The first pressing of the Constantines' self-titled debut released in 2001 was fittingly packaged so that, upon opening the red cardstock booklet, you'd find a single strike-anywhere match. In an effort to not ruin the beauty and poignancy of a thing with a guided tour of its finer points and implications, suffice it to say that if your relationship with rock and roll is not fundamentally a quest for fire (elemental, transformative, consuming), you've utterly missed the point.
Founded in Guelph, Ontario in 1999, the Constantines now live in Toronto and that first record of theirs landed them a Juno Awards' nomination for Best Alternative Album. As well, the album very nearly broke the record for longest charting album in Canadian campus radio history, and placed (10th and 4th, respectively) on the year-end top ten lists for both the Exclaim! readers' poll and the Eye national critics' poll.
Shine a Light is the Constantines' second full-length album on Three Gut Records (it will be released stateside and in Europe on Sub Pop Records.) The new record is ambitious,combining a steady diet of '90s DC rock (like a Joe Strummer-fronted Fugazi, it's been suggested), with dub-inflected bass, blue-eyed soul and a fundamental punk, anytime/anywhere aesthetic (perhaps best described by drummer Doug MacGregor as, "Like an unwelcome mix of a Memphis Clash and breakneck dub"). The opening lines from the title track hint at the difficulty in nailing down the elusive "it" that is at play on this record, "Don't talk to me about simple things/There's no such thing/All a man can build is his vision/And I love my man for trying."
Between these two albums, the band released an EP (The Modern Sinner Nervous Man) on Seattle's Suicide Squeeze Records and added a keyboard player in Will Kidman. Also, they played shows: SxSW, NxNE, MichiganFest,Halifax Pop Explosion, New Music West, Montreal Pop Explosion, to name a few. And really, that's the way to experience the Constantines; as they teach audiences how to fully experience the present, that right now - this minute - is all that matters. There may be no alarm clock tomorrow morning because there may be no tomorrow. But, to be clear, there's no didacticism here. The Constantines are going there with you, celebrating that, if we get it right, we're none of us going gently into the night. They're a band with growl and heft, hearts on their sleeves, playing music as if all of our lives hung in the balance. Because, after all, they do.
CONSTANTINES are: Bryan Webb: vocals, guitar Steve Lambke: vocals, guitar Dallas Wehrle: bass guitar Will Kidman: keyboards Doug MacGregor: drums
The Gaslight Anthem
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Kool Haus
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Metric
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Hamilton Convention Centre
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Jay-Z
October 31, 2009
Air Canada Centre
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