be missing something. Most recently, this came in the form of the Daniel, Fred, & Julie record, featuring Attack in Black front-man Dan Romano alongside the aforementioned Sackville duo. It's a jaw-dropping collection of newly arranged, quickly recorded traditional folk tunes, featuring my current go-to song, "the Gambler and His Bride," which you can find online with relative ease.

Seriously, go listen to that. It's awesome. You'll want to hear it again and again! And to my surprise, it was the Daniel that kept me coming back, even though I've always thought of myself as a Fred & Julie type of guy--a Frulie, if you will. So what's the deal? Why have I had such a hard time getting into Attack in Black? Is it their name, which has always struck me as the kind of label you'd give to an emo band, not a tight gang of folk-rockers.

So, I hunkered down yesterday afternoon and gave a good listen to their most recent record while I tried to piece together a story of the band from what I could find online. The music certainly didn't grip me completely, but I honed in on enough good-to-great songs that it got me into a good headspace for the show. Such was my demeanour when I showed up at 9:30 (sharp!) to get to know Dan and drummer Ian. Here's how it went:

Whoops! False start... Hit stop by accident. Time to shake off the rust, Pat! Let's try this again...

So yeah, good interview! And really, what was my problem with their name? As I was standing there, I started to think about all the dumbly-named bands that I utterly love. Destroyer? Quest for Fire? Ladyhawk? Actually, Ladyhawk is pretty awesome, but it does make for something of an exception.

In any case, the interview left me with a new appreciation for Attack in Black and their approach to music making. If nothing else, they seem to sincerely love what they're doing, and--ardent claims of narcissism aside--they don't take themselves too seriously.

As I stood back to admire the huge, enthusiastic crowd, which I couldn't help but think was bigger than any crowd I'd seen at a lot of recent shows in town, I settled in and watched a band that was as tight as can be, deftly jumping from style to style and just being an all-around entertaining act. Maybe you have to be in the right mood or maybe you have to get to know them a bit, but these guys make for a hell of a good time.

Above all, I want emphasize that this is a group that is just as loyal to their fans as their fans are to them. With their set winding down, they even broke cool-kid etiquette and invited a fan up on stage. It seems he had approached them before the show and asked them to play the first song they ever wrote. Of course, they balked and said that they'd long-since forgotten the words, but when he offered to fill in on vocals, they figured "why not give it a shot?" It made for one of those great experiences that can make a show special and it gave me the idea that there's a reason why this band is recording a "live something or other."

Of course, it didn't hurt that a few songs later they were joined on stage by Julie Doiron for a beautiful rendition of "I'm a Rock," one of the tracks from their last album that had wowed me earlier that day, and it was an absolute treat.

I did stick around for a good chunk of Julie's show, but I don't need to tell anyone in this city how great her shows are, as we've had more than our fair share of great experiences, including (but hardly limited to) her once-in-a-lifetime-(so-far) outing with Chad Van Gaalen at last year's Flemish Eye Ball. That said, a few things must be mentioned:

• Julie's band-mate and better half Fred has shaved off his mustache and he looks so different. I may not have even recognized him, were it not for his charactaristic relentless rocking.UPDATE: So uh, turns out it didn't look like Fred because it was not Fred. Apparently he had to stay back east. So there ya go. Thanks to Peter for doing what a music editor does best.
  
• Right before I left, they broke into a spontaneous guitars-and-vocals-only cover of Ladyhawk's "Teenage Love Song," which is one of my all-time favourites by that band. According to their banter, they decided to play it because they've been listening to it at least once a day "for the past little while," so uh... YES! Magical! More love for Ladyhawk is never a bad thing.
• Between sets, I cornered Dan and Juile outside and begged them to play "the Gambler and his Bride." No dice, but they did say they were going to do the second song, "Runner," and my sources inform me that after I ran home to bed, they did. And, predictably, it was frigging radical. I can't wait for them to tour.