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!

Record Store Day + 420

Happy Saturday/Record Store Day/420, everyone! I thoroughly enjoy all three of those things but today I have an even bigger news to get excited about. Today is my friend Jamie's sister, Sarah's wedding and I have been invited to attend as long as I sing a song. This is an incredibly generous gesture considering I'm not even remotely related or close to his family and that they're willing to let me eat, drink and be weird at their daughter's wedding. It does however bode well for me as a quasi-musician because if I do one day decide to drop everything to become one, I can at least get free food and drinks by singing at people's weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, birthdays or any event at which my taken-for-granted-talen can serve to entertain people.

One thing I would like to also mention is that I'm participating in my first ever long-distance run. That's right the Vancouver Sun Run will be one of the things I get to cross off my 2013 to-do list. This year is especially important considering the recent tragedy that took place at the Boston Marathon. Thus in the spirit of moving forward; both literally and figuratively, I am proud to be a part of collective culture which represents more than just Vancouverite's love for the outdoors.

Finally, I just want to turn your attention towards this little review Scrambled Debutante garnered in this recent week. Seriously, there's so many things going on right now, I'm jealous of myself.

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.