Quick Hitters:: The Schomberg Fair Gospel

In classic herohill form, we go from a band that recorded in a church, to one that might make you want to burn the whole thing down or show up every Sunday to play for your eternal soul. The Schomberg Fair - a scorching three-piece now based out of TO – channels the emotion of the lost, the hurt, the sad, the damned and like the manic street preachers that populate Kensington Market, they know that before you can be saved you must lose everything you hold so dear.

I know the battle between the devil and the lord is about as stereotypical as it gets when bloggers start talking about the blues, but with tracks like Angel Wings it’s obvious the questions that plague these boys are more than just traditional subject matter for the style-du-jour. These farm boys have gone through pain and loss and come out on the other side and the music they play is full of those painful and powerful questions you ask when you are left without answers.

For anyone lucky enough to have seen the trio burn it up on stage in the last few years, you will notice that Gospel shows a shift in sound that the band really needed to make to keep going. Any hint of acoustic guitar is gone, as are the country roots and in their place are frantic picked banjo, distorted punk rawk bass lines (like the muddy sounds that thicken Tall Grass), crashing drums. Gospel is a natural evolution of modern blues, one fueled by the energy of the crowd but more by the unforgiving society we live in.

But Gospel also shows the whiskey guzzling men tightening the screws. Stronger harmonies grab you, and the power they offer up on slow numbers like Can’t Go Home show that they have more than one option in the playbook. The drunken regret the plods through Strange Kind of Grace is one of the most emotional tracks I’ve heard from the band to date. They offer up some surprises (like the surf guitar that chimes on Wayward Stranger), but all in all, you are left with the most consistent set off songs they've ever put on record.

At the end of the day however, The Schomberg Fair hits you right in the mouth with good old time blues, and if you don’t like it they don’t care. There's a reason they've shared stages with the Black Diamond Heavies and The Speaking Tongues and there's a reason why people turn up every time they play. They make you sweat and they make you sway. More importantly, they make you feel alive.

The Schomberg Farm hits Gus’ Pub on November 7th. Pretty fitting that it’s a Saturday night, as after surviving to a killer set by these gospel bluesers, you might be thinking salvation isn't just something that can be found, it's required.

MP3:: The Schomberg Fair - Angels Wings
MYSPACE:: http://www.myspace.com/theschombergfair