Getting White Wired at Parts & Labour

The wait is finally over as Parts & Labour, Parkdale's new haunt for brews and bands, opened its doors last weekend. Lately fiscal responsibility is my mantra so I was far more interested in the basement venue space called The Shop, rather than the ground floor bar and restaurant. (I hear you can literally eat a horse, but it will set you back some.) Local punk rock show promoter Mark Pesci is responsible for booking the space, which is great. I can selfishly enjoy all the bands I love without leaving the safe confines of ward 14.

Opening weekend night one with Mess Folk, White Lung and the Bitters proved too popular for myself to gain entry, which was unfortunate since I think the Bitters are one of the more interesting local bands going right now. Guess I should have gone in with more foresight considering all the press the space had been receiving.

I was well prepared for opening weekend night two, with a ticket in hand to avoid disappointment deja vu, but it wasn't necessary. When I arrived, the basement was sparsely populated. The Shop is mainly all concrete (and what isn't concrete is painted the shade of concrete gray), low ceilings and long, red Corian topped bar on one side. The other sports bleachers, with freshly sawn spruce seats that scented the space lending all the more to the "new car smell" uneasiness. Once things get worn in, I can see the basement becoming almost cozy.



Night two's line-up begins with adorably awkward power poppers, Ottawa's Zebrassiers. The bands play on the floor, DIY style and if I were in a band, I'd feel incredibly on the spot by having the audience THIS CLOSE to my face. Luckily I'm not in a band.



Next up are Toronto (by way of Memphis) brats, Useless Eaters. Singer/guitarist Seth Sutton, a protege of Jay Reatard's Punk School for Boys, plays loud and fast snotty punk. The three-piece are not breaking any new ground with their version of early 80s hardcore, but they do it well and I liked it.



Might-as-well-be-headliners, Ottawa's punk rock sweethearts the White Wires got the now swelled crowd dancing and singing along with favourites like "Pogo Til I Puke Tonight" and "Ha Ha Holiday". This style of music could easily be written off as disposable without genuinely good songwriting and musicianship, both of which the White Wires have in spades. Plus any band who can get the too-cool Toronto crowd to dance is doing something right! The White Wires are probably my favourite (and the cutest) band in Canada.

After taking a breather outside on the smoking zone/artificial grass landing strip, it was about time to see Brooklyn headliners, Golden Triangle. I didn't know too much about the band other than they were very fashionable (one strike), from Brooklyn (two strikes) and were either psych/cold wave/shit gaze/whatever the fuck (three strikes). Anyway, I went in with an open mind and I was glad I did, because this band was heavy in the right way. I guess having six members, including garage punk's Southern it-girl Alix Brown, doesn't hurt in that regard. Two vocalists also added interest to their layers of sound. Pre-conceived prejudices aside, I'm really glad I stuck around for Golden Triangle.




All in all, I'm excited for many of the upcoming shows taking place here, including one of my dear favourites, the country punk outfit, the Goodnight Loving. It should be a great summer! Also my cab ride home was a mere $8. How's that for fiscal responsibility?

cherry blossom girl

Went for a walk to High Park today to catch a glimpse of the much heralded cherry blossom trees before the petals start to fall. Although they were in full bloom and gorgeous, I had to make my way through throngs of people, many with very fancypants DSLR cameras -- not exactly the way I like to enjoy nature, but it was good to get my unemployed butt out of the house nonetheless.

Loveless/Sleepless

I've always "suffered" from a touch of insomnia, but I think that's more a symptom of being a natural late-riser and generally repulsed by any activity before 10 am. (make it 11am) Lately I've found myself dreading the evening more and more. My mind starts to race and that familiar thought pattern brings forth the dread of facing another day of IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO on little to no sleep at all. Vicious cycle for sure. The wee hours for me, are ones spent in review -- of past actions, past failures, past triumphs, or just the mundane past days. Looking inward is never easy, but luckily I'm my own worst critic. Ha! No, really. It's 2am now and I cringe at my inappropriate-ness, my loutish behaviour, my outbursts of brattiness... reviewed over and over on my own internal 24/7 widescreen projector playing the story of my life. Lucky me.

I'll give this sleep thing another go since attempting to download the entire Teenage Treats series isn't happening for me tonight.

The Vivian Girls Emerge

I've seen the Vivian Girls a pair of times before, having always enjoyed their sloppy DIY sets, I was pretty keen to see them headline at the Horseshoe. The show didn't seem very well promoted, but the bar was well on its way to being packed when I showed up just in time to see Little Girls. I've seen them once before open for the Goodnight Loving... or was it the White Wires? No matter who was headlining who that night, the Little Girls kept me from running outside to grab an early slice of pizza. They held my attention again this eve. Think Wire meets Joy Division (or maybe Warsaw) with a much less monotone and more lively singer. A few songs here and there seemed a bit same-y but seeing as this was only their fourth show ever, I'll be looking forward to seeing these local fellas added onto other shows in the near future. I think they even played tonight. oops


The band sandwiched in the middle were Crystal Antlers. I've never heard of them before, but considering the Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts connection, I figured it was possibly a side project of the two? I quickly decided that was not the case as we watched the band set up. Bongos?! we took that as a bad sign, but decided to stick it out. Hey, we just paid $15, so we might as well, right? I don't really have anything good to say about this band, however. Very plaintive emo (screamo?) vocals over just way too much of everything else. No into this at all. It was clear from the increasingly larger group outside which had us all wondering who had booked this show? Too weird.


Anyway, I did find out 24 hour french fries were the perfect antidote to Crystal Antlers. Feeling better already, I made my way up front for the Vivian Girls. The place was now really packed, but my vantage point was good (always important for me). The girls took a reeeeally long time making sure there was enough, uh, loudness in the vocals, adjusting lights, etc. it started to wear on the audience's patience after some dude offered a helpful suggestion of "play already!" he was answered with a "fuck you!". Haha! Luckily, that sort of lame audience tension didn't put a damper on the show, since they played with more confidence and also more of a catalogue than in previous incarnations and they were great. I love their fuzzed noise + harmonies sound, they are just rad! One very tall and very lanky fan thought so too, as his overenthusiastic pogoing and attempts to engage his neighbours in moshing wasn't very well received. Did I mention I was the unlucky gal right next to him? I should also mention that a tossed pint meant for him, was generously shared with me. Needless to say, a shoving match ensued and thinking how ludicrous a fight would be at a Vivian Girls show kept me distracted from the beer, now nicely drying, in my hair. Figures. I think all the raging boners in the crowd manifested into some plain old raging. Anyway, only complaint was the sort of 'jam' ending. I seriously hate it when bands do that. Play your hit and exit stage left. Otherwise it's kind of a whatever sort of ending.

School Jerks

School Jerks are dumb and fun (just like me!) and I had one of the best nights in ages at this pretty sweet house show in my hood. Too bad I woke up with a scary giant bruise. I will blog about its progression.

HOLE IN MY HEAD

I haven't been to a show in a while or at least it felt that way. Honestly, there aren't many current bands that would actually get me out of the house and help me shake off the drearies, but the Box Elders would definitely be one of them. I've owned their amazing debut single for awhile now (just like Keith Morris, apparently) and hoped the boys would eventually tour my town. Well, last Friday was the day and dependable dive Rancho Relaxo was the location. Before I'd get to see them, however, I'd have to sit through two opening bands first. Those of you who know me know I'm not a patient gal and even less so when faced with bands I'm not entirely jazzed on. That being said, locals the City Sweethearts played a more than decent set since last time I caught them. They played with way more guts and to more of an audience, so I suppose that helped a lot. Anyway, decent snotty garage punk. Wish I could say the same for Pirate/Rock, but this noise duo was wearing my patience thin. I'm already not super into the lo-fi noise/weird punk/shitgaze/whatever the hell next thing beardos will fall for, but come on. There were no discerable songs in their set and no pleasing noise either. And yes, I'm a fan of pleasing noise, I am a Jesus and Mary Chain fan afterall.



Finally, after a pair of gee n' tees, (my good girl limit) I made my way up front (obviously!) for the Box Elders and gosh darn it, they stole the show! Having heard mp3s of one of their recent shows, I was already familiar with the set list. Zipping through songs that will soon appear on their upcoming Goner full-length and Hozac single, the crowd was eating it up, totally energetic and fun garage punk. Yep, I really like it when bands have, you know, actual SONGS and are totally fun to watch too. Drummer Dave seemed to be doing three things at once at all times. Clayton reminded me of Steve McDonald except for the short shorts and garish silver flasher coat. Alow me to be a bit of a girl here and comment on their amazing t-shirts. Mine is mauve with a busty Nordic sea woman weilding a guitar, all done in gold glitter ink. Awesome!



After the Box Elders I sort of forgot we were all there to see BBQ. This time avec deux Montreal cronies. I have seen Mark Sultan solo many, many times but my favourite shows have been with cohort King Khan. Those two were the only band that made this introvert shake it on stage just the one time, but I digress... Mr. Sultan was either having fun with his songs, extending certain bits here and stop/starting there, or maybe they hadn't all practiced together much. Either way I, nor the crowd could care less, waddlin' around and shakin' real low ending up throughally soaked with sweat and possibly a little beer too. Well, I really hope beer was the liquid that ended up in my shoes. My only nightcap was an extra sloppy slice from next door before heading home with ringing ears.

Check out the Box Elders' blog here... http://boxelders.blogspot.com/

BITTER WAVVES

9:30pm on a ho-hum Tuesday night, I entered a very packed Sneaky Dee's just in time to hear the Bitters announce their presence. And guess what? I liked it, I really did. Reminded me of Thee Oh Sees minus the twang, plus some angular post-punk whatnot. And they said it was only their second practice together. No way! This band is one of the more charismatic I've seen in a while and what sets them higher for me, is the successful pairing of girl+boy vocals. The boy is Ben Cook, so I guess this is another Fucked Up side project, but I hope to see more of these guys soonish. I hear they have lots of recordings in the works as well, so while you're pre-ordering n' paypaling, get the Young Governor single too. It's good stuff, really.



Following the Bitters was Vampire Hands, and after a few minutes of their brand of weirdo punk/hippie noodling, I started to wish I had stayed home. Somehow I managed to stay put, daydreaming and staring down the bottom of my empty bottle. The lanky, keffiyah wearing fellow behind me shimmying away provided an amusing distraction. What was I doing here again???

After getting some much needed air and shooting the breeze, it was time for Wavves, the super duper extra hyped up bedroom band loved and hated all over the interweb. Honestly, that sort of love/hate made me want to see him that much more. I weaseled my way through the overstuffed bar comprised of really, really tall dudes and eventually rode the hipster pit to the front to see the diminutive Wavves (I don't know his name sorry) with drummer in tow. Anyway, what did this twosome sound like? Stomp stomp stomp drums, catchy, tuneful songs and cleaner, sweeter vocals than the recordings lead us to believe. Definitely not worthy of the crazy hype or the crazy hate, but I was won over. Lastly, the too-short set did allow me my guacamole fix before the night was over.