The Damn Truth – ‘Now Or Nowhere’ Live Stream

A few years back at DGM Towers we got word from an American publicist about this hot new band from Montreal, Canada who were “ones to watch”. At that time, The Damn Truth, the band in question, had just released their second album ‘Devilish Folk’, and were quickly building a name for themselves outside of their native Canada. Fast forward a few years and the band is working with uber-producer Bob Rock in Bryan Adams’ recording studio “The Warehouse” in Vancouver. Covid strikes, the world shuts down, and the band has to part from Mr. Rock and finish the last few tracks on their own. The album born from these sessions, ‘Now Or Nowhere’, finally saw the light of day in May 2021 and with restrictions still in place, the band has been unable to tour in support. Enter the hate it or love it live stream medium and finally The Damn Truth are able to play their new album live, albeit in front of an audience tuning in via various devices.

The first thing of note is that the production is of the highest quality. Great sound, fantastic lights, and even on the cheapest-of-cheap devices, it looks amazing. HD quality in fact. The lighting is especially impressive, and if you have been turned off by live streams that look like they were lit by the guy that lit the ‘Battle Of Winterfell’ in Game of Thrones, then here is the live stream to bring you back to the fold. Great sound, great lighting, and with ‘Now Or Nowhere’ played in its entirety from start to finish, great music with lashings upon lashings of fiery, emotive guitar playing, and some of the most soulful vocals heard in a long time. The other thing to note is the format. Before each song, backstage footage appears of the band discussing the individual song before it is played live. A little bit of a sneak peek into what went into recording the album, and as each segment is brief, it doesn’t interrupt the flow.

‘This Is Who We Are Now’ was the lead single from ‘Now or Nowhere’ and since it opens the album, it also opens the show. So, who are The Damn Truth now? “I realise that people see us as a hard-rock band,” singer and guitarist Lee-la Baum says. “We are, but we’re also, deep-down, rock ‘n’ roll hippies. All those things about being self-reliant, and community, and peace, and love. Well, that’s us. That’s who we are.” ‘Nuff said. Lee-la Baum has drawn comparisons to greats like Janis Joplin and Grace Slick, and while it’s easy to see why she has, she is not the “next Janis Joplin” or “next Grace Slick”, she’s the first Lee-la Baum and stands on her own merits. Hell, you could even make comparisons with Aretha Franklin and Elkie Brooks at times, but instead of reaching for names for the sake of comparison, marvel over her vocals as she puts in a masterclass performance where there are not enough suitable superlatives in a thesaurus to use to describe it. She also makes it look effortless. Really effortless.

With the remainder of the band made up of Tom Shemer (guitars/vocals), Py Letterlier (bass/vocals), and the beast at the back – Dave Traina (drums/vocals), The Damn Truth plays honest, authentic music that reinforces the fact that no matter what the mainstream press says, rock & roll will never die. Once the dust from ‘This Is Who We Are Now’ settles, it’s into ‘Tomorrow’, a cool slice of music that begins quite light and unfolds into a gnarly beast thanks in part to the big-ass riffage from Shemer on a vintage-looking Flying V, and as visual as the band is in their vintage clothing, it is quite difficult to take one’s eyes off the guitar. Guitar-porn of the highest quality. The track alternates shades and styles many times, with the chorus and the stellar vocal harmonies especially standing out. ‘Only Love’ follows on with a spine-tingling vocal intro from Lee-la, and at times it’s mesmerising watching her lost in the music, ‘Lonely’ is prefaced by a tale of the how one time the band’s van caught fire on the road, and how it served to galvanise the band, ‘Everything Fades’ (a favourite of guitarist Tom Shemer) has Baum breaking out an acoustic guitar for a track that verges on Bob Dylan ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’ greatness (complete with the addition of a few backing vocalists), and the slow, pulsing, hypnotic ‘The Fire’ (a song that, thanks to the commentary, ended up totally different from how it started out) brings the opening thirty minutes or so to a staggering conclusion with more Flying V-porn. Pause for breath.

One of the highlights of the evening arrives in the shape of ‘Look Innocent’, and again thanks to the commentary, we discover that the track was born out of an argument between Lee-la Baum and Tom Shemer (who have been together since meeting at a hippie festival some time ago) about whether to get a pet or not and if so, what kind? The resulting track really is something special. And the live rendition is a genuine hair-raising moment, especially when the music stops for Lee-la to hold an incredible, lengthy note just before the band kicks back in and Shemer peels off a beautiful solo. Another highlight follows on straight after, with the tale of how ‘Full On You’ began life as a Kinks-like track only for it to potentially end up on the scrapheap, once the band “Cut the Montreal out of it…” it turned into a full-on, power chord-heavy dazzler with more sizzling work from Shemer on a track that played live, has sprouted wings, especially on the full-on jam outro. An impassioned version of ‘Shot ‘Em’’ (the origins of the track coming from bassist Py Letterlier) brings the playback of ‘Now Or Nowhere’ to an end, and if anyone had any doubts about how good the album is, do you still have them now?

The latter stages of the show have the band calling in at debut album ‘Dear In The Headlights’, and the afore-mentioned sophomore album ‘Devilish Folk’. The relevant-as-hell (They used to put flowers in gun barrels/I tried it once and got my face maced/And I feel just like a little girl facing a mountain of trolls/Armed with only my clothes and my words) ‘Pirates and Politicians’ is a jaunty little number with heaps of bounce to it, one of those moments that will have the front few rows bobbing their heads as one. Tom Shemer is still bouncing once ‘Get With Off’ kicks in, only pausing to stand still long enough to deliver another peach of a guitar solo. After an ass-shaking ‘Too Late’, the Flying V is dusted off once more for the slow, heavy bluesy vibes of ‘Broken Blues’, ‘Kinda Awkward’ keeps the blues vibe going – but with a Hendrix-like jam on the intro, an incredible version of ‘Devilish Folks’ has the backing vocalists back out and Shemer on his knees making his guitar wail. Ending on a killer version of ‘Heart Is Cold’, which ends with Lee-la Baum flat on the floor, guitar in hand, this was an incredible 90 minutes of live music, kudos to all involved with the live stream, and extra (hash) brownie points for the lighting person.

With nine years experience under their belts, The Damn Truth has been slowly building up a head of steam, and the growth amongst the band is highlighted on ‘Now Or Nowhere’’. A live right-here-right-now slice of well-played rock n’ roll. You can catch The Damn Truth early next year as special guests on King King’s UK tour, the band has also slotted in some headlining shows of their own around the dates. Sounds like it will be quite the tour. Remember when The Rolling Stones took The Temperance Movement out on tour? Mick and Keef need to give The Damn Truth a call, for that is a match made in heaven.

Connect with The Damn Truth, here.

All photos by Ralph Alfonso

 

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