BLEACHED and HUNTERS at the Silver Dollar, Thursday (April 25). Rating: NNN
They might call Los Angeles home, but Bleached are becoming a fixture in the Toronto scene. Their three late-night Silver Dollar shows at last year’s NXNE were festival highlights – packed, sweaty and just messy enough.
“I really, really like this place,” said lead singer Jennifer Clavin while her uncooperative monitor was being adjusted and her sister and bandmate, Jessica, looked on. Rounding out their band with a drummer and third guitarist, the Clavins are touring in support of their debut album Ride Your Heart, a collection of breezy, heart-on-sleeve pop-punk songs. While none of the newer material is as catchy as early singles Searching Through The Past or Think About You – which were played in succession – their set still put the audience in a California summer mood.
If Bleached were singing mostly about broken hearts, Brooklyn’s Hunters were more concerned with breaking them, playing fast and grungy garage rock as female vocalist Isabel Almeida flailed around stage with boundless energy.