January 14th, 1998, Hamilton
by Jen wonderdog@compuserve.com
As I’m sure everyone knows, AOE opened for OLP for two shows in Kingston and Hamilton. This was my 5th time seeing AOE since October and I must say, through no fault of their own, it was their worst show I’ve been to. The band has way too much personality to be so distant and removed from their fans, as they were at Copps. I know this is selfish, and I wish the guys all the success they deserve and desire, but I hope they never make it big enough to headline at stadium shows. I was bored compared to the previous shows. Todd even seemed uncomfortable with the arrangement, trying as hard as he could to get people into the mood to dance. Alas, it was evident that all the teenyboppers were there primarily to see OLP. We all know how much Todd and the guys love talking to the crowd, not just talking at the fans, but with them - both during and after the shows! Todd and Ryan both kept saying, “Stand up, stand up” (in fact, Ryan chanting this phrase over and over eventually developed into a wee bit o’ Bob Marley). Poor Todd, he must have felt defeated, for when he introduced their last song, he said, “This is for anyone who knows who the F*** we are!” and so began Remote Control. The set included (in this order) Mad at the World, I Don’t Mind, Don’t Wreck It, Ugly, Untitled, Blew Up, and Remote Control. As far as stadium sound and performing go, the guys were great - in particular, Ryan did a fantastic version of Blow Up. Nevertheless, I really can’t wait to see them in the small, intimate club atmosphere again. (One interesting aside note: Todd always makes a point of talking about how great and nice his fellow performers are, i.e., here - Finger 11 and OLP, yet Raine neglected to thank Age and Finger for opening - kinda snotty? I think so.)
November 28th, 1997, Vancouver
by Triste Kurtybird@hotmail.com
Holy holy holy shit. That was one of the best concerts (aside from the Pumpkins and Bowie) that I have been to. Ive met the AOE about 6 times, Todd 8 times because I met him on the Main Street bus downtown and he gave me his transfer. I also went to a gig they played at Playland, and there were only about 70 other people there. ALSO... I hung out with Todd at a manson concert cause he was alone. Ryan was also there, and came over and said "hey, I know you! I saw you downtown and whistled!" i started laughing so hard... About the concert... My friends and I waited around for about a hour and a half talking to the guys from Zuckerbaby and Mystery Machine, then ventured back inside when some dumbass actually let us back into the building. There were no securtiy guards, so we went backstage. I chatted with Kurt, whom I love, and he was so nice. He said that he knew me from somewhere and that he owed me a drumstick (which is true...he promised me one at Edgefest) so he actually got up from his drunken stupor and found one for me! We talked with Todd (he remembered my name!! holy Christ!!) and then everyone got kicked out cause they had to close up. The concert was so cool. There was a break in the tunes, and Kurt was chugging his beer, and I was like CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! He stood up, gave me an evil look smiled a biiiig smile, and fell down into his seat. It was one of the best nights of my life! Thats it.
released February 25th, 1997
by Lewis Froese of the Kimberly Daily Bulletin lcfroese@rockies.net
Artist - The Age Of Electric
CD - Make A Pest A Pet
Label - Gods Teeth Ethel!-Mercury/Universal
Rating - 5 stars for modern hard rock
When two sets of brothers from Saskatchewan united as The Age Of Electric about ten years ago it was quickly apparent that their music was the most original and inspired rock to come out of that region since Streetheart. A critics favorite, AOE capitalized on their club-based popularity with four well received videos, the most combined sales ever for an independent Canadian act (two LPs and an EP), and single Ugly reaching #1 on the Canadian CAR chart. The band's acceptance of a lucrative international contract with Mercury Records in 1995 led to the ultimate jumping-off point for this world-wide debut. Make A Pest A Pet is an intricate, multi-layered, and intensely complex rock
concoction that retains the right to be both raucous rock and melodic pop in the same breath. Some pesky 'Pets' that attach themselves directly to the brain include: contagious, bouncy You Complain; self-effacing plodder Scare Myself; the Rush
influenced bass and riffs of My Mistake; first single/video Remote Control; and the silky entrapments of regretful Unity Or Grenadine. Guitarist Ryan Dahle contributes vocals on two
firecrackers (Real Stumper and Blow Up) to lure fans of lucrative AOE off-shoot band Limblifter to the AOE camp. While Make A Pest A Pet shows AOE moving towards a more progressive groovethan on previous releases, the disc's impression on old and new fans will be equally profound.
December 28th, 1997, London
by Lindsay psteckenreiter@lonet.ca
I saw the AOE for my 3rd time, last sunday. I waited in line for 2 hours before so I could get a REALLY good seat (if
you can call it that, I stood up the whole time!). It was SO COLD out, but it was worth the wait 'cause I had a great spot!!!!!!! Right at the front... crushed my ribs, but you know, its all worth it!!! The crowd got totally pumped just waiting for the AOE to come out (there were 2 opening acts). So when the FINALLY did, there was a lot of screaming and craziness, which Im sure the band feeds off of!!! They played SO WELL!!!! I had the best time....hehe I even threw kinder eggs on stage at Ryan! I drew all over them with my Sharpie marker too & wrote to Ryan from Lindsay. Then Todd picked them up and was like "what's this? Someone drew pictures all over this one!!! Ryan, I think this is for you....." Then Ryan said "i heard the Foo Fighters get Mentos thrown at them 'cause of that song they did!!! That would suck!!!" Then Kurt went and did his little rendition of "BIG ME"....it was SO FUNNY! They even played a few Christmas tunes! Their encore was SO long and they played GETAWAY, I loooooove that song! It was a sing along, so it was a blast!!! Todd even ripped the strings off his guitar! Ow! That would KILL! It seemed to go by SO FAST, I wish it was longer, I would have stayed their all night!
Then after the concert my friend and I waited around for an hour and a half....by the time the band came out the back door, MOST of the teenie-bopper Todd lovers were gone!!! There were only about 20 fans left by then. First Ryan came out, and everyone started mobbing him (practically). I felt bad 'cause he was squished up against the van! I got him to sign a bunch of stuff and I got pictures and everything. It was fun, he was really nice about everything. I was talking to him about Kurts girlfriend and stuff. SHe has a little kid who LOVEs kurt and follows him around everywhere! I can just see it...so cute! But apparently Kurt hates kids... Then Ryan went in the back door and called Todd and John out. We all piled into this really small space!!! Then I called Ryan and threw him this little gorilla stuffie. He was like -- "come here and show me how to use this!" So I did.....I was like "I was the one who threw you the kinders! I was bored, so I drew on them!" He was like "I know!!! you wrote SORRY, I WAS BORED on the bottom!" After, I asked Todd if we could get a pic with him. He was like SURE! Then he patted my tummy and said to me, "see you guys later, thanks for coming!" and he walked outside to their mini van.
We went and stood in the middle of the parking lot and we were just talking, waiting for kurt to MAYBE come out. Then Todd came over to us and we started chatting it up with him. He had this REALLY cool fluffy coat on! It felt like a puppy dog! We talked with him for quite a while....THEN this car pulled up and these 2 guys got out. They came over to us and were like "hi Todd, we're from the Gandharvas!" It was the bass player and the drummer I think! They talked about concerts and videos and stuff, it felt REALLY weird for me to be there. Then they invited Todd to a bar downtown later (if only I was legal age!!).
Kurt never came out (why am i not surprised?) and we got into the car. John started honking the horn and we honked back at him and he started laughing at us. I HAD THE BEST TIME! They're all so nice and the concert was the BEST!
December 28th, 1997, London
by Jeff shaughnej@hotmail.com
What a show!!! I met them afterwards, talked to Ryan about Limblifter (Expect a new album around April maybe) He said Limblifter have recorded 5 songs already and will spend January recording. Back to the concert. Wow. 110% effort from all in the band, a hilarious encore, Mentos being thrown on stage, Kurt singing "Big Me" by the Foo Fighters, the onstage "Jam" by
Kurt and John, me getting one of Todd's picks that he threw into the audience, extra-long version of "Untitled", AWESOME performance of "Ugly" which included audience participation, unbelievable performance of "I Don't Mind" which included wicked light show, and overall a GREAT SHOW!!!! AOE are down to earth guys who have made it big in the music industry. They deserve their success and really do appreciate every one of their fans,
(they told me that), and wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
October 17th, 1997, London
by Christianna bill.filias@odyssey.on.ca
Well we met ryan at the back of call the office, he looked so cute, and he was being real nice too, their van is so big ryan
says it fits like 15 peoples, and i saw two bikes on the front of the van and asked ryan who's those were and he's like those are kurt's so we got a pic with the bikes! then we met john and talked to him for a while he was cool, then i said hi to kurt and he smiled then he signed our stuff and i got a pic with him, todd wasn't there yet cause he was in TO doing an interview. i was first in the door and got a poster than i went up to the front right where todd's mic would be and so did all my other friends. zuckerbaby came on at 9:45pm and only played for 20 minutes, oh well they rocked anyways. They played a great cover of Video killed the radio star. Then aoe came on at 11:00pm and they rocked(of course). My camera was with our bags at the front of
the stage and todd kept on looking there then after the song todd took my camera and took a picture of kurt(he was posing really cute too!) and then took a pic of me and my friend erin, then took a pic of the crowd and the sound guy and then he gave the camera to kurt and kurt took a picture of todd with us in the background then he gave the camera back. The pictures turned
out great!!! anyways i got to meet Todd after the show and got to meet ryan and john again. hey todd's girlfriend was there, she
was taking pics of them, she has long black hair and it was in a pony tail, and she was wearing a red lacey thing, i thought she was pretty. This show was great, i liked it even more because it was in a small place,there were only like 200 people there. I also like call the office because you have a better chance of meeting the band before and after the show.
September 30th, 1997
by Christianna bill.filias@odyssey.on.ca
Ryan and Todd were going to be doing a radio interview on 103.1 the Hawk the concert on September 30th, at Fanshawe College in London Ontario so me Erin, Corin and Kristine went downtown after school, they weren't going to be on till 6:00pm so we ate and
walked down to The Ceeps(a bar where the radio station broadcasts the interviews they have with bands) we went at like 5:00pm waited and waited, then erin and corin were waiting at one place to see if they would come from that way and kristine and i were at another spot, anyways they came our way and i was like screaming "ERIN ERIN!!! cause i saw the driver then todd in
the front and ryan in the back. they came out of the car and i was like "hey" and todd's like hi and ryan said hi too. We talked and told them that we couldn't go to the concert(because it wasn't all ages) and ryan's like we added another show on the 17th of october. They both said that they remembered Erin and I from when they played here the last time. Then they told us to come inside so we said ok, but we let Ryan and Todd go inside and
before we went inside we took pics of the car(obsessed) and then we went into the building and todd was sitting with these girls that were there and we just sat down and then Todd came up to us and sat down right across from me and i got him to sign my ugly ep and the cover of the access mag. he was soooooooooo nice. and he said that he was really glad that i had the Ugly Ep, i showed him the pics from the last concert when they played here in
April, and he was laughing at the pic of kurt cause he had a towel over his head. we talked to him for about 25 mnutes then he had to go over to the booth to do the interview. Before that i was looking at Todd's rings and he said that most of his them are gifts from fans, so i showed him my rings and he pointed to the one that he liked, and i put it on his pinky finger and i said "ok we are married now" and he just laughed and was like "ok!",
what a cutie :) he said he really liked the ring, yay! when they were doing the interview i saw him playing with the ring with his fingers and he kept on looking at it! then after the interview he came back over and i gave him my happy meal toy and he's like "cool thanks" then i asked about the latest plague and he said that it was gone. Ryan was over with us now, and Kristine was talking to him and she said that she was going to be the 5th member of the band, the dancer, cause she dances really good. So Ryan's like "cool" and he drew her head in the spot beside his head on the cover of my access magazine. He also said the new LL cd is coming out in the spring.
October 17th, 1997, London
by Lindsay psteckenreiter@lonet.ca
I guess it was a month ago that I saw the AOE in London. I had only seen them once before, but that was with THOUSANDS of other people. This show was much bettter because Call The Office is SO small!!! There was probably just over 100 people there, which was really nice. I had no problem standing RIGHT infront of Ryan the whole time. I have to say that Todd has a great way of handling the audience. He talks to everyone & when he says things, you feel like hes talking to you personally! They played so well and I had the GREATEST time!!! Todd was letting this one girl take pictures of him the WHOLE time....After the show I followed Ryan outside. He introduced himself and I got to talk to him for a while. Hes SUCH a nice person!!!! Its really great to know that the people in your favourite band are really great people. I got everyones autographs, except Kurt...right after the show ended he took off. I doubt anyone got to talk
to him. All in all it was probably the best concert I've ever been to. If you've never seen the AOE in concert....GO! at any cost, they play really fun live shows!
September, 1997, London
by Anthony wendyk@execulink.net
It was a month or so ago when the AOE played in London, Ontario at the UWO. While I was at the concert, I had a long talk with both Todd and John. I talked to John for at least half an hour, and in the process learned that he liked Adam West (there's a thank you to him in the third album). Anyway, when they came back to London three days later to play @ Fanshawe College, I gave him (not personally mind you - I had to get to work) a hand drawn picture of Adam West. Worked on it all weekend, I did. But I digress. The point is that AOE returned recently, almost three weeks after their Fanshawe appearance, and when I entered the bar (through the back door - gotta be sneaky sometimes), John immediately recognized me and thanked me for the pic. I was to say the least amazed. Of all the bands I've met, AOE was by far the most personable and friendly. John got me in for free, with a VIP kind of deal and I had a great time hanging out with them before the show. I cannot believe that anyone would not like them. Maybe they just didn't meet them. Oh, and I can't leave out that Zuckerbaby was touring with them, and they also remembered me. It was too cool. I desperately hope that when they come back through this neck of the woods, I will be able to meet them again. I don't expect them to anytime soon, though; I hope they'll be busy on a seventh album.
October 17th, 1997, London
by Maggie mcaskile@maglin.com
I just saw the Age of Electric last weekend twice and they were amazing both times!! The show in London was nice and intimate! I was in the front row right in front of John. Wow! They played mostly songs from Make A Pest A Pet, but a few songs from the self-titled album (yay!). I got lots and lots of great pictures of the band. Zuckerbaby was great too! I love their cover of "Video Killed the Radio Star". I got to head bang with Brian Doss (Zuckerbaby)!!!! We gave the band some cool little toys and I got Todd, Ryan, and John's autographs. They are so sweet! I saw them again the next day at Lee's Palace in Toronto. They seemed to have more energy there, but it was probably because the audience was much less subdued than the London crowd. They were two of the best concerts I've ever been to!
September 26th, 1997, Toronto
by Sarah gjfulle@ibm.net
I just witnessed up close and personally the magic of AOE... since I am a die-hard fan, I convinced my co-op friend who works at Muchmusic to let me help her out for the day so that I could go meet the band face to face...*smile*... so I did... I met the guys (whom are very sweet and fuckin' hilarious *l*)... I got autographs and very good pics. *grin* During their warm up they were good, but when I saw them perform Don't Wreck It (live) from their second album, they rocked the studio. *grin* I congratulated the guys before they took off out of the building to do another gig... anyways... my point is, they play well, anyday, anywhere, live or on television... they all around rock!!!
September 23rd, 1997, Sudbury
by Marc Methe cgmethe@vianet.on.ca
Zuckerbaby opened up for AOE with a powerful set that got the crowd wild. Then AOE came on and played 1 hour and a half of total energy. Great show!
August 25th, 1997, Vancouver
by Vanessa Medland assenav666@hotmail.com
Here I am at Edgefest, and I've seen hardly any bands. Why? There was just too many people; I couldn't get anywhere near the main stage. Anyways, I decided to wait for the AOE. When they came onto the second stage, I knew it was worth it. It was a short set, they should have played way longer than twenty minutes, but it was a very good set anyways. Probably one of the highlights of the day. They got the crowd right into it with I Don't Mind from Make A Pest A Pet, followed by Remote Control. People from the crowd were throwing clothes at the AOE, so Todd took off his cowboy hat and put on someone's baseball cap, saying that pretty soon the whole crowd was going to be naked. After that, they played a couple of songs from their self-titled CD. They played the seven and a half minute song Untitled, and then finished with Ugly. All in all, AOE played really really good...I just can't wait for them to come back.
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