You Shoulda Been There, Bud Part 1: The Monday Nights
- Don Levandier
- Apr 20, 2016
- 2 min read
If you missed St. John’s road vets, The Monday Nights on their recent tour then I need to convince you in less than 500 words why that can’t happen again.
I need to convince you that there are still live bands worth being tired for at work.
I need to convince you that there is music being made that is too good to let slip through the cracks.
The Monday Nights are that band, and I want you to care about them.
Supporting 2015’s Goodnight Monday Night album, the band travelled to the mainland for East Coast Music Week showcases, as well as handful of supporting dates around The Maritimes.
“All of these guys just wanna play together and get better”, said Kalem Mahoney, lead singer and principal songwriter of the group. “Every show is different from the others and it’s the change in pace that keeps it exciting,” he says as we sit for a beer after the show.
The band’s latest record is easily worthy of repeat listens, but as it goes with books turned into movies, this is a band that demands to be read first.
It’s the subtleties captured on this rainy Tuesday night that create magic in room. Under soft incandescent bulbs, the band creates a mellow rock tone that breathes life into the corners of the bar.
An organ churns out a cool, soft 70s vibe that feels worn down at the edges. Guitars take a backseat to the keys at almost every turn, until the leads bend out melodically aching unison bends.
(Photo by: Ryan Hillier)
Mahoney’s lyrics are delivered like the poetry that creates waves in dimly lit puddles on the sidewalk outside.
“I’ll send you what’s left, some way somehow, from wherever we were to wherever we are now,” from the album cut, Tokyo.
The band alternates tracks from either album and the high points of the night to me are the ballads.
During the quieter numbers the players communicate almost telepathically on stage.
“Hanging out under the weather. Always be what you’ve done,” cries the bridge on Leaves Of Summer, one of the standout tracks on the album and an emotional high point during the set.
“My father ran the wildlife division in Newfoundland for a long time, so I’ve always been completely enthralled with the outdoors,” said Mahoney. “It’s a constant theme. The weather, the dark forest, the abstract and the uncertainty of it all has always been something I’ve really enjoyed.”
He leaves me with the thought that in nature as in songwriting that "The arrangements are not perfect. The melodies drive the chords, always. I just write the melodies and the guys fill in the blanks.”
The band loads their gear into the band apartment above Plan b and head off into the rain in search of anything still alive for food on St. George Street.
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