B-17

The new psych pop band has veteran players, and it shows.
BY CHRIS DART


Wishing Won’t Make It So may be the first release from local psychedelic-rock outfit B-17, but the band’s members are anything but rookies. B-17 is like the Voltron of Torontonian psych pop, drawing players from such local scene staples as Action Makes, the Hoa Hoa’s, and the Easy Targets. That experience shows. The record is cohesive and polished. It sounds more like a third album—with all the bugs worked out—than a debut.

B-17 manages to embrace a diverse array of sounds without sounding scattered. “Bad Situation” is a thrashy, punk-inflected stomper, while “My Love” is slow and creeping, filled with blues-influenced guitars. “Pay Back My Mom” may be the most interesting song on the record. Filled with chiming guitars and more echoey vocals, it almost sounds like something that could have been recorded by the Stone Roses.

The title track is the closest thing the album has to straight-ahead rock and roll, with its pounding drums and crunchy guitar riffs. Even then, B-17 puts a unique twist on things, with vocals that are so distant and distorted that they sound like they were recorded at the bottom of a mine shaft. (You can listen to “Wishing Won’t Make It So” by clicking on the sample above.)

If Wishing Won’t Make It So is anything to go by, there’s no reason B-17 shouldn’t blow up beyond the local scene. Their brand of heavy, fuzzy, trippy rock has a wide-reaching appeal. Get into them now, so you can say you liked them before they were cool. - Torontoist

For some time now, Optical Sounds has been the bastion for Toronto’s psych-pop scene: a dedicated community of bands bridging The Seeds to The Smiths; ‘60s sunshine to ‘80s post-punk groove; Happy Mondays to The Brian Jonestown Massacre. For those unfamiliar with the label, B-17 is a great place to start as it’s a supergroup of members from some of the most central acts (The Hoa Hoa’s, The Disraelis, Action Makes, The Saffron Sect, Easy Targets) who’ve spent years honing their chops in front of projections at various love-ins around Kensington Market. That said, Wishing Won’t Make it So finds them straying from familiar freak-jangle and hitting a harder, more Detroit driven sound, while still keeping in touch with the stardust-soul that sparkles over much of the OS catalogue. This platter secures their place as one of the city’s most intriguing new bands breathing life back into the bloated corpse of Rock ‘n’ Roll. - Weird Canada

Two of Optical Sounds’ original bands – the Hoa Hoa’s and Action Makes – are now on indefinite hiatus, but those heroes of the local psychedelic micro-label aren’t ready to step aside for the next generation of wah-wah addicts just yet. Members of both bands, plus one from Easy Targets, have combined to form B-17.
The quartet’s debut record is only five songs long but hardly sounds like a young band tinkering with its sound. Instead, their identity comes fully formed, a result of both the players’ experience and their pooled record collection: some Spacemen 3, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Velvet Underground, Stooges and even a bit of Doors for good measure.
The songs vary from rock scorchers to spacey jams, and they all find a groove and ride it, with dreamy vocals, effects-heavy guitars and the kind of relaxed charisma that comes from countless hours gigging at smoky, off-venue psych parties. - NOW Magazine

If you like bands such as Jesus Mary Chain, Suicide, or Spacemen 3, check out B 17 from Toronto psych/pop label Optical Sounds. - Plaid Magazine