BeatRoute Magazine - BC print e-edition – [March 2017]

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
refusing the repetition
SAFIYA HOPFE
Tuesdays: Cartems Donuterie on Main
I began my training circuit with Cartems Donuterie, where embarrassing
yourself in front of strangers is made easier by the
awaiting comfort food. But before I could rock the worlds of the
nine trepidatious attendees, someone played “Yellow” so I had
to leave. Still, I have love for the performers at Cartems—they’re
earnest and eager to improve, making this a great place to start
out.
Performance length: 15 minutes
Performance quality: A for Effort
Things to note: When did donuts get so expensive?
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah first stole our hearts in
2005 with their self-titled debut, only growing bigger
over the years as hits like “The Skin of my Yellow
Country Teeth” and “Blue Turning Grey” appeared
on movie scores and became near-anthemic to
their fans. Now, over a decade later, they have released
their fifth album,The Tourist.
The sound is neither like nor unlike them. Frontman
Alec Ounsworth prides himself on aiming
for variation when songwriting, and yet there is a
distinct structure and dynamic that listeners can
continue to recognize the band by. It sounds like
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah as we know them, and
we’ve come to know them well. The patterns heard
on The Tourist are as apparent as the vivid variation.
Tracks like “Better Off” pay clear homage to
their signature style, percussively and lyrically. “A
Chance to Cure” sounds a little like Hail to the
Thief, and “The Vanity of Trying” incorporates a
melodic progression reminiscent of The National.
Some of the album’s edgier songs might even remind
one of Spencer Krug of Moonface and Wolf
Parade. The Tourist manages to blend, experiment
and dabble, all while remaining consistent.
After all, it is Ounsworth’s intention to both
honour himself artistically and to continue evolving.
“From one album to the next I’ve never set out
to do what I did on the last,” he says. “I make a conscious
effort to try not to repeat myself, from one
album to the next. I can't believe it when I hear a
band that makes an album and then makes the
next album and it basically sounds more or less
exactly the same. That to me doesn’t make a lot
of sense, except maybe from a marketing point
of view. To me, you’ve sort of got to stay on your
toes. If you're bored on stage, it’s going to come off.
One of the reasons I took a relatively long break
between the second and third album, I found it to
be a little taxing and I didn’t care to be dishonest
in front of people. So I needed to take some time
off to figure out how to be… how to like it again.”
Out of convenience, the band started out playing
in New York, a city with no shortage of variety
and venues, nor a shortage of critique and diverse
tastes. After all this time, engagement with audiences
has come to mean much more than recognition.
As a matter of fact, Ounsworth refers to recognition
as the “icing on the cake.” As the band’s
audience has become “more cult-ish and refined,”
according to him, this interaction has come to
mean something much more intuitive and has led
him to redefine success. To Ounsworth, this concept
simply translates into finishing a record and
being able to declare with pride that he has done
“everything he can do.”
After all, writing music seems to depend for him
a lot on authenticity, honesty, and laying all of his
cards out.
“I’ve been doing this for twelve years now, and
I’ve been writing songs for twenty, so I’m just used
to doing it in when I have something I need to say,”
Ounsworth says. “If you don't really have anything
to say then don't say anything at all. I think for this
particular one I had something to kind of get off
Wednesdays: The Drive Coffee Bar
After my cop-out at Cartems, I needed an incentive to show the
city what it really means to be a singer-songwriter. As a full-service
venue, The Drive Coffee Bar just so happens to be home to
some of my most encouraging friends, J. Daniels and J. Beam. The
best part: their “Vancouver Warmer-Upper” isn’t just a pre-performance
vocal exercise, but a beverage with four different kinds
of alcohol. Progress!
Performance length: 15 minutes
Performance quality: 3.5/5
Things to note: Don’t perform after three warmer-uppers.
my chest, and that’s often how the albums come
about. That’s how the first album happened, and
kept going for the five.”
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah perform March
18 at the Imperial (Vancouver).
MY BRIEF SWEEP of VaNCOUVER’s OPEN MIC Circuit
PARIS SPENCE-LANG
Vancouver: a burgeoning metropolis of under-talented millennials, trying desperately to
allay their as-of-yet unsprouted careers as nouveau-mimes until they can break through to that
breathtaking borough of famous faces and endless sunsets, Venice Beach. Though I will staunchly
deny this statement’s veracity in person, I am one of such vaudeville vampires. And with my latest
mixtape drop barely nudging the needle on my SoundCloud plays, I was unsure of how to spread
my apparently unlistenable “jams”—until I discovered the open mic. Either I would sweep the
scene and catch my big break, or I would give up on my dreams and just become a doctor.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have developed music as a delicacy for a refined cult of a fan base
Illustration: Syd Danger
photo: ???
Thursdays: Café Deux Soleils
I thought open mic nights were my ally—until I came to Café
Deux Soleils. Turns out I merely adopted the mic—the “deuxers”
were born to it, molded by it. Not only is this place packed, you
need to show up early to put your name in a hat. I chose to throw
up in the bathroom instead, but I imagine if you pull off a tight
two-song set here, Def Jam calls and gives you a contract.
Performance length: 10 minutes
Performance quality: 4/5
Things to note: If you’re not chosen, don’t be upset—you’re
probably more of a listener anyway.
SHRED KELLY
putting the accent on après
HEATHER ADAMSON
HAWKING
making a record of stank face worthy jams
REID OAKLEY
If you want to be exceptionally good at something,
professionals say you need to have completed at
least 10,000 hours of whatever said thing is. If that’s
the case then Hawking has no doubt earned that
distinction; not only through their touring prowess,
but also their continuing willingness to adapt in the
face of adversity.
Following up their self-titled release from 2015,
the guys are keen to keep pushing their sound in
the direction they’ve chiseled for themselves, with
their first full-length release Diverge. Talking with
lead vocalist and guitarist Tom Vanderhoek, deeper
details arise of the band, and their upcoming album.
“It’s heavier, let’s just get that out of the way.
Actually, I say that and then I think about the softer
tracks including an acoustic one...We finally put in
some breakdowns though. Those are really fun.”
After announcing the album back in mid-November
the math rockers have been hard at work,
balancing tour life with a tight recording schedule,
“It’s a concentrated early-20s attitude from a bunch
of frustrated music nerds who wanted to make a
record full of good stank-face-worthy jams.” Similar
to their sound, the album title itself is a declaration
of their clear push in an aggressively original and
changing direction “It’s more self-explanatory than
my pretentious self would like to admit. We’re going
our own way with this record. We’re fed up with
Shred Kelly performs at Sugar Nightclub (Victoria) on March 23 and the Fox Cabaret (Vancouver) on
March 25.
Shred Kelly is the ultimate ski town band. So
much about how they came to be, who they are
and how they market themselves has always been
about deriving from Fernie, BC. The culture of
living and representing Fernie as a place continues
to influence their development as a band
as is explained by keyboardist and vocalist Sage
McBride, “Because our band was born out of the
party scene of a ski town, our music catered to
high energy sets because that was the driving
force behind the type of audience we were playing
to and it became what we are known for.”
Although this still rings true, the band has
expanded the dynamics of their live show over
the years as they have been exposed to different
types of venues that allow for and complement
changes in tempo in their set list. “Our musical
tastes are evolving and changing as we grow,”
shared McBride, “there are five of us and we pull
from our own personal influences to see what
sticks. We have been writing some softer songs
but we are mindful about what will fit into our
touring set while keeping the tempo up because
that is when we and the audience have the most
fun.”
A mainstay on the Canadian touring circuit for
the past seven years, Shred Kelly have reached
a level of notoriety that now provides them a
certain amount of comfort and reliability when
it comes to the touring lifestyle, something they
came to appreciate when starting to break into
the European market last year. “We had our
second tour overseas this past fall in Germany,”
shared McBride. “We had forgotten what
it is like as an unknown touring band breaking
into someplace new. You are starting over again
and it is a challenge not having a consistent paycheck.”
However, the differences noted between
their early days touring in Canada compared to
their time in Germany were also clearly evident.
“When we were starting out as a band in Canada,
we would arrive for a show and there would be
no meal or drink tickets and we would be earning
a percentage of the cover at the door. In Germany,
although we weren't making a lot of money,
the venues hosted us so well with these incredible
food spreads everywhere we went and most
places arranged accommodation for us as well.
They really took care of us.”
Embarking on another BC tour this month,
Shred Kelly aren't taking for granted the fan base
they have built in their home province while continuing
to be surprised by what may meet them
at the next town they visit. “The towns we have
never played in before are always a blank slate
which is exciting, but what cotinues to scare me
most about touring is visiting the places we have
been before,” shared McBride. “That nervous anticipation
of being able to outdue ourselves never
goes away.”
Shred Kelly performs at Fox Cabaret in
Vancouver on March 25, 2017.
waiting for any scene or any industry to have a place
for us and we certainly have no intention of being
overly shy or polite about our efforts to pioneer one
for ourselves.”
Getting their start as an indie rock band in the
watered down Vancouver music scene was no easy
task for the group, but adapting is clear within their
skillset, and they were soon defining themselves
sonically on their own terms, “we embrace it. It’s
like we’re too heavy for the Indie crowd, not heavy
enough for the Metal and Hardcore crowd, too
Prog for the Punk crowd but too Punk to quit touring
and go get master’s degrees in music theory.”
With a planned six week run across North America,
beginning with Canadian Music Week in Toronto
in April and then heading down stateside before
they work their way back north along the coast,
there should be plenty of opportunity to catch
these highway stars when they roll into a town near
you, stacking those hours.
Catch Hawking’s album-release for “Diverge”
March 10 at The Rickshaw Theatre
With Diverge, Hawking carves out their own damn scene thankyouverymuch
photo: ???
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