po lazarus – The Concordian

It was the first show at the venue since the pandemic began

The Damn Truth and Po Lazarus breathed life into the Corona Theatre Thursday night, playing the venue’s first concert since the pandemic began.

The show was part one of a two-night headliner at home for The Damn Truth, who are currently wrapping up a small stint around Quebec before embarking on a European tour in December. The hard-rocking Montrealers have been inching towards greater stardom for nearly a decade now, opening for behemoths like ZZ Top, Styx, and the Sheepdogs, while also securing legendary Metallica and Mötley Crüe producer Bob Rock. However, before they hit the stage, folk-psychobilly rockers Po Lazarus, also from Montreal, had the pleasure of warming up the crowd.

While most attendees paid their fare to see the radio rock headliners, those who had the curiosity of showing up early to catch Po Lazarus’ set (which most did) were in for quite the surprise. Frontman Joshua Carey commanded the stage with what can only be described as an ominous vulture-like enthusiasm, as he mixed his softer melancholic vocal notes with animalistic yelps and shrieks.

“In the moment you’re like ‘Am I doing too much? Am I doing too little?’ but no, we’re having a good time and we’re just dancing to the music,” Carey said while reflecting on his performance after their set.

Po Lazarus are truly an act easier shown through a video than described over paper. The sextet pack their output with seemingly contradicting sounds; some tracks based around punky electric guitar riffs and others better described as folk ballads. However, the one consistent factor between all is Carey’s singing style; somewhat similar to the sporadic vocal nature of the Cramps frontman Lux Interior, or perhaps Sebastian Murphy, commander of the Viagra Boys. Through his meaningful yet nonsensical lyrics and sometimes soft, sometimes yelping vocal style, Carey adds a melancholic and satirical layer that permeates Po Lazarus’ sound — an aspect necessarily grounded by the five musicians who play with him.

“I know that the band behind me is the best it’s ever been and they’re just way better musicians than I am, way better people than I am,” the frontman said. “And thus it just makes me elevate.”

Carey’s phenomenal bursts of energy were equally met with more heartfelt moments, like on softer ballads with violinist Mackenzie Myatt, with the two interchanging vocal duties. These more subdued yet comfortably driving tracks contrasted nicely with off-the-top psychobilly anthems like “Despair, Too,” the band’s newest single.

“That was a huge risk to play some of the slower ones tonight because of the people who are coming to see The Damn Truth,” Carey said. “You gotta represent the band correctly on-stage.”

The headliners then followed, wafting burning incense around the stage before their set, presumably in an effort to cleanse the air of quirkiness left by the opening act. The Damn Truth showed their true colours as they walked on-stage, sporting flowers behind their ears and floral-patterned shirts as opening anthem “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane rumbled through the speakers. While The Damn Truth’s vibe screams nothing but late ‘60s psych rock, with frontwoman Lee-la Baum’s voice often compared to that of the talented Janis Joplin, their sound is much heavier than anything from the flower power era.

Lead guitarist Tom Shemer delivered repeated sonic attacks via an arsenal of interchanging guitars, quickly riffing on licks and wah-ing out in front of the crowd. These harder-edged solos, coupled with Pierre-Yves Letellier’s grounding bass playing, created a groove that got heads bobbing along for the ride. These elements were fused together in ultimate harmony by Baum, who delivered a driving vocal performance through the band’s back-to-back hard blues anthems. Baum sang with real soul, clearly bringing it all for the many fans in the audience who hadn’t been to a live show since April 2020.

The chemistry between Baum and Shemer was arguably the fiery highlight of the group’s performance, as the two frequently enjoyed getting inches apart and locking eyes on centre stage, Baum chanting into the microphone and Shemer doodling on his guitar. At one point, the frontwoman even dropped to her knees in front of the guitarist during one of his passionate solos, inciting an audible reaction from the audience.

These pure human moments were a healthy reminder of what music fans lost as a result of the pandemic. While the crowd seemed somewhat more subdued than usual, perhaps due to the ever-present indoor mask mandate, seeing musicians get hot and sweaty on-stage and putting on passionate physical performances was immediately refreshing. Whether you’re more of a fan of Po Lazarus’ unique approach to songcraft, or if you’re more into The Damn Truth’s harder radio-geared rock, it doesn’t really matter. In the end, musicians got the chance to do their thing in front of a live in-person audience, and that’s a victory for everybody involved.

Photo by Catherine Reynolds

Po Lazarus proves they’re ready for prime time with the performance of their forthcoming album, Loserland

A small crowd upwards of 70 people crept close to the small stage set in the backyard of Po Lazarus’ bassist, Paul Mascarenhas. It wasn’t a particularly cold night, but the sheer number of people awkwardly close to each other made sure that the dropping temperature wasn’t an issue for anyone who attended the intimate show. The concert was set to start at 6 p.m. and one minute before, singer Joshua Carey approached the mic and said: “Welcome to Loserland.”

The show’s purpose was to raise money for the Montreal-based band to pay for studio time to fund their forthcoming album, Loserland. Po Lazarus opted to play the project in its entirety, offering the small group of fans a promising first-look at the ambitious multi-genre project, set for release at some point in the spring of 2020.

“The hardest part about having a band is making sure you have enough money to record everything,” Carey said after the show. Po Lazarus has been writing the songs to Loserland since the release of their 2017 EP, O Body, and finally caught a break when the former producer for The Tragically Hip, Mark Vreeken, offered them the opportunity to record Loserland in The Bathouse Studio, where the famous Canadian rock band recorded most of their music.

Po Lazarus has two projects available on streaming services, and their music falls under the category of “Hard-to-Define.” Their earlier projects Ways to End the Night dabbled in elements of classic rock, folk, country and punk; sort of an amalgamation of genres mixed together to create a Frankenstein’s Monster of rock.

The aforementioned album released in 2016 and the followup EP came shortly after, in the spring of 2017. Since then, however, it’s been mostly silence from the band. They added guitarist Kento Katoaka who moved from Japan to Montreal to pursue his music career, at which point Po Lazarus met him and invited him to join their musical outfit.

Their lack of output isn’t to be blamed on a lack of effort, though. Since releasing Ways to End the Night, Carey and Mascarenhas have been hard at work trying to steer the vehicular behemoth that is Po Lazarus. Some songs were written in 2016, but continue to be retooled until they’re fully satisfied with them.

“The idea for Loserland is pretty straightforward,” said Carey. “When you make music, you’re often stuck in your own head, doubting yourself. I’ve experienced it first-hand and I’ve also seen it affect other artists I’ve met. We’re all so self-critical, we end up feeling like losers. And with that, we named our album Loserland to reflect what we’re all going through inside.”

All the songs on the album seemed to be a hit to the audience at the backyard performance. Some audience members had been made privy to certain demos from the album and sang along while the rest sat and stared at Carey and Mascarenhas as they took centre stage during the performance. Drummer Josh Grant and guitarist Katoaka hid in the background as they both understand that the two frontmen are the engines of the band.

The songs on Loserland aren’t a far cry from what Po Lazarus has previously released. The sounds are fundamentally the same, but the tunes are sharper and the lyrics more powerful. However, the one true standout of the night was Carey’s reverberating voice that probably led to a few complaints to the SPVM.

“Bonnie Ate A Beachball” is by far the furthest removed from any Po Lazarus song heard before. The track is heavy; backed by huge electric guitar strings and a passionate performance from Carey whose vocal cords were definitely not thanking him the next day.

Things took a slight turn when Carey gracefully stepped to the side as Mascarenhas took centre stage to sing “Who Knew.” Mascarenhas’ voice offered a welcome change of pace that marked the midway point of the concert. While not as grand in scale as Carey’s voice, it still made for a blissful track that slowed things down a bit.

The performance lasted longer than an hour, which is impressive by today’s standards where most sets barely eclipse 60 minutes. Once Po Lazarus announced that the concert was over, the crowd gave them a long-lasting ovation where everyone cheered for an encore.

Without any hesitation, the band approached their instruments before performing some of the most well-received tracks from their previous albums. Though the crowd knew some, the greatest moment of excitement from the crowd came when Carey began to sing the chorus to “If You Are Alone,” their most accessible, radio-friendly and accomplished track thus far. The audience roared along with the band as the tune marked the true end of the intimate concert.

Po Lazarus still has a long way to go and the band knows it. They still have to record the rest of the album and they’re currently planning a tour to go along with Loserland’s eventual release.

Their performance proved that they’re ready. They sound confident in their work. Most importantly, they sound at peace. Loserland is something special; Loserland is a winner.