String Fling III @ Biltmore -- 01/28/15

For the third year running, members of Vancouver's Four on the Floor String Quartet have stepped into the spolight for a show called String Fling. The event sees the quartet -- who have backed up about 87% of all Vancouver bands -- front & centre for the night, to be joined by various local musicians to fuse indie rock with classical strings. Previous years have been at the Rio Theatre, but this year they took over the Biltmore Cabaret for two nights of stringy goodness.

The members of the quartet for the night were Michelle Faehrmann on cello, Elliott Vaughan on viola, and violinists Stephanie Chatman & Emily Bach, and they were occasionally joined by Sean Bayntun on piano. Each musician joining them had a quick set of a couple songs, with the quartet playing their own pieces between each set, usually of songs written by members.


After the quartet started the show, the first performer to join them was frequent collaborator, Dominique Fricot. He took stage with his acoustic guitar and a few heartfelt songs, the strings giving them added emotional weight, especially on "Strange Lady". He also got the crowd participating in a stomp-stomp-clap along to "Those Eyes", before proceeding to act as emcee the entire night, wine glass in hand.

Hannah Epperson was also no stranger to the quartet, being a rotating member herself. Normally a looper, she eschewed her pedal for the first show in a long while, as she had actual humans backing her this time. Her soft and beautiful voice lilted over the strings, and I really liked her second song, a brand new, heavy hitting song, which included Daniel Ruiz on drums (the first of his frequent appearances throughout the night).

The tone shifted a little as Dustin Bentall got up with a bit more of a rockin' sound. As much as the softer songs fit with the string quartet, I always like how seeing things a bit rougher sound. Which was pretty darn good in this case. His first song, "I Have Not Been Sleeping" was just him with the strings, but they were joined by Ruiz on drums again and Ryan Guldemond out on backing vocals for the title track to his latest album You Are An Island.

Wrapping up the first half of the evening was legendary bluesman Jim Byrnes, just putting on a clinic. He dazzled the crowd from his stool with one of his own songs, which he joked was one of the oldest of the night, and then a cover of what was definitely the oldest of the night, "Saint Louis Blues", originally recorded in 1914 by WC Handy. It would have been hard for anyone to directly follow that, so they took a brief intermission at that point.


After the intermission the quartet was accompanied by an interpretive dancer for their song, before it was time for Mother Mother Member Ryan Guldemond. In true Ryan fashion, he challenged the audience with a song about death and attending your own funeral (or not) in his first song "End of Me" and seemed genuinely humbled and honoured to be playing with the quartet, asking them questions and even engaging Elliott in a slight guitar/viola duel at the end of a song.

There was a few repeat acts from previous years, and the next performer Tonye Aganaba was one of them. With her guitar in hand, she jokingly assured the crowd that it was in fact working, after a bit of a technical glitch from last year. Her incredible, soulful voice filling the room for one of her own songs, as well as a powerful cover of Thom Yorke's "Black Swan".

And finally, Bend Sinister's Dan Moxon was the last to play. Taking a seat behind the piano, he played a couple of the band's slower ballady songs, ending with "Careless", but first playing an absolutely gorgeous rendition of "Don't Let Us Bring You Down" -- which may have ruined the song for me, since now I only ever want to hear it with strings.

But that wasn't quite the end, as the quartet was drawn back on stage for one last song, as they were once more joined by Dom Fricot, for a fun cover of INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart".


The only downside this year was the venue. I feel The Rio was a much better place for this kind of show, as while the Biltmore was seated, it was still more of a "club" venue than a "soft seater", and from where I was sitting I could hear incessant talking and chatter all throughout the night. It detracted a little from the show, especially when the quartet was playing beautiful instrumentals.
But that is hardly the musicians' fault, and aside from that it was a great night. String Fling has continually been one of the most unique events in Vancouver, giving these amazingly talented string players, who are usually backing up other bands or off in the wings, the chance to take centre stage and shine.

Bend Sinister @ Club Push -- 01/21/12

Back when I was just getting in to local independent music, one of the first bands I came across was Bend Sinister. I saw them opening a show where they blew away the headliner and soon after heard a song on the CBC Radio 3 podcast, and since then they have remained one of my favourite local bands; especially to see live. So of course I was going to go check out their show for the PuSh Festival at "Club Push" (usually known as Performance Works on Granville Island) which, in a nice "full circle" way, was sponsored by R3 and hosted by Lisa Christiansen.

Opening the night was Pleasure Cruise, a fairly new band that actually formed on Twitter, when they were looking for a vocalist and Jody Glenham answered the call. Their lo-fi, retro, fuzzy indie pop sound puts you on a beach within minutes of hearing it and Glenham's voice finds a good balance of seductive and upbeat to fit the sound perfectly.  Starting off with "Weeks & Months" from their EP Business Or... the set was filled with energetic, summery songs, and even included a cool cover of "It's my Party". Other highlights were "I Really Wanna Know" which bursts into an energetic ending, and my favourite off the EP, "Summer Fling".

Next up was Nick Krgovich, who I didn't realise until his introduction was from the Vancouver band p:ano, and more recently, No Kids. He hit the stage alone, but despite that it was just him and his keyboard, he had a myriad of effects and back tracks to flesh out his sound, with twitchy synth, looped drums and midi sax as well as a projection screen behind him that matched up various old movie clips to the songs -- and matched up quite well. At first, I wasn't sure what to think of the electronic/ambient/poppy sounds, but it definitely grew on me as he went on, with Krgovich's stage presence -- and dancing -- definitely helping.
Aside from his own songs, he threw in a few covers, the best being of k.d. lang's "Constant Craving", and while I am not sure it's something I would listen to a lot, it was definitely a really interesting set, and I wouldn't hesitate to see him again live.

And finally, Bend Sinister hit the stage to wrap up the night, starting off with a new song. In fact, the bulk of the set consisted of new material -- with Dan promising an EP in March and a full length later in the year -- that sounded fantastic. The new songs had the familiar Bend Sinister prog rock sound and Dan Moxon's distinct vocals, but you could definitely tell the growth of the band, with a few songs having a bit of a bluesy vibe. My favourite of the new songs was, hands down, "Hot Blooded Man", an absolutely intense song  which almost immediately became one of my favourite songs of theirs; and one I can't wait to hear recorded.
Among the few old songs were "Don't Let Us Bring You Down" and "Things Will Get Better", bringing people to the dance floor. And keeping with the cover song trend, they broke out their rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" before wrapping up the main set with another new one, "She Don't Give It Up". They were back out for the encore with another older song, "Time Breaks Down" before ending with the heaviest song of the set, "Quest for Love".

Dan Moxon in an amazing ball of energy behind the keys, and the rest of the band more than keeps up for one of the most energetic live shows. If this set was any indication, the upcoming album is going to be their best yet.

Dan Moxon @ CBC Vancouver -- 07/29/11

The Musical Nooner free concert series at CBC Vancouver is back. Well, it's been back for a while now, but despite wanting to see a few of the previous acts, today was the first day I was able to go check it out.

And it was a good day to do so, to see Dan Moxon (of Bend Sinister) fame with a baby grand piano on the outdoor stage, backed by drums & bass. On his own, he was much more mellow -- and a bit more folky -- than the intense energy of Bend Sinister, which gave a great spotlight to his talent on the piano and incredible voice. The set consisted of a good mix of his own songs, some covers, and a couple Bend Sinister songs. Paul McCartney's "Every Night" was covered early in the set, and there was also a slowed down and much more calm version "Julianna", which is one of my favourite BS songs, which was really cool.

Part way through they took a short break for Radio 3 host Lisa Christiansen to interview Dan, before he was back into it with David Bowie's "Starman", "Long As I Can See The Light" by CCR and a few more original., including a couple I really liked, "You Remind Me Of A Girls I Once Knew" and "New Year's Day".

The set came to an end with "All The Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople, then another Bend Sinister tune, "Don't Let Us Bring You Down". It was actually the second time for that song, since the show was being recorded and fire trucks went by when he played it earlier -- but, of course since the universe has a sense of humour, at almost the same point in the song, police went by, sirens blaring.

It was a really cool show, and I love the concept of the free outdoor nooner shows, so I will definitely have to be back for another. And with upcoming acts like Louise Burns, Sun Wizard, Kathryn Calder & The Crackling... how could you stay away?

An Intimate Night Of Piano Tunes With Daniel Moxon & Edo Van Breemen @ Library Square -- 08/12/10

Bend Sinister's Dan Moxon and Brasstronaut's Edo Van Breemen teamed up last night for an intimate night of piano tunes at Library Square. It was pretty much just a piano set up in the corner of the bar, with an area in front and an "upper level" (think four or five steps) with a "balcony" for people to watch from. Oh, and the place was playing the old Wonder Woman show all night on their TVs, so that got a little distracting at times.

First up was Edo, not quite doing a solo set since he had fellow Brasstronaut Tariq with him on guitar and lap steel. He played a pretty varied set, some Brasstronaut, some older stuff from his other band and also some brand new. At first, I was wondering how the Brasstronaut songs would sound stripped down like that, since the band has such a rich sound; but for the most part they were really cool and worked well. "Slow Knots" was an especially interesting version of the song, both stripped down and slowed a little.

After a short break Dan hopped up to the piano, playing about half his/Bend Sinister songs and half covers. He started with "Careless", and hit songs spanning all over his oeuvre, including the "In A Minute" song written for the Peak Performance Project (Bend Sinister took third last year). He had a couple covers in his "main" set, a McCartney and a Hall & Oates that were a bit lesser known, but the last half of his set consisted of the more sing-a-long hits like "American Pie", "The Logical Song", "The Boys Are Back In Town", "We Are The Champions" and doing somewhat of an encore with "Life on Mars".

Despite the fact that the bar was a little noisy at times, it was a really cool environment for that type of thing. It seemed less of a "show" and more of "Hey friends, I am going to play you some tunes, cool?" I know Dan has done some solo piano shows before, but I hope this kind of thing becomes a regular occurrence.