I arrived at this show and was almost instantly greeted by Robbie Kirkham, guitarist in The Vincent Black Shadow. He was in a fret by the merch booth, with barely ten minutes to spare before showtime and a no-show from the person they'd asked to sell merch for them that night. She showed up at the last second, and the band members scooted away and onto the stage to start the night.

It was sparsely populated early on, which is no surprise in this town, but one of Vancouver's last-remaining world-class mega-events, the Celebration Of Light fireworks display, was going on that evening and was putting up stiff competition for anything else that might have been happening in the city that night. Nonetheless, VBS put on a pretty swank little set. It's been a very long time since I've seen them play, and the last time was at a small, bland bar on a night where ill feelings were in the air due to some sort of capacity thing. So this was much, much better. Singer Cassandra Ford has a sultry way about her, sashaying around the centre of the stage and heaping herself against the microphone. She could possibly have a bit more 'oomph' to her performance, maybe even by just not reining herself in so much when she wanders around. She makes quite an effort to be saucy and mysterious, but whenever she says something low and serious between songs, it seems like Robbie Kirkham beside her will suddenly pipe up with some hyper radio DJ/auctioneer banter about CDs for sale. It's kind of amusing, a weird combination of personalities on stage.

Speaking of Robbie, I don't know how he keeps his hat on his head while he jumps about, swinging his upper body and launching his guitar around. Impressive. The other three on stage aside from those two are much more silent. Keyboardist Nicole Leigh Hurst provided both really cool keys (especially the third song they played) and some great vocal harmonies. Hurst's voice is more clear and sweet, while Ford has more of a dark Gwen Stefani vibe. Bassist Chris Kirkham, feather boa firmly in place around his neck, was tucked behind the keyboards, which seems odd. His previous band, Mr. Underhill (now still playing as Nim Vind here and there), which also contained his two brothers, featured him front and centre. He was always the absolute showpiece. I suppose when you get girls in the band, they invariably take the forefront, so you might as well embrace it. Tony Kirkham, back behind the drums, has also visibly improved since last I saw him, just beating the hell out of those drums. The whole thing is pretty similar to the Mr. Underhill thing, only with female vocals - dark yet boisterous, mixing surf-pop with rockabilly.

Small problems with the show were few and far between - the lead vocals started quiet, and then got very sharp, which is of course a problem with the room, not the band. And I had to kind of groan inwardly when they announced a song called "Broken" and then wilted into a melodramatic, gloomy tune. How many lite-goth (a crappy term, I know, but it's as simple a description as I can come up with at the moment) songs are there out there called "Broken"? I'd probably make a conscious effort to never title a song that, no matter what it was about. But that doesn't change the fact that this band could have a huge appeal for those looking for a stylish, danceable, unique band.

Next was Black Rice, another Vancouver favourite in recent times, and still a fairly young band. One of the first things I noticed when they walked on stage was the matching shirts between the two guitarists. Nice touch, guys. And then I noticed that there's tigers everywhere, on guitars and shirts, which matches one of their logotypes. And uh, is that a stuffed monkey on the floor behind the drum kit?

One thing I love about this band is that they all sing. All of 'em. And loudly. And they clap their hands and do a cappella stuff and get the crowd completely riled up. They were just finishing up a tour around the country with this hometown show, and were obviously having a blast being back in front of friends. They dedicated their song "The Return" (which was contributed to guitarist Joel Tong's album Return of the Fucked) to the Burning Brides, for braving the border. That was a hint of possibly something to come later on? Anyhow, Other-guitarist Jeff Lee followed up that dedication with, "You can sing along if you'd like. The words are 'oh.'" And they really were. This band is loud and fun, there's jumping and kicking (in unison!), and even the band claims you should get your dancing shoes on. One guy sure did... He snuck up through the crowd and used the big empty horseshoe shape in front of the stage to do some wacky, hand-flinging robo-dancing. It's amazing how stupid people will let themselves get when music takes over their brains. And it's a wonderful thing.

The kick drum made its way frequently across the stage. It just refused to stay put. There was one point mid-set where a fellow came up front and started snapping a few digital photos. he was leaning on a monitor stage right, aiming towards the centre, when Tong boogied his way over out of the guy's field of view, swung one leg over the monitor and quite straddled the photographer. He suddenly realized there was an object beside/around his head, and spun. He seemed taken aback for the briefest moment, before laughing and just going for it with the camera. Nice. And still, more times using just the kick drum, or just hand claps, the band got the crowd singing along to mostly-a-cappella. There was one song where they had a soft breakdown, and I guess at the point the song kikcs back in, the lights were supposed to blast back on. Whoever was manning the lights was a bit eager though, and flashed them on a smidge early. Taking it in stride, someone in the band yelled, "Psyche!," and continued the song at hand for another bar or two, til the song really did kick back in, and the again-darkened lights sprung back to life. Well-done!

Could it get any better than this? Hold on to your hats, my friends, and join the cozy warmth from the Burning Brides.

I didn't think so at first. In fact, I initally thought they were much darker than I remember or would have thought they'd ever be. Right when they came oout on stage, I wasn't sure if the night was going to go good or bad. Most of the crowd had left the stage area to hang out closer to the bars or to poke about the merch table. So when drummer Jason Kourkounis, the first to appear from backstage, walked out and surveyed the room, he instantly passed a look of massive disgust and "what-the-fuck?!" across his face. He shrugged to the sky, then shielded his eyes and looked around, before taking his place behind the kit. Singer/guitarist Dimitri Coats came out next, followed by bassist Melanie Campbell. Coats tried to peer up into the balcony, and with the same look of disgust, said, "Is everyone up on the balcony? Anyone want to commit and actually come down here and rock out?" He went on for a while about whether everyone had just come there to drink wine and talk about the weather or something, and I stood at the foot of the stage and wondered if this band was going to get pissed off at the weird turnout and just toss their instruments to the floor and leave.

Luckily, those in the room did wander to the floor area, and while certainly not packed, it looked quite full, and everyone was more into the mood suddenly. So they started playing, and as I mentioned, the music seemed so dark at first, so bass-heavy (with Campbell looking very metal goddess indeed, and seeming a bit out of character with the other two), so loud. But as the set moved on, it became more peppy and fun guitar-rock. Coats' hair became soaked with sweat quickly and every time he moved, he'd send a shower of droplets across the stage and into the crowd. Coats is the only one who sings. There's no backing vocals, and really, they don't need it. His voice is so incredible. Really loud and just a bit rough, very rock and roll. There were points where he'd jump up onto speakers and play to the people on the balcony right above his head, or he'd walk across the stage to where a fellow from the band's entourage was sitting, and plunked down on his lap while still playing a song. It became a rather fun-loving and cozy atmosphere from it's early malcontent.

At the end of what seemed like a pretty short show, the band left the stage. The audinece stayed right where it was, screaming and cheering for them to come back on. The house music came on, and the crews started to unplug things from the stage. In a few moments, Coats quietly snuck out from backstage, made his way around the room, and walked into the middle of the floor right into the thick, cheering crowd. Slowly, people realized he was standing there, and the cheering that had been directed towards the stage suddenly was all turned towards the centre of the floor, and arms flew up in the air as everyone tumbled in to give the guy his well-deserved props. He happily bounced around there momentarily before leveraging himself up onto the stage and tapping at the mic. When power was restored, he quieted the crowd, thanked everyone for coming, and explained that their drummer had had a terrible day. The audience made a mockingly-sympathetic, "Awww." Coats continued, "No really, really, it was a terrible day." Could this be the border allusion from Black Rice earlier? Anyhow, Coats said that if Kourkounis came back out, they'd keep playing. But he didn't. He'd already left. SO that was it. The crowd was disappointed, Coats was very appreciative though, and he suggested we all drink together instead. Then he decided to hold a contest, where he'd buy a beer for the first person to answer a few trivia questions, like the original Sonic Youth drummer, and what KISS was originally called.

And that was that. What I thought might be either a bread-and-butter rock show, or feared might turn out to be a rock-attitude-fuelled half-show, ended up being a really cool and unique one. You really never know what you're gonna get.

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : November 16, 2004.