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7 Year Old Poets/Year of the Rat/Handsome Distraction @ Lucky's [Feb. 9th, 2010]
| Message Board > Show Reviews > 7 Year Old Poets/Year of the Rat/Handsome Distraction @ Lucky's [Feb. 9th, 2010] |
| DTjackson User Info... | What do you do when the promoter that had "lined up some bands" for a Wednesday night suddenly vanishes into thin air and all you are left with is an empty gap in the week? Well, if you are Lucky's, you get in touch with Devin Perfect of Handsome Distraction who scrambled and succeeded to pull this show together by the skin of his teeth. Normally, it is a day reserved for "The Mod Club". A night where the kids who are too cool for school come to dance. Well, there wasn't much dancing tonight. As the bands tried to coax people in with free shot tickets [got mine], there was a much bigger show in town. Jets Overheard and Maurice played that night, which left a lot of bars vying for the spot of "after party". As I entered the venue, it felt a bit lonely. What can you do besides hope for the best? Opening the night was notorious local band 7 Year Old Poets [who have come out of hiding]. For a band that hasn't rehearsed for four months, they were incredibly tight. All the members sang in some capacity but it was members Tungsten Shoestepper and Bosma Von David that handled the main duties. This is a group that wears their influences on their sleeves. When Bosma was on deck, the songs came across as very Modest Mouse. He yelped like he stepped on a bear trap and the songs definitely had that vibe with the arrangement and layers. Shoestepper, on the other side of the stage, was more of a Wolf Parade sound. It was a grittier element of the band. It was almost a who's who of early 2000 indie. If you closed your eyes, you may hear The Constantines or for one song, The Libertines. Seamus Knuckles moved freely with his bass and I got the feeling he could play it in his sleep. Ching had some early problems with his kick pedal placement, but he contributed a solid beat throughout the show. The great thing about this band is that they thoroughly enjoyed playing together again. I'm sure their lives are in much different places right now than six years ago. The chemistry is still their and all the instruments mesh together in a genius way. They closed the set by feeding off some feedback from their amps. It made me think, why is this band opening? Well, they chose to. I go to receive my free shot, and the bartender says it's not redeemable. She rips it up in front of my face. The middle spot went to Year of the Rat. A band I have seen many times around Victoria, but from the get-go, something was off. It seemed like half the band was asleep as they ran through their catalogue of favourites. Not that they were missing notes. It was just a sloppy performance that I know they could do much better with. An odd thing happened...the crowd 7 Year Old Poets brought had emptied out besides a few, and the band went bi-polar. Coll menaced over his keyboards and his voice bellowed out. Stringer planted his feet firmly on the stage with bass in hand, letting the notes ring out with passion. McNeil created thunder when his sticks met the snare. He is a heavy hitter [yet I've never seen him break a stick!]. Sanderson made it look easy with his flavourful leads, which really suite the songs and never come across as "hamming it up". Basically, they became the band I knew and steered away from being that band I used to know. They are set to work on their new EP, and a lot of the songs I am familiar with at this point. In fact, it's almost crazy that I would have assumed all the songs were just on The Code EP, but it looks like they've held back really strong material for the follow-up. The band stayed away from covers this evening and stuck to strong songs like Harder Than Knowing and Every Night a Vampire. It was a fine finish for the band that has been quite busy these days. Remember that free shot debacle? Turns out the manager just didn't inform the bar staff. The situation was rectified by Mr. Devin Perfect, who just turns out to be the frontman for Handsome Distraction. Here they are now! Upon stage, they gazed out into the sparse crowd. Handsome Distraction is a band that maintains a high standard of playing. I've never seen them play a bad show [even two years ago when they played the Cambie in Esquimalt with a different roster and no bass player]. They have hit a definite mark on their performance level, and I would hope, if there is any justice in the world, that their star power rises in this little town of ours. Blowing through tunes like Dirty Knives and Who Do You Love?, the band was firing on all cylinders. Although all the band members sing, they aren't much for harmonies. It's all about beefing up the vocals, which works. It's really hard to say anything about this band that I haven't already said. The guitars intertwine between Francis and Perfect without overpowering eachother. Each member plays to their own strength. I don't see any big egos on stage or stereotypical rock stars. Weaver's bass flows to the beat. Reiber is still one of my favourite drummers in Victoria. Serious, Handsome Distraction is a band I would recommend to anyone. If I could suggest anything to take it to the next level, would be to entertain the idea of harmonies more instead of just doubling/tripling/quadrupling. It's hard to really put this gig down because it was so last minute. All in all, it was a good night for music. It doesn't come often that I get to see a band that I haven't seen before. Seems like a lot of the same bands keep grouped together so they are always sharing a bill, or does it just say something about the current Victoria scene? Is this basically it? We have a little bit of this and a little bit of that? It's a close knit community with these bands. It would be nice to see someone really shake up the bills around town....or more people making bands. Yes, MORE BANDS! They aren't making any new Guitar Hero games, how about you try a real instrument? - Thu, 17 Feb 2011 1:27am | ||
| oRLY User Info... | if you put a little more effort into seeing more than just your buddies band; you might come to notice ALOT more than just the bands you decide to review... which seems to be the SAME bands. Outside of maybe one review; all your others contain the same drabble... How about going outside your little box and review some shows that dont have any affiliation/connection to you? And be a real critic... or is that too much like work? - Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:03am | ||
| ::Saint:: User Info... | I believe Dylan has more than once extended an invitation to bands who would like him to come out and review them .. there may be a lot of great music going on in Victoria, but I personally find it difficult to find sometimes as well, without wandering the street looking at random posters. It's true Dylan has reviewed Year of the Rat and Handsome Distraction a number of times, among others, but most of that is more from him going to shows to see bands he likes, and for whatever reason he decides to write a review about it, even though nobody asked him to. And if I may say, I think he does an excellent job, and that's not just because he's generally very kind to YOTR either .. he has no problems being honest about what he sees, as you'll note from actually reading his reviews. Case in point .. THIS REVIEW .. I wouldn't exactly call it 'fawning'. Last point is .. nobody else is doing this, at all. Bands all over town have been starving for someone to pay attention to them and to take the time to write something down, and Dylan is doing that, and we bloody well appreciate it, because like I said, no one else is doing it. - Fri, 18 Feb 2011 4:44pm | ||
| DTjackson User Info... | These same bands are the ones that invite me to their shows. Oddly the days I get paid, these bands are always playing. So I try and get out there unless I am invited, and yes, I have extended the olive branch and I would love for other bands to contact me. Do you know any good shows going down oRLY? Oddly enough, you say my buddies' bands. I was never friends with Handsome Distraction before I reviewed them. Neither goes for The New Colors. Neither goes for others. When I do get paid, I look for shows that aren't the same bands but sometimes there isn't anything that appeals to me. Why go to a show I don't want to go to? If you don't like the "drabble" then don't read it. I approach every gig with an open mind no matter who is my friend or not. So, if you have a band you would like me to review, I'd be more than willing to review. Just let me know. - Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:34am | ||
| oRLY User Info... | its not up to me to help you decide what bands to review; all im saying is that there's more to the scene then you let on... if you got out a little more and instead of waiting for bands to invite you; why not be pro-active and go outside your comfort zone? Just because you dont like it; doesn't mean you have nothing to say about it... write about what you didn't like? Your honest in your approach. I dont have anything against your writing; when I said drabble, I meant what you were/are talking about... you're well written, and honest; but my issue is with your last paragraph about needing more more more... well there is... just get out and see for yourself. the buddy thing was just figurative... reviewing the same bands kinda gets stale is all Im saying. - Sat, 19 Feb 2011 5:43pm | ||
| DTjackson User Info... | I definitely understand where you are coming from. I don't want to bore anyone to death by reviewing the same band over and over. - Sun, 20 Feb 2011 4:13pm | ||
| syrop User Info... | hadn't read this till today. i get a kick out of dylan's review. i wouldn't put modest mouse anywhere in my list of influences but its interesting to hear. i really just like the stones and dylan (bob) and old blues shit. i wish i could've stayed longer that night and caught the other bands sets. steve played me some newly mastered year of the rat the other night, sounded great. cheers. - Mon, 27 Jun 2011 8:28pm | ||
| ::Saint:: User Info... | Thanks Dave :) Looking forward to getting the new EP out the door .. Steve Klipper and Jordan Koop did a hell of a job engineering and mixing this thing.. Once we get our drummer situation sorted, we'll have to do something together again! - Wed, 29 Jun 2011 4:29pm | ||
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