:: The Straits, Debaser, Lolita Police @ The Last Drop by: Ty Snaden (Friday, January 14) We arrived at the Last Drop just in time to catch the last bit of soundchecking and grab a beer before the show started. There was a good sized crowd in the bar already, and this grew substantially as the night grew closer to start time. By the time Lolita Police hit the stage, the place was pretty packed, which was really nice to see. Lolita Police started the night out with some of their unique brand of rock and roll. Most impressive was guitarist Blair Whatmore's vocal style. His untrained, raw, energetic timbre was an outright assault on the audience, but the genuine quality and emotional flavour that it offered made this an incredibly good aspect of their music. Their set was very diverse, choosing songs that were very different from each other to highlight their diverse, yet solid sound. Their musicianship was fairly loose -- a quality that suited the style well. Overall, they were good choice as an opening act for this show, and look forward to seeing these young musicians develop more as a band. Toronto's debaser took the stage next. Their music was a nice mix of retro quailities with a newer twist. Each song sounded nicely different from each of their last, but kept the same consistancy that makes their sound somewhat original. Unfortunately, I had a very difficult time hearing the vocalist of this group. Most lyrics were muffled to the point of incomprehension from where I was standing and though the melody of his vocal line was audible, I wished I could have heard more of the lyrical quality of this group. Technical issues aside, I felt that Debaser had some promise as a group due in part to their pop-rock influenced sound and musical ability. Lastly, The Straits took the stage. I was interested to hear this band, as they have been getting a lot of press lately, and was interested to see excatly what all the hype was about. With a name like "The Straits", and considering what I've read about this band lately, I was expecting the brand of disco-garage-rock that has been made famous by such bands as "The Strokes", "The Killers" and "The Hives" amoung others. This is exactly what I heard. The Straits are a good band. They are very tight musically, got a great crowd reaction overall and were very energetic and lively to watch. Everything was exactly as it should be. This band shows a lot of commerical promise - considering the markets lately - and they are working very hard to achieve this goal. I give them two thumbs up for their performance. That being said, I was hoping for a more original sound from this band. Overall, a good night out and some good music. All three of these bands are definetely worth seeing again.