The all too often seen band-versus-stage-manager-tension snapped like a tightly wound e-string last night, during the Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains show at South By Southwest.
Nearing the end of the Toronto band's set for the Saddle Creek Records showcase, the band was halfway through their song "Ways To Come Home" when a stage manager jumped on stage and insisted to drummer Leon Taheny that they stop their show immediately as they had gone overtime.
Leon stopped drumming midway through the song, leaving a bewildered Sebastien to spin around from his lead microphone wondering WTF. Unaware of the request by the stage manager, he then launched into the song "Niagara".
The stage manager then stormed the stage, shoving bassist Nick Sewell and grabbing the sticks right out of Taheny's hands. Sebastien then threw his still-plugged-in guitar at the stage manager, narrowly missing him, hitting the wall with a cacophonous crash.
A nose-to-nose face-off between the stage manager and the shirtless Grainger ensued, and somehow the guitar was then thrown into the crowd where it was smashed and totally destroyed. According to one witness "It was like a piece of meat being thrown to a pack of hungry wolves. The crowd was insane".
Sebastien and the stage manager were eventually separated and the showcase rolled forward.
According to Mountains keyboardist Andrew Scott, Sebastien Grainger bought a new guitar Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Stan D Payne
