There were palm trees and people on rooftops. A man from the fourth floor of a hotel came outside to cheer. Another stranger let Jo St-Onge use his PA system.
Key West's Mallory Square was the perfect setting for an impromptu show.
"We're just a borderline jam band," said St-Onge, singer in the Canadian rock duo Diamond Dust.
Diamond Dust has been touring Florida since December. Tonight, Jo and guitarist Craig "Riffer" Hare make their last stop at the BackStage Lounge with Mike Mullis and Whoo Whee and True Company. Cover is $5 and the show begins at 9 p.m.
The band is offering a way for audiences to connect on a different, more intimate level. The tour has been entirely acoustic.
"The audience understands what we're talking about more," St-Onge said. "They understand the words more. It's a chill setting, but we try to keep the energy up."
Diamond Dust is a band that can't be categorized. Songs from its self-titled debut album weave in and out of folk ("Down the Coast") and pure rock ‘n' roll ("Push It").
"Summertime," the band's first single, starts with quaint talk. "Get Along" is another foot-tapping song. St-Onge's voice gets progressively stronger, complemented by the crescendo of country guitar.
Tracks "Rock and Roll" and "Bring Me Down" are reminiscent of classic rock. Their grooving bass and catchy riffs show off the band's vigor.
St-Onge and Hare formed Diamond Dust in 2007 in Ontario, Canada. The three and another member created a band called IC and toured a small Canadian east coast circuit.
Then St-Onge found herself writing more songs with Craig. "You'd think the power of four was more powerful," Jo said. But at that point, it was Hare and St-Onge.
While searching for band names, Hare found the term "diamond dust." St-Onge looked it up and read that it's a phenomenon created in clear skies and freezing temperatures also referred to as "ice crystals," or "IC."
In 2008, they relocated to Vancouver to start recording the album with JUNO Award-winning bassist Barry Muir and Grammy Award-winning drummer Randall Stoll.
At the end of their self-production, Diamond Dust had almost 50 demos. They were psychedelic, hard, bluesy and folk. "Songs have their own life, and you put it on paper," Jo said.
"We try to play songs that are true to us and highly entertaining."
St-Onge said that includes anything from covers to their dynamic, acoustic hard rock, as long as there's singing and dancing in the audience.
"We're just trying to get people to have fun."
Diamond Dust came all the way from Canada to play an acoustic version of its self-titled rock album.
