BeatRoute Magazine BC Print Edition May 2018

KATE NASH
The Imperial
April 4, 2018
Kate Nash is one of those artists that you know will
never give up. Gaining popularity during the American-
Apparel-indie-rock era of music in 2007, it seemed as if
Nash faded away into the back while her peers thrived.
However, at her Vancouver show, it’s clear that Nash
still has that light to create and her fans are here for it.
Launching her self-funded tour at the Imperial, Nash
performed alongside an all-girl band, which is just as
badass as it sounds. Her newest album, Yesterday was
Forever, was funded by her fans with a Kickstarter
campaign and pays homage to a prepubescent version
of herself. Nash describes the record as an excerpt from
her teenage diary.
Taking the stage in a pink metallic spandex suit,
Nash opened up her set with “Foundations,” the 2007
break-up anthem off her debut album, Made of Bricks.
With a swift transition into “Mouthwash,” also off of
Made of Bricks, Nash delivered a high-energy set only
slowing it down to talk about the importance of taking
care of mental health before performing “Musical
Theatre.”
The UK-based artist demonstrated that she is
unapologetically herself and hasn’t lost her quirky
demeanor, or her potty-mouth. Even with a few
technical difficulties during her set with backtracks, the
show went on and Nash did not miss a beat. Highlights
of the evening included “Merry Happy,” “Dickhead,”
and “Life in Pink” off her latest album, Yesterday was
Forever.
• Molly Randhawa
LIVE
Photo by Jessie Foster
GUS DAPPERTON
The Fox Cabaret
April 18, 2018
Gus Dapperton and his three piece band
floated from smoke-machine mist on a carriage
of cool harmony and cowbell into “Gum,
Toe, Shoe.” The Vancouver stop was the New
York local’s first live appearance on his first
tour. Having amassed social media fame for
his aesthetic music videos and neu-Bowieesque
style, it was as if he came to life from an
Instagram square before our eyes.
The show was an ’80s dream-pop delight.
Even as the foursome traipsed through
moody ballads “Ditch” and “Beyond Amends,”
the crowd kept transfixed by their neon
magnetism. Gus’ keyboardist and sister Megan
Rice served back-up vocals that would’ve had
even Mario quaking in his boots. Despite his
Photo by Darrole Palmer
sister’s vocal superiority, the audience was there
to eat up Gus. With his cotton-candy bull-cut,
bubblegum sweatshirt and iridescent makeup,
he certainly served a sweet slice. Guys and gals
kept gushing “I fucking love him!” at every turn.
The 21-year-old has a mere 11 tracks under
his belt but a whole lot of charisma to back
them up. Gus stretched out the short set-list
with cutesy quips. Waving an affected arm, he
introduced each band member as “being sixfoot-three”.
Au contraire, half the band didn’t
look old enough to drive.
Dancing in the rain of Dapperton’s dazzling
guitar riffs and growled poeticism, amidst a
sea of pastel hair, mesh, and overalls, felt like
a bonafide Internet Party, if there were such a
thing. Their show testified that outsider kids
can cause enough commotion online to take
the world by storm.
• Maggie McPhee
ALVVWAYS
Commodore Ballroom
April 4, 2018
Since their stellar self-titled debut dropped in 2014,
Alvvays have catapulted to ubiquitous indie stardom
and toured relentlessly. The band took the stage at
the Commodore Ballroom as part of a west coast
swing on their international tour supporting their
September release, Antisocialites.
Playing an equal blend of fresh material from
the new record as well as classics from their first
album, the group performed their signature brand
of rollicking, dreamy guitar pop subtly infused with
distinctive Acadian undertones. Buoyed atop the
propulsive rhythms of Sheridan Riley’s drumming,
frontwoman Molly Rankin’s voice flutters between
plaintive crooning, powerful belting, and an airy
porcelain falsetto.
Falling smack dab in the middle of a grueling
three-and-a-half-month, 51-date tour across Europe
and North America, the fatigue seemed to show a
little. The band bobbed and swayed on stage, but for
the most part their stage presence was fairly sedate
and the audience’s involvement was similarly tepid.
Furthermore, Rankin’s wryly humorous lyrics and
Alec O’Hanley’s silvery guitar riffs — arguably the
group’s strongest assets — were often hard to make
out, overpowered by the drums, which were too loud
in the mix.
However, the band still managed to get the crowd
into it eventually with the audience singing along
to new song “Not My Baby,” and by the time Rankin
performed the group’s breakthrough hit “Archie,
Marry Me,” she was emphatically joined by everyone
in the room. Her exceptional gift for melody, coupled
with the group’s ever-forward rhythmic stomp make
for catchy, toe-tapping tunes that stay in your head
long after you’ve left the show.
• Max Szentveri
Photo by Ray Maichin
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