Music
Press
"A typical set change is when I hunker down and expect a solid 40 minute to hour-long wait, in complete boredom, before the next act starts; but not tonight at Pianos with headlining act Spiral Beach. Not only does Spiral Beach immediately start to set up when Loomis and the Lust exit the stage, but the set change is, surprisingly enough, riveting. Shoes and socks are taken off. Orange traffic cones and plush flowers are put out. There’s something strangely ritualistic about it and, for the first time ever, I’m genuinely curious about what is going on during the break. This should have been my first indication that Spiral Beach knows a thing or two about performance but I kept my expectations at a minimum because on stage they look ridiculously young; so much so that it seemed appropriate when they ran around shoeless among pylons and stuffed toys. However, the minute the show starts, it’s an entirely different story." "Spiral Beach is Alrick Woodhead on guitar, his brother Daniel on drums, bassist Dorian Wolf, and Maddy Wilde on lead vocalist and synth. There is no hesitation when they play, these kids know what they’re doing and they do it well. Their sound is loud, raucous, control chaos that never falls into cacophony. Wilde’s voice can be deceptively sweet as it always returns to an in-your-face boisterousness. At different points throughout the show I wonder if they can keep up the energy; and they always can. Spiral Beach reminds me of a cross between the candy punk fun of Bow Wow Wow and the wackiness the B-52s." "I was surprised when they first started playing because they sound so different from their album, which doesn’t capture their frenetic energy and performance quality that I find most endearing. Each song starts out like a frenzied bomb, ignited by softer melodies and sometimes even complete silence, that eventually builds up, into a huge ball of rocking energy. After a while the songs start to sound very similar, though never completely formulaic. Still a young band, these guys have room to mature and there is plenty of potential their music to reach new heights. Their new album, The Only Really Thing, comes out September 22 and I look forward to checking them out again when they start to promote it. - Green Shoelace
“They have the ambition and ability to explode big, and an unself-conscious spark that makes you want to covet the band as your own personal diamond-in-the-rough discovery.” - Sarah Liss, NOW Magazine cover story - NOW Magazine
Discography
Spiral Beach - The Only Real Thing (Full-length album on Sparks): 2009
Spiral Beach - Ball (Full-length album on Sparks): 2007
Spiral Beach - Self-titled (Full-length): 2005
Photos
Bio
Bodies rolled in sleeping bags...darkness on the dance floor. 6am and the band is serving breakfast. These are self-promoted all-ages all-night shows in unlikely places...art galleries, community halls and circus spaces. Earlier...swirling lights, pylons and projected images hover above a dancing crowd. Assemblies of acts take turns on stage as people and band members mingle and munch grilled cheese sandwiches. Some may stop to buy a Spiral Beach t-shirt carefully burned with a hot iron.... an evening collectible baring no band logo. At the entrance kids wander in from the winter snow and throw coats onto a towering pile. Their hats and scarves, furry sweats and headbands follow them to the dance floor. The show begins...and never seems to end.
“Everything the band does is very visual - we always think about the whole experience, so audiences feel like they're a part of what it going on. We try to make each show feel like full-on sensory overload - there's a LOT of energy coming off the stage, and every show is a chance to get an audience worked into a total frenzy... we've run a lot of our own shows that will go all night or into the next day, so there's also an element of delirium involved,” says Drummer Daniel Woodhead about the performances. “Some of our biggest parties in Toronto have been at the Centre of Gravity, which is an old vaudeville/circus theatre, so we've taken that as our inspiration - we like to create an atmosphere that suits the music, so playing all-ages events in community centres and lofts where we can use the space to make something fun and interactive is the best.”
With the Canadian release of "Ball" in the fall of 2007 the buzz on the band became deafening. They had already graced the cover of Toronto street rag "NOW" and ruffled feathers when they unexpectedly invited fans in crazy costumes up on stage to join the broadcast of their performance on Canada's MTV-LIVE... The band toured extensively throughout Canada and was invited to tour with both Sloan and the Hidden Cameras in the U.S. as well as opening up for like-minded acts such as the Go! Team and Tokyo Police Club. By the time all the members of the band turned 20, they had already been twice across the continent!
In the spring of 2008 dazzling reviews of their album “Ball” from bloggers and mainstream press started to appear. A live performance on XM’s 'The Verge' was rated as the show's Top Performance of the Year and the band was nominated for “Best New Indie Band” at the Casby Awards. Canada’s most important media outlets like Much Music and Toronto’s The Edge radio station began to champion the band. They spent the summer performing at festivals across Canada, including Toronto's Virgin Festival, and took their incomparable live show to the UK and US, where Tommy Boy/ADA released the album.
The band are taking it all to the next level this September with their new album “The Only Really Thing.” The album perfectly captures the jubilant frenzy of the band, filling out the kaleidoscopic pop sound they had already developed with intricate arrangements and unconventional instrumentation, including metal chains and a cell phone! Daniel says, “We had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted to achieve; to make a Bollywood-influenced multi-layered color collage kind of modern pop album, with songs that were good enough to stand on their own but put into this whirlwind of different sounds and textures. Once you're there, you just kind of jump in!”
“The Only Really Thing” will be released on September 22 by Sparks/Tommy Boy.
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