The Balconies at the Five Points in Barrie - Busking For Change War Child

This Canada Day long weekend I decided to spend my Saturday afternoon checking out some of the bands performing at the five points in downtown Barrie. This event was a benefit for War Childfeaturing bands from noon until 11pm. Barrie’s Promenade Days’crowd would appreciate that not even a heat wave like this would stop these bands from performing.


The sun was beating down and the sweat was rolling off Daniel Allen, drummer for Indian Handcrafts. Brandyn Aikins extended his guitar amp with a massive 8" x 10" bass cabinet and a barrage of guitar pedals to produce some chew-up-and-spit-out Jack White guitar tone. The duo has a harder edged sound than when they played with Fox Jaws, who I wasn’t able to catch (I forgot my hat and just had to get out of the sun). 

Next was Sandman Viper Command from Burlington. I caught them previously opening for Brett Caswell and Marquee Rose several weeks ago. They sounded much more melodic this time as the previous venue’s acoustics were not so good. Guitarist Dan Reardon gave me a copy of the album to listen to and it captured everything they had to offer. Here’s my recipe for cloning Sandman Viper Command:

1 parts Sonic Youth – separate out distortion
2 parts Tokyo Police Club
1 part Super Friendz
2 parts early Beatles
1 part Sloan


Puree in blender.Serve with Strawberry Quick.

After my siesta, I returned to catch The Balconies. This trio has a solid performance with lots of energy and Jacquie’s and Steve’s vocal/guitar counterpoint sets them apart, along with lots of smiles and eyelash batting "The Sio" reminds me of a Quentin Terantino movie. Here’s a clip of a song that I don’t know the name of.