Miss Quincy w/ Skye Wallace & Chersea @ Biltmore -- 07/16/15

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It's like someone booked this show just for me. Three of my current favourite local acts came together to play a show on a Wednesday at the Biltmore: the "Queen of Dark Folk" Skye Wallace, the "Queen of Blues Rock" Miss Quincy, and the "Princess of Pop" Chersea (as Chersea herself described the three of them).

Starting the night off was the synth-pop looper Chersea. On stage alone with a mountain of instruments -- keys, synth, drum pad, trumpet, & more -- she started off with a very moody, bass-heavy song that gradually built layer upon layer, driven by her powerful voice. 
From there she shifted into more of a pop/dancey mode with upbeat songs that had the crowd moving, and even participating in her loops; during "Mindporn" she drew the audience up to the stage to record & loop some clapping.
I feel like every time I see Chersea, she's debuting or working with new songs, and this time wasn't different as she wrapped up the set with a pair of new songs. One she had recently re-worked, and the other the only song where she used pre-recorded loops, but it was a big, catchy indie-pop song that's bound to be a hit.

Taking the stage next was Skye Wallace and her band, which included a small string section of Devon Kroeger on violin and Michelle Faehrmann on cello. The strings really gave weight to the noirish, alt-folk sound, as heard right off the bat with the spine-tingling "Monster", setting the tone. In fact later on in the set she picked an apt cover for her sound, doing a stirring rendition of Timber Timbre's "Lay Down In The Tall Grass". 
Most of the set focused on her latest album, Living Parts, but one of my favourites of the night was a powerful new one called "The Guiltiest Hymn", which saw Jody "Miss Quincy" Peck jump on stage for some backup vocals. Jody would pop on and off stage a few more times throughout the set to provide vocals, and then once more during another highlight of the set, the haunting "Dead Things pt II" to shred some electric guitar.
She wrapped up the set with "Scarlet Fever", the hidden track from her last album, as I realised that every time I see Skye Wallace perform live, I like her more and more. Her performance, but especially her songs, are so captivating, in both sound and storytelling. They will burrow into your brain to be stuck there for days. 

And last but not least, wrapping up the night was Miss Quincy, joined by her backing band The Showdown, Jessie Robertson on bass, Jen Foster on drums, and Christie Rose on keys. They kicked things right into high gear with some blues rock, before getting the crowd to stomp & clap along with the hymnal "Take It To The Well". 
From there the set just continued to grow in energy, as they played mostly songs off the latest album Roadside Recovery. "Damn You" has Jody's sultry voice promising "This one's gonna hurt", and "Making Money" with a sexy, slow jam breakdown in the middle of the song, where she slipped in a few (gender-swapped) verses from the blues standard "Good Morning, School Girl". They also played a newer song called "You Remind Me Of Myself", which Miss Quincy dedicated to every person in every relationship who not-so-subtly asked her if she wrote songs about "people".
The set drew to a close with two of my favourites, the pounding, badass "Bad Love" and the gritty, unapologetic "Wild Fucking West". They didn't bother with a faux-encore (which was nice, since it was already after midnight), just playing straight through to the end, finishing off with a killer version of Peaches' "Boys Wanna Be Her". It's a cover that you would never expect, but when you think about it, makes all the sense in the world. Which is my favourite kind of cover. 


Unsurprisingly, all three put on strong sets, and I am already itching to see any of the three perform live again.

Photos by Jessica Brodeur

Steam Whistle Unsigned w/ Skye Wallace, Miss Quincy & The Showdown, and Dead Soft @ Biltmore -- 12/05/14

Steam Whistle Unsigned is a concert series started by the Toronto microbrewery to promote local unsigned talent, and they returned to Vancouver last week to spotlight three more bands. The ongoing series, which takes place in multiple cities across Canada, also partners with a charity or non-profit that receives 100% of the proceeds of the show. This time it was Music BC, a non-profit society helping support, develop and nurture the BC Music community. (Who was also having their annual holiday party & "SchMusic" event right before the show!)


Kicking things off was Skye Wallace, her three piece band joined by a couple members of the Four on the Floor String Quartet on cello and violin to add mood to Skye's dark, alt-country sound -- her music would be perfect for the theme and score if someone decided to make a Canadian Deadwood.
Starting off with "Carry Our Son", the first song on her latest album Living Parts, her voice swirling around the haunting strings, setting the tone for the set. Highlights included the intense "Monster" as well as a version of Timber Timbre's "Lay Down In the Tall Grass", definitely a fitting choice for a cover song.
Skye invited Jody Peck (aka Miss Quincy) on stage -- the two just finished a tour of Europe together -- to perform a couple songs to end off, including a new one called "Guiltiest Hymn" which I quite liked, their voices blending together really well.


Not long after that, Miss Quincy & The Showdown started their set with just Jody Peck and Skye Wallace on stage doing an a cappella song, their powerful voices supported only by their handclaps, before the members of The Showdown joined the fray. The trio filled the room with their badass rockin' blues sound, which had feet stomping and hips swaying to songs like "What Is Life If It Ain't Strange" and "Making Money".
Skye came out one last time for a song that showed off Miss Quincy's "soft and sensitive side" (though I don't think her mic was on for half of the song) before they kicked the energy right back up with a great one-two punch of closing songs two of my favourites off her latest album Roadside Recovery; the sultry soundtrack to a great night out, "Bad Love", and the gritty & unapologetic "Wild Fucking West".


The three-piece Dead Soft finished out the night, with their grungy, pop-punk a bit of a departure from the previous two acts. They opened their set with the single "Phase", which didn't quite seem as polished live as the recorded versions. They had a rambunctious energy, but a lot of the set sounded pretty similar, the only songs that stood out from the rest was when bassist Keeley Rochon took over on vocals. It was by no means a bad, but the crowd had thinned by the time they finished their short set, capping it off with their other single, "Never Forever".


This was the sixth Unsigned in Vancouver, and having been to almost all of them, they're always a great time. It's an excellent way to promote local music, and help local charities, and I only hope it runs here for as long as it's been running in Toronto (we are on show #6, they just had show #29).

Then & Now @ Biltmore -- 08/20/13

The brainchild of Vancouver's beekeeper, Then and Now is a simple concept; take a handful of local artists, and get them to play a brand new song & an old song-- their newest, shiniest song, and one of the first songs they wrote, potentially embarrassing. 
The night was also a fundraiser for Megaphone Magazine, a local publication that is sold by the homeless or low income people, who get to keep the profits of their sales.

Starting off the night was Redbird, and Savannah Leigh Wellman really took the concept to heart, setting the bar for the rest of the night. Her "then" song was one written in high school, influenced by pop-stars, called "Make Your Move", that peaked when Savannah started rapping. It was exactly in the spirit of the show, and as amazing as it was cringe-worthy. Her "now" was a brand new song, thematically similar but decidedly more mature.

Buckman Coe was up next, his older song being a folky love song, while his new was more reggae influenced.

Victoria musician Katie Schaan, better known as Ciseaux took the stage next, starting with an acoustic guitar and the song "Close To Me" off of Katie's debut album, which was put out under her own name. 
Her new song was a love song about a boy, played on the ukulele. After wrestling with some technical problems, she ended up unplugged it and perched on the front of the stage, completely unamplified, her powerful voice still filling the room.

Devin Miller from Young Pacific was the first of the night to break from the acoustic, with his electric guitar. His first song was about friendship, or a lack thereof, and his newer one made use of his pedal board, for a song that was a bit more spacey and ethereal.

Wrapping up the first half of the night was the super secret surprise guest, Bed of Stars. Like many others throughout the night, his "then" song was a love song. His "now" was a pretty chill newer song.

After a brief intermezzo, Skye Wallace took the stage to start the second half. Joined by Alex the cellist, her first song was one written when she was a teenager. Her new song was one called "Monster" and built to some absolutely intense vocals.

There was a change of pace as spam poet Duncan Shields was up next, also joined by Alex the cellist. His nerd-themed pieces included a "then" which used video games as a metaphor for his ex-girlfriend, with great wordplay & puns, especially for video game lovers. His "now" was something he described as "filk music", which was taking folk songs and rewriting the words to make them nerdier. His was to the tune of "If You're Happy & You Know It" and was about Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ford Pier. His "then" song had a very 90s-Canadian-vibe to it, and Pier took the concept of "now" to an extreme; he had only finished writing the new song at 6:30 that same morning, and it had never been performed out loud before.

And wrapping up the night, beekeeper themselves. The only full band electric set, Devon surprised his bandmated by choosing "Nice Lunch" for their "then", an old, rarely played song from their first album. They then wrapped up the night, with their newest, called "Arms Length". As with just about everyone throughout the night, it was an interesting juxtaposition between the then and the now, seeing how the songwriters have progressed.

The first time they did this show, last year, it ran a bit long, but this year did not drag at all. With a leaner lineup, the night zipped along at a fine clip, and I can only hope they plan on this again next year. It's a fantastic concept for a great cause.