Vancouver's own Hard Feelings got a long night of energetic punk-infused rock'n'roll started off perfectly. Featuring members of Cadeaux, You Say Party and Ghost House, plus too many other long-gone bands to even start listing off, the hard-working four-piece clearly have an established fanbase that made sure to arrive early. It can be tough to get crowds in Vancouver to show up on time for the local openers, but Hard Feelings have created enough of a buzz in the city to ensure a solid audience.
Playing what must have been songs from their forthcoming LP, which is apparently now being mixed, Hard Feelings tore through a short set of controlled garage punk, featuring a double vocal attack and jittery guitar work that had the crowd nodding their heads in approval.
As great as Hard Feelings were, Chicago's Disappears were the clear highlight of the night, which seemed to catch a lot of the crowd off guard, especially when longtime Sonic Youth timekeeper Steve Shelley stepped up to the drums. The always steady and stout Shelley kept a motorik beat throughout as the band put up a wall of Spacemen 3-like volume and intensity, then threw down Krautrock-informed riffs of mesmerizing repetition. While their two albums have remained off a lot of radars, the manic intensity of their live show is sure to turn a few ears towards those underrated albums.
Back to Vancouver for a third time in just under two years, Obits laid down a solid set of their terse rock'n'roll, culled equally from their debut and most recent full-length, Moody, Standard and Poor. Despite the non-stop energy of the band, the crowd remained fairly tame throughout. Perhaps recent news of a Hot Snakes reunion had most pining for the return of one of the best garage punk bands of the last decade.
Playing what must have been songs from their forthcoming LP, which is apparently now being mixed, Hard Feelings tore through a short set of controlled garage punk, featuring a double vocal attack and jittery guitar work that had the crowd nodding their heads in approval.
As great as Hard Feelings were, Chicago's Disappears were the clear highlight of the night, which seemed to catch a lot of the crowd off guard, especially when longtime Sonic Youth timekeeper Steve Shelley stepped up to the drums. The always steady and stout Shelley kept a motorik beat throughout as the band put up a wall of Spacemen 3-like volume and intensity, then threw down Krautrock-informed riffs of mesmerizing repetition. While their two albums have remained off a lot of radars, the manic intensity of their live show is sure to turn a few ears towards those underrated albums.
Back to Vancouver for a third time in just under two years, Obits laid down a solid set of their terse rock'n'roll, culled equally from their debut and most recent full-length, Moody, Standard and Poor. Despite the non-stop energy of the band, the crowd remained fairly tame throughout. Perhaps recent news of a Hot Snakes reunion had most pining for the return of one of the best garage punk bands of the last decade.
