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Showing posts from 2012

Top Ten Local Albums of 2012.

With an amazing amount of music released from Vancouver bands this year my list could have easily been a top 20, and with 10 releases in the honourable mentions it basically is. What a great year for Vancouver music, and if you find the time I suggest checking out all the links below. I don't think I've ever had a list of such incredible range. Some might see this as getting old, but I see it as broadening my horizons. And here's the list: 10. Bison bc - Lovelessness - When dealing with Vancouver music you can not leave out the monolith that is Bison bc. These heavy metal rockers have seemed to come full circle and are back to their roots, so if you loved Earthbound you will definitely dig what they have to offer on their new album. Personally I was enjoying watching this band grow and evolve, but the main thing that has evolved here are the lengths of the songs. You can be listening to this album for close to half an hour and you'd still be on song 3. Not highly reco

CRYSTAL SWELLS - Tell it like it is, or was...

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As promised here's my transcription of a Crystal Swells interview I did a few months back. It was for my first article ever to be published in BeatRoute, and even though I had to turn this into 400 words, and the picture was questionable, it turned out pretty alright. The guys were hilarious, and offered to buy me a drink, luckily for them I wasn't drinking at the time, so it saved them 5 bucks. The band features Nick on guitar and vocals, Joel on bass and vocals, Ross on the drums and Tim on guitar. We did the interview at the Astoria, but I ended up dodging out before they played because it was a week night and I was being wimpy. Luckily I was able to see them on that stage again and they blew it to smithereens with their surfy garage rock madness. Then I recently took in another one of their shows at the Railway just last weekend and I danced until the soles wore away on my shoes, it was that good. I had to take an expensive cab ride home because of my shoes, but it was t

Rad Disaster in long form.

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So I have started writing for the BeatRoute magazine because it now features some Skinny Magazine content across about four pages, and what would the Skinny Magazine be without my name in it? Nothing, that's what!! OK, it'd still be something. Anyway, I go off and interview bands that I want to interview, transcribe our conversations and then chop everything out in an attempt to fit it into 400 words. The whole flow of the conversation goes to shit, so I figured I might as well just post my transcription in my blog for a good laugh. These guys are pretty darn funny. I will eventually get around to doing this for Crystal Swells as well, both bands playing Oct 6th (this Saturday!) @ The Railway Club for the Rad Disaster CD Release party. It's going to be a wild evening of great tunes. To set the scene I suppose I could let you know that Lee is the guitarist/vocalist, Pat Truman is the bassist/vocalist and Tyler is the drummer/vocalist. Also most of the words that cam

Tenacious D @ the PNE Amphitheatre in Vancouver May 27th 2012

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Tenacious D on an outdoor stage is hardly underground, but how could I miss this? Seeing Jack Black serenade us under a blue sky and enough cloud cover to put a cool breeze through the place was a beautiful scene. The D had not played Vancouver in many moons, and it was nice to see the fans turned out in droves. The stands were packed and the spot in front of the stage was getting squishy and sweaty I'm sure. They opened up with six consecutive songs from the new album. I would have been yawning by the sixth, but the crowd was hella into it. Pumping fists and singing along with every word, makes me think I better go back to that album for a third listen. Rize of the Fenix! Not that it was the worst, but upon my first two listens I was leaning towards it not quite being up to par with their first two albums, but live it played out nicely. After two songs the band stopped playing and Jack Black addressed the crowd. "I don't really follow this stuff, but I've been tol

Trash Talk & Depressing @ The Waldorf May 26th, 2012

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Color Magazine had sponsored a party at the Waldorf featuring none other than LA's Trash Talk, and that's a band I definitely couldn't miss because they shred. Showed up late, same old story, missed the first band, they were called Needs. They were in needs of a later time slot. Depressing was number two on the bill and they threw down so hard. I talked to my friend about them afterwards and he said something along the lines of it sounding like Nirvana driving down the street drinking whiskey and listening to Motorhead. That made me laugh. There is definitely some tone comparisons that could be made to those bands, as it seems Depressing like it dirty, but they are angrier than the former and darker than the latter. Depressing features the singer of Baptists, but here he is rocking a guitar and doing a nice job of it. Depressing also features the singer of Burning Ghats, but here he is rocking a bass and supplying the bulk of vocals. Andrew is no slouch in that department

Real Problems - Everyone's got 'em.

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In my quest for an interview with the band Real Problems I found myself embarking on a journey to East Vancouver, leading me to a three level house that would be hosting a keg party with bands playing on the bottom level. When I talked to the band it happened on the top level, and at one point during the evening, when the party was in full swing, I followed a hot girl into the middle level. She turned around and told me to stop following her but that is neither here nor there. Real Problems have been around for 2 solid years, and when asked how the band began Den-M (bass) told me, “I had been singing in Jones Bones forever and they were getting super flakey and not fulfilling any of my musical needs, so I said; fuck it I’m going to teach myself how to play the bass and start my own band. I was real shit at first, with the only lesson under my belt being a couple games of guitar hero, but I rounded up Cam (guitar/vocals) and he was real patient with me. I didn’t think that it was goi

PUNK NEWS! Jan 16th-22nd 2012

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Punk News #2 Van Halen released their first new single in years onto the internet to the opposite of rave reviews. The song's unfavourable reviews came on because the bulk of their fanbase is unable to work the internet. Another source has said that the negative feedback was mainly due to the song sucking. Mtl's Tightrope and Ont's Brutal Youth have released a 10" split, and I've already listened to it. Why? Because it is posted right here, and it rocks.  http://myfingersmybrainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tightrope-brutal-youth-split In other news apparently emo kids are still crying about Thursday's break up back in November. Some one told them to shut up because The Suicide Machines were booking gigs again. Somehow I doubt they'll head west, but man do I ever love The Suicide Machines. VANCOUVER NEWS AND UPCOMING GIGS Vancouver indie punk act Carpenter have announced that they are writing a new album. And to this I say announce when it is done. O

Jan 9th-15th 2012 Punk News.

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Last month I hit the most views ever on my blog, by double, and then this month I ran out of ideas. Then I came up with the idea of bringing back the Punk News thing that I was doing for The Skinny Magazine cause it was a fun format, and kept things recent. Going weekly? That's what I've spelled out in the title, ok, let's see if I can stick to that. #1 Punk News! An article where I spell out some good punk (and what not) type gigs in the city, along with band news and views in the world of good music. With an exclamation point on local, but sometimes stretching out into news of the more mainstream variety. Always easier to make fun of that crap. And might as well start with that right now. The At The Drive-In reunion from this morning was upstaged by the Refused reunion from this afternoon. Looks as if someone uploaded the first look at bands playing the Coachella festival this year. Wait, did I say bands? I meant reunion acts and DJs. First Black Sabbath announce