When lightening strikes call Joel Plaskett and the Emergency.
Joel Plaskett, the pride of Nova Scotia, quietly released Scrappy Happiness in March. Followers have witnessed his slow but steady rise from playing grungy bars and taverns to headlining some of Canada’s grandest old venues, beginning with the ambitious triple album, 2009’s Three.
Joel Plaskett and The Emergency (Dave Marsh – drums / Chris Pennell – bass guitar) recorded, mixed, mastered, and released a new song every single week for ten weeks, accompanied by snippets of video documenting the process in-studio. Every year, there’s an album that you get excited about, an album that you listen to over and over again because it’s that good. This new Plaskett album is just that. It is even dotted with references to his beloved Cactus and Hüsker Dü albums.
There are no big light shows, all that is needed is a couple of electric monkeys and Plaskett and The Emergency are ready to rock. The monkeys are a pair of Japanese toys from the 50s. They appear on the cover of Scrappy Happiness and show up on stage, mounted atop Plaskett’s guitar amp. Customized to operate via a foot switch next to his guitar pedals, each chimp strums a guitar and taps its foot while its head bobs and microphone glow.
Be prepared as lightning strikes serve as a warning. That thunder you hear in the distance is Joel Plaskett and The Emergency.