Its been a while since I've posted on this blog. I can blame a busy last few months at my internship but the truth is I have been lazy and slacking off. That was until this past weekend when I volunteered/attended S.C.E.N.E Fest held in St. Catharines, Ontario.
The annual festival had a line up of over 100 bands throughout the day at various venues in downtown St. Catharines. But despite acts like Down With Webster and Ill Scarlett, I really only wanted to see one band, The Ascot Royals. I admit that I am biased because I know and consider two of the boys who started the band, Ben (keys) and Jimmy Chaveau (vocals), friends. The band is rounded out by Jesse Gilroy on bass, Sam Stark on drums and Tal Vaisman on guitar. Still, after over three years of not seeing these guys play live catching The Ascot Royals' set at The Merchant Ale House was a long overdue treat.
The Ascot Royals provided the festival with something different in a line up overfilled with Screamo and "Alexisonfire-esque" bands as well as poor attempts at Rap-Rock (Sorry D.W.W and their fans but that genre stopped being cool after Limp Bizkit in '96).
In the end, the long day of volunteering was worth it just to see these guys play. The Ascot Royals are a true rock band. They put on an amazing and fun live show with Jimmy making the small stage at The Merchant House his own and Ben standing on a stool while starting a group sing along of "Head, shoulders, knees and toes". The Ascot Royals is exactly what I strive to show people in this blog, their music is carefully crafted with thoughtful lyrics and talented musicians to back them up. I wish them nothing but the best and hope that someone takes notice of this young, hard working band and realize that they are exactly what a stale music industry needs right now.
Take a listen to one of my favourites by The Ascot Royals "Think You're Better"
-- And on a side note since this blog is about promoting other people I figured I'd take a second for some shameless self promotion. Check out the blog I started for my work at The Fergie Jenkins Foundation at fergiejenkinsfoundation.mlblogs.com
