Back to high school we go... a show at the CCC is an all-ages affair, and after catching the last 30 seconds of Hush Sound (enough to figure out they have neat haircuts and can be classified as 'popmo' if you're into classifying things), I retreated to the relative cool of the 'beer garden' - which is really just a similiar yet smaller hall to the one the bands were playing in, with foldout tables set up along the sides. Perhaps the entire over-19 contingent was here, and it totaled maybe 30 people. Hilarious. Anyways, after a song and dance in there, chugged can of overpriced Canadian of all bloody things, back I went just in time to get to the front for HelloGoodbye to start.









Oh my aren't they just adorable.



While setting up a couple of small last-minute things themselves, a couple of the band members were greeted with crazy cheers from a flabbergasted and mostly young-female audience. With the geeky charm of Weezer mixed with the unexpected whimsy of We Are Scientists, they tumbled onto the stage to begin a set of songs I was thoroughly unfamiliar with, yet enjoyed, despite the uber-crappy sound in the cavernous CCC. Indeed the tunes included some ridiculous bippy keyboardy things and sometimes rang reminiscent of cutesy and sweet and innocent ballads and *new, controversial* rock songs of the 50's. Mostly though, this gig was chalked up to fantastic stage presence. Aside from the cozy props on stage (a futon that went unused as far as I could see, a couple table lamps, and a kick drum warning of monsters and aliens), the band was warm and friendly and uxeberant as hell. Okay so it was mostly singer/guitarist Forrest Kline who stole the spotlight (literally - their drummer was masked behind an impenetrable wall of fog and the keyboard and bass players were at the far reaches of the stage where light rarely touched...) with his mumbly and quick blurbs between songs. Kline piped up about the number of picks he had available versus the last band (I think - see the part about 'mumbly') before dashing off behind the fake prop window on stage, perhaps in search of more picks. A girl behind me in the crowd started yelling at him to, "Throw something already, don't leave me hanging!"











A couple songs in, Kline stated he wanted to try something "different and a bit sexy" and shepherded a dozen or so young girls (sexy? is this legal??) onto the stage to dance and drink in a big line just in front of the drum riser. Kline ran about and caressed hair and danced in front, to, with and around the girls, clearly enjoying himself... as were the girls. Clearly. That was sweet. He moves... oddly? Spindly character in typical nerdrock attire of thick glasses and a short-sleeve button-down shirt with tie, he spun about and whipped his skinny limbs all over, moving easily and fluidly - moreso than you'd expect from this sort of character. A little later on in the set, a fellow who was running about throughout the evening setting up the stage and selling the band merch came dashing past me carrying a dress form with a lampshade in place of a head. The red dress form combined with the white lamp shade reminded me of a traditional Chinese style get-up, but I didn't manage to catch the signifigance of this piece in the performance. The girls were still on stage most of the show, though they did eventually get shoo'd off. This didn't seem to matter to the stagefront security guards though, who pretty much let those girls have the run of the place the rest of the night. I'm not sure if that might actually just be creepy.











The audience was very familiar with the band's songs. How is it that these guys have flown entirely under the radar for me so far? The chorus of singalong voices was quite audible at times, adding to the muddy sound in the room already. Regardless, it was a fun time - surprisingly no encore. Perhaps they simply overran their curfew, perhaps they are charting new ground by not doing encores. The set they did play though was well-done and fun fun fun.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : April, 2007.