The Lazys

I was recently introduced to The Lazys by a friend of mine from Sydney who is particularly close to the band, so close that she was actually included in their leading music video - in Shake It Like You Mean It (below). These guys are a perfect fit for this blog, as they are based in Australia, but actually found some really good success touring across Canada a little while back.

Described as a new age ACDC - The Lazys are bringing back rock and roll in a big way. With a heavy sound, strong guitar riffs, a style you can get behind and the look to match, these guys are prime candidates to bring Aussie Rock into the limelight. As you would expect, most of this groups' music actually isn't the type of thing that you would hear on the radio, but to appease the masses, they have recorded a few tracks that everyone can get down to. Apparently they are even better live (which isn't hard to believe), and it's definitely on my list to make it out to a show the next time they are around to experience it first hand.

The group will be in Canada for another tour in 2015 - coming into Toronto on May 7th at the Phoenix.Concert Hall. If you're in the 6 it's going to be worth it to make it out.

Hi-Top Brass Band at The Manly Jazz Festival

Living down in Manly, Australia definitely has a few perks; the humid climate, iconic beach, but most notably the festivals that take place right outside our window. The most recent of these was the Manly Jazz festival, which had hundreds of artists come in to perform on the main strip and accompanying bars over an extended weekend. We managed to get a good sampling of the music, which mainly consisted of old school jazz and funk, (bringing us back to the alleyway bar scene in Toronto) - but one group manged to break the fog completely - The Hi-Top Brass Band.

Akin to their name, this is a collection of gentlemen utilize a variety of brass to drive a strong back story to the vocals, which are not your typical growls of jazz, but rather a spoken word new age rap. We caught For The Money and Roll Up which probably drew one of the biggest crowds of the week - with the whole corso full up with the locals jamming along. Luckily these guys are willing to share a few tracks on their Bandcamp, which you can find below, to check them out at your own leisure.