The Svelte
Archive
These are our personal memories of every show we have played. Unless
otherwise noted, all entries are by Martin and reflect his personal view.
12/??/96:
Japanese exchange party, Mark's house, Surrey
And so the story
begins: five young and unworldly high-school boys crammed into the corner of
their drummer's kitchen, singing through their home stereo and ready to face the
future. All in all, we were bad, but back at this time we still had excuses. A
few friends came over and they all clapped politely after each song, but boy,
those Japanese girls will scream for anything. In the end we were shunned by
parents for being too loud. This was probably a good thing considering the
shabby calibre of our music back then.
12/??/96: On the
Rogers Cable show "Generation Why?", Surrey
This was our first public
appearance and had the potential for total disaster. The morning after a
midnight - 8 AM "Grad Movie Night" (combined Svelte hours of sleep = 0), we
hauled our gear up to the Rogers community studio for the taping of a 'music
video' destined to air on a youth show. It is rumoured that both Mark and I had
our first experiences with "Wake-Ups" caffeine pills that morning. Apparently
nobody had quite figured out the sound board yet, because I still have recurring
nightmares in which I hear that voice from the control room saying "one more
time, okay guys?" We played "The Five Alive Song" at least 94 times before they
could get the sound right. Then we still had to do it "one more time," because
someone made an executive decision that we weren't allowed to display the tower
of juice boxes that we had set up to thematically decorate the gloomy studio.
Who knows what Coca-Cola bigwigs might be watching Surrey community TV on a
Sunday afternoon? The end result was a mishmash of rampant camera-zooming,
out-of-sync audio, and some wild shots of Kerry's facial acrobatics - but
luckily we all ended up with a fairly decent cassette recording of one of our
songs. Then we went home and slept.
02/??/97: Take Your
Time Walk for speeding awareness, Semiahmoo Park, White Rock
This was
a community walk for speeding awareness in memory of a fellow student who had
been tragically killed earlier that year. We had been asked to be part of the
post-walk presentations, and performed a somewhat toned-down set - thoughtfully
leaving out songs such as "Car/Breakup". The sound was bad, as usual. To add to
the gloom, anyone who attempted to show the smallest affection toward our music
was quickly scorned by peers, and reminded that they were supposed to be
depressed. The icing on the cake came when the woman who followed us gave a
falsely intense, appeal-to-pathos speech that included the words "I'm not going
to sing for you guys." At this point, she shot us a bitter glance and we shot
five of them right back at her. I ate a hot dog and went home hoping the sun was
shining somewhere.
03/??/97: Charlie
Don't Surf, White Rock (sans Oliver)
Arguably the worst Svelte
performance ever. More early-years naivete told us that rock bands and tiny
restaurants go together just fine and dandy. We were quickly proven wrong. The
mystery lady who had invited us (and promised a P.A.) never showed, so we were
again forced to resort to somebody's home stereo. Oliver couldn't make it, and
this was probably just as well, because the four of us barely fit into that
corner by ourselves. Gary took over the bass duties for the night. Typically, we
were too loud and were told to turn it down at least four times. We played
pathetically, mostly because the small space limited our already-emerging
desires to rock out. Mark was shushed into using another band's brushes on his
drums - which he promptly broke. My guitar was loud and howling. Gary didn't
have room for a single rock-move. Only Kerry, the lounge pianist, gave a
half-decent performance, and the few friends who payed the small cover charge
ate dessert and left quickly. We were embarrassed and promised ourselves never
to do that again.
05/??/97: Earl
Marriott Secondary, Surrey
High-school kids love having rock bands go
to their school, good or otherwise - this was proven by the hundreds of students
that packed into the EMS small gym that lunch hour. We had spent most of the
morning setting up, and finally had a good excuse to be skipping our classes. To
discouraged the few ever-present hecklers, Mark made a sign that said "we don't
care if you think we suck," but it was too small for anyone to read. Most people
were enjoying themselves somewhat, though, because there was now a good reason
to cheer and scream for Gary (charmer that he is). We played an energetic set
and they extended the lunch hour for us - this was the beginning of Svelte's
rise into dictatorship and political control. We skipped our afternoon classes,
too, because we had another show that evening. We felt important.
05/??/97: Mayfair
festival, White Rock
We played on a big stage in a big arena. It was
our second show that day and the first time that I noticed we had groupies
(small, backpack-toting girls travelling in packs). We were thankful, though,
because at least they pretended they could hear us - the bare walls and concrete
floor didn't lend themselves well to sound reinforcement. We like to think that
maybe nobody could hear that we were out of tune.
06/01/97: In Harmony
Music Festival, Camp Kwomais, Surrey
Again, Svelte was performing
after a sleepless night. This time it was the day after our grad party, and boy,
our music has never given me such a headache. We performed surprisingly well and
managed to fake our way through the 45-minute set. This show also featured a
rare, one-time performance of a song called "Some Superstar". It didn't go over
too well. The stage monitors and soundman were a blessing, and so were our beds
as we lay down to sleep that afternoon.
11/??/97:
Coffeehouse, Place Vanier Residence, UBC, Vancouver (acoustic; sans Mark)
Our first show without Mark, a few months after he left for Japan. We did
two long, acoustic sets for a rather large crowd of UBC students, and people
seemed to enjoy us. This, for me, marked the beginning of our really growing
musically as a band.
12/??/97: VTV
Breakfast Show, Surrey (acoustic; sans Mark)
By this stage we were
accepting the fact that being in a rock band meant drastically altering our
sleep patterns. We were up by 5 AM and moved into our ex-high-school gym, where
an overly-hyper host was featuring the school for its irrepressible spirit. We
provided the musical entertainment; we were only on TV for a couple minutes, but
we still had a good time. This was a relatively solid, uneventful show.
12/??/97: Place
Vanier Residence, UBC, Vancouver
Another strong contender for the
"worst Svelte show ever" prize. Mark surprised us all by coming back from Japan
for Christmas; this show was supposed to suppress his itch to rock. It did,
alright, because we were terrible. We sang off-key, we played badly, a speaker
got unplugged halfway through the set - but mostly we just sucked. I was trying
to get the dismal crowd's energy up by jumping around like a maniac, but I just
ended up looking stupid.
02/??/98: Numerous
Friday nights at White Rock Coffee Co., Surrey (acoustic; sans Mark)
The memories of all these Friday nights seem to meld into one another. There
were at least 6 or 7 of them; they were all acoustic shows because Mark was
still in Japan. The casual, upbeat atmosphere gave us plenty of opportunity to
experiment and mature musically, without having to be really picky about our
performance. At first, just a few close friends would show up; toward the last
show, the house would pack with relatives, schoolkids, love interests, friends -
even newlyweds who had been in the week before and had heard us playing. All the
staff bought copies of our CD and had their own favourite songs. In the end,
though, some old-school management types decided that we were encouraging
parties, not customers, and we were politely asked not to return. Ironically,
the shop went bankrupt and closed its doors two weeks later. We couldn't help
but snicker.
03/??/98: Battle of
the Bands, Totem Park Residence, UBC, Vancouver (acoustic; sans Mark)
Not a terrible show, but not a great one either. We were rushed onto a small
stage in a dark ballroom, where we played a short and unexciting set. We didn't
win, but we were voted "Most Original Band" - whatever that means.
04/??/98: Earl
Marriott Secondary, Surrey (acoustic; sans Mark)
Ahh... outside on
the front lawn in the summertime; cute girls watching us play; screams and
cheers and... hecklers. We were aware of their presence, but only one person out
of fifty put up his hand when Gary asked "who really doesn't want us to be
here?" The smart-ass was quickly quieted when we asked him to come sing the next
song. The rest of the crowd appeared to like us.
05/??/98: Mayfair
festival, Surrey
This was truly suburban bliss: we played on a
converted trailer in the middle of a softball diamond. We sounded surprisingly
well-rehearsed, considering we had only practiced once since Mark had come home
from Japan. This show featured some unforgettable antics. Every guitar,
including the bass, broke a string at some point. I fell flat on my ass in the
middle of the second song and kept right on playing guitar. The crowd was cool,
though, and didn't mind our clumsiness.
Read a fan review of this show here.
08/??/98: Spirit of
the Sea Festival, White Rock
Again, we were playing on the same
trailer-turned-stage (we deduced it to be owned by the city). This time it was
down at the beach on a hot midsummer's day. A lot of folks ambled by and
apparently we were so loud that a few of the restaurants across the street
complained. Too bad.
08/??/98: In Harmony
Music Festival, Camp Kwomais, Surrey
This was the first time that I
really thought we rocked. The weather was beautiful and all the usual groupies
were there - plus a slew of new ones that Kerry had seduced over the course of
the summer. We played loud and hard, and tempted the crowd with a plethora of
rock-moves - and Jolly Ranchers. Gary shone especially brightly that day. He was
a veritable old-school rocker, wearing tight black jeans and sunglasses. He
played his guitar on the side of his hip and kicked a leg in the air about every
15 seconds. Lots of girls got up and danced, which I really appreciated. We
debuted a number of new songs that afternoon and they were well received. As
well, we played a scorching version of The Cars' "Just What I Needed". We had a
great day.
02/04/99: China
Beach, Langley (with Residue)
Our first-ever club appearance, and a
pretty good one. I remember coming down the stairs from backstage, wearing our
guitars like the rock-stars we weren't, and starting it off right with a
high-octane "Flying With Jackson". The crowd was good for a Thursday night, and
they must have enjoyed us, because I remember saying "thank you for making more
noise than us" at the end of the set. We had lots of compliments from the staff
and met one redneck fellow who asked (through a toothless grin) if we knew any
Three Dog Night. Residue came on later and rose the roof.
04/30/99: The Pilot
Party, Shelby's house, Abbotsford
This was the most fun I have ever
had on-stage. Everything about this party rocked. It was at one of Gary's
friend's houses out in the farmlands of Abbotsford. We played on a huge
second-floor balcony and as another great political manoeuvre by Svelte, we had
them knock out the railing for us (it was burned later in the night, in a frenzy
of decadence). There was a huge green sign tacked onto the wall below us saying
"FLIGHT SERVICES INFORMATION" and pointing up to us (pilots cherish stolen
airport memorabilia, you see). As well, we stole two flashing construction signs
from the road and draped one over each speaker. I think we must have looked
pretty cool. We had rented a huge, kick-ass system and Dave Roberts did the
sweetest job making us sound loud and wicked (by definition not an easy thing to
do). We started off with the theme from "Beverly Hills, 90210" - it was somewhat
epic. We played energetically and were tight musically - this was our first show
without Oliver so there were only four of us. Everything I had been told about
those pilots was true: they were notorious drinkers and sure knew how to party.
Pretty soon the place was packed and everyone was tripping over each other, but
boy, did those folks ever have a good time.
This was also the first time I
noticed just how cool Gary is. He is a god, a teen idol to these people; they
erupted into shrieks and "I love you"s with every word he spoke. All the ladies
were especially happy when we played "Sweet Caroline". We attempted a cover of
Sloan's "Coax Me" and it came off a little funny and hollow. It started to rain
a bit; we kept playing and praying that it would let up, but it didn't. By the
time we got to "Undone - The Sweater Song" it was pelting down and we were
soaked. A few people started to go inside because they were wet, and then right
in the middle of the last chorus, Gary said "fuck it!" and we all stopped right
there and walked offstage. It was the best way to end a show ever. People were
upset, but they understood, and everyone helped cover our equipment with their
coats and blankets. It was just as well, because shortly afterwards, the fuzz
showed up and told us the neighbours had complained (nearest neighbours = 1
mile). They let the party go on, though, and the good ol' boys of Svelte were
still rocking in their hearts until the wee hours of the morning.
05/28/99: Mayfair
festival, Surrey
Here we achieved more political control than ever:
we arrived in the afternoon and found the stage way too small. We would not
settle for it, and apparently the fair would not go on without us, because they
called in workers to build an 8-foot extension to the stage while we set
up. Those men worked faster than I have ever seen, cutting 2x4s with chainsaws,
and the stage was big and ready to be rocked on in less than an hour. This was
our first show with the 'new kid' Dave Shumka, so naturally all the rocking was
taken care of. This was a good show musically, and despite some sound-mixing
problems, we came across alright. There was a pretty big crowd, including some
friends who had come down from UBC - I was happy to see them. Afterwards we went
on the ferris wheel and dreamed in cotton candy and sugarplum.
06/01/99: Anza Club,
Vancouver (with The Salteens, Cloverhoney, Mount Pleasant, & 42)
Another night that devolved into decadence. Luckily we were on second,
before everyone got pissed and stopped caring. This show was to help fund The
Salteens' cross-Canada tour. The first band was a duet called "42" who were
playing their last show ever; they played 'anti-music' and managed to destroy
their entire drum kit with a guitar - I guess they felt frustrated. They were
funny, though, and were clearly doing it all with their tongues in their cheeks.
We came on next and I said "we're pretty much the antithesis of what you just
saw. We're naive." We played okay - enthusiastically, but okay - and a few
shouts of "Svelte rocks" from strangers warmed my heart. The next band was
Cloverhoney, a fun girl-pop trio, and then a wicked group called Saturnhead (on
The Special Goodness' Vast Record label) rocked hard. By the time The Salteens
went on, the house was packed with drunken fools; their set kept getting
interrupted by other guys from the band members' various side-projects.
Everything went down from there, and nobody was in their heads by the time Mount
Pleasant (one of the best local bands I've ever heard) had finished playing an
awesome set.
07/01/99: Fiona's
Canada Day Party, Richmond (acoustic; sans Mark)
This was a rather
unfortunate and bizarre night. We had set up on Fiona's patio in the backyard
and things looked nice and clean. Then it started to rain, so we moved into the
living room for an acoustic set. No real problem. The party got going well and
people were a-drinkin' so nobody cared that we screwed up a lot. We played
"Badass" for the first (and second) time ever. It got a few laughs. Some dude
got naked and started running around the house, so we got forgotten for a few
minutes. Then right after we finished, things turned nasty. A mob of mean drunk
kids showed up outside and were wanting to get in. We told them to go away and
they got mad; one of them shoved Gary into Fiona's window and smashed it (Gary
collecting 7 stitches on his shoulder in the process). Then people started to
freak out and scream and cry. We told the punks to get lost and one of them
threw a rock into another window. Fiona was not doing too well, needless to say.
Nobody would cooperate, and by the time the cops came, the mob had dissipated. I
spent the rest of the night cleaning and feeling sad about the world.
07/11/99: The Purple
Onion Cabaret, Vancouver (with Team Strike Force)
A crazy good show.
Team Strike Force took The Purple Onion by storm. I love those guys. We sang
"The Lines You Amend" with them while we waited for Kerry to get back from his
musical. He was dressed nicely, and we had a super time on that little stage.
'Twas just a solid, fun night had by all. A few newcomers were Sveltified and
everyone went home happy.
07/22/99: China
Beach, Langley (with Mach Turtle & Drop Groove Trio)
We arrived
ready to rock for the trailer trash of Langley. The details on this show had
remained somewhat of a mystery to us, but we had been told we would be the last
band to play (due to previous commitments). Near-chaos ensued when we showed up
and all three bands had apparently been told the same thing. To avoid a fight
with their large, curly-haired, slasher guitarists, we just decided that none of
this was important, and we would play first and blow them all away. We didn't,
but we were having far too much fun jumping like maniacs onstage to play any of
our songs right - and in the end, nobody cared. Especially not us. We took our
fanclub and left the building for the last time, with the screaming rage of Mach
Turtle in the background. Incidentally, their rock didn't live up to their talk.
08/01/99: Spirit of
the Sea Festival, White Rock
A lovely, hot summer's day and we were
playing right on the beach. A huge, well-outfitted stage with professional
technicians to help us sound good. Plenty of oohs and aahs from the pretty girls
sitting in the sun. Could this be heaven? No, because as soon as we got on
stage, everything went wrong. This was somewhat reminiscent of our earlier,
disaster-ridden shows. I broke two guitar strings. Two cables had to be
replaced. Halfway through the set my monitor blew up. Kerry's keyboard was
burping. And if reports are correct, the 'professional' soundman managed to make
a five-piece rock band sound like a drummer, a bassist and one singer. Which is
quite unfortunate, because we played well.
08/28/99: In Harmony
Music Festival, Surrey
Despite cloudy skies and a not-so-huge
turnout, we managed to put on a very good show. I had an awesome time playing
and I think we performed really well. Ed of Cozy Bones was doing sound so
naturally the mix was impeccable. Nothing went terribly wrong. And there was a
freakin' fog machine. What more could we possibly ask for? The biggest feature
of this show was a high note held for at least 30 full seconds by Gary (which
won him some applause). At the end, people asked for an encore but there was no
time. I thought about stealing the fog machine on the way out, but too many
people were watching. What a fantastic day, though.
09/04/99: Space
Mistake Music showcase, Marine Club, Vancouver (with Team Strike Force, Noxema
Girls & Peppersands; sans Dave)
Remind us not to play without
Dave again. The night started out right, and the nautical theme inherent
throughout the Marine Club gave us some nice stage decorations (life rings and
trophies). We also had a massive wall of at least 7 amplifiers - 5 of which were
merely for show - and an old backdrop belonging to Pure, from the "Generation
6-Pack" era. But playing last out of four bands was not as ideal as we thought
it might be. Everyone was tired and our voices were already shot from screaming
for Team Strike Force. As well, we chose to ignore threats from the other bands
that the stage was hexed. Of course, they were right, and both my guitars broke
in one way or another. Our set was mediocre - not pathetic, but not exactly
inspired. All in all, though, it was a fun night, and nobody got hurt. And
that's what matters.
10/05/99: Music CiTR
Shindig contest, Railway Club, Vancouver (with Cheshire Blue & LarG
Productions)
This was definitely a good show to go into a contest
with. We played accurately and rocked hard. Numerous judges told us they were
impressed with our harmonies and songwriting. Some features of this show: we
started a "c'mon" contest with the crowd, Gary sang a few lines of "Baby Beluga"
for one of his rowdy pilot friends, and Kerry and I started singing "Ananya" at
different times and created a crazy delay effect. All in all it was an awesome
night. The competition was respectable, but not fierce. We were voted the
night's winners and given a spot at the semifinals in November. Crazy cool.
10/22/99: The
Piccadilly Pub, Vancouver (with Cozy Bones)
Sweet Sassy Molassy, does
Cozy Bones ever rock! I hadn't seen them since high school and they do a mean
show. We had a brilliant night and can guarantee there will be more shows with
the Cozy boys. There were more of our friends at this show than I've ever seen
together in one room. People danced like crazy to our performance - which was
visually wild, but acoustically quite sloppy. Gary's friends, as usual, were
there in full force and begged for "The Five Alive Song" until we gave in. More
than anything, this was a chance for five geeky guys to feel like rock stars for
a night. We love crowds like that.
11/23/99: Music CiTR
Shindig contest semifinals, Railway Club, Vancouver (with Bel Riose &
Undermars)
Well, we lost, and we deserved to. A band that hasn't
played together in over a month cannot expect to give a stellar performance.
Besides this, numerous factors contributed to our demise: the "slippery" $1.79
drumsticks that kept falling out of Mark's hands, some very bizarre sound
mixing, and the general inability to hear what we were doing. But there's no use
making excuses. We had a great time playing and I jumped in the air as often as
I could on that tiny stage, but perhaps we got a bit cocky. Gary's screaming
fanatic friends have a way of making us feel a lot better than we actually are.
After the show, I think there was a general consensus that we need to practice
more. Undermars gave a very solid pop show, and Bel Riose (one huge-ass drum kit
and a maniacal bass player) took the trophy to advance to the finals. Well done.
11/23/99: Music CiTR Shindig contest
semifinals, Railway Club, Vancouver (with Bel Riose & Undermars)[by Gary
Russell]
Well, we lost, but we deserved to win dang it! Even though
we had not practiced in a bit, we're probably the best band Vancouver has ever
seen! I will admit that we're not the tightest group on the coast, but who can
deny their deepest needs for power pop/rock? Moog, guitar, bass and pounding
drums... It's all there! Could our defeat be a mistake? Will they announce the
real winner later, as to not make the other bands feel badly? Will we ever know?
I'll keep everyone updated.... [G]
02/05/00: Douglas
Recreation Centre, Langley (with Witness Protection Program, The Chick Magnets,
& Complete)
I am at home wondering if it is at all possible that
anybody at the show tonight had as much fun as I did. I doubt it. Tonight was
perhaps one of the raddest nights of my life, and I'm exhausted. Though there
were fears of playing an all-ages show with three loud, angry punk bands, and
though it was our first-ever performance with Pete "Sir Kicksalot" Reinhardt,
things went incredibly well. If almost every song was ten metronome markings too
fast, it didn't matter. If the vocals were lost in a sea of muddiness, it didn't
matter. Well, not to us, anyways. We were too busy jumping off our amps, playing
guitar solos lying on our backs, and taking our pants off (in Dave's case). A
lot of incredible antics went on because of the heavy-metal-style catwalk stage
setup. A surprising amount of people actually hung around to see us close off
the night, and I think maybe we felt compelled to compete with the other bands,
because our set was louder, faster, and tougher-sounding than it has ever been.
We played two encores, and by the end of the second one, it was clear that we
had run out of material - because nobody asked for a third. Whether or not
everybody who came was treated to a musically pleasing show is not a question I
can answer. All I can hope is that everybody was entertained.
02/12/00: Earl
Marriott Secondary Theatre Gala Opening (acoustic; sans Dave or Pete)
This was perhaps the largest ever departure from our usual style of show.
With only 60% of the band there, it could barely be considered a Svelte
performance, but I'm putting it here anyway. Perhaps it was 'three members of
Svelte, covering Svelte tunes'. In any case, it was very, very different.
Picture if you will, three boys sitting on a bare stage, squinting from the
light, playing pretty folk songs on acoustic guitars and an upright piano.
Musically, this show was great - vocal harmonies were everywhere, and we even
surprised ourselves at points. Kerry had plenty of nice Tori-Amos-isms on the
piano. Everything was slowed down quite a bit, and even hard rockers like "Don't
Go" managed to sound very sweet and sentimental. At times there were sudden,
unforeseen dynamic changes where we would start singing choruses in our quietest
voices and barely playing our instruments. We had a great, casual conversation
with the polite audience, who seemed to really like the change. 'Twas a very
mellow performance, and a very enjoyable one.
03/24/00: Show-O-Rama
Battle of the Bands 2000, Totem Park Residence, UBC (we won)
I'm not
sure if we expected to win. Out of ten or eleven bands, though, it does feel
good. We did a short, revved-up set that was somewhat entertaining - especially
over on the 'Dave & Gary' side of the stage. I can't really say how well we played,
because, as usual, I was too shy to ask for a proper monitor mix, and I ended up playing
the whole set without really hearing what I was doing. A couple funnies:
-The guy who announced the winning band had lost his voice completely, so we had no clue what he was saying.
Eventually we figured out that he had said "Svelte", and cheered for a minute before getting to play another few songs.
-On Five Alive, Gary spontaneously asked to switch instruments with me. Dave got mad because
Gary only knew the guitar part that Dave plays... so they both ended up
playing the same thing.
-Gary took off his pants at one point during the
show. Is this starting to become a habit? Is it a tasteless way to win over
female fans? Who knows?
04/14/00: Coastal Pacific Aviation graduation banquet, King's Crossing Hotel, Abbotsford (sans Kerry)
Somewhat of a disaster on our part - perhaps due to playing without Kerry, perhaps just due to bad luck. I took over lead vocals and switched between my guitar and keyboard, which was manageable but rather messy.
Gary, in an effort to please his fellow pilots, kept saying "one more song" until we had played for 2.5 hours and we were right out of steam. By this time our performance had completely fallen apart, and we were playing halves of AC/DC tunes, but luckily everyone was extremely drunk and didn't mind.
If you were at this party, and sober, we're sorry.
05/05/00: Marine Club, Vancouver (with Sharkskin & Undermars)
Our best show ever? Certainly a complete turnaround from two weeks ago; I have nothing but praise for this entire night. The Marine Club is rad and it was packed. We were playing for several friends, but mostly an audience of strangers, and we went on first.
Likely due to a careful soundcheck, everything sounded very nice onstage and we played tighter than we ever have before. I couldn't stop smiling and hopping around my allocated 4 square feet of stage. Everything went very solidly and we seemed to
grab the attention of more than a few bargoers. This night marked the debut of "O Aberdeen" - which, might I say, kicked some booty, and featured an extended playout of "1985" to round up the set. There were cries of "take your pants off!" but hey - that's disgusting. I couldn't stop smiling until I fell asleep.
05/23/00: Railway Club, Vancouver (with Mt. Pleasant & The Rye Catchers)
I'm starting to wonder if my impressions of our shows are based too much on my general mood by the end of the night, and not enough on the shows themselves.
I'm tired. I can quite certainly say we were our usual sloppy selves tonight, but this time I think we made up for most of it in pure energy and likeability.
There was a lot of joking around from Gary, clumsiness from me, feverish temper from Kerry, concentration from Pete, and dance moves from Dave.
As usual, we got sucked into Gary's spontaneous addition of 2 songs to the setlist. Mt. Pleasant and The Rye Catchers both outdid us musically. We made a lot of noise though.
07/22/00: The Svelte Fan Appreciation Barbecue, Martin's House, Surrey
An excellent party. Thunderstorms and rain kind of dampered the 'backyard barbecue' atmosphere we had hoped for, so we kept the barbecue under cover and moved the rock band into the garage.
We basically set up a cafe-type feel with lots of chairs and candles (and a great KISS-esque backlight behind the drum kit), along with old curtains, Christmas lights, and some cheesy travel posters to make us think of summertime. It was a great atmosphere and a good 30-40 people showed up, ate burgers, and drank beer.
Aside from what I felt was one of our best-ever performances, the two sets were dotted with screaming girls, chanting encores, candy cigarettes, count-ins by audience members, well-received new material, and Gary talking between songs, even though we had a verbal contract that he wouldn't.
The party itself was a lot of fun and it was rad to see brand new faces - several fans we had only talked to online showed up. I think everybody left happy. And if they didn't, it wasn't our fault.
07/29/00: Linda O'Donovan's birthday party, St. Mark's Church, Surrey
An opportunity to play for a different crowd - perhaps an older, mellower crowd than usual, but an opportunity nonetheless. We were rather bland onstage, and also very sloppy, as proven by our attempt at making a live recording.
08/08/00: Harmony Arts Festival, John Lawson Park, West Vancouver
Whoo! Today's show was cooking. I [Martin] thoroughly enjoyed being at this festival, which was extremely well-organized and located in one of the city's most picturesque locations. Add to that a sunny day, impeccable sound engineers, and about 500 people (our largest crowd to date) and you've got a great time for all. Highlights include a mosh pit of young children and signing autographs for new fans.
08/23/00: Douglas Park, Langley (with Big Skull Science)
If nothing more than a glorified rehearsal for us, this was a very fun show. Due to lacklustre promotion on everybody's part, we only had about 20 people in attendance. The city of Langley is curiously different than ours, though, because most people arrived on BMXs. That was great to see.
Big Skull Science played a wonderfully kick-ass set (for such wonderfully gentle guys) and we followed as best we could. Sound quality was average, but I felt we played very well. A first for us: we only talked a minimal amount, and actually segued several songs right into the next ones, with no talking in between! Mercy.
The sun was blistering hot and marvelous and 60% of us wore ringer tees. We sold several CDs for such a small crowd. I hope we can do this again soon.
09/17/00: In Harmony Music Festival, Camp Kwomais, Surrey
Madness! This show was nuts, for us anyways.
We arrived at the camp to a sad country band, rain, and a tired crowd. Naturally, this gave us grim hopes for our set, and we set up reluctantly, with a general attitude of "who cares? Let's just go nuts and get it over with."
It's surprising, though, how the audience with which we started the show gradually morphed into a completely different organism throughout the 45 minutes we played.
We took every opportunity to do incredible kicks, jumps, action-hero-moves and generally just be very energetic onstage.
My brother Brad and his friend Ben got the crowd going by bringing out a big cardboard "SVELTE" banner and waving it around. Soon they were joined by other head-bobbing teens.
The older folks gradually filtered out, and by the end of the set, the rain had lifted and we were playing to a group of 50-odd kids, and really enjoying ourselves.
09/29/00: Blunt Bros, Vancouver (with The Rye Catchers)
I do believe that Blunt Bros is one of Vancouver's best-kept secrets, as far as rock venues go. It is safe to say that we were all quite frightened at first - pitch black, pouring rain, loading our gear up from a garbage-filled back alley in the seediest part of the city into a cafe that hails itself as being 'smoke-friendly'. Not to mention the fact that the booking agent had a different band booked for the night.
However, once we got inside and forgot about the terrible things that were happening out on Hastings (and breathed some of the 'smoke-friendly' air?), we realized what a great, friendly place Blunt Bros is.
The soundman was professional and extremely good to us, and people started to get into our set. Best of all, the wall behind us was painted with a huge trompe-l'oeil mural which vaguely resembled heaven - sky, pillars, statues playing guitars, and stone hands reaching giant joints into the air.
The Rye Catchers were incredible - incredible.
10/19/00: Marine Club, Vancouver (with Girl Nobody)
Kind of a demoralizing night... perhaps due to our agreeing to play this show only two days before, we were somewhat lacking an audience. We had fun playing, that much is certain.
On the drive home, I [Martin] got to wondering if this was in fact due to shabby promotion, or everybody having midterms the next day, or a horribly dark and rainy night with no cars on the street anyway, or perhaps us doing something wrong.
It's saddening when you've worked hard for four years at something and only a dozen or so people come out to appreciate it... I counted Abby, Jen and a friend, Greg Amos and a friend, Girl Nobody and a few of their friends, and some salty old sailors at the bar.
A big thanks to these few for coming out and saving us from certain death. It just seems strange, when 50 people will come into my garage for a rock show in the summer.
I guess these are things have to be taken with a grain of salt. I wheeled my Marshall home through the pouring rain and got it a little roadworn, which both delighted and saddened me. When I got up to my room there was a lovely, heartening note on the door: "Martin, you guys were @#$%!^ awesome! - Gill." I guess these are the things that keep us going.
11/09/00: The Purple Onion Cabaret, Vancouver (with Roadbed, Katrina & Jane Siene)
This show was a lot of fun. Things started to warm up early and crowd slowly trickled in. Roadbed was a band I'd never even heard of, but wow! they were just revolutionary. They played a strange cross between straight jazz and Flin Flon-esque minimalism, and dressed like The Super Friendz - ridiculously large pink glasses, toques with earflaps, big nasty sideburns. The music was incredible and most of us sat in awe through their whole set.
We were headlining in the lounge room, and we took the stage shortly after midnight. The crowd consisted of mostly strangers, and a few close friends who sat in the corner and screamed like banshees: Fiona, Abby, a couple girls from Kerry's work, Regan and Ryan Flowers (brilliant! so good to see him), Marla and Christine Church, Robbie, Anthony, and Kate from UBC, a few friends of Peter's, Janice and Jesse, Rnold, and Jeni Kamo. Well, Regan did enough shrill screaming for all of them. C'mon.
Lots of pictures were taken of us doing rock-moves. Sometimes, we would strike a pose and someone would shout "stay there!", and we couldn't move until the picture had been snapped.
I think there were a lot of kicks and jumps from all of us. Kerry went into voluntary spasms now and then. It was his first time playing with the new strap-on MOOG, and it took a little adjusting, but really opened the stage up. The playing was a little on the sloppy side, but nothing too distastrous. Tonight also marked the debut of "Jet Noises in the Night", which seemed to work well. I like that tune.
After over an hour of playing, we all got tired really quickly. As usual, Gary wanted to add more songs, and went so far as to strap on his bass again, but we just said no and left him. Sorry, G.
All in all, it was really nice to do this kind of show again. The crowd was plentiful and respectful, and I got the impression that people enjoyed our music.
11/19/00: Java Joint Coffee Co., Surrey (with The Spinoffs, Falling Short & Bestest)
All-ages shows are always my favourites. People are there for music, not beer, and there's no shame in getting up and dancing. The Java Joint is actually a pretty cool little place - just a military-themed room with a big concrete floor and a few couches. They tend to book a lot of heavier bands, though, and we were up against 3 punk acts.
Somehow we succeeded... we're always a little intimidated of more aggressive audiences, but I think our music does strike a certain chord with some punk fans. The place was loud, and people were cold, and we just delivered our hardest-hitting songs with a tougher attitude than usual. We also executed some huge jump-kicks, and I heard a couple 'whoa's from the crowd - très cool.
Mr. Reinhardt was there! What a man. We sold a few CDs, made a few new friends, had a pretty swell little time.
11/23/00: Marine Club, Vancouver (with Astrid)
Another completely unattended night at the Marine Club... I guess we were expecting it this time. Oh well. Astrid played a private show just for us, and we did the same for them. They were frickin' hilarious, by the way. We pretty much lost control of the music after a song or two, and just got all wild. Highlights: Gary, Dave and I formed a human pyramid during "Shoe Girl" and kept right on playing, nearly all instruments were played with mic stands at one point in the night, and the guitars ended up in a big heap on the stage at the end of the set.
Consider it a rehearsal, boys.
12/02/00: Blunt Bros, Vancouver
We played two sets and attempted to make a live album, but our recording failed quite miserably due to lack of setup time. It ended up sounding only slightly better than a bootleg.
On top of that, this recording made us really realize how much more polishing needs to be done on our live show, and set the wheels in motion for bigger and better rock in the future.
12/22/00: More Than A Cookbook, John Knox Gym, Burnaby
Suburban kids gathered in a private school gymnasium (on a rainy Friday). There were police lights and smoke machines, and just about the widest variety of bands you've ever heard on one bill. We felt like old, tired rockers compared to some of the high schoolers in attendance. Said Peter: "This is the first time I've seen people more nervous about playing a show than me." We took the stage at 11 and turned our amps to 10. It was very, very loud, in a good way. We had rehearsed for several 6-hour days earlier in the week, and a lot of the changes we had practiced actually materialized onstage. A lot of them also got forgotten while we were doing rock kicks. I was alternately happy and sad about that. Because of all the fog, I couldn't see past the row of standees, happily bopping near the stage, but there was some great screaming from out in the crowd. A lot of people we don't usually see at shows came out: Natalie, Richard Ogawa, Katy and Jenn from Saltspring (hooray!), Dick Chow, Will Howie, Matt Cavers, Brad and Ben, and Kristin Stilling. They were all as devoted as we could ever ask for in an audience. Afterwards, we went to a quiet little Greek restaurant and filled our tummies. I drove home in the rain feeling complete.