Diamond Rings Dazzles Crowd at Canadian Music Fest

Diamond Rings -- aka John O'Regan -- blends the deep, throaty vocals of Joy Division's Ian Curtis with David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust aesthetics.

His Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Fest appearance Friday night had him matching a pink and purple rainbow unicorn banner with his over-the-top eyeliner, spandex tights, high tops and over-sized sweater.

While the casual listener may identify the music as another gender-bending glam boi, Diamond Rings is forging his own path, identifying as "singer-songwriter with a beat," he says, which truly shows in his performance.

The keyboard and guitar are not just accessories to accompany the drum machine, they share a symbiotic relationship with O'Regan's vocals and lyrics. It's less common for newer performers to out do themselves with live versions of their songs but Diamond Rings over-delivered on a passionately happy 'All Yr Songs' which had all the pretty girls and boys in the audience singing along.

Diamond Rings also gave a quizzical shout out, asking, "Does anyone like Bush X?" as he tested the amp and strummed the power chords to 'Machine Head' (though he didn't play the full song, he's been known to play other grunge-era rockers like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.'

Though Diamond Rings is a relatively new project, O'Regan is no stranger to live performance. He is still a very active member of post-punk pop band, the D'Urbervilles. When asked about going glam after the show, he told Spinner, "nobody that comes to see the D'Urbervilles really wants to see me dance around in purple tights and eyeliner. So I decided to do it on my own."