Fitness Club Fiasco disappeared faster than their cake
Fitness Club Fiasco faded into the night after their second last show at DSTRCT on Fri, June 17, 2016. The band will have one final blowout in Toronto before they go their separate ways.
Fitness Club Fiasco is a locally-based band with Guelph’s Mayor Cam Guthrie on drums, Mike Harloff on synth, vocals, and guitar, Matt Henderson on guitar and backup vocals, and Jess Janz on the synth and vocals. Jess Underdown usually provides the band with additional vocals and percussion, but was absent at this show.
[media-credit name=”Photo by Robert Janes” align=”aligncenter” width=”640″]
The band explained that their decision to break up came down to logistics—they all live two hours away from each other, have families, and full-time careers.
However, they added, “Keep your ears to the ground for future releases in other forms.”
The event was all ages, and attracted a diverse audience. Mayor Guthrie kindly walked through the audience reacquainting or introducing himself to guests as New Design opened the show with a short emo punk set that the audience regarded with indifference.
Fitness Club Fiasco then took the stage and delved into a set of upbeat synth-pop with an orchestra of loops and tracks providing intros and additional percussion and vocals. Harloff and Janz kept trading places between songs, and danced avidly.
A few songs into their set, Harloff explained how he sometimes sings “You Are My Sunshine” for his daughter and got the entire room to sing along with him. After the sing-along, the band played a very catchy and high-energy pop song that got a great response from all those who felt like dancing.
“Thanks for dancing guys. You guys are awesome, thank you!” said Harloff.
Fitness Club Fiasco brought a cake to their show as a going away present for family, friends, and fans. Harloff kept joking about his math skills trying to determine how much of the cake had been eaten, and tested the crowd with multiplication. He then joked about how Hamilton ate their cake quicker.
“How much is left of the cake?” asked Harloff, “C’mon Guelph you can do better than that. I brought a cake to Hamilton and they ate it in ten minutes.”
As Fitness Club Fiasco ended their set, Harloff thanked everyone once again.
Other bands to share the stage that night were Starved at the Root, a progressive three-piece from Orillia; and The Vanishers, a hard-hitting rockabilly band from the Guelph and Hamilton area.