Shout Back! Festival - Celebrating the Underrepresented in Vancouver Music

Scrambled Debutante played their first official punk show last night at the ArtBank on Powell for Shout Back! Festival. An entirely DIY, three-day, moshy, braless, anti-capitalism and all-together awesome music/workshop weekend dedicated to celebrate the local punk music. It acknowledges the underrepresented groups (women, LGBTQ, non-White) in the music industry as part of a movement and proponent of contemporary culture and art collective.

I want to take a moment to appreciate the effort everyone put in to make something this amazing possible. Not only was this significant in terms of its intended message, but it's also extremely meaningful in the way that it was a open forum for freedom of expression.

HOOVES

Four incredibly energetic women with some of most interesting vocals I've ever heard. These girls are so fun to watch and super kind too. They were the first on and played before us. All of them stayed for the whole night and came and said awesome things to me after we finished. Truly rad musicians.

SKUNT

Some of the most amazing covers of Pixies, Lou Reid and Le Tigre ever! The lead singer/guitarist packs a powerful punch in her singing/playing while the rest of the band complemented her energy with the raddest and the loudest back-up vocals.

LUNCHLADY 

HOLY SHIT CAN THEY PLAY AND SCREAM LIKE NO BODY'S BUSINESS! I missed the first couple of their songs because the venue was like a steam room with all the sweaty, dancing, happy punks thrashing about but once I joined back into the rocking out, this band blew me away. The lead singer/guitarist is a theatrical woman with the most amazing outfit - white vintage sleeping gown style dress with a tampon belt which she attached individual tampons with red tips to her waistline. Whatever, her costume is not nearly as out of this world as her powerful growls and fuck-you-in-the-ear sing/yelps. Complete with walking bass lines and atonal guitar licks, they sound something right out of Olympia from the 90's. A true-to-the-roots group of riot grrls, here in Vancouver, FUCK! YEAH!

DEADSOFT

They're probably my favourite band from Vancouver at this point. My drummer Jamie had the privilidge of touring with these guys in July and I'm still seething with jealousy. The bass player Keeley has some mad chops comparable to Kim Deal. Nathaniel, the guitar player/singer is a beast in that he's working like seven petals and playing guitar so hard it makes my hand hurt. The drummer, who's name I've forgotten drives every single song and carries crazy punk magic with each kick, and hit. So so so so so so so good. After the show, I showed my appreciation by patting everyone on their sweaty backs and Keeley and I both agreed that perhaps Scrambled Debutante and Deadsoft should play a show again very soon.

Lolita

I realized that I'm simply not cut-out to be super involved in fashion because obviously I don't make enough time to post regular posts. For the fashion lovers still recovering from the hollow echos of my absence, you will never be left wondering what I'm wearing again because here's my Instagram. With this, you'll be able to check in every day to ensure that I have not left the house naked. For the others who are still reading. I will write for you some of the things that has been particularly interesting to me.

      

My new job has demanded much of my time and attention and it's now at the forefront of my everyday functioning. I am waiting for grad school to start in September. 

I am currently with reading Lolita by Nabokov. Alas, my book is used and the cover page has disintegrated over time due to overuse-age. The rest of the book will probably follow a similar fate because of it, so I will have to get a new one. Perhaps a hard cover copy. 

If you haven't read the book, I high recommend it. Nabokov's prose is extremely captivating. Though the theme is taboo but all the naughty bits are implied and just subtle enough that it allows the readers to use their imagination. It's a fantastic read for anyone who is interested in exploring that aspect of human sexuality. However, the novel is more than just sex and the characters are very complex and relatable.