LIVE: The Burning Hell Bring Warmth To Whitehorse
Monday March 24, 2008 @ 02:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

The Burning Hell Photo by Andrew Hoshkiw

March 21, 2008
The Guild Hall
Whitehorse, Yukon
By Andrew Hoshkiw

Fresh on the heels of their most recent CD, Happy Birthday, Peterborough, Ontario's The Burning Hell decided to add several far-north dates to their tour, including Atlin, B.C. and the even more northern locale of Dawson City, Yukon.

As unlikely a concert venue as it may be, Whitehorse's Guild Hall was packed for their performance. Imagine a snow-covered '50s-era army barracks — a long, thin building, barely holding back the elements — converted half-a-century later into a community theatre. Stick a stage at one end of the structure, a makeshift bar at the other, fill it with tables and chairs and you have the Guild Hall. Both loved and loathed, it's one of the Yukon's most endearing cultural focal points.

While people came expecting a local opener and The Burning Hell, the crowd was pleasantly surprised to be treated to four acts, as two members of the band also played solo sets.

First up was Kim Barlow, the quirky Whitehorse folk artist who "discovered" The Burning Hell while touring in Ontario last year. Playing odd themed songs on her banjo, she sang about horses, gingerbread men and black and tans.

Barlow was followed after 20 minutes by an equally long solo set by Jill Staveley, The Burning Hell's guitarist. Like a female equivalent of Greg MacPherson, a lone person singing and playing an electric guitar can be the most beautiful thing in the world. Staveley spoke little, more often opting to play her guitar and captivate the crowd with her strong voice and melancholic songs.

The real favourite of the night, however, came next in Jenny Mitchell's solo performance as Jenny Omnichord, playing one of the world's more fascinating, albeit obscure, electronic synth instruments.

Mitchell's quirkiness, lovable voice and the omnichord — capable of producing beats and sound effects reminiscent of old-school Nintendo music — created a uniquely wonderful performance which hasn't been experienced here in quite some time.

"You guys are the best so far, I'm loving how completely not-like-London you are," said the London, Ontario native during her set. "I just feel like you're probably not told that enough."

Mitchell spoke with a touch of nervousness in her voice, but with a cute, childish innocence about her, charming the audience with songs of relationships, the undead and a cover of "Runaway." For her final song, Mitchell was joined for a duet by The Burning Hell frontman Mathias Kom.

After all the build-up, The Burning Hell didn't disappoint. The members took the stage one or two at a time, taking turns singing duets with Kom, before climaxing with a rock-out finish nobody was expecting from this pseudo folk band.

"So it's been a real incredible treat and a total privilege to come up," said Kom towards the end of the night. "You know what's weird is that everyone in Ontario, when they heard that we were not just going out west but coming up to the Yukon, said we were crazy. But it's not that far. We drove the whole way, so we're going to do it again."

While every song they played had some depressing theme at its root, all were presented in a comical way, laced with jokes and wit. Songs about death, dinosaurs (older men who play in cover bands) and divorce highlighted their set, often resulting in uproars of laughter from the audience.

These musicians played for nearly three hours in all, giving Whitehorse a show not soon to be forgotten.