Remember how the "early" Beatles had their "personas"? George was the "quiet" one, John the "funny" one, Paul the "cute one" and Ringo was, well, just Ring.
I took the Skytrain downtown last night, wanting to make sure I got there early enough to hang out with some of my friends who were going to the TV Heart Attack show at the Forum, and also to make sure I saw all the bands. As I got off the train I was texting Adam (drums from TVHA) asking what time he'd arrive. I look over and he is responding to my text walking beside me heading towards the exit on the street. What a hilarious way to start a night!
My anticipation for the night grew as we got caught up discussing what we each had been up to in the past few weeks.
I have extreme love and respect for these people. They are, in a lot of ways, my family.
As Adam and I are standing outside the club Arthur and Ryan show up and we get to talking. Ryan is recently single and talking about wanting to meet women that night. I point to a couple of girls standing a few feet away and he is like, "Watch this. I know them." in a perfect dead pan. If each of TVHA is a persona, Ryan is the "cute" one. Jay shows up a little after this, and in perfect Jay fashion starts to make jokes. I'm laughing before he's even finished his first sentence. Jay is the "funny" one. Art comes over and as all of us are standing outside chatting and talking it feels alive. Vancouver's not dead. Vancouver is quite alive.
If you can guage the temperature of an artist's future by a show like last night TVHA will be breaking out in 2011. When I walked into the club the place was full of people and as I looked around I realized that I knew many of these people from the local music industry. There were even a couple of "celebrities" from local bands/TV/Radio, and you could feel the buzz in the room.
Although I missed the first 1/2 of the set of the 1st band, the Quickness, I will say a couple of things about them. Number 1, the sounded like Jimmy Eat World. Number 2, I liked their energy and look forward to hearing recordings by them. Also, it was nice to meet them after the show, and it turns out we have many mutual friends. It was also very nice to hear that Jacob (the singer) is a fan of my band. I like compliments from talented people.
Have you seen the Manvils live?
I suggest you see them. Mikey Manvil is the guitar player/singer. He is one of the most genuine people I know. I always run into him in the supermarket or simply walking around downtown somewhere and always gives a at least a few minutes of his time to chat about music, life or anything really.
His onstage persona is wild.
I would compare it to a guitar weilding Jim Morrison. He swaggers. He spits. His guitar is loud and sounds crisp. The band is terrific. The songs are terrific. The energy is terrific.
I will be buying all of this bands music ASAP and I'll do a song review next week.
The closing song was one of the highlights. It was a bluesy uptempo song and as it drew to a finale, I had a feeling it wasn't quite over. Sure enough, Mikey starts into a building tremelo guitar part dualing with bass. They built this jam into an intense frenzy until the song exploded into the "big" rock and roll ending.
There was a guy who obviously was a huge fan, at the front of the audience banging his head with amazing long hair and a jean jacket and a Pilsner in his hand. I told my friends I was with that I was banging my head just like that the entire show, but on the inside.
TV Heart Attack was up next.
Jason looked a little like Morrisey last night. He had a red button up shirt with a skinny tie and he's grown his hair a little and looks extremely fit. He walks up to the mic and pulls out a flask. He takes a haul, cracks a joke and they bust into a new song. I've heard this song before. It was written in August 2009. I was there when it was first played. Forgive me for not knowing the name of the song but I think you'd like it. It's currently stuck in my head with the soaring gang vocal hook. After hearing a number of new songs, I feel that TVHA's new EP will probably build on "Lost in the Sway's" success. The band is using strong danceable rythmns and good spacial energy in all of the new songs. They also have a lot of keyboards which gives the live sound something a bit more unique then the 2 guitar/bass/drums sound.
The crowd of people in the dance floor were very happy when Hypnotic Eyes started. I found myself singing along (as always) and the energy of the band was explosive.
About 6 months ago the TVHA boys were missing a drummer and I suggested Jay audition my friend Adam. I will be honest, this band has never been tighter or had as much energy. If Ringo's persona was just "Ring" then Adam is just "Ad". One of the best friends I have.
In closing, this was one of the best nights of the year yet. Close friends, amazing live music, amazing energy, and a great new venue for original music, the Forum.
If you haven't already, you should buy the Manvils & TV Heart Attacks album online:
Click here for the Manvils
Click here for TV Heart Attack
Thanks for reading,
Marty
@martyzylstra
http://www.martyzylstra.bandcamp.com/
p.s. Arthur is the "talent" ;)
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