So, Richards on Richards is moving to the old A&B Sound location on Seymour! I'm so excited that Vancouver isn't losing a live music venue to condo development.
Airborne Toxic Event, indie darlings from L.A., brought their show to Vancouver on Wednesday despite a toxic throat infection being suffered by leader Mikel Jollett. Mikel Jollett
It was a sold out crowd but the poor sound quality, and lackluster performance (perhaps due to the illness) led to a generally unappreciative audience. Anna Bulbrook I'd just been about to mention to the couple next to me that I could hear their conversation more then I could hear the band when Mikel berated the audience about the excessive chatter. Daren Taylor The throat definitely caused some problems with the show. Mikel had a problem with any high range vocals which led to an unsatisfactory rendition of some of the songs. Gasoline probably suffered the most from that loss.
Overall though, the sound and show got better as the night progressed. Mikel became more lively and he and Anna roamed through the bar and the crowd during one number. Of other notable mention was guitarist Steven Chen. An actual live Asian rock star! Other then James Iha, the only one I've seen in anything but a local band. I'm half Japanese, so I was all over that. Steven Chen The encore was a generally raucous affair where Mikel tried to make up for his earlier bad attitude by inviting everyone who wanted to, onto the stage.
Check out Airborne ToxicEvent and especially check out the video for the amazing song, Somewhere Around Midnight.
Opening act The Henry Clay People where notable for the energy and fun they brought to the night. Opening with a sing-a-long count out and generally wrapping the crowd around their fingers with their youthful hijinks, brothers Joey and Andy Siara made the most of the opening slot. Andy and Joey Siara
The third annual Transmission Festival. Yeah! Transmission is my favourite music festival. It's a place to see some really excellent breaking bands under the best possible circumstances. The sound is amazing, and the staging and lighting are gorgeous. Betty Bonifassi of Beast My favourite show was Montreal's Beast. They are probably best known for Betty Bonifassi's work with Champion a few years ago. The dramatic lighting lent an extra component to the set that was already magical. Alex Cuba Another highlight for me was Alex Cuba. After years of playing with traditional Cuban groups in his native Cuba, Alex moved to Smithers B.C where he's spread his "Go With The Fro" world music vibe worldwide. Mark Sasso of Elliot Brood I'd run out of batteries, so this photo isn't great, but my other favourite band of the fest was Elliot Brood. Kind of a hillbilly Social Distortion? Shane Nelken of The Awkward Stage The Awkward Stage had the, um, awkward opening slot of the evening. I guess I should mention that I only made it Wednesday and Friday's shows. If you went on Thursday, let me know how it was. Anyways, I'd never seen them before, but would check them out again. Bison B.C Bison B.C. is a Vancouver band who I will remember most for the fact that their own brand of Bison beer was served at the fest and featured the warning, "Do not throw this bottle at the stage" on it's label. Courtney Wing Courtney Wing recruited a five piece choral section especially for the show. Ben Worcester of Said The Whale And lastly I present one of my favourite Vancouver bands, Said The Whale. In fact one of my favourite "Christmas" songs lately is This Winter I Retire which I could play on repeat for hours. Download their Christmas EP for FREE HERE!
Eugene Hütz I first heard Gogol Bordello brand of "Gypsy Punk" at Bumbershoot 2007. We were wandering around the market place as the stalls were closing, and individually, we each were drawn to the music from the neighboring stage. Within minutes we were immersed in the music, a combination of Soviet folk music with polka/punk beats which had has jumping around like crazy people. We were pretty excited to see a real show and with two sold out shows, apparently everyone else in Vancouver was excited too.
There was no opening act, just a stage full of musicians playing everything from accordions to fiddles, and all led by bear hat wearing, fire drum playing Eugene Hutz.
Elizabeth Chi-Wei Sun & Pamela Jintana Racine The Music was great, just as fun as we remembered. The stage full of musicians included two very hot multi-ethinic chicks who banged cymbals and marching drums and prowled the stage like wild animals. Sergey Ryabtsev on fiddle Much jumping ensued, lots of screaming, and singing. At one point a guy jumped on stage and Eugene wouldn't let security take him away. Instead he let him sing the last verse of "Start Wearing Purple" before watching him leap into the audience. Thomas 'Tommy T' Gobena Was it a little bit over the top? Maybe, but who cares! It was fun! They were having fun! We all had fun and you will to. Go check them out when you get a chance. Yuri Lemeshev
I'm starting with my favourite of the day,West Indian Girl. Mariqueen Maandig Robert James West Indian Girl were my second favourite of the entire fest actually. This was my first show at the EMP Sky Church (um, second if you don't count the unmemorable Mono In VCF which is following) A Myspace discovery, I wasn't really expecting them to be as cool as they actually were. Mariqueen is actually my new girl crush! One of my favourite songs of theirs is "To Die In LA" which was rewritten after recording This new version was slower and missing the cool vibe of the recorded version. Another favourite is Blue Wave which you should totally check out on their MySpace! Francis Ten Okay, now let's try for some order. We started the day seeing Neko Case. I hate the Main Stage, and think I'm vowing not to return unless some serious changes like video screens are added. Neko Case Love her in the New Pornographers, but not such a fan of her country career. Then it was off to the Rockstar stage for Seattle's own Barcelona. Brian Fennell After our first Happy Hour of the weekend and well fortified, we started our afternoon in earnest with the Walkmen. I've liked them for ages and have seen them before. Hamilton Leithauser Our next choice was Mono In VCF as they'd had an okay vibe when we checked them out on myspace and we were going to EMP Sky Church anyway for West Indian Girl. Kim Miller
Hunter Lee Skipping around now, as I've already written about West Indian Girl, are Nada Surf, one of my favourite bands of all times. This is despite the fact that I've never even contemplated suicide. Matthew Caw Nada Surf were great despite the notable absence of bassist Daniel Lorca who was absent due to an inconvenient knee injury. Daniel had also written a hilarious Bumbershoot primer for The Seattle Weekly publication. Ended the night withBeck. As you'll see again and again, I hate the Bumbershoot Main Stage and will be forever banning it. Beck The sound was awful, and it didn't help hat I've never warmed to Beck's music.
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