Daily HPX picks: THURSDAY...must-see shows

Julie Fader

The Seahorse Tavern, 1665 Argyle Street, 10pm, $10

Julie Fader never set out to be a professional musician. She wanted
to go to NSCAD, but “chickened out on the move to Halifax.” Instead,
she stuck around Ontario, eventually meeting Sarah Harmer and touring
with her. Since then, the requests haven’t stopped for Fader’s musical
talents. Longtime member of Great Lake Swimmers, she recently toured
with Chad VanGaalen and recorded with Justin Rutledge, Cuff the Duke
and Blue Rodeo. And then there’s her own record, Outside In to
promote (review on page 31).

“I had to decline a couple things in order to work on my own stuff
and give it the attention needed,” says Fader. “I say that in the
middle of the Chad tour. It’s funny, but that’s where my heart is.”

The tracks reflect the “extended phase of mellowness” Fader’s going
through—a sound her sparse HPX performance will reflect, but a few
indie stars in town may back her up for a change. (ML)

Plays with: Brian Borcherdt (9pm), By Divine Right (11pm), Off
The International Radar (midnight)

Grand Trine

Gus’ Pub, 2605 Agricola Street, 11:15pm, $8

Grand Trine has been busy. In just over a year, the Montreal
noise-psychedelic band, fronted by Halifax native Tobias Rochman (ex-Be
Bad), has released two sold-out tapes, recorded an album and travelled
east for the Obey Convention. They’ve done some “reorganizing” since
Obey, with a new drummer and a “third-generation” saxophone player,
Cabral Jacobs, who “played on the record, and then we wanted him to be
in the band full-time,” Rochman says. They recorded with Graham Van
Pelt of Think About Life (see page 12) and Dave Bryant of Godspeed You!
Black Emperor, who contributed ideas like “playing sax into a
gutted-out piano.”

Local label Divorce is releasing Grand Trine’s new album,
Sunglasses, in early 2010. Rochman calls the name an “iconic
symbol of rebellion. It’s instant detachment—pretentious and not
pretentious at the same time.” Don’t expect feel-good hits of the
summer, though: the album features “strange ideas but more
straightforward than the tapes…a rock ‘n’ roll record.” (LK)

Plays with: Secret Colours (9pm), Husband & Knife (9:45pm), Dead
Wife (10:30pm), Nadja (midnight)