Saturday, August 27, 2005

Pop goes the experiment

With nothing to do Monday, I decided to go to Zaphod's to check out four acts I hadn't seen before. Winston Brigby Pop Experiment, who got a nice write up from Allan Wigney in the Sun, Permanent Daylight, Jacquie in the Kitchen and Lukas Grant.

Lukas Grant started things off. Being a moody singer-songwriter, he was something of the odd man out. I was having painful flashbacks to all the horrid teenage poetry I wrote in high school, so he may be a bit too moody for my taste (or maybe I'm just getting older and grumpier). His performance was something of a family affair, with an assist from his brother on bass and sister on backup vocals - both quite capable, no nepotism here - a drummer named Ludlow and a fiddler named Alexis. He threw in covers of songs by The Decemberists and Damien Rice's Volcano, so at least he's got good taste going for him.



The ladies: Caitlin (or is it Kaitlin?) and Alexis.



Grant and his rhythm section.



Permanent Daylight performed next. They've actually been around a while, and made an amusing reference to being the grand-dads of the scene. I thought their sound was somewhere in the same space as The Wedding Present. They have sound files on their website so you can hear for yourself. A very together sounding outfit, if not exactly my bag.



Pat Collins. For some reason, I kept hearing and seeing about Fat Albert all day ... and there he is again!



Landon Bailey does his best heron impression.



Greg Hanson.



Alex Leger was having some fun bouncing about.



Jacquie in the Kitchen are alt rockers with a few twists. I wasn't feeling it -there's some genre mixing that isn't quite coming together - but they've definitely got an adventurous streak, and a good stage act. They plan to release their second long-player in the fall.

Jacquie also plays guitar; just not here. A wireless microphone allowed for some extra getting about.



Bassist Steve was also pretty active.



Guitarist Tyler, Jacquie and vaguely visible at right, drummer Rob.



Rob with greater visibility.



Jacquie on guitar and matching pants.



The Winston Brigby Pop Experiment was the main reason I went, but by the time they hit the stage I was beginning to remember I had to go to work tomorrow, so after a few songs of rough'n'ready powerpop, I split for home. They started things off with a Beatles cover, moved onto a song about peeping toms, did another number or two ... then I left.

The experimental trio.



Guitarist Alex Vance.



Bassist Erik Marsh.



Drummer Joe Cousineau rocks the Abe Lincoln look.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cool.
Kaitlin Grant.
klingkling1@hotmail.com