From the Vault: "Pop Went Halifax, Part Three: Timber Timbre, Little Girls, Zeus, You Say Party! We Say Die! and Japandroids"

October 24, 2009
The Marquee Club
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Preface: Steve and I met up with a couple of friends of ours Alex and Chapin. Alex and Chapin had driven up to Halifax from our hometown that day to see Girl Talk.


Chapin came with me to the hauntingly spellbinding folk ensemble Timber Timbre at St. Matthew's United Church. This has always been a fantastic venue. We watched from the upstairs pews, as I always do [there]. They were really able to create a brooding, haunting atmosphere with nothing more than an electric guitar, floor tom, violin and sampler. At times, they filled the church with animal noises and sounds of rustling plant life, thereby turning the entire church into a rain forest mid-downpour. Mesmerizing. Also, I went to this show for free. I ran into a guy the night before who, because of some convoluted situation, couldn't go to Timber Timbre, so he gave me his ticket. Much appreciated, bud.

[Chapin and I] skipped the second/last act to reconvene with Alex and Cara. I was going to a different show, but I went with Chapin to where Girl Talk was playing so Chapin didn't have to look for a scalper alone. It was far away from where I was supposed to [have been], but I went with him anyway because I knew he wouldn't have been able to find a ticket, and contacting him to come to the Paragon would have been difficult.

Little Girls played first. They were pretty good but not as good as I'd expected - way more post-punk than lo-fi, and the lead singer (in particular) was pretty damned goofy. Knocking over equipment and spazzing out on the floor are fine and can really add to a show when you're not the opening band playing to a VERY dispersed crowd of at most thirty in a somewhat big venue. Instead, he just ended up looking histrionic and stupid.

Next up were Zeus and You Say Party! We Say Die!. While I hated all of the stuff I'd downloaded by both bands, both were actually, again, pretty good. YSP was really energetic and danceable. Krista, the person [with whom] I [stood], is the biggest YSP fan, so it was really awesome when singer Becky Ninkovic 1) put her finger on Krista's forehead, 2) came into the crowd right in front of us, 3) put her arm around Krista and sang into the mic together, and 4) crowd surfed right on top of us (I was the first person to catch Becky). If a musician I loved did any of that with me, I'd probably never go to another show because nothing could top that. So yeah, good for Krista.

Lastly (for the night and for the festival) were Japandroids. I'd looked forward to them the most (since summer), and they were the only band for whom I bought an advance [Pop Explosion] ticket. Well, they turned out to be a HUGE disappointment, but that wasn't their fault at all. The bar was closing, so they were cut off after only a handful of songs. Surprisingly, after we started chanting "Fuck this shit!," they were allowed to do an encore, houselights on and all. It was hilarious seeing the bar's people watch from backstage with "How long is their encore going to be??" expressions on their faces. Also, the crowd got super-rowdy and not in a fun Japanther way. I don't like it when a person's foot is jammed in my crotch, and she gets pissed when I move her foot.

[After Japandroids finally reluctantly left the stage], the magic was over, and I caught a ride home with Alex and Chapin the next morning. Sweet tunes and reminiscing all the way home.