Toronto Indie band July Talk want their band, fans, audiences, and ultimately their band to be inclusive, a safe space where everyone has a voice and can be heard. Their reputation was built though touring starting with the smallest and growing steadily upward mainly by word of mouth, some airplay but mainly by audiences seeing the band in person. The Pandemic took away the live show so for their only show of 2020 they decided to try something different. Play a Central Ontario Drive in Two raised large screens a good distance from the stage, multi-cameras broadcast out to their fans and everyone on site theoretically in their cars facing the stage. The events leading up to the live show are the foundation of the documentary.
One of the two poignant moments that crystalize what the band is about occured at a show in Buffalo at the Towne Ballroom in December of 2016. A lout in the crowd hurled a sexist derogatory remark at co-front person Leah Fay Goldstein. She pounced, The band and audience backed her up. The culprit was quickly identified and turfed. The other James Bailey recruited by Leah from a spiritual service who brought along Kyla Charter to back up and sort though the harmonies. The result of the collaboration produced the song Champagne digging into how privilege works from two very different perspectives. When the song is played; James and Kyla take centre stage as true collaborators. The visuals as the back story is told in a live frenetic concert sequence causing chills. There are many such instances throughout the piece. Especially with the lens falls on Leah. The monochrome tone invokes an Andy Warhol performance art feels.
A major theme during the lead-up to the concert is co-front person Peter Dreimanis' health. He was inexplicably losing weight. down about 30 pounds. His bones were clearly visible. The weight loss was not covid related making the other band members worried. On top of the health concerns, Peter was pushing hard to make the drive-in show a reality along with fourteen hours a day of post-production work on the newly completed album. Four days before the August 12, 2020 concert. Peter got confirmation of a type one diabetes diagnosis along with a plan of insulin therapy to treat it. Accompanied with a warning of doing two shows full on back to back in four days could lead to low blood sugar, hypoglycemia shaking sweating and potentially passing out in the middle of nowhere at the Stardust Drive-in. Not to mention a covid scare with another of the band members.
July Talk: Love Lives here tracks the rise of an indie rock band from their first EP sessions in 2012 after a prologue announcement of the Drive-In dates, time-lapse set build and last words before hitting the stage. Their process front and mission statement are always at the forefront. Covid-19 telltale signs are everywhere. Along with the true message, that the band needs this, their fans need this show and society in general by August 2020 needed reasons for people to get together to begin to share common experiences again.
*** 1/2 Out of 4.
July Talk: Love Lives Here | Brittany Farhat | Canada| 2023| 83 Minutes.
Tags: Concert, Covid-19, Indie Rock, Touring, Studio Sessions, Type 1 Diabetes, Collaboration, Stardust Drive-In.
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