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| Johnny Hollow at Neutral Lounge, June 6, Toronto // Provided by Vincent Marcone |
Johnny Hollow lured out a sizable crowd to hear their brand of Gothic electronic chamber music despite performing a late Sunday night concert, which took place June 6 at Neutral Lounge in Toronto.
The band is from Guelph, ON, and plays a few shows every year in the Toronto area, drawing a fairly regular crowd each time.
Backing vocalist and digital artist Vincent Marcone creates the distinctive artwork that accompanies the band in the live performances and their album, working under his pseudonym, My Pet Skeleton.
The visuals play an important role in this band, with Marcone’s dark paintings and animations projected behind the stage, such as the sinister bear-like creature stomping along to Worse Things.
Marcone uses keyboards and MIDI controllers to create the creepy sounds that punctuate their songs, and acts as a “human drum machine” to play the percussion parts. Kitty Thompson shines on the cello — the instrument that really makes Johnny Hollow stand out among the many dark ambient bands. Janine White is the lead vocalist, and also plays classical-sounding piano parts throughout many of the songs.
On stage, they’re accompanied by guitarist Steve Hiehn who joined the band last year, and bassist Samantha McClellan.
The band has an amazing ability to jump from performing really grim songs to joking with the audience. They never seem to take themselves too seriously, but a strong passion shows when they play.
On this particular night, the band was trying to get rid of old merchandise and therefore sold T-shirts for a huge discount. People complained that the sizes were odd, with most of the leftovers either large or extra-large.
“Remember, a baggy T-shirt is just a few button holes away from being a corset,” Thompson told the dressed-up crowd, joking around from the moment her microphone turned on.
The show began with a couple of acoustic songs. The women described how pleased they were to kick the men out for a short ladies-only set. They started with Worse Things, and continued with This Hollow World, two of their more popular songs. The added double bass provided an added layer of depth, with Marcone eventually joining in with ambience and electronics.
Apart from the acoustic treat, their set was similar to their other shows, playing a few songs off their latest release, Dirty Hands, as well as a couple from their self-titled debut release.
At each show, Johnny Hollow performs with another band known primarily in the underground Goth scene. This time, they featured UK electronic group Attrition, though it seemed like much of the audience were drawn to the show to see Johnny Hollow. Despite Attrition’s 30 years in the Goth scene, they performed a rather generic set, although I admit I left part of the way through it.
The primarily electronic music was rather boring after experiencing Johnny Hollow’s live material.
Although Johnny Hollow’s shows tend to feature the same songs, they never seem stale. And for any fan of dark, beautiful music, their show is one that shouldn’t be missed. They put on a fantastic show, performing lovely renditions of their own strange music.
Originally published in The Charlatan, Carleton University's independent student newspaper.
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