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music ensues, geeks run amok

so, last weekend was a virtual flurry of musical
activity in halifax.  between thundermug at the 
oasis and thruster at the cafe ole, it was hard
to know what gigs to attend.  just kidding.

the choices were, in fact, pretty clear...

FRIDAY JUNE 30

it was the first night of the "geek rock love
festival" and boy what a gig it was.  six bands,
two nights, a really cool setting -- the top
floor of the khyber, all painted black, with
really low lighting.  first up were the enigmatic
PREPPY RELATIVES, who are gordon isnor on guitar
and vocals, and warren auld (former horseshoes &
handgrenades guitarist) on drums.  boy did they
put on a great show.  the best i've seen, i think.
gordon is just so intensely angst-ridden, and 
his guitar-playing is just *never* boring.  
my favorite moment was when he did "cultivating
female sexuality" and "sexual woman" back to back.
people laughed at that one.  he also dedicated a
song to the people at pro skates, who apparently
refer to emily duke as "bitchface."  nice people,
i guess.  not.  the duo covered one of emily's
songs, "90 lb junkie," my favorite popularity 
contest song.  it was a really excellent version.
at the gig, gordon released the debut 10-song
preppy relatives cassette, _the curse of the
blue dragon_.  i bought one and liked it so
much that i convinced my daydream co-moguls that
we should distribute it.  i'll put ordering
information in a seperate post.

next up were PLUM TREE, who are back from their
tour and tighter than they've ever been.  they
kicked off their excellent set with this full-on
rocker that could be a rebecca west song; it's
kinda remniscent of "honey ant dreaming."  still
sounds like plum tree, though, although i can't
exactly explain why.  it's the vocals and a
boppy lick in the chorus, i think.  anyways, 
they have a single coming out real soon on
cinnamon toast.  i haven't heard it yet, but
having heard the songs live, i can say that if
they've come anywhere near adequately capturing
the songs, it will be a must-buy.  at the gig
they did a really good version of at least one
of those songs, "sodium chloride."

most people left after that, there were about
ten of us left to take in an intense set from
KISS DADDY GOODBYE.  this was mike "ed" edwards,
ex of essen, and some guitarist i didn't
recognize, and catano on drums.  no keyboards,
which was interesting, because the two kdg songs
on the prizewinner compilation are all keyboard.
it was heavy, droning, repetitive crunchy rock.
cool use of feedback and wicked wicked drumming
by mdc.  at twenty minutes, the set was way too
short, but at least that meant i was out of
there at midnight.

this meant that i could skip down to birdland
and see the MOTES.  they had a tv out in front
of the band, turned on but with snow on the 
screen most of the time.  and the band were all
in dark green light.  very appropriate stage
presence for a space rock band.  once again a
memorable but too-short set.  i think one of 
the members was sick or something.


SATURDAY, JULY 1

subtitle, _seven gigs and wedding_...

well, as you may be aware, three of us on sloan
net -- tara lee, jim cooper, and myself -- are
daydream records, and we launched our first 
single on canada day.  this is, of course, 
_nevada downs_ by STATE CHAMPS.

the first engagement of the day was a free in-store
at row spring garden.  the champs got on about
half an hour late due to some technical difficulties,
and started off with two songs from the single:
"teen circuit" and "gaited dancer".  unfortunately,
jon's mic wasn't working so "club international"
and "she's a struggle" weren't quite as good without
his vocals.  but it was still a fun jam, what jim
and i heard of it.  we had to mosey at about 3:30
'cause we were due at a wedding at 4pm.  

(it was a cool wedding, too, held in the back yard
 of the couple's house with the wedding party and
 the guests situated across a pond from each other.
 in the procession the bride had to cross a little
 bridge to get to the other side.)

that evening was the second night of the geek rock
love fest at the khyber, which started off with
EMILY VEY DUKE.  she was playing solo without her
band (popularity contest), and with a small number
of people in a dark room with very low lighting,
the effect was perfect.  nobody talked, everybody
listened, and there was nothing to get between
emily's voice and the hair on the back of your neck.
she played seven songs, and the standout ones for
me were "congratulations on your engagement" and
"90 lb junkie," which does in fact work without
the band.  there was also this cool song the first
half of which was in french.  

the state champs had disappeared somewhere so the
MOTES took over, and put on a much different show
than their two previous birdland engagements.  
they were looser and having more fun with the songs,
and the set was much longer.  i think it was my
favorite motes gig so far.  great versions of
"more ghosts" and "all four (required) elements",
and their drummer came out from behind the kit to
close the set with an over-the-top rendition of
"the end of me."  oh, "the framer" was really 
wicked too.

finally, the STATE CHAMPS hit the stage and 
*rocked*!  they have some really cool new songs;
i especially like "fuck the jesus lizard."  :-)
woo hoo.  now they think they're steve albini.  :-)
i tell ya, state champs are the only band in 
halifax with hooks that deadly and indie cred
that heavy.  :-)  i really enjoyed every band
that played at the khyber those two nights -- i
guess they went six for six!  not a bad gig 
either night.  i think that the khyber is a 
really cool venue for the sorts of bands that 
played the geek rock love fest -- it's too bad 
that more people don't go there but maybe people 
will start to catch on.

the champs had to cut their set short by dropping
a song from the list.  they had to scramble to 
get to birdland in time to play.  but they pulled
it off and basically did the same set list in
reverse, starting off with "fuck the jesus lizard."
i wonder how many people there knew what the hell
they were singing about.  they also did this improv
song about the LOCAL RABBITS who had played before
them.  i was sorry to have missed them but of course
i was hawking singles at the khyber with the champs.
:-)  anyways, it was a good set but i don't know
if they actually played any songs from the single.
i don't remember them doing so.  maybe they ran
out of time.  anyways, maybe one of these days
they'll headline their own birdland show.  that
would be cool.

the champs were succeeded by MARS WE LOVE YOU.
lonna, kristine, matt, and the new drummer put in
their tightest set ever.  matt does lots of 
interesting things on his guitar, and kristine's
bass playing has noticeably improved.  also, they
were a lot more confident.  this is the band that
started off as somerdale and were briefly known
as "cheerleader", although i don't think they
actually played any gigs under that name.

LEONARD CONAN were the final act of the night,
but even though they put on the tightest, punchiest
set of indie rock that i've ever seen them do, 
by the time they hit the stage the obnoxious 
dancing crowd had started to enter the club and
take it over, and they didn't seem to give two
shits about the band.  i talked to andy, the lead
singer, afterwards, and he saw things the same
way -- the band were totally tight, the crowd
weren't into it.  i guess it was the combined 
effect of having four bands on the bill and maybe
the state champs being a bit late.  does anyone
else find that birdland turns into a really 
generic nightclub around 2am?

james

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     _James R. Covey <jrcovey\!/ac.dal.ca>_    sloan net is a discussion of the
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