I haven’t seen Toques and Beards for quite a while, so I was pleased to catch most of their opening set for Tallest to Shortest, Feb. 7 at the Slice.
Toques and Beards including Taylor Ackerman, Tyler Bird, drummer Avery Friesen and Brett Skauge have revamped their sound from more psychedelic, experimental rock to a more straight forward roots and roll music.
Ackerman, Skauge and Bird took turns singing lead vocals on a plethora of catchy, crunchy original songs— several of them about cats and women.
There were several highlights including “Trash Talking” and Pussy on a Leash” to name a couple. They also added excellent vocal harmonies.
They ended their set with a couple of older songs “ Stand Tall” and blues tinged number “ Brains and Drugs.”
Edmonton trio Tallest To Shortest were two bands in one as they supplied a short but sweet set of high energy, loud, rock and roll with plenty of big riffs and a thunderous rhythm supplied by drummer Corey Motz. Sean Brewer sang lead vocals for most of the set then traded his guitar for Mark Feduk’s bass as the band played a couple of their alter ego Red Ram’s songs.
“Revenge Lay” was an immediate highlight early in the set as was “Down Around.”
After the Red Ram songs, they played a couple of the highlights from their upcoming EP including “ Potato Tomato” and “Rich People Don’t Smoke.”
They ended their set with a more psychedelic number “ The Devil You Know,” which featured a ear blistering drum solo from Corey Motz.
