Great gigs of 2008 (PART 1)

I'm someone who goes to alot of shows. That's not bragging, that's just the straight up fuckin' truth. I work in a record store and get guest list for quite a few shows so sometimes i'll go just to see 1 band, or even just a few songs. On top of going to a lot of shows in Vancouver i also travel for shows, and have been doing that for years. Living in the Northwest is great because i've got Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, and many other cities all within short drives. I'm also someone who puts on shows, under the moniker of No Sense Productions.
I bring all these useless facts because i've been thinking about great shows and bands i've seen this year and how i'd like to write about some of them, but there's alot of info to process so it's going to be slow coming. Consider this Part 1 of a series of ongoing posts about "Great Gigs of 2008". Maybe i'll also write about some of this craptastic shows & bands i've seen this year.
This is a picture of Grave Maker, a band based out of Vancouver/Seattle. They started playing this year and i've seen them a bunch, not to mention done shows for them. This picture is from a show at the Media Club, not the best i've seen them but a great show. Their CD "Bury Me a Sea" is favorite of mine for 2008. The band are true road dogs who are a flurry of activity on stage.
That's Steveston Mike in this 1st picture, chilling up front at the show while i stand on the sidelines.



Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade are 2 bands from Montreal that i love, and that share a member (that would be Dan Boeckner). Handsome Furs is just Dan on guitar and his wife Alexi taking care of beats, sound manipulation, samples, etc. When i try to describe their music it's hard because it sounds like something i would hate, but i love the music these 2 create. Me and erin saw them play at Richards on Richards twice this year, once headlining and once as an opener. Musically their songs are great but there's something special about watching 2 people so in love creating art together, and their love for one another shows on stage without being too cutesy or mushy.
Wolf Parade played a great set at the Commodore Ballroom, knocking out the hits from their first LP ("Apologies to the Queen Mother") as well as their 2nd/newest LP ("At Mount Zoomer"). Their new LP has grown on me over the past few months and that's partially because of how powerful the songs came across in the live setting. I prefer Dan Boeckner songs over Spencer's songs (maybe that's why Sunset Rubdown hasn't grown on me yet) but on the new record and live Spencer's songs are burrowing their way into my brain big time.
Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs are great examples of bands that don't go crazy or jump around or say witty shit in-between songs, It truly is about the songs, and how well crafted they are and how talented the musicans are without over-playing.

Handsome Furs @ Richards on Richards

Metal on Metal

A few weeks back Vancouver was treated to a double dose of Canadian metal-heads Anvil. The band was being flown out for a screening of the great documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" so the band figured why not play a show as well.
First let's talk about the movie; truly an awesome documentary that can be enjoyed even if you've never heard a single song by Anvil. Rather than follow a strict timeline/history of the band director Sacha Gervasi (who's known for shooting some big hollywood movies like "The Terminal" )decided to focus more on the last 10 years, showing what happens to a band after the golden years. The movie starts off with testimonies from famous fans such as Slash (Guns n Rose) and Lars (Metallica) as well as some great archival footage including the video for "Metal on Metal" that i used to see on Much Music's "The Power Hour" all the time. There's alot of band history mostly told thru new interviews with founding members Robb Reiner and Lips, some of which were done while the band works their mundane jobs in the suburbs of Toronto. The theme of the movie seems to be that this band wrote a blueprint for metal that alot of bands used and got famous for while Anvil never got their due, but still childhood friends Lips and Robb refuse to give up. The latter part of the movie shows them in it's current incarnation as a band full of hope and desires to play & succeed but failing in so many ways. If you've ever been in a band or been on tour with an independent band the footage from the last european tour will be all too familiar; canceled shows, promoters who promise the world but do nothing, lackluster attendance at shows, rip-off promoters, etc. At one point you see the band excited to be headlining a "big" metal fest in a 10,000 seat arena only to hit the stage to a meager crowd of less than 200.
If you have the chance to see this movie, do it. And if you're lucky the band will be in attendance to do a Q&A afterwards like they did here in Vancouver. Quite entertaining. Check out the site Anvil! The Story of Anvil".
The next night Anvil rocked Pat's Pub, a little hotel bar down in the depths of hell, aka Main & Hastings, one of the most poverty stricken and drug infested neighborhoods in Canada. Normally this bar hosts punk and garage rock shows, usually i'm not super excited about shows here because of the shitty sight lines and half-decent PA. The stage is so tiny that only the drum kit could fit on the stage (along with the amps). This left Lips and the bassist to play on the floor with all the metal heads, punks and freaks in their face! The guys in Anvil were super excited about life and getting to play in Vancouver as it's been around 10 or more years since they last visited our fair city. Highlights of the hour plus set; introducing a song Lips said "this is about my computer addiction, i've got it down perfect with the right hand on the mouse and the left hand jerking it" and then after talking about a porn site about squirters (google that!) he went on to say "you know you're doing the job right when she starts squirting, right guys? You get down there and take a bite and the fruit starts squirting!". I laughed so damn hard!! The other highlight was the last song of the set (before the encore)... a true metal anthem...METAL ON METAL!! What a song, and everyone was singing along like their lives depended on it.
Here's some pictures from the show....

Revival tour hits Seattle!!

A couple weeks back i found myself in Seattle for the Revival tour, featuring Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichols, and for this stop on the tour, Austin Lucas and Kevin Seconds. This tour was modeled after old folk/bluegrass tours where performers not only sing songs solo but they also collaborate with each other. The tickets said show at 8pm and right on cue all 5 of the singer/songwriters walked onstage accompanied by a stand-up bass player, a pedal steel guitarist and a violinist. In total there was 8 people on stage! The set started with everyone playing "Shoulda, Oughta" by Tim Barry which was even more powerful with all the extra vocals and instruments. That song was followed up with a Chuck Ragan song and then a Lucero song (that would be Ben Nichols band). These first 3 songs were worth the price of admission and the hours spent on a stinky greyhound bus alone! As i stood front & center singing along with "Last Night In Town" by Lucero my mind was reeling at the idea that i was listening to Ben doing an acoustic version of this song with Chuck Ragan from Hot Water Music and Tim Barry of Avail providing secondary vocals!! This is the kind of shit that music nerds like me dream of!
After the amazing triple shot of rock that opened the set everyone left the stage for Austin Lucas to perform. During his solo time a few of the back-up musicians joined him as well as Chuck Ragan to perform some of the songs that he and Austin had released on the album "Bristle Ridge". After more than 25minutes Austin invited Kevin Seconds to play. Kevin has released a couple records solo but is better known for being the singer in influential hardcore/punk kings 7 Seconds. I'd rather see 7 Seconds but at the same time Kevin seems into playing solo and some of the songs sound like "New Wind" era.
This show ran real smooth, no breaks what so ever in between bands. After Kevin played Tim Barry took the stage and was so fuckin' good! I'm a huge Avail fan and this was my first time seeing Tim performing solo and i'm happy to report that Tim is just as charismatic, engaging, honest and heartfelt with just a guitar as he is when he's onstage with Avail. He was in a great mood, joking around thruout the site, but also wasn't afraid to show a more vulnerable and serious side while introducing a song that meant alot to him, talking about 2 friends who passed away in the last year.
Ben Nichols set wasn't far off from a Lucero set; in other words Ben had no idea what to play and all his fans yelled out what songs they wanted to hear. He was joined by the pedal steel guitar player as he played a few songs from his new solo ep "The Last Pale Light In The West" as well alot of songs from the Lucero catalog. It's great watching Ben intently listen to the song requests being yelled at him and then figure out if he can or wants to play the song.
Chuck Ragan's set was pretty intense and passionate, not far off from his days with Hot Water Music just minus the distortion. He played songs from all his releases, some with the back up musicians and tourmates, and 2 of the highlights were the Hot Water Music and Alkaline Trio songs that he busted out.
After Chuck's set everyone came back on stage to play a few more songs including a song that they wrote & recorded on this tour called "Revival Road". In total this show ran for just about 4 hours, with no breaks at all. Yeah my feet and back was beyond sore at the end of it all but i'd be the last to complain about this show. I was so impressed with this show/tour and the way it was run, hopefully it becomes a yearly event.

Check it out now.... funk soul brother.

I've been meaning to update this blog about some of the shows i've been to, records i've listened to, records i never want to hear again, etc. But most importantly i've been meaning to write about my big brother's blog, check it out at http://acidica.shawwebspace.ca/blog/

My brother Tom is the one who got me into music, at a young age. When i was real young i remember him being a big KISS fan and seeing those painted up faces on the record covers is really where my love affair with vinyl started. As i got a bit older i found myself checking out whatever music was blasting out of his room in the basement, and at that point it was mostly metal with forays into other styles. My brother never seemed to listen to one style of music, it wasn't uncommon to hear Metallica, Dylan, Alice Cooper and Stompin Tom all in a row while hanging out with him. This open-mindedness to music really rubbed off on me which is why my musical tastes are quite all over the map. Tommy is also the one who took me to my first concert; KISS in 1985! Over the years me and him have gone to alot of shows, first while we were growing up in Edmonton, and then over the years in various cities i've lived in.
My brother's blog is all about music and is looking quite promising. When you go to his site you should make sure to look thru the photo sections as he has taken on some huge projects like scanning all his concert ticket stubs (some pretty awesome shows!) as well as his old concert shirts (I believe a couple of these might be mine that were traded/sold during the 90's when i was broke).
The site address once again is http://acidica.shawwebspace.ca/blog/