ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Originally scheduled for mid-January but postponed due to the city’s week-long State of Emergency, locals held onto their tickets to see the speed-folk band in what would be — in my personal, but educated opinion — one of the best Kubasonics shows to date.
Held at the Bannerman Brewery’s event space on February 22, the band entered the room at 9:30 on the dot, though you could hear them before you saw them.
Brian Cherwick, Maria Cherwick, Jacob Cherwick, Armondo Fowlow, and Matt Hender paraded up the stairs singing a traditional Ukrainian folk tune, armed with noisemakers and horns, including a shofar and a trembita.
Brian was dressed as a goat, Jacob as Death, and Hender as a bear, with moustached Maria and lipsticked Armondo as an elderly man and woman, respectively.
Performing under red, blue, and strobe lights, sparkly garlands, amid bright, multi-coloured eight-pointed stars, The Kubasonics put on an absolute spectacle, even more vivacious than their dependably high-energy sets.
In the back of the room, local chef Amy Anthony had prepared a Malanka feast of perogies and borscht, the delicious aromas permeating the air and likely pairing well with Bannerman Brewery’s beers.
With a setlist of over 20 songs, the band drew from their six-album discography, dating back to their 1999 debut album. There was a focus on material from 2017’s “Kubfunland,” with a couple of choice selections from 2018’s “Winter Carols.”
Accompanying the usual guitar/drums/bass/keys set up, featured instruments included tsymbaly (the Ukrainian variation of a hammered dulcimer), a bandura (a string instrument akin to a lute), and at one point, even a hurdy-gurdy.
Before each song, Brian told the audience the story behind the song, explaining the hilarious lyrical content, and then using gestures to illustrate the story throughout the performance.
Brian soon began sharing his dance moves with the crowd, inspiring about 50 people to group into threes to learn a traditional dance with varying tempos. As the song sped up and the dancing became more frenzied, you could feel the floor shaking.
Later in the set, the audience paired off to learn another dance. Vastly more complex with numerous steps to learn, the crowd quickly conquered the choreography. By the fifth go, the dancers were executing the moves without any verbal coaching from Brian.
Brian was undoubtedly the star of this evenings’ show, the frontman not only acting as a dance coach, but also displaying his talent on a multitude of curious instruments, as well as his ability to rap in Ukrainian.
When the set wrapped up around midnight, I approached Brian to express my wish for The Kubasonics to be “Lizzo’d” — to experience a meteoric ascent to the top of the charts on a massive, global scale.
The evening finished off with Double Denim, a six-piece band also featuring the three Cherwicks. Though the crowd had thinned, the honky-tonk tribute set – think of a jukebox in a country bar — kept the dance floor going.
Twitter: @wendyrose709
