You Say Party! We Say Die! are a fantastic band from Vancouver that I have been listening to nonstop lately. Their recent album XXXX is easily one of my favourites of the year so needless to say I was pretty stoked to see that they were playing a show in town. Their music is a blend of electro pop, punk, new wave and dance music. Lead singer Becky Ninkovic has a distinct voice that reminds me of Nico on speed with a hint of Cat Power thrown in for good measure.
Apparently CBC Radio 2 chose this show at the Lazy Owl as one of the top 5 things to do that night... in CANADA. Unfortunately, only 50 or so people in Regina shared that sentiment. People bitch and complain that “no good shows ever come to Regina,” but when a cool band does come no one shows up. It’s usually the same 20 or so hardcore music fans plus a handful of others. But I digress. I’ll save this subject for another article. The people that DID show up saw three amazing bands/artists for a mere $8. If that’s not a helluva deal I don’t know what is.
The night began with a jaw dropping performance of spoken word poetry by Saskatchewan’s own Patrick Swan. I am a relative newbie to the whole spoken word poetry scene, but I was completely blown away by Swan’s charismatic, manic performance. His words just exploded out of him, with perfect rhythm, metre and the perfect amount of humour for levity. He had a percussive delivery that had the majority of the audience transfixed to the stage. I had no idea what to expect but you can now count me as a huge fan. He is definitely worth checking out. Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg would be proud.
Up next were Regina’s own War Doves. This was the first time I had a chance to see a whole set from these guys and I was really impressed. Their brand of melodic indie rock isn’t overly thrashy but it definitely still rocks. I really like their set up of two co-lead vocalists. The lower voice of John De Gennaro blends very nicely with Dagan Stoody-Harding’s higher Perry Farrell-esque voice. The War Doves strike me as a band that might take two or three listens to truly “get.” As a result, I would probably be way more into their live show if I listened to their album a few times (which I plan on doing). However, despite not being overly familiar with their material I thought they sounded great and can’t wait to see them again.
You Say Party! We Say Die! hit the stage and sounded great, considering the circumstances. The band sounded great for the first three or four songs but it was really hard to hear singer Becky Ninkovic in the mix. I first thought it might have been the sound but it soon became apparent what was going wrong: there was something wrong with her voice. The band bravely tried to soldier on with other band members picking up more of the vocal slack but they eventually made an “executive decision” and pulled the plug on the set due to Ninkovic having laryngitis. I know from experience that not being able to sing or talk when that is your job can be one of the most frustrating things ever so I definitely feel for Ninkovic. Apparently they have cancelled the next couple shows on their tour so hopefully she gets better soon. In the mean time, the band said that they would play for free next time they swing through town, which is a pretty cool move on their part. I can’t wait to see them when they are firing on all cylinders.
Below is a promo video for YSPWSD’s XXXX album along with links to each artist’s Myspace pages.
http://www.myspace.com/yousaypartywesaydie
http://www.myspace.com/thewardoves
http://www.myspace.com/patrickswan
...submitted by JJ
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