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.

Agoraphobia

I haven't been going out too much lately - Not just in terms of drinking and partying but also literally not leaving the house - so for the first time in a long while I went downtown by myself and it was a horrifying experience.

First of all, when you've been cooped up in a single bedroom apartment on the top floor of a low rise building located in the suburbs for weeks all by yourself , you forget how loud everything is in city. I guess I could've diminished the noise around me by putting in my head phones in but I was also so captivated by every sound and unintelligible voice. This experience was awfully unsettling and with every elevation in the noise level, I was becoming very aware of how isolated and environment-sensitive I am.

Another problem is navigation. I kept bumping into people. I guess my social-assertiveness and self preserving aggression had also been on the decrease, so every time I felt the slightest guilt from somehow inconveniencing people by accidentally being in their way, I apologized emphatically. Luckily I was able to finish my errands in no time and return home  before I crumbled to the floor in the middle of Vancouver,  in a puddle of my own anxiety induced vomit. This is the first time I experienced what it it might feel like to have agoraphobia. I wonder if some other phobias can be developed this way. It almost seems too easy and this notion is of course, very frightening... ...FUCK!

Off the Grid

Some of you may have noticed that my blog had gone missing for a few weeks. You see, I realized there's a typo in my domain name (hapeningsinss is missing a "p") and corrected it without considering the catastrophic chain reaction of voiding every single hyperlink which lead to this humble little blog. 

For the month I was off the grid, I do apologize. I hope I didn't do any irreparable damage to some of the other blogger's credibility - promoting a blog to readers that doesn't seem to exist.

Well, now I've reverted back to hosting a blog with a misspelled domain named it comforts me in a way that perhaps I can start owning my other mistakes. For example: Not appreciating King Crimson up until now.

You can be sober or super high on your drug of choice for this. I promise you, this will make all the hipster shit you've been listening to sound like eating watery lettuce with warm vinaigrette.

Social Retard

This is my fourth week of being jobless and it's probably the best thing ever. Going to be at 4 A.M. in the morning and waking up in the afternoon, I'm starting to feel like a teenager again but without the self-esteem issues, suicidal tendencies and of course, parental tyranny.

The only downside to my unemployment is that I don't have as much money to spend on shit I like. I've pretty much stopped shopping for clothes and have even made strict rules about how often I should be going out. So there's been a lot of staying at home and cooking for myself, looking after the cats and waiting for school to start. Life is good and mellow.

 Obviously this can get boring very fast so I'm already planning on starting a few arts and craft projects. First thing on the docket is an oldie but a goodie - tye-dyed products.

Also, remember when I said I got rid of the long wispy bangs. Here some new short-ass baby bangs for the summer. They are pretty awesome but hard to maintain especially when I have to trim it myself without proper scissors every two weeks or so.

Lastly, here's my recent favourite local band. They are called B-lines and they are excellent.

Some Kind of Hate

I almost never wear pants anymore, leggings have won the battle of comfort and style over them. Although I know a great deal of people who are into fashion would disagree with me but I want to pay a tribute to them.

I've been listening to a lot of old school punk lately. By a lot, I mean exclusively The Mistfits (Glen Danzig era only). Static Age remains one of the best punk albums ever made.

T.U.K.-ing On My Heart Strings

This is amazing-sauce! Our humble little band Scrambled Debutante got our first review in the Georgia Straight!  Which means we are now a legitimate band because people have now judged and wrote about those judgements for the public eye in hopes to sway their opinion!!! Now I know what it feels like to be totally fucking famous! Raawwrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Second tidbit of excitement: I was interview on CJSF last Friday for their International Women's Day special to talk about what it feels like to a feminist and a female musician in Vancouver. I talked intensely for half an hour and have never been so proud to be speaking about things that are extremely personal to me.

It seems like things are on the upswing for me and I'm enjoying every moment of it.

Back to business of being serious though. I'm still struggling with creating a workable angle for the new blog. While I want to start a new blog less fashion-focused, I still want my own personal aesthetics to be a part of it. Also, I was told that this blog isn't really about fashion so maybe I'm already achieving what my supposed new blog is going to be all about?

Regardless. I will keep you all informed about any future developments. Now, I'm going to go bask in the temporary glory of how frighteningly much people seem to like me.

No Fur, Faux Fur

I rearranged my living room so my background is different. I am now posing in front of where all my music stuff is.

Did I mention I have a band? We are Scrambled Debutante. You can download our newest EP for free or by donation. 

Short post, lots of pictures. Enjoy them.

Fly Like an Eagle

Tonight was probably one of the best Tuesday nights I've had in a long time. My band,  Scrambled Debutante officially released our first three song EP and had a premiere/interview with Y57 Media where the they broadcasted, for the first time, our finished tracks!

Oh hey, we also had an in-studio acoustic performance/interview at CJSF last night, previewing our premier tonight!

Holy fuck balls. This is excited shit! That's why I'm wearing my eagle sweater today because I think eagles must feel awesome all the time and I feel awesome today, like a fucking eagle!

We have all of our songs on bandcamp available for download for free or by donation. Go listen now!

Sick, Obsessed, Girl Crushes

I celebrated turning 26 last night and the backlash of that is this horrible sore throat I'm having to deal with. Every time I swallow, I imagine razorblades, slowly being pushed down by peristalsis; mangling every oral structure on the way down.

 So yes, being sick sucks but what's sick about sick is that I get to stay in a Saturday and look at photos of girls in bands I like. I'm starting with the Dum Dum Girls.

I saw these babes two years ago opening for Beach House (another great band with a babe in it.) and Vampire Weekend (I left right after Beach House because I didn't give a shit about Vampire Weekend) and I immediately developed a crush on them. How could you not? They're so good at what they do and they look fucking amazing!!! 

I really want to focus my attention on some local talent here, The Courtneys. These folks live and play shows all over Vancouver and technically, if you think about it, Scrambled Debutante (the band I'm in) is kind of their contemporary. Fuck, I get shivers just thinking about that. The very notion that I may someday get to play a show with them just blows my fucking mind. 

They seem hilarious too. If you just click on the link I provided which leads you to their bandcamp you can see that they are absolutely cuckoo for Keanu Reeves. That's the kind of shtick I dig because Keanu is awesome.

I've been listening to Mika Miko way before any of the previous two bands and I've never really thought anything of them until I started playing music again. Just from a musical point of view, some of the riffs are the best I've ever heard. Which completely fucks with any gender related expectations regarding girl guitar players. 

This has been a productive sick day. I hope I get better soon. Good news, Scrambled Debutante is going on air for Y57 Youth Media on Tuesday and CJSF on Monday. Stay tuned for the recordings of those.

Tie Dye Madness

I apologize for the lack of postings lately. You see, I've been busy with band business. I've been in the studio this past couple of days, pulling 8 hour recordings and have never gotten so sick of playing the same shit over and over again. The end results however, is well worth it. Stay tuned for our first three-song EP. It should be done fairly soon.

After our successful show last Saturday, I got to thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, if all this music stuff work out eventually, I can actually see myself living out the rest of my live as a musician. I'm sure this isn't something too difficult to imagine as we all dream about becoming "rock stars". What I mean here really is that I truly love creating music and wouldn't mind doing it even if I was paid peanuts.  Maybe I won't be saying that when I'm dirt broke on tour and have to sleep in a van for a months straight and live on a bag of chips, shared among three people. All these things are possibilities, I think I'm just excited that I'm more involved with playing music than I've ever been and I'm happy.

Just Like Honey

We had our first successful show yesterday. 

We also had our first band interview on CJSF. We are about halfway through the show, so if you hear shitty John Mayer-esque singing in the beginning, that's not us.

On top of all that, we are recording our first EP, starting next week. Looks like I'll be super famous and rich after all.

Scrambled Debutante

I have been rendered completely useless by the incessant heat, emanating from everywhere. Including from my cats. I swear, I tried to pet one of them yesterday and a bit of my skin got singed off.

I haven't been in the mood to write much lately (because of the heat wave) so I'm going to leave you with a poster I designed for my band: Scrambled Debutante. We have a show on the 11th and look, we even have a Bandcamp.

Creeps and Weirdos

Some exciting news

I'll be playing a show next Saturday. This is the first show of a band which I've been a part the longest. All the magi, three and a half years in the making, will finally be heard by the public. Until then, here's a little cover I did.

And no, this is not at all the type of music we'll be playing on Saturday (our stuff sound like The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth gone completely bat-shit insane) This is just something I did for fun. 

Chomsky Would Probably Disagree

I haven't been the thriftiest person lately because I discovered just how much I enjoy shopping online. That's probably the saddest thing I've ever experienced because I now have solid evidence that I'm lazy as fuck. So lazy that I won't even get off my ass to go to the thrift store even though potential kick-ass outfits at a bargain could so easily be achieved. 

When I do leave the house for things other than necessities such as going to work or buying food because I simply can't eat frozen dumplings for the fourth day in a row, I've been known to find some rare gems. Like this Boss Hog CD I found at the local used book store. The sad thing is, I don't own a CD player.

This speaks to me in so many ways. One, I sometimes really enjoy emocore. Two, I've actually broken many strings where at the time felt like the perfect reason to lose it and start bawling because all those times happened in the middle of an intense jam or live on stage.

I think this is pretty self-explanatory.