JASON COLLETT with THE JOHNNY JAMES BAND Kingston, Ontario January 23rd, 2004 Review and photo by Vanessa C. The show was billed as "Jason Collett with members of Broken Social Scene". Whether it was a last-minute change of personnel or simply a miscommunication, what we got was Collett wearing a T-shirt with an iron-on picture of BSS's drummer Justin Peroff. Was it a disappointment? Only if you were expecting a stripped-down Broken Social Scene set. The show was sold out, so I can only conclude that there were some in attendance hoping for just that. But for those who were there to see Collett on his own terms, playing as an entirely separate entity from his "other band", saw a musician who seemed perfectly content to be out making a name for himself, by himself. Collett's backing musicians were known as the Johnny James Band, and they were well received. Their bass player, Jordan, bore a striking resemblance to Daniel Johns of Silverchair (minus the anorexia) and more than a few girls in the house found their hearts set all aflutter. He likely knew it, and played it up by making eye contact throughout the show with the girls lining the front row. The real chemistry of the night, however, was between Jordan and Johnny James (guitar, vocals) himself. They would share a mic, play to each other, and generally act the part of boys in love with rock'n'roll (and possibly each other). Modest and charming, Collett took the stage to treat us to his solo material: folky-tinged mid-tempo acoustic numbers, which varied from "sweet and introspective" to "on the verge of rocking your ass off (nicely)". Only three of the songs he played were from his latest release, Motor Motel Love Songs. Though a few people sang along, it seemed on the whole that many people were relatively unfamiliar with his music and were happy to simply be entertained as they heard many songs for the first time. I was pleased that Collett spoke to the audience at some length between songs - interaction is always endearing. He kept renaming his band, so they went from being The Hot Hot Shit to The Posers, The Blame, The Couch Dynamos and finally, my personal favorite, The Kung-Fu Casanovas. He apologized for the advertising miscommunication, and took off his sweater to reveal his T-shirt, which he claimed Peroff had given him for Christmas. The intro to the song "Hangover Days" left some of the audience laughing so hard they missed the first lines of the song. Collett's final piece of stage banter was about his brother, who moved out west to British Columbia. They rarely see each other, or so the story went, though occasionally the brother sends Collett some "produce" by mail. The song that followed was called "Brother", naturally enough, and was a strong contender for the most sincere and emotional song of the night. When it was over, so was the set. A murmur of disappointment ran through the crowd as it realized that there was no other material forthcoming. In the end, though, the majority left more than satisfied – and rightly so. © 2004 snapandclap.org. get your hands off our content, motherfucker!