Skip to content
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Derek
    • Gary
    • Halley/Celeste
    • Paul
    • Ricky
    • Vik
  • Concerts
  • Reviews
    • Albums
    • Venue
    • Movies
    • Year End Reviews
  • Festivals
    • Canadian Music Week
    • Hot Docs
    • North By Northeast
    • Planet in Focus
    • Primavera
    • South By Southwest
  • Contact Us

Concert Review: DVAS/Designer Drugs, August 13, The Mod Club

Posted on
14 Aug 2010
by
Paul

Toronto – I will be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a rockist at times.  Sure, I enjoy a good electro/dance tune as much as the next guy (and I saw quite a bit of electronic stuff at this past weekend’s Lollapalooza), but I’m less likely to go out and see that stuff live.  I had heard good things about DVAS however, and wanted to check them out.  So even though it was a Friday the 13th, I figured I’d try my luck and see what they were all about.  I was impressed.

Playing a brand of music heavily influenced by the ’80s and full of lots of hot synth action, they were a little reminiscent of Chromeo, but definitely had their own thing going on.  Jered Stuffco is an engaging frontman with a strong voice that almost veered into falsetto territory on occasion.  I found that he referred to the crowd as “y’all” a few too many times, but that can be forgiven when you introduce songs with lines such as “This song is about sex addiction!”  Lo and behold, the song was about sex addiction.  And it was an awesome song.  DVAS played more than a few awesome songs, my favourites being “Questions” and “Watching You.”

Up next were New York’s Designer Drugs.  Appropriately enough, some guy in the crowd approached me before their set and tried to sell me drugs – probably not designer ones though.  “Yo bro, you lookin’ for anything?”  “Um .. no.  Please go away now.”  Back to the music: Designer Drugs spun a great set of tunes that had the whole room going crazy.  At times, it almost felt like I was partying with the cast of Jersey Shore – there was a lot of fist pumping going on.  I’m not sure how many people in the audience caught the sample of Refused’s “New Noise” that they slipped in there, but I certainly did and it was appreciated, as was their use of Hot Butter’s  “Popcorn” later in the set.  All in all, a good night of music. 

PrevPreviousConcert Review: Foxes in Fiction, August 12, Tiger Bar
NextSummerWorks Reviews: Post-Eden, The Sad and Cautionary Tale of Smackheaded Peter, Ride the CycloneNext

SEARCH

FOLLOW US

Facebook Twitter Flickr Foursquare Rss Inbox

THE PAST

Archives

TAGS

Tags
British Music Embassy (10) Canadian Music Fest (11) canadian music week (20) cmf (10) cmw (42) concert (9) el mocambo (9) fringe (26) Great Lake Swimmers (10) guelph (9) horseshoe tavern (23) hot docs (103) jazz (12) Joel Plaskett (10) jukebox the ghost (15) lee's palace (27) marina and the diamonds (10) Massive Attack (10) mod club (12) NXNE (94) of monsters and men (11) Phoenix (15) play reviews (11) Pulp (11) Roskilde Festival (16) rural alberta advantage (10) sharon van etten (10) suede (12) summerworks (34) SXSW (479) SXSW 2022 (11) SXSW 2024 (11) SXSW Online (18) the antlers (11) the cure (9) the national (10) the xx (11) Tokyo Police Club (9) Toronto (25) toronto fringe (14) Toronto Jazz Festival (55) turf (13) tweeview (10) Video (9) zeus (10)
The Panic Manual

We are a collective of individuals bringing you the latest in concert reviews, indie, britpop, Canadian, twee and all sorts of other music, movies, tv and everything else you like. Follow the manual to live a pleasant and fulfilling life.

All rights reserved