Hello Vancouver

You Say Party! We Say Die! is an awesome band.

Seriously, you should check them out. They are Vancouver powerpop at it's finest.
Not exactly thinking man's music, but holy shit is it fun. The band is: Derek Adam
on guitar, Stephen O'Shea on bass, Krista Loewen on keys and vox, Becky Ninkovic on
lead vox and Bruce Dyck on the drums. Though they just recent replaced Bruce on the
drums with some Devon guy, who apparently rocks, but I haven't seen him play so I
can't vouch for his awesomeness. Bruce kicks ass though and is a rad guy, he
continues to drum for Fun100 among other projects.


You Say Party! We Say Die! has a sound that's somewhere between the Bangles, Gang of
Four, and a synthesizer made of ephedrine. Notorious for their amazing live show and
their 'go everywhere, play every gig' attitude, this is a band that really has to be
experienced live. Nevertheless, their album 'Hit the Floor' is required listening
for anyone who likes indie pop-punk-synth-rock. Their myspace can be found here
and you can check out some free mp3's from the band website here and here .

Keep in mind listening to this is a full body experience.

Beat Happening was a great band.

Beat happening formed around 1980 and started recording in '83 and was comprised
of Bret Lunsford on drums and guitar, Calvin Johnson on vox and guitar, and Heather
Lewis on drums, vox, and guitars.

If any of those names sound familiar it's probably because you are a huge music nerd,
because it was Calvin Johnson who helped found K Records.

Beat Happening had a very loose and low-fi sound reminiscent of 50's psychadelic
bands that would turn up on the nuggets album. Taking cues from the Velvet
Underground, Beat Happening still definately had their own thing going on. I'd
highly reccomend their album Black Candy, which to me best encapsulates their sound.
All of their work is required listening, however.

Here's a bootleg video of them playing a live show, and here is a promo video they put together.

The Make Up, one of the many bands to
begin their name with 'the' and forever
crippling my mp3 organisation, is
awesome, and you really need to give
them a listen. Headed by the
incredible Ian Svenonius, this group
formed in the mid 1990's in Washington
DC and quickly became a live-venue
legend. Anyone who's seen Svenonius
perform will testify to this. The rest
of the lineup included James Canty on
guitar, Michelle Mae on bass, and Steve
Gamboa on drums.


The Make Up had a sound probably best described as the Gang of Four on acid
with a jazz drummer. It's infectious if you are at all into soul and rock
music. The band called their sound something weird like "Gospel Yeh-Yeh",
but it doesn't sound anything like gospel, and I just refer to it as
fucking awesome.


You can see a video of them here and here.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the band broke up in 2000 due to the Y2k bug.
I highly suggest their 1999 album "Save Yourself".

Highly worthy of listening.

Since I can't be arsed to write anything about myself, this site is now going to be
about bands I think are awesome.