Andy Siegel
Special to the Review
This weekend at the Traverse there’s two great nights to go downtown for bands.
On Friday evening live band Illvis Freshly takes the stage first then after DJ Mt. Doyle will be spinning till 2 a.m.
Saturday night Juno award winning Elliot Brood brings their talented three piece band to town to cap off the weekend.
Friday
Hailing from Victoria, Illvis Freshly blends the classic hip hop sound of the 90s with live guitar, rapping and turntablism.
With high energy performances and bass heavy flavour, Illvis Freshly is bringing the funk back to the west coast Canadian hip hop/electronic music scene.
Illvis Freshly is an up and coming Canadian band from Victoria. The band consists of two emcees, a live guitarist, a live drummer, and a DJ/singer.
Their sound is a fusion of live, electronic, and classic hip hop elements, making them a unique and widely accessible act. Jesus Estevez (Doc Zoo) produces the beats, using a combination of synthesizers, live instrumentation, and the classic funk and soul samples quintessential to 90s hip-hop.
The newest addition to the band, drummer Mike Cooper, is a karate master; his Bruce Lee level nunchuck skills are matched only by his superhuman drumming abilities and infectious live energy.
Guitar wizard and crowd surfing aficionado Phil Lyons (Phillionaire) is a wildly entertaining performer; he is also well known for his ludicrously catchy riffs and face melting solos.
Doc Zoo and Dan Howse (Danimal House), the two MCs, are all about live energy and stage presence, captivating the crowd with lightning fast flows and dynamic lyricism.
In addition to spinning beats and scratching, Justin Doyle (Mt. Doyle), has the voice of an angel, singing falsetto leads and backup vocals while holding it down on the turntables. In an industry where it has become increasingly difficult to be original, the boys have created something special with this project. Their sound can best be described as Beastie Boys meets Jurassic 5, with some bass heavy flavor in the mix.
The boys released their third album, the Certified Fresh EP, in the Spring of 2018, and show no signs of slowing down.
Mt. Doyle
In the beginning Mt. Doyle was known for his smooth taste in drum and bass, and his unmatched love for pizza.
But it wasn’t long before Doyle expanded his horizons to include Funk, House, Hip-Hop and Bass, all with his soulful West Coast flavour.
He quickly became a staple in the B.C. electronic music scene, known not only for his multi-genre sets but his range of recorded mixes as well.
Over the past eight years Mt. Doyle has played lounges, clubs and festivals all over the North West.
Over the years Mt. Doyle has established himself as one of the most versatile DJs on Vancouver Island. With a mountainous lust for music and style that keeps you guessing, Mt. Doyle will keep bodies moving any time, any place, with whatever the hell he wants.
Saturday
Elliott Brood is a three-piece, folk-rock/alt-country band based in Hamilton, Ont.
Their brand of fuzzed-up roots music makes for a captivating and frenetic live performance.
That energy has always translates to the band’s five acclaimed records. Their style has been called everything from ‘blackgrass’ to ‘death country,’ but those descriptions don’t capture the transcendent heights of their unique approach to roots music. Elliott Brood are Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet and Stephen Pitkin.
In 2013 they won a Juno Award for their World War One inspired album Days Into Years. Over the course of their career they have been nominated for a total of five Juno awards.
For their fifth album, Elliott Brood wanted to break things. For the first time, Elliott Brood decided to work with an outside producer: Ian Blurton, who has helped make roaring records for the Weakerthans, Skydiggers and Cursed.
And for the first time, the group’s two songwriters decided to mine the bare histories of their own lives: penning verses about the ends of relationships and the tests of adulthood, long drives, childhood retreating in a rear-view mirror.
“Work and love will make a man out of you,” the Constantines sang; and so here is Elliott Brood’s Work and Love, their most personal album to date, the sound of a grown-up band searching their hearts for all they’ve lost and gained.
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