Last spring, around the time things started coming off the rails for The AK, our good friend Rodney DeCroo sent us an e-mail asking us if we were interested in reviewing this new band called Spoon River. After hearing a couple of their tracks we got all excited and said “for sure we will!” Well, always the man of his word, Rodney sent us one in the mail that same day. Then, like a total jack-ass, I never got around to writing the review. This has bugged the shit out of me since it happened because a) Spoon River are fucking INCREDIBLE and b) we’re not flakey! We don’t flake out at this site! Well, today I’m going to make good – hopefully not too late – so here goes!

Oh wait, first click play on the player here.

Okay, that’s better. Now hear this! Kingdom of the Burned (Northern Electric) is possibly the best album anyone has ever asked us to review. How good is it? It’s so good that it’s actually difficult to put into words. I love bands like this. Band of Horses, The Hawks / The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival…you know, anything with Southern country swing and HOLY SWEET LORD did Spoon River nail it harder than any Canadian band I’ve ever heard!

From the soaring Hammond organ that that lifts “When the Doctor’s Gonna Come” right off the ground to the innovative and ever-changing guitar work to the gorgeous piano that soars from start to finish, Spoon River have really proven themselves to be wonderful musicians and talented arrangers of music. Simply put, these songs sound great and there are no missteps to be found in the production whatsoever. Tavis Triance, fresh from the now-defunct and terribly-missed Royal Mountain Band (and a little Bob Dylan biopic you might have seen called I’m Not There) has never sounded better and that’s thanks in no small part to the collaboration of his eight new bandmates.

The contributions of Jeff Cowan, Jason Kent, Jeff Louch, Seamus Cowan, Chris Young, Jon Wood, Rachel Horkenheimer and Ed Goodine simply can not be overstated. This genre of music really only works with a lush, full sound and Spoon River consistently deliver it while avoiding the pitfall of everything mashing together into a wall-of-sound blur. (I’m lookin’ at YOU Phil Spector!) This is evidenced nowhere better than in the closing track “The Saddest of Hearts”. It’s heavy but not murky and I really feel it shows a careful and skilled approach to songwriting on the part of the band as a whole.

So if you’re looking for a great album to soundtrack your Fall, you really couldn’t do better than Spoon River’s Kingdom of the Burned. It’s a brilliant effort and one that I consider worthy to share shelf space with the recently released Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms AND CCR’s Cosmo’s Factory.

Needles//Pins – Tiny Little Tear

Juvenile Hall – Eat Shit and Die

Also, don’t forget that we have a YouTube channel with a bunch more videos from local bands like Defektors, B-Lines and White Lung!

This just in from the good folks at the Safe Amplification Site Society!

The Safe Amplification Site Society presents…
our very first annual general meeting!
Bands! Food! Friends! FREE!

Come find out what SASS has been up to in the last 14 months and what we are planning for the future.
…
A Musical Meeting, featuring:

Chris-a-riffic!
Collapsing Opposites!
Ok Vancouver Ok!
with
Chance and Alanna!
…
Saturday August 21
7:30 pm
Purple Thistle (Vernon and Parker)
ALL AGES!!!

A show review and an interview all in the same week? If we’re not careful, we’ll be pulling into the realm of journalistic respectability soon! Naw, that’ll never happen… Regardless though, we’ve really got an awesome interview for you guys to check out today. Our gracious interviewees this week are none other than Vancouver’s own four-piece band of sweethearts Thee AHs. After racking up a pile of shows, recording a dozen great songs (and with a new album on the way!) if you haven’t heard Davinah, Robotah, Marisah and Veronicah yet, you soon will. So pull up a chair, have a read and get to know one of the nicest and most fun bands in town.

The Aural Kinetic: First off, let’s start with some band introductions. Who comprises Thee AHs, and what instruments do you play?

Thee AHs: Davinah Shell plays guitar, sings backup, and writes most of the songs; Sarah Lowenbot sings and occasionally writes about her love, Leonard Nimoy; Ridley “Veronicah” Qbishop plays the bass guitar, the alto saxophone, and lead guitar, often while rocking out with rat puppets, AND he contributes arrangements; and Mareesah Holmes plays drums. Our original drummer was Ahddie O’Brien, and while Mareesah was in Hong Kong this summer we had Bahnjy from Bad Fate sitting in.

AK: How did you all first meet and when did you first decide to form a band?

TA: It started off when high school friends Sarah and Davinah played their first gig at Lugz, in early 2008. Shortly afterward they recruited Ahddie, and by March 2009 Ridley had joined (after spotting their craigslist ad while searching for his true love). They recorded five tracks with Ahddie before local seductress Mareesah replaced him (because she played a larger kit).

AK: One of the first things a new listener notices is the clever vocal arrangements. Unlike a lot of bands, who tend to bury their voices behind the instrumentation, your voices are fore fronted. Where does this confidence come from?

Davinah: I really like melody and I think lyrics are very important, so I want to make sure they’re heard.

Sarah: I think I’m real great at singing and I just wanna show off.

AK: Several of your songs (Too Young For You and Sour Grapes to name a couple) have a very early doo-wop, jangle-rock kind of sound. What is the appeal of playing this style of music?

Davinah: I believe I’m the second coming of Mary Ann Ganser of the Shangri-Las.

AK:Other than filmmakers Russ Meyer and John Waters, who would you say are your influences, specifically musical? Because when I listen to your music I’m reminded of everything from Belle and Sebastian to Jens Lekman to Julie Doiron…

Ridley: One of the fun things about Thee AHs is that the four of us have completely different tastes in music. Davinah likes all the Amelia Fletcher bands, 70s and 80s punk (Eve Libertine of Crass in particular), all kinds of pop like ye ye and American girl groups (The Tammys are her fave), and other stuff like Jonathan Richman, Stereolab, and Pulp; Sarah likes electro and old singers – her singing is more influenced by male vocalists like Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra; my influences are Andy Rourke from The Smiths, other local bands (like Kidnap Kids!, Bad Fate), and avant-garde saxophonists like Eric Dolphy and Ken Vandermark (although that hasn’t really percolated into Thee AHs…yet); and Mareesah likes various pop, from The Animals to Interpol. She also LUVZ James McAvoy, and wants to kizz’im!

AK: Who doesn’t? Are the majority of the gigs you’ve played local? Have you toured much?

TA: None of us know how to drive…

AK: Judging by the 10 completed songs on your MySpace page, it’s obvious that Thee AHs are a band who get along just fine in front of a microphone. Could you tell us a little bit about your recording history, your releases, and what your recording plans are for the near future?

TA: We have an album coming out soon featuring three drummers and three different recording qualities (recorded in about 12 hours in total). We also have a split cassette with Apollo Ghosts and the Divine Prophet coming out sometime this summer. For the near future we’re just going to try and work on new material.

AK: A year ago, when we were busy interviewing everyone who would say yes, the general sentiment was that finding places to play in Vancouver was the biggest challenge that most bands face. How do you find the current climate, gig-wise? Have you had trouble finding places to play?

TA: We play very sporadically, so lining up gigs isn’t that difficult. However, three of us are still too young to play bars, so that really limits our options. It’s not like we don’t like playing gigs, for chrissake, BUT IT’S HARD SO GIVE US ONE!

AK: Listening to your recordings, one thing we’ve noticed is the way in which you tend to pair your happy/upbeat instrumentals with lyrics that are occasionally less-so. For instance, “I don’t deserve your forgiveness.” (Onion in My Pocket) “I don’t mind if you don’t like me.” (She’s a Tease) and “The world is horrible.” (Found a Friend) What would you say is the effect of this dualism within your songs? Or is it something that’s planned and consciously done?

TA: Davinah intuitively writes upbeat music because that’s what she listens to, but she mainly writes when she’s sad, so it happens by natural process or something.

AK: What are your plans, band-wise, for the rest of the year?

TA: Davinah is going to London to meet/stalk her musical heroes, just for a bit. Sarah is going to Malibu, California to stay with Leonard Nimoy and help with his “photography” and try to get Thee AHs a part in Star Trek II. Ridley is going to jazz school (to find his true love). Mareesah is planning to stay with us all year round. We’re hoping to tour next summer with some of our fave bands like Bad Fate.

Photo courtesy of Thee AHs.

Well it took sweet forever, but we finally made it out to a Needles//Pins show and as luck would have it, our new pals in Juvenile Hall were co-headlining the bill!

First off, we should start by saying that Juvenile Hall are an absolute wrecking ball of enthusiasm on stage. They played so fast and with so much heart that I swear the earth was rotating faster the next morning. For a relatively new band on the scene Sadie, Krissy and Sid sure have built army of loyal followers – myself included! – and there were plenty of shouted requests and sing-along goodness. Like always, we managed to shoot a bit of grainy footage as well, so look for the live video for “Eat Shit and Die” to be posted on our YouTube channel (and this site) later this week! In the meantime, here’s some pictures from the show.

Next up were site favourites Needles//Pins. We’d been meaning to catch a N//P show for a full year now, and Saturday night it finally happened. I know I’ve said it before, but these guys have some amazing songs which, as it turns out, sound about a million times better live. Older material like “Pills” really fired everyone up, but it was their new songs that really impressed me. I absolutely love their new track called “Drop It”, so when they let it fly during their set I must admit that I couldn’t have been more stoked. Through his vocals and Gibson, Adam ran that set like the reincarnated spirit of punk rock while Tony held down the stage with both his bass playing and a coolness reminiscent of Joe Strummer (not a bass player, I know…) Macey, of course, dominated her drum kit like few in Vancouver can. What can I say? Needles//Pins are a fucking powerful force in this town and the sooner you see them live the better you’ll feel. So check out some pictures while we prepare the video we shot for “Tiny Little Tear”.

Hooray! We managed to update our Song of the Week two weeks in a row! Well, we’re on a roll.

Speaking of this week’s SotW, I knew that it was gonna be Louise Burns‘ “Drop Names Not Bombs” as far a back as last Tuesday. How did I know? Because as soon as I heard it I compulsively played it about 10 times in a row and then at least a couple of times every day since then! There’s a little checklist of things that all of my favourite songs have at least one of; whether it be great back-up singing, bells / glockenspiel, catchy piano, fun and interesting vocal arrangements, a rhythm that you can clap to… Oh, and any band that throws an organ into the mix will earn my love and support forever. So imagine how my brain just friggin’ DETONATED when I first heard “Drop Names Not Bombs”! It’s almost as though Burns’ & Co. found my secret mental list and hit every possible item in the same track. This song has everything! It is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the most perfect pop songs ever. Have a listen and see if you agree!

Can you believe it’s been eight months since our last interview? Well that’s just no good, so earlier this week we sent off a couple of fresh ones to some amazing folks we haven’t had a chance to speak to yet. In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever even written about either of them before! Lucky for us, one of those bands got back to us with the quickness and just like that the drought has ended! Let’s have a chat with punk rock superheroines Juvenile Hall.

The Aural Kinetic: First off, the basics. Who are the band members of Juvenile Hall, what instruments do you play, and when did you first form?

Juvenile Hall: Sadie on guitar, Sidne on bass and Kristin on drums. We formed in the summer of 2008.

AK: Is Juvenile Hall your first band? Or do you have a history in the local music scene (old bands, side projects, etc.)?

Sidne: This is my first band that’s actually gone out of the jam phase, I’ve played in a bunch of bands but they never really went very far.

Sadie: I played in a band called Nons for a couple of years.

AK: People have this conception of punk music that you “just learn three chords, find two friends and off you go”. How do you feel about this? Is it so easy to play that anyone can do it?

Sidne: Well, it’s kind of like that…I dunno I guess it just depends on what you’re playing. It definitely is easy to play when you first start out, so yeah it’s kind of like that. But as you go on you progress and your song writing ability gets better. But I think that you always have to have some type of talent to make a good song that people enjoy. But you know what? The simplest songs are the ones that are the best.

Kristin: I think that keeping things simple can be under-rated. What people may perceive as simplicity in this genre, actually is layered with many complex elements that when come together sound like one solid unit.

AK: As far as amazing female-fronted punk bands, Vancouver seems to be going through another one if its cyclical golden ages. When you consider all of the locals who are really getting shit done right now (Vapid and White Lung and, of course, yourselves) it really is a great time to be a fan of Vancouver independent music. What are your thoughts on being a part of this revival?

Sidne: That’s kind of humbling, I never really thought about it like that. I’m just really stoked to be in a band playing in Vancouver, having people coming out to our shows and enjoying themselves and hopefully us.

Kristin: I agree. There are so many rad bands in Van. Watching Anne Marie from White Lung play really inspired me to want to learn the drums, and to want to rule at it. Playing in a band is the most fun thing I’ve ever done, and I hope that watching us could give girls the push to do it!

AK: How would you describe the dynamic within Juvenile Hall? Is songwriting and music arrangement a shared process?

Sidne: Definitely a shared process, we just kind of go to jam and play a riff and if we like it we fool around with it. A lot of our songs just come out of the blue like that. Sometimes though we’ll write them separately like someone comes in with a riff and then we’ll write lyrics, but generally it’s like a huge brainstorming session. It’s pretty cool.

Kristin: We refuse to take ourselves too seriously. We vibe really well with each other, personally and musically. We start with a riff, or a bass line or a drum beat and then everything just starts happening. Our songs sometimes crack us up, there’s a lot of laughing. Writing songs is really fun.

AK: Have you had an opportunity to take your show on the road? Tell us a little about about your gig-ography and what are your touring plans, if any?

Sidne: Not really, we’ve only been to Victoria and unfortunately no one came to our show because there was a music festival going on. We wanna play LA sometime in the near future, and all those other coastal cities…Portland, Seattle. Hell, we wanna go everywhere.

Kristin: Going on tour is our next major goal. A dream.

AK: Where do you feel most comfortable playing live in the city?

Sidne: Anywhere really, I don’t think I have a favorite place.

Kristin: Pat’s Pub always treats us really well. But it’s hard because there really are a limited amount of venues in Vancouver. You don’t want to play a place to death.

AK: A lot of people associate punk rock with nihilism. As though all bands were like Black Flag, an angry extension of human self-destructive impulse. How do you feel about the music you play? Simply put, are you having fun? Would you say the music you create inspires positivity or negativity?

Sidne: We’re having fun and we want people to have fun with us.

Kristin: Our songs are all over the map. We have songs about running around making out in the streets, and also about telling those jerks to Eat Shit and Die. Nothing nihilistic though. I want people to dance, and jump around. It feels good to see that the music you’re playing is physically moving people.

AK: What would you say is the most challenging part of being in a Vancouver band right now? I know a year ago it was the lack of suitable venues…

Sadie: It’s pretty easy. I don’t really get frustrated. The lack of venues thing sucked for awhile. It was really annoying going to watch bands and not being able to get to see half of them because the cops would come, like when shows were happening in art studios and warehouses. I’m kind of bummed out that those type of shows don’t happen as much. Because they are F.U.N. and I want to play them!

AK: What’s up for the back-half of 2010? Any big plans?

Sidne: More shows, more recordings, another music video, possible LA invasion?

Juvenile Hall play The Astoria on August 7th and September 24th, and Funky Winker Beans on August 26th.

We sure have been messing up when it comes to the Song of the Week lately, so let’s throw down a late one to say goodbye to July! Well, we’ve been spending a lot of time checking out some new bands and the other day we came across an amazing little quintet called Thee AHs and their wicked little cover of Patsy Ann Noble‘s “Sour Grapes”. Judging by the views they’re currently racking up on their MySpace page, we might actually be the last people in the world to have heard these ladies (and their fella)! But if you’re slow to the party like we were and you want to check out some pure pop goodness, head on over and hear a bunch more!

Hey everybody! Just dropping in to tell you about an awesome benefit show going down on August 15th. The Pivot Legal Society is holding their annual Justice Rocks! event in Strathcona Park and we really think you should go! The fact that Corbin Murdoch and Maria in the Shower are playing guarantees that this show will be amazing, but add to that the fact the show is FREE and will feature a whole pile of bands, presentations, art exhibitions, vendors and food, how can you go wrong?