YOU make me want to rock out

this weekend rocked as every ought. friiiiiiiiday the youth centre hosted an intimate acoustic show I felt honoured to be a part of. half of hot fuck opened up with an acoustic guitaring duo. pretty solid stuff, I can't wait to see their whole band again. then ukelelele and nathan from the razoowah alternated solo performances of utter brilliance. I had a really good time being awed by both their songwritings and voices. then old phoebe, jamie and me did our thing with the bike and stuff. then we all made our way up the street to a place called pheasant alley to see the bash brothers, who rocked the basement really hard, and then the bike's mine let loose the chaos.

um, jamie is watching the coachella dvd right now. arcade fire is on. they make me die. have you seen them? see them. have you seen them yet? see them. they're working on a new album right now. I think I can hear it from here. my life changed when I saw them. then I saw them again a year later, you know, they were still on tour, and my life changed afuckinggain. nobody has ever put on a better show.

last night I went to pleasant valley and saw pi in the sky perform their debut gig. they put on a pretty tight show. I enjoyed it, but you know I don't get SO hot for guitar rock, I'm more impressed by enthusiastic incompetance and/or ear-grating, wide-eyed wonder. well. then I went to have some food at the pub so I missed some bands I assumed wouldn't be my kind of awesome, apologies to the universe if they were. and then the sheds played AND they had a bunch of new material ANd it was my kind of awesome. they're doing some recording for a full-length release soon, which is news that improves the world.

my friend aleks bought me an art brut shirt because she loves me so much and I had to miss them. it says modern art makes me want to rock out, and it's the best gift ever because it is true.

now playing: the razoowah - boxes of sand

you can't break the strings

some changes to the houseparty lineup on april 28th. dustin and garret and colourbook are both now unable to attend. very disappointing I know, BUT! the bike's mine will be playing, so be consoled, AND! the bash brothers have jumped on the marquee.
if you will be attending the party, bring a mix tape or cd to throw in the mix bag, and you will get to take home a mix made by somebody else, and trust me, there are some people with really fucking awesome taste in music contributing to this joyous occasion.

last night at the cambie small sins wore white, made noise and impressed me for the second time, especially with their encore ad-libbed song about nanaimo, and the little effect-keyboard bleep bwaa eeeng waa solos.

now playing: the diableros - golden gates

nanaimo, you know I love you

you say party! we say die! rocked cyber city pretty seriously on friday night. if you haven't experienced them yet, don't miss them next time they do us the favour of coming to town. I danced, not just tapped my foot, my hair got messed up, I love this band.
cadeaux made the trek from vancouver with ysp!wsd! and I sure like the sound of them, and they were totally lovely, but they haven't totally grabbed me yet. however, I have that feeling like one day I'm just going to fall totally in love with them, so I'll let you know what that feels like when it happens.
my band, old phoebe, was the second of the six bands. it was our first all-ages show and we had an awesomer than possible time. we were so honoured to open for you say party! we say die! it was also the release of our first ever album, apartment rock, which we recorded and mixed and constructed with our hands and mouths in our apartment over the last week. thanks to everyone who bought it and we hope you love it as much as we love you.
I must also mention how inspired I was as deoji finished off their opening set (which warmed the place up pretty nice) and sean put his guitar face down on the ground and stepped on it, eliciting delightful noise. I might just start a new project revolving around playing an electric guitar with my feet. watch for that.

so, next saturday at the cambie, small sins, who used to be called ladies and gentlemen, and local bands aeroplane and the brunswick affair. I believe this is the brunswick affair's first show and I'm looking forward to checking them out. I saw small sins when they were ladies and gentlemen in vancouver and I was pretty impressed. they wear all white.

and, little nanaimo scene, something is happening.
and april 28th is a day for something happening to be going on.
at the youth centre: elson! blank! old phoebe! ukulelele! it will be cheap. and awesome.
and then at a house will be a party. a basement with a lineup like this: dustin and garret!!! (there is a possibility dustin and garret will not be able to make it so maybe click on their little name there and send them some myspace love so they will not be able to stay away), colourbook!!, and nanaimo's newborn supergroup, the bike's mine!!
you are already there and I'm late.

now playing: ukulelele - bermuda

people talk

I am a jerk. I have been enjoying so much music and not even sharing it with you, just keeping it all to myself. very sorry.
there are some things in the past, and some things in the future, though I might at another time try to convince you otherwise.
there was that show at the moose lodge, with alot of bands, alot of noise, and very few audience members sadly. yeah, yeah, this town has some serious venue issues. ah, I'll see what I can do. thoughts on that show? the the the perfect trend, while kind of adorable, have apparently never heard nirvana. it makes me want to start a hard rock band, so watch for that in the future. the bash brothers rock about tiny dogs and robot dick. god. I'm glad they're on my record label. it extists, for serious, watch for it in the future, along with recordings by the bash brothers. and, the bash brothers will be playing with old phoebe and the bike's mine at the cambie on may 20th. (actually, no they won't) :

I started out torn between seeing the grates in vancouver and metric and islands in victoria on march 29th. I decided on the latter, but it was SOLD OUT and then I ended up being pretty broke, so I had to stay at home. I heard that both were damn hot shows, but I have no hard feelings, because it turned out that wintersleep played at the queens on the 29th. I'd have been pretty annoyed if those adorable boys had come to my town and I wasn't present. so, I was and a few people were actually there as well. I keep being amazed how many people have not heard of wintersleep, and jamie and I now and then ask ourselves, are we somehow mistaken in our claim that this is one of the greatest bands in canada (and there are a goddamn lot of great bands in canada, if you don't know, email me and ask for a list, or even better, listen to elgin's new radio show, canada ATTACKS, on chly at 7-9am fridays)? but, no, we are certain there is no mistake, you just haven't noticed yet, if you haven't noticed yet, so check them out before everyone else notices first and you look like a sucker.
quite a few people in victoria know about wintersleep, and their show at logan's pub on march 30th was enthusiastically populated, and by far the best of the four times I've seen them play. at both shows they played quite a bit of new material featuring the whole band singing together, which adds a really joyful element to the dynamic emotional range of their music. here's a few pictures of wintersleep rocking their hearts out. notice the montreal canadians jersey that jamie gave to paul. :)

now playing: destroyer & frog eyes - new ways of living