Showdate: September 18th, 2009
This show is actually from Musicfest2009. We hit the Friday night run at The Doug Fir specifically to see The Pack A.D. I never wrote down my thoughts from the show. Why? Because of a later show at Berbati’s Pan. Ugh. I’ll get to that later.
The Japandroids show at MFNW2010 motivated me to do this one. Well, that and all the love The Pack A.D. received from the people I re-acquainted with during MFNW 2010. Definitely seemed like The Pack A.D. was the surprise highlight for alot of people rocking the Doug Fir that 2009 night. Alot of people were catching the Pack A.D., waiting for Nurses and Pink Mountaintops to play later.
Seeing Japandroids bring some Vancouver garage this year totally reminded me of The Pack A.D. The Pack A.D. are also Vancouver, blues side of things. Not full on garage, IMO, but definitely low rather than hi-fi. Both are duos. And homo sapiens! Getting stupid.
Totally motivated this week to check into more garage acts from Vancouver. See if there are more lurking out there. Has to be. Hell, maybe just check the whole Van rock scene. Black Mountain kicks all kinds of ass, too. Tangent alert, I’m flying off the rails.
Back on track. The Pack A.D. Musicfest MFNW2009. Second act of the night after the supersonically depressing Scout Niblett. That was some pretty bleak shit. I’m glad I was devoid of sharp objects within my reach. Scout had considerately cleared out the front of the floor so Chris and I just hit the front row. Why the fuck not? I showered and everything.
Here’s “Blackout” by The Pack A.D. (song starts at around the 1:20 mark if you get bored with the up front blah blah).
Becky Black (guitar/vocal) and Maya Miller (drums) are your band. Maya=my left. Becky=center. I saw The Pack A.D. when they were drawing off two albums worth of material. Tintype and Funeral Mixtape. My friend from Dallas had clued me into them, and I already knew both albums very well. From the first chords and cymbal crash I knew that this show would be fire.
Why?
Because it sounded like the albums. Wasn’t alot of studio magic going down on those first albums. Which is what I figured. When I listen to an act that is new to me, I always try and figure what the live show will be like. At least musically. Which is why I gravitate towards bands like Pack A.D. for new music listens. Work that isn’t over-produced to the point of a glossy sheen is always easier to imagine blasting at me live. If the act has some stage presence, all the ingredients for a tasty show are in place. Dig it.
And. Besides. Women who rock are fucking awesome. You know it. Don’t care what they look like or what they are into. You rock by my totally subjective and ever-changing metrics? You have two X chromosomes? Awesome. Cause I know the women of the world care. But, I doubt I’m the only advocate of this philosophy. Bet every woman’s man/female sig other deep down digs the rocker chick in any woman. If they have any sense, that is.
Live. The Pack A.D. definitely rocked MFNW2009. For me, the songs from Funeral Mixtape were the highlights of the show. “Blackout”, “Don’t Have To Like You”, “Making Gestures”, and “Underground” are all songs I still remember. By the middle of the set I had actually wandered too close to the stage and was over Becky’s monitor getting blasted to the point it felt like my whole body was vibrating. Pretty close to being in her bubble. Lame. But I was just lost. I wasn’t the only one. There was a girl next to us who was ecstatic. At the end of the set she just randomly screamed “you guys fucking rock.” All set, she had a shiteating grin on her face. That crowd-girl is obviously a chick who rocks. Therefore, I like her. Not in a pervy way. More like, I dig your taste and would subscribe to your newsletter. That kind of like. Keep shining, baby. And also, the dude that brought Becky an unsolicited PBR during the middle of the set. He was lost, too. Just. In a creepy way.
In terms of show, the Doug Fir show was absolute fire. Maya rocking out. Head down, hair flying. Becky was all over the stage and on Maya’s drunms here and there. Definitely not afraid to power through with her voice. Rocking the hell out. I often get lost and let my mind wander during downtempo songs live, but I didn’t that night. The interaction between Becky and Maya is fun to watch. And Becky has a smoky tone and urgency to her voice that kept me engaged. Wow. That sounds really serious. Fuck. Can’t cover it with some drunken tale. I was pretty straight during this set. But. Um, Chris threw up on the cool crowd-girl. He did. Uh huh. You did too, dude. It was bright orange. You were just too hammered to remember.
Maya reminds me of a well trained old school DJ. Can’t stand dead air. She’ll say things like…and I’ll just keep talking until Becky is ready. And now she is, so here we go. Which brings be to the Berbati’s Pan show I saw a couple weeks later. That show killed my write up enthusiasm until now. Berbati’s was just a mess. One of those shows that was under some kind of hex. Becky lost her slide and had to dig through her stuff. She busted a string on her guitar and had to ask someone in the crowd to help out. The set list had to be re-worked because of the instrument troubles. Really, not their fault. Everything was just disjointed. Can happen to anyone. Totally giving them the benefit of the doubt. Canadian Broadcasting is sponsoring their current tour up north. Lending even more credibility that the band remains hella tight. I am sure the Doug Fir show is the rule for The Pack A.D.
Regardless, gives me an excuse to see them again since I missed them last time through.
Done. Really, should have written this up last year. Show was the real deal. Chris and I both bought T-shirts after. Which has only happened like once in 15 years of rocking shows and hasn’t happened since. Dorky, dorky. But that is what a good shows does. Kicks my ass. Erodes any cool I have and replaces with kid like enthusiasm.
Lucky for me this garage-blues style sound is getting some definite run. Some promoter out there, I’m talking to you. Put together a Pack A.D. and Harlem double bill. Do it. Just for me. And everyone else who digs this sound. Thanks.
