’68 and Being As An Ocean at The Mod Club
A brutally cold night with wind chills reaching -38° didn’t stop a capacity crowd for showing up at Toronto’s Mod Club. An early 6:30 start promised an early end to the show. After the opening band, Australia’s In Hearts Wake cleared the stage ’68 arrived.
’68 is the next step for Josh Scogin, founder and front man of his previous endeavours, Norma Jean and The Chariot. ’68 formed as a two piece just over a year ago. Michael McClellan (ex of Becoming the Archetype) takes charge of the drums as he teams up with Scogin on guitar and vocals.
Facing each other during their set, ’68 builds the music found on their debut release, In Humor and Sadness, to a new level. Taking cues from each other, Scogin and McClellan expand their sound by developing involved and lengthy guitar and/or drum segments. Having seen The Chariot a number of times in past should have given me some idea of what to expect, but ’68 is a killer live band. Dynamic, witty banter from Scogin’s, and an incredible live set makes this band a “must see”.
The second band I came to see Being As An Ocean, headed on stage following ’68’s set. The band has a great live set, but they only had time a few songs. I last saw Being As An Ocean in Buffalo during their headliner tour last fall. That experience made me realize that this band has a slow build to their stage performance. With the band having a lack of time to really develop their set, The Mod Club event left me wanting more.
