Gypsy Chief Goliath at The Backstage

Last night for the first time in ages I was able to catch a Gypsy Chief Goliath set, and while some of the members on stage were a bit different from what I remembered, the sound and energy were still top-notch.

The show took place at an out-of-the-way venue called The Backstage, which is located inside The Player's Sports Club, a little neighbourhood bar on Langlois just a short distance from the Ottawa Street shopping district.

I first visited Player's Club when my brother lived around the corner. He and his roommate used to hit them up for cheap burgers and walking-distance rye and gingers. I couldn't believe that such an awesome room seemed to be used so infrequently.

Shortly after my discovery, I started to get bombarded with show invites for the venue, and was happy to see that they weren't all dad-rock cover bands (although I have seen ads for more than a few of those). The Gypsy Chief show seemed like a great chance to see this stage in action though, and I'm glad that I made the trip.

The room was packed with metal fans of all ages, while the bar out front hosted a karaoke night. Made for an interesting smoking crowd out front.

The night started with Problem to he Solution, an old-school Windsor band that G.C.G. frontman Al later cited as having influenced him twenty years ago.

This drummer-fronted three-piece plays gritty, southern-influenced metal that really has a feel of Windsor about it. But that might just have been the beer bottle slide, overalls, and joking petition for post-show employment.

When Gypsy Chief went took the stage later on, it was at first a but weird to be hearing them with keyboards, but halfway into the first song I was all about it.

For a band that already features three guitarists I wasn't sure where this new instrument would fit into the mix, but as it turns out, it's perfect. This band knows how to write their parts so everything fits seamlessly, and the audience is assaulted (in a good way) by a wall of sound with depth and dynamics.

TL;DR go see a show at The Backstage, listen to Gypsy Chief Goliath, and look up Problem To The Solution.

Gypsy Chief Goliath

Problem To The Solution