Music
Press
Exclaim Review - Vancouver Lamplighter Show July 2007
"The Headliners of the night were Regina's Geronimo, who emphatically and confidently took the stage with an energy that shook the corner pub as they staggered, jumped, and tip toed from song to song. Their catchy, chorus like singing was skilfully layered over flickering and clearly defined guitars that reflected and glinted even in the dim neon lighting of the lamplighter. Harding's voice easily cut above the typical bar din, adding a lightning bolt effect to the music that gave a midweek spark to the crowds lives. Rising from the ashes of a former band, Geronimo has shown that like their namesake, they don't go down easily." - Exclaim! - August Edition
The recent wave of post-punk coming out of Regina has caused many a head in Canada to turn their gaze to our sister city. With bands like Despistado, Ghosts of Modern Man and Sylvie, and the signing of the latter two bands to Smallman Records, many are anticipating the rise of more fantastic bands and are also hoping the calibre will increase.
Good news! It has.
Geronimo, another gem from the Queen City have recently been visiting Saskatoon, as well as the rest of Western Canada, to perform. Just two weeks ago, their powerful six song EP has been available for sale through the band.
Made up of ex-Despistado guitarists/vocalists Dagan Harding and Leif Thorseth, as well as friends Henry Brass and Garret Matheis, this quartet is quickly causing a stir with their commanding stage presence and insane touring schedule. Highlights of their performances include opening for the likes of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Minus the Bear, The Constantines, North of America, and Ghosts of Modern Man.
The new album has been getting rave reviews out of the mouths of fans. And with obvious nods to Hot Snakes in the opening track, as well as salutes to Modest Mouse, Juno and Built to Spill throughout the album, this is an album which many Canadians have been anxiously awaiting.
While some songs attack the ears with dynamic volume and distortion, others caress them with luscious pop melodies and dancing guitars. The overall spastic energy this band carries and freely dishes out is enough to satisfy any former Despistado fan and more importantly, anyone who believes in the continuous evolution of rock and roll.
01 Enlightenment in a Small Town
02 Just Like Water
03 Interlude
04 Progressive Revolution
05 Hope and Fear
06 I vs Me - Aaron Sholtz - Threeohsix.com
SOUND: Geronimo take the sonic strangeness from Modest Mouse and rough it up a little in the mosh pit, making for a quirky little marriage between indie handclaps and punk rock guitars. It’s weird, fast and good.
WHY? Sure, Regina doesn’t have the indie rock cult of, say, Montreal, but the often-neglected prairie city has produced some exciting buzz bands over the past few years.
Funny enough, two of the most stirring Sask exports have been comprised of half of Geronimo’s lineup.
After the Regina-based, angular art-rock band Despistado called it quits in 2005, ex-members Leif Thorseth and Dagan Harding didn’t completely abandon the idea of making music. After a few months apart, the pair rekindled their musical relationship and, along with Garret Matheis and Henry Brass, were able to get Geronimo moving. Armed with their debut EP, Enlightenment In A Small Town, the quartet have already snagged gigs with indie acts Tapes “N” Tapes and Minus The Bear.
“We’ve been extremely lucky,” Harding says. “I mean, our third show was with Ted Leo And The Pharmacists"
To an outsider, lucky might seem essential for an indie band trying to break out of Regina. But that’s the thing: Geronimo aren’t trying to break out of Regina. Without a high-pressure music industry present in their home city, Harding feels that the band is better able to concentrate on music.
“I’ve played in this scene for seven years, so I’ve gone through a couple perspectives,” Harding says. Regina’s full of as many good bands as Toronto or Vancouver, but they’re just not motivated. It’s hard to have the John K. Sampson ambition to make it at home. But I think there’s nothing wrong with choosing to stay home and choosing a life of creativity. I think I’m still making music because I’m still in Regina.
Although the immediate plans for the band don’t include ditching their hometown, the quartet are excited to play some gigs outside of western Canada. Geronimo plan to make a six-week cross-country trek in May, their first jaunt across Canada. The band will spend the early part of the year writing feverishly.
“We’ll be writing from now until May. After that, we don’t know. That’s as far as we’ve planned,” Harding says cryptically. Keep your ear out.
-Jen Zoratti
- -Jen Zoratti Chart Attack Magazine Issue #183
The demise of Regina’s Despistado was a tragedy of sorts. Guaranteed to be the next big thing in Canadian music and signed to Jade Tree records, the band’s end came abruptly soon. Happily you can’t keep good men down and it was only a matter of time before guitarist/vocalist Dagan Harding and guitarist Leif Thorseth got another project off the ground.
“The name Geronimo denotes the First Nation activist from the U.S. Yes. But the other connotation is it’s a guy jumping out of a plane. And that’s the feeling with this band, this is it! “Let’s jump out of this plane!” explains Harding with the meaning behind both the band’s name and energy.
In the two years that Geronimo have been together they have accomplished an impressive list of experiences including one full tour, two appearances at Pop Montreal and one small Western Canadian tour to the rainy climes of Vancouver and Victoria. Of the shows Dagan remarks, “some were better than others but overall it’s going well.”
As any fan of Despistado knows, they were no slouches in the lyrical department thanks to Harding’s background in political science. Geronimo not only takes Harding’s talent but improves upon it.
“In Despistado I was constantly relying on my lyrics to vent my frustrations at the world. With Geronimo the lyrics are a bit simpler; I don’t want to call it mature but it’s more grown-up in many aspects. Mainly due to the many aspects in life we have to deal with,” he says.
Distinguishing further, Harding maintains that, “this is a totally different band. We have a different way of communicating. There are the same songwriters, me and Leif, but it’s not so heavily political. It’s more personal, more philosophical and there’s more honesty.”
Again, while not using mature as an adjective, Harding stresses the growth dynamic he appreciates in Geronimo.
What moves me to music is how bands evolve and don’t stagnate. As I get older the things that appeal to me are more open,” he says. “We’re more musical, we’re all moving forward together. It takes a lot of work but it’s fun and we all know that putting in the time is worth it,” affirms Harding.
Given that Geronimo is fairly young in terms of years of existence, it’s member’s experiences, both musically and personally, have made the band a force to be reckoned with. With no small amount of modesty Harding credits collective strength as being the fuel that floods Geronimo’s engine.
“We’re all pretty happy. There’s a tremendous amount of potential in this band.”
- Beatroute February 2007
Discography
Enlightenment In A Small Town - EP - 2006
Photos
Bio
Biography
Since the prescribed and timely ending of Canadian post-punk Indie-dance connoisseur's Despistado (Jade Tree), vocalist/guitarist Dagan Harding and guitarist Leif Thorseth spent a mere 6 months apart before re-gathering themselves to seek un-treaded musical waters once again. Geronimo manifested from the ashes of Despistado's innovative and critically acclaimed sound; and has since spread those ashes over the lake at the cabin you used to spend your summers. Deepening your inability to deny their intense, witty, rock pop, electro, punk experiment at every curve; Geronimo is a visceral overhaul of your senses. These boys will break you down, pull you back up, and dust you off with a head slap. They will melt your eyebrows and wax your legs while you speak in tongues. Together since Oct 2005 Leif Thorseth, Dagan Harding, Henry Brass, Garret Matheis, and the newly added John De Gennaro have shared the stage with acts such as Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Peter Bjorn and John, Minus the Bear, Against Me!, The Constantines, City and Colour, Mother Mother, and Tapes n' Tapes. As a result of their tireless touring schedule, showcases at SXSW 2008, 2 pop Montreal performances, a visit to NXNE, being named one of Chart Attacks "Bands To Look Out For In 2007"; and coming fresh off their CBC Radio 3 western takeover tour; Geronimo has developed a solid foundation that your residential building inspector would approve. "Enlightenment In A Small Town" EP 2006 has become an antidote to everyday living for fans of these altruistic painters of hypocrisy. It's an honest bible; filled with as much self-aware ecological intrigue as it is humanist confusion. Geronimo has also developed a versatile live performance that is garnishing bigger and more devoted listeners every tour. Dagan, Henry, John, Garrett, and Leif will be completing songs for their first full-length throughout the winter of 08. After their first visit to the prestigious SXSW musical festival, the release of their follow up full length will coincide with Geronimo's first extensive North American tour in spring/summer.
Personal Accounts of members of Geronimo:
Garret Matheis is an intrinsic and more than capable machine. Every time I brush shoulders with him, his quiet subtlety temps me into dream. Surrounded by smoke and humour at every first glance, he is a dealer of sincerity with every moments resurrecting task. But beyond what he says, his silence eludes more, and then he wonders why people see truth in every past "hardcore". So relaxed that he's exhausted, so quick that his middle name is "nestle", Garrett Barret wrote the history book on rock n' roll misery. Well schooled in the vain of hardcore punk rock, he looks to Geronimo for all the answers in the dark.
Henry Brass is Henry Bass. Bass in his tact and love is his act, for everything he understands, he's got words like hip-hop loves crack. When he walks down the street he fills holes that even the city misses, and in the flooding months, it's the water that he kisses. His rhythmic status is possessive over everything that it rumbles, and for every judgment he hears, it's all the assholes that he humbles. Amongst the many other things that he offers his assistance, it's our Geronimo that he sings to when he wishes. And if you see him make sure you ask the question that is desired, Henry Brass is Henry Bass; He goes lower than low, if low is higher.
Leif Thorseth is a floating book, a sorcerer of sorts. His mother always said, "Leif! Stop playing with the Lords". He is a cross breed from an ancient sect of historical wizards, that used to mix the innocent things in life, with eating Lizards. His destiny began long before he did, and furthermore in his blood-line, it's illegal to grow-out of being a kid. So his beard will grow and he will choose a career that's true, and coming in the 8th month of this year, for the 1st time on the alter he will say "I love you". His stories are from other worlds and his choruses are pitchy yet strong, Guitar hands gave this lad the gift to offer this world song. He is a narrator of sorts to the common enterprise, with gifts on daggered hooks, he'll real you into his world of size.
John De Gennaro will be your pharaoh. Quiet to the brink of extinction, and subtle to the art of life, he brings the martial arts of music to the level of a knife fight. Never to admit it and to close to bullshit it, he'll yell internally of "responsibility" until all of his friends just simply get it. Unbearable and addicting at the same time, his eyes see the energy of Bruce Lee and Einstein combined. If you need to talk to John, perhaps you'll always be wrong - But if you need to write a song for the sake of song, he's always dancing in a ball gown.
Dagan Harding is a mixture of abilities and Tease. From the public eye, to the private mind, He focuses on perfecting that little place inside. On the crukst of vanity and revolutionary thou
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