Toronto – The term “supergroup” conjures up images of bands like Asia, The Travelling Wilburys or Damn Yankees. What it doesn’t necessarily bring to mind is the Toronto indie scene. Yet House League was being billed as just that, a Toronto indie supergroup made up of members of Evening Hymns, Forest City Lovers, Matters, and The Magic, and this was their first and quite possibly last show. For the occasion, the band performed a few brand new songs along with an Evening Hymns song and a cover of The Flashing Lights’ “Highschool,” which was introduced by one band member with a story of how he remembered seeing it on The Wedge back when he was in elementary school. That made me feel old.
Up next were Great Bloomers, who offered up some decent, rootsy indie rock sounds. To add a little something special to their Summerworks show, the band invited a couple backup singers to augment a couple of songs, although based on the looks of confusion on their faces as singer Lowell Sostomi told them to stay up on stage, they were perhaps up there for one more song than they were expecting to be. Another memorable moment in the show was when Sostomi dedicated “The Young Ones Slept” to his parents, both of whom were in attendance. I guess if I was in a band, I’d probably invite my parents out to a show that was part of a theatre festival rather than a show at say, The Bovine or the Comfort Zone. The band also performed a cover of Simon and Garfunkels “Keep The Customer Satisfied,” which seemed appropriate as those in attendance that night seemed to be pretty satisfied with their performance.