Breaking the ice for the first night was Derek Bourbon. A singer songwriter who has gathered a band to back his tunes. The band did a great job at filling out his songs with catchy hooks of their own and the sound was nice and thick. His sound reminded me of 90's grunge bands such as Pearl Jam and The Smashing Pumpkins. The tunes were nice but the stage presence was lacking, some nice movement near the end of the set but the energy didn't compete with some of the later bands that night or in the past nights.
The Faceplants are born performers. Young, spry and full of spunk they just burst onto that stage! A perfect mix of Ska, rock, and hip-hop they're sound was surprisingly full. Using backing tracks to fill out their sound with keyboards, backing vocals and organs they had a very professional sound. Lots of their songs are catchy, radio friendly and ready to hit the masses! Not much to say but keep it up guys! Even through lots of running around, jumps, and even a synchronized dance routine they didn't miss a beat or a loose their pitch!
Last but not least was Exit 200, talented musicians with a wide range of styles which they fluently combined into one flow of music. Lots of nice chill tunes mixed with upbeat dance beats kept the audience's feet moving all night long. Great use of the saxophone to add to their sound but something was lacking that night. Can't quite put our finger on it but the performance didn't blow us away compared to the first time we had seen them. Great band though, be sure to check out their tunes!
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Day two promised to be an interesting night. Only knowing 1 of the bands playing that night we were excited to hear some new music. Cause4Drama opened that night up with some straight up modern rock. Blending sounds of Papa Roach, Theory Of A Deadman, and other modern bands into a bunch of hard rocking tunes. They never fail on delivery of each song either, every performance is a true rock and roll show with head banging, beer cheers'ing, and screaming solos. Channeling the energy of Motley Crüe and Guns N'Roses they're moves are classic with a twist of freshness. Great way to open up the night!
From their first note, we knew Fields Of Green was not your average band. Blasting wave of sound hit our ears in a chorus of sound as all 4 members slammed into their instruments. They have to be experienced live to understand the dynamics of this band. Each member is under a trance from start to finish of every song as the music envelops them. Beruit, Muse, and Radiohead are only a few names that come to mind to explain they're amazing sound. Every member was not only a singer, but a mutli-instrumentalist which made their music change as quick as a cat in the rain! Check out these guys, a Kelowna band but definitely made an impression here in Vancouver.
And for something completely different again was Elizabeth. Having a great mid 2000's sound reminding us of Modest Mouse, Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand their punk rock sounding vocals overtop of edgy guitars, fat bass and pounding drums lead to a high energy set of tunes! Mixing in catchy hooks and chorus in with fantastic guitar effects to really add depth to their sound. Not being my personal choice of music it took me a while but it grew on me like moss on rocks and by the end of it we were dancing around up front as the band rocked out in front of us.
A great end to a great night! Our only complaint was that this was BY FAR the loudest Seeds night of both weeks. Even rock and roll band Cause4Drama was quieter than both Fields Of Green and Elizabeth. Standing in front of a guitar amp actually hurt our ears, even with earplugs (that we always wear at every show). Having a good amount of volume is understandable, but if your amp is lowered the sound engineer will (hopefully) raise your volume to create a great mix. If you need to hear more of it just ask the engineer for more of yourself in the monitor. Our ears were definitely ringing after that night!
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Thursday is the new Friday, lots of people now a days are heading out Thursday night to get rid of the week day blues early which is great for live music. No longer are Thursday shows thought ill upon.
Whoa! She's A Babe was rocking their set as we walked into the Roxy and even though there were few people on the dance floor it didn't stop these guys from rocking as if their life depended on it. First thing we noticed was the absence of a bass player. A lot of times to compensate for this the guitarists will adjust their tones to have lots of lower tones to fill that gap. I don't know if it was intentional but the guitar sounds sounded muffled. Thick, but not as edgy as they could have been and sadly their riffs suffered from it. Sound great stops and dynamics were lost to a muffled sound. We would love to see them with a bass player or with more bite in their gutiars. Their recording sound fantastic so check them out for sure!
That was it for our night, we were heading across the way to catch last year Vancouver Seeds Winners Louder Than Love at Venue opening up for Ill Scarlett. We missed Headwater but check them out!
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The last night, the last chance to lay it all down on the line for the judges, the last chance to put on your game face and rock that crowd! Well Malibu Knights gave it their all as they tore into their set. Once again only to a handful of people on the floor but giving a solid performance. Very radio friendly and rocking songs, perfectly structured for radio. But maybe it was an off night, but their performance just didn't leap off the stage and grab us. Their history is inspiring and I know that even without the success of the Vancouver Seeds they will be a band that goes far.
The same can be said for Static In The Stars, having fantastic success so far the only way to go is up for these seasoned rockers. Jordan Carriere leads the way with his epic vocals filling the room, Cam Thomas's guitar dominates the crunch, Ex Halfway To Hollywood member Jacob Owen Lütje covering the lower end, Joey Levesque's keyboards providing the fizzle, and Trent Otter supplying the pounding drums! Just proving a wicked end to a fantastic couple of weeks. Playing to a full dance floor they just savoured the moment and played their hearts out.
A big thanks to 99.3 The Fox, Budweiser, and everyone who came out and supported two weeks of all local bands at the Roxy. Never stop supporting local music!
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