Point of pride

Living With Lions finished things up with some churning guitar pop-punk. The crowd dug them more than I did; I give 'em credit for an active performance but they aren't really the flavour of punk I prefer.

Ty yells, and you can see guitarist Chase in the background.



Bassist Mark and guitarist Landon provide some backing vocals.



Loren pummels the skins.



The whole lot, with extra Chase.



Ty works the crowd.



Ty works the crowd even more.



Ty really, really works the crowd.



And so on!







Latest news is that the band has signed to Adeline Records.

• Show reminder: Whitewashed, Burnt Cocky Cow and Aninda Sarker perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox. Tempus Fugitives perform at The Rainbow.
  

Night lights

When I first heard Living With Lions was coming to town, I thought "Hey great, I always did like controller.controller." Then my brain resumed working and I realizing I was thinking of Lioness. I went to the show anyway because I'd heard lots of good things about the bands on the bill anyway, and in the case of The Brights, the bands from which they sprung: The Transit and Riot Service. Had I actually caught more than a couple of songs from The Brights I would actually be in a fair position to comment. I'll just have to unfairly comment that i thought they sounded good but my photos were dull. At least there's enough for introductions ...

PJ Catsiyannis sings and plays guitar.



Bassist Ross.



Guitarist Dane.



At least the photo of drummer Chris Catsiyannis is a bit better.



And now we have Detroit's Fireworks, presumably named due to the various members' proclivity to shoot up into the air. We'll just start with airborne guitarist Brett Jones. Chris Mojan is back left - and unfortunately I didn't get a single good photograph of him.



Vocalist Dave Mackinder throws some signs. , Brett Jones. Kyle O'Neil, Chris Mojan,



Tymm Rengers on drums.



Bassist Kyle O'Neil.



Explosive action!



And so on!





And finally: More jumping!



They're lively lads.

• Show reminder: Melissa Laveaux and Marie-Josee Houle perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox (starting at 8:45 p.m. sharp, they say).

Let there be light

I was in the mood for another helping of guitar rock Sunday night, so I went off to Mavericks to see Vancouver punks Living With Lions, Detroit's Fireworks and local band The Brights. Yes, it's contemporary melodic punk - not normally my thing - but I've heard nothing but good things about LWL and Brights, and Fireworks come from Detroit, so how bad could they be? The answer: Not too bad, but no competition for Beach Blankets and Holy Cobras the night before.

I had a dinner date so arrived too late for Barriers, the Montreal band who opened the evening, but did manage to catch the last two songs from Brights. They did sound pretty good for all four minutes or so I heard, and their drummer certainly motors things along nicely.


Brights, Mavericks, November 23, 2008

I enjoyed Fireworks too, mostly as a photographer: There was lots of jumping! It was good pop punk, somewhat hindered by lead singer Dave McKinder being a bit under the weather.


Fireworks, Mavericks, November 23, 2008

Finally Living With Lions. I thought they were kind of conventional. Not bad, but damned if I can remember a lyric or melody (although that's my brain's fault).


Living With Lions, Mavericks, November 23, 2008

I've spent $10 on worse things, but at the end I was sort of thinking I should have gone to Zaphod's and checked out The Birthday Boys instead. Oh well!

• Show reminder: Carmen and Camille and Jacob Earl play Zaphod Beeblebrox.