I Actually Found A Talented Band In My Shitty College Town

While on stage, Labstract charms their college-age audience with confidence, swagger, and trendy pants. They strut around in dark khaki denim and snap back hats, causing everyone in the front row with two X-chromosomes to swoon. But if you strip away the glossy veneer and pageantry that usually accompanies pop-punk bands playing to a crowd of drunk students, you’re often left with nothing but a group of bros playing instruments in weird outfits (see: Down With Webster). The members of Labstract look to curtail this trend by blending their endearing sense of style with authentic, lyrical intimacy and instrumental ingenuity.

I stumbled into a dark basement bar in London, Ontario expecting another wannabe indie band to yell at me for an hour, based on my traumatic experiences in London dive bars and the collective indifference to local bands that seems to permeate the student psyche. What I got instead was a diverse group of musicians performing a catchy, genre-bending number that had me dancing after my first three-dollar brew. I turned to my roommate and said, “These guys are so gonna be famous, we should like, be friends with them.”

Labstract is a Western University hip-hop trio from Oakville, Ontario, who came together over a decade ago through a shared interest in freestyle rapping. Of all the middle-class preteens rapping for slurpies at the 7/11, these guys must have been the coolest, because I can’t imagine how anything more than the community children’s choir grew out of the Greater Toronto Area’s most affluent town. But their impressive production blends familiar hip-hop snares with original vocal and instrumental composition, validating the otherwise embarrassing suburban background.

On stage, they perform alongside an electric guitar player, a bassist and a DJ, creating an energetic, Down With Webster feel, minus unnecessary hype-men wearing Air Jordan shoes. Off-stage, guitar master Andrew Oliver produces creative beats which he raps over along with bandmates Blake Fletcher and Luke Stanley. Despite their lively stage-presence, the group’s recorded work is subdued, stemming back to 2005 when alternative hip-hop united high school stoners in basements across the nation.

Their melancholic single “The Backyard” launches me into a funky daze, filled with summertime memories and fading childhood dreams. Lyrically, it offers a level of maturity well beyond the schoolyard days. The trio’s measured words shade carefree ambiance in the cynicism of growing up. The words themselves are secondary to the spacey atmosphere they soak with the unapologetic discovery of life’s cruelties. As the audience of 20-somethings begins to drown in the familiarity of adulthood angst, the company of wistful guitar riffs and soothing rhymes swoops in to comfort us. When the track ends, I immediately return to reality. I realize I have been unknowingly staring at someone’s penis-area a few feet away. Based on his grin, I’d say my three-minute stare was very enjoyable for him.

Labstract discovered their ability to move listeners into uncomfortable social situations in 2012, when their cover of Bon Iver’s "Michicant" was featured in Bon Iver, Bon Iver: Stems Project. A perfect blend of low-key indie rock with experienced lyrical creativity, the track was a fitting debut for the rookies. The recognition eventually led them to write and record “The Backyard” and the remainder of their debut full-length project, Apollo.

At the end of their surprisingly good set, I tried to pull off a look that read, “I’m super cool and totally dig what you do, but in a chill and completely nonchalant way.” I’m still unsure if this had the intended effects. However, I plan to strike again at their next show, as I continue my quest to befriend future stars and revel in their fame.

Kaely Danahy is a writer living in London. No, the other London. She is on Twitter.