Code Name Laurentians

code_name_193.jpgFrom the first driving beat of the kick drum, the Code Name Laurentians made my jaw drop and my feet move.

The Code Name Laurentians are one of Toronto's best up-and-coming indie rock bands. Not since Controller.Controller have I heard such a powerful and driving dance rock band, but with a harder more rock driven edge. Lead singer Royal Nasagar describes it as it Guitars vs. Synth.

Catch them before someone breaks the code!

Saturday January 14 @ Sneaky Dee's (11pm)
part of Night Moves with DJ Pamm, Jes & Jonathan

code_name_2_193.jpgFront man, Royal, is relentless on stage, and truly embodies the rock star image that every great band needs. He's got the look, the drive, the passion and the attitude -- commonly greeting crowds with "fuck y'all for coming". Where the Code Name's differ from other in the genre, is the range and complexity of their songs. This is largely due to lead singer, Royal Nasager's breadth of influences which include John Cale, Eno, Nick Lowe and even the Beach Boys.

Royal is backed up by an amazingly tight and dynamic cast which do more than their fair share to raise the energy of Code Name's compelling performance. On the skins is Shayne Cox, and as you may have heard, nobody rocks like Cox rocks. When I saw them at The Bagel, Shayne started bleeding he was drumming so hard. Towering above his fellow band mates is the beloved madman Michael, who adds a certain edge to the band. This was exhibited in what some affectionately call, 'the great tambourine massacre of 2005', where during a show at C'est What, Michael completely demolished a tambourine littering the ground with cymbals. Combine this with the lovely Lindsay on the keyboard and Mandy on Bass, and you've got one of the best new indie rock bands in Toronto.

More photos available here: Fotograf.416

Reader Reviews and Comments

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Come on. While this may be true, and they may be a great band(I have not seen them, so cannot comment), the review loses something in the earnestness of the reviewer. He's obviously friends with the band.

Damn, this should come with a disclaimer at the beginning, like those late night infomercials: "The following is a paid advertisement. BlogTO is not responsible for the claims therein."

Posted by: brokenengine at January 11, 2006 11:00 AM

very poorly written advertisment but a great band otherwise. hopefully this won't turn people away ...

Posted by: disappointed at January 11, 2006 12:01 PM

if he really digs the band and you agree, what makes his opinion on them an ad?

Posted by: Travis at January 11, 2006 12:56 PM

shut up nerds. codenames rule.

Posted by: zoe at January 11, 2006 4:47 PM

It's a review. By their nature, reviews are highly-opinionated. The reviewers opinion was very positive, and thus so was his review. I see no harm done.

(And by the way, blogTO reviewers are not "paid").

Posted by: Beth at January 11, 2006 6:30 PM

LOL. A fine point, Beth.

Posted by: Tanja at January 11, 2006 11:56 PM

Maybe if brokenengine wants to be take seriously, his band should stop advertising with myspace friend requests.

Posted by: metafile [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 12, 2006 2:10 AM

First of all, the "Paid" part was a joke.

Second, I was making a connection to the fact that people give Jennn shit all the time for being "Biased". Funny, I didn't see any of you coming to her rescue. A review should be opinionated, but objective. Again, I've never heard this band, and I'm sure they're great. I can't say one way or the other.

Thirdly, doesn't every band on myspace try to gather friends via friend requests? You're telling me all your favourite myspace bands just opened a profile and hoped for people to syumble across them? We don't play music that would be considered "hip" by the elitist Toronto indie music intelligentsia; we have to let people know we're here and let them make a choice somehow. And my band has nothing to do with this, so your linking it to this is EXTREMELY weak.

Posted by: brokenengine at January 12, 2006 10:15 AM

"indie rock band" sheesh

Posted by: huh at January 17, 2006 1:17 PM

I saw that band and was not impressed. It was boring and reminded me of so many other lame indie musicians and bands in toronto.

SOMA is one of the only cool honest rock bands in toronto that are actually inspiring to watch. 3 guys no attitude, with music that sounds huge. I saw them at club 297 on june 1st and the performance made me feel like a 15 year old kid who discovered something new and exciting. I googled them and found out they are under somamusic.ca

Check out SOMA

http://www.somamusic.ca

Posted by: Pop Killer at June 20, 2006 8:10 PM

thanks for the shameless self promotion. truly inspiring.

Posted by: rotenblog [TypeKey Profile Page] at June 20, 2006 11:39 PM

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