\ TORONTO WEST – 141105 - Wed. November 05, 2021 \
While he’s never quit the stage and has continued to delight audiences across the GTA over the past decade with his provocative, amusing and vocally astonishing performances, it’s been close to a decade now since proto-Punk Rock-opera/R&B satirist and songwriter Robbie Rox has performed with his near-legendary Monster Horn Band.
But tonight at Toronto’s classy showcase room Lula Lounge the master of faux-macho musical mayhem and tongue-in-cheek operatic oratory resurrects some of his MHB classics with a “new” group of players to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary.
MHB, of course, is only one of Rox’s many music configurations over his 40+ year career, which we told you about on the occasion of last year’s milestone celebration show, also at Lula, 1585 Dundas St. West. His Rude Band, not to mention more recent configurations we’ve written about such as The Effect, are also noteworthy in their own right, and he’s also a secret conga/vocals sideman to highly esteemed singers such as Michael Theodore and Johnny Wright on a regular basis (and also a congas instructor, btw).
But of all his remarkable stage mountings, the Monster Horn Band stands out as perhaps the pinnacle of his showmanship. Performances by the original incarnations of the MHB nontet, which he first presented in 1974 after already being dubbed “Canada’s answer to Frank Zappa”, were notable musically not just for Rox’s acoustic acrobatics in spanning several vocal octaves but also for the contrast of those often surreal gyrations with the intricately-arranged, straight-faced, showband-style power horns of the backing group. This incredible orchestral concatenation of talents has always delivered a true show like few others.
Even leaving aside the provocative, take-no-prisoners lyrics of his often outrageous songs, the combination of Rox’s vocal prowess with an ability to project a legion of characters with his supple face (did we mention he’s also an actor of some repute?) and vocal mimicry, plus the way he seems so genially and ardently to believe fully in some of the ridiculous, almost cartoonish identities he presents in his songs (you can actually imagine him turning into a “Rhinoceros”) has a visceral, sensual quality to it. Combined with the group’s lush sonic backdrops, watching him mentally and physically contort and metamorphose is almost sexually arousing —no matter what your preferences may be!
To celebrate the beginning of those halcyon days when this band was doing shows in rooms like Silver Dollar, El Mocambo and Albert’s Hall, Rox has been busily working behind the scenes to put together a new version of the group and tells us he’s “pulling out from the archives old classics that were heavily arranged decades ago by guys like Jim McGrath, Jeff Goodspeed and Bruce Greg.”
The new 9-piece big band also consists of several all-star performers who are veteran MHB members, including original drummer Vito Rezza; 20+-year alumnus Gord Myers on trombone; and 10+-year “new kids” Turner King on saxes and Rob Gusevs on keys. Other members in tonight’s incarnation who also have flawless musical pedigrees and longtime Rox associations include Russ Boswell on bass, Sil Simone on guitar, Simon Wallace on saxes and Chris Howells on trumpet.
You can expect to hear some of Rox’s most outrageous and entertaining classic send-ups pillorying pretentious middle-class status seekers such as “The Lunch Bunch” along with many simply bizarre compositions (“Have You Ever Been To Sea Billy?”), all of which give the lyrical and vocal trickster’s unpredictable and charismatic talent and persona the full, free run of the asylum.
With iconic talents dropping left and right these days it seems, one never knows which reunion show might end up being the last, so whether you’ve been a longtime fan or have never seen him on stage in full flight but have always been Rox-curious, you want to get to this performance while this man is still at the height of his powers. Tickets are just $20, the show starts at 8 p.m. sharp and no doubt he’ll also have several of the various albums he’s released over the years available for take-out.
-Gary 17, www.torontomoon.ca
