Blood Meridian(Friday 12 pm @ Healey's): On Eye Weekly's recommendation, I scooted on over to Healey's to check out Vancouver's Blood Meridian. Blood Meridian is the solo project for Matt Camirand of Black Mountain. The music was a slow burner for me with Matt's booze-fueled vocals initially overpowering the simple accompaniement of his acoustic guitar and harmonica. Perhaps, that was just the case with the songs at the beginning of the set, because the latter songs seemed to melodically gel much better with the vocals and instrumentation. Think a tougher-sounding Bright Eyes. With all his tattoos and rough swagger, he looked pretty young and even spoke about his mom. He said he didn't necessarily like performing for his mom because as a social worker she had a tendency to question his emotional state since his songs weren't entirely happy. ;-)The Parkas(Friday 1 am @ Healey's): I'd seen London, Ontario's The Parkas once live back in June 2004 during NXNE and if anything's remained the same, it's that their bassist[sorry I don't know his name] is one funny bastard. He brings stage banter to a new level. Funniest moment, at least for me, was when he said that he had stolen the Pitchfork staff's thesaurus. Rimshot please! Musically, they still continue their infectious brand of poppy indie rock that for me slightly harkens back to the Halifax alt-pop sound of Sloan, and in particluar The Super Friendz. For a 1 am timeslot, there was a decent turnout for their set. I'd recommend to Healey's to get rid of the tables and chairs in front of the stage. The Parkas are definintely not sitting-down music. [photos]
The Gin Club(Saturday 10 pm @ El Mocambo): Not much to add to about The Gin Club which I hadn't already mentioned(see previous post) about their gig at Gladstone Hotel a couple of days earlier. I'd like to mention that this time around I was really happy that they had a cellist in tow. The set this time seemed a bit more somber, but I must say the cello was a nice touch. It wasn't a packed house by any means. There were maybe thirty people at most which was a disappointment. I just hope that doesn't discourage the Aussie band from coming back to Canada.
Iron On(Saturday 11 pm @ El Mocambo): I'd like to mention that the whole lineup at the El Mocambo this night was an Australian showcase. My friend and I also stuck around for Brisbane, Australian band Iron On. The two males/two females band performed an entertaining set of noisy melodic indie rock mixed with emo-pop tendencies. The gentleman vocalist(Ross) sounded quite a bit like Ben Gibbard to me so the emo-pop DCFC comparison seemed obvious. The female vocalist(Kate) possessed a more Aussie-sounding accent in her singing and I particularly liked her Carrie Brownstein-styled body movements while she played guitar. Vocal duties alternated between the male and female vocalists, and so while one took lead vocal duties the other person would take over lead guitar. Ian the bassist was slumped over his guitar for most of the set and he looked really into it. Drummer Marieca kept pace with her solid drumming. For the most part, the material was melodically strong and energetically performed.
Iron On @ MySpace
Iron On LiveJournal Community
Ian's LiveJournal
Ross's LiveJournal
Kate's LiveJournal
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